Month: January 2022

Ken Kal and Daniella Bruce preview tonight’s game vs. the Sharks:

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a game-day notebook in which he discusses Joe Veleno’s opportunity to help kick-start the Red Wings’ power play, where Veleno will work on the second unit instead of Filip Zadina:

“I’ve got to make the most of it with the opportunity they’re giving me,” Veleno said. “Take advantage of every situation, every game, every day that I get to come to the rink, and not give them a reason to not put me in the lineup or to send me back down. That’s up to me and my work ethic, my compete and my urgency. If I set my expectations high, and I do those things and I come to the rink every day and I apply those things, my chances of sticking around will be pretty good.”

Veleno has had power-play success in Grand Rapids. Six of the 15 goals Veleno scored in the American League were on the power play.  

With the Wings, Veleno’s first NHL goal last season was on the power play.

“We still have to make a decision on it,” coach Jeff Blashill said of using Veleno on the specialty team. “We’ll see if that is how it works out in a game or not. Joe is a guy, who ultimately, we would like to see get opportunities on the power play to see if he can be a good power-play player at the NHL level.”

A prolific offensive player in junior hockey, Veleno has played in a variety spots on the unit.

“I’ve played mostly everywhere on the power play the last couple of years,” Veleno said. “I’ve had some looks on the bumper, I’ve had some looks on the strong-side flank. My off-wing flank. Wherever (Blashill) puts me, I’m going to have to do the most with that position.”

Continued with discussions regarding the Wings’ need for a “shooting mentality,” and their tough schedule to come.

As first reported by Rakapuckar’s Henrik Leman and IceHockeyGifs on Twitter, Red Wings prospect and Frolunda HC defenseman Simon Edvinsson appears to have brought home a case of the coronavirus from the World Junior Championship. He tested positive for COVID-19 today before Frolunda’s Champions Hockey League game against Rogle, and SVT.se has more on the situation:

Simon Edvinsson covid-positive–misses CHL game

Frolunda meets Rogle in an away game in the CHL semifinal tonight, but they will do so without Simon Edvinsson, as the World Junior Championship defenseman has tested positive for COVID-19.

Postponed or canceled games due to coronavirus have become commonplace in ice hockey in recent weeks. The latest to fall ill is Frolunda’s Simon Edvinsson, something Göteborgs-Posten was the first to report.

Frolunda’s GM, Fredrik Sjostrom, confirms the news to SVT Sport.

“He got flagged this morning that he tested positive for COVID-19, and now we follow the protocol and isolate the player in question,” he says.

How is he?

“There don’t seem to be any symptoms, and he’s fine.”

The defenseman practiced with the team as late as yesterday, Monday.

Edvinsson was one of the WJC players in Canada when the news came that the tournament was cancelled due to the spread of the infection. Prior to that, the 18-year-old, who was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings this past summer, had been responsible for acclaimed efforts during Sweden’s games.

The second semifinal of the CHL that was scheduled to be played tonight, Red Bulls Munchen vs. Tappara Tampere, has been postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak on the German team.

The Detroit Red Wings embark upon a slightly strange portion of their schedule tonight. They host the San Jose Sharks (7:30 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NBS California/97.1 FM), and then head West to play Los Angeles on Thursday, Anaheim on Saturday, and the same Sharks next Tuesday, January 11th.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills takes note of the scheduling quirk while discussing the Wings’ points of emphasis going into tonight’s game:

When the Detroit Red Wings and the San Jose Sharks drop the puck for the first time this season, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill will be looking for his team to stay in the fight and respond to physicality.

“We got to make sure we’re making the other teams pay as much of a price as we’re paying,” Blashill said. “Are we totally built like that? I think we’re built enough like that, you know, that we can make sure that guys are making people pay a price.”

Before embarking on a three-game, west coast road trip, the Red Wings will entertain the Sharks from Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network).

Playing with increased physicality is one key to picking up Detroit’s first win of 2022, but keeping things simple in tight games remains among Blashill’s highest priorities.

“We just got to keep putting ourselves in those positions and then you’ve got to find ways to make plays to win the hockey game,” Blashill said. “To win in this league, you need great goaltending, you need great specialty teams and you need to play real good five-on-five hockey.”

Detroit is currently 15-15-3 this season with 33 points – one point behind the Boston Bruins – who overtook the Red Wings for fourth place in the Atlantic Division last Sunday.

Tuesday’s game marks the first time since Dec. 31, 2019, that the Red Wings and Sharks will face off. San Jose (17-15-1) has 35 points, and currently sits in sixth place in the Western Conference’s competitive Pacific Division. The Sharks are 8-8-0 on the road.

Continued

DobberProspects.com’s Hadi Kalakeche penned a column about the Calder Trophy candidates today, and she’s effusive in her praise for Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider.

She also makes a good point about Raymond’s scoring slump of late: he IS just coming off the COVID list, and might not be at 100% yet:

Lucas Raymond Cleared for Return: In case you’ve missed every scout’s anguished screams on Twitter over the last few weeks, Lucas Raymond missed a couple of Red Wings games due to a positive COVID-19 test. He was released from the NHL’s COVID protocol on December 30th, and returned to play the next day against the Washington Capitals. He was kept off the scoresheet in that game and the next against Boston, bringing his season total to a rookie-leading 28 points in 33 games.

That’s right, Raymond still leads the NHL’s rookies in scoring despite his absence and two scoreless games. That’s how impressive his season totals are. Not only that, but he sits three points clear of second place, and has earned a first-line spot next to Tyler Bertuzzi and Dylan Larkin due to his impressive pace and puck skills. Very few prospects manage the offensive zone like Raymond does, and despite many scouts doubting how quickly he’d be NHL-ready (myself included, I’m not afraid to admit that I predicted Raymond would play a full AHL season before making his NHL debut), he has proved himself to be not only a top NHL prospect, but a top NHL player.

The intricacy and level of layered play-reading that Raymond has displayed so far in his very young NHL career makes me believe that the Red Wings have their premier offensive weapon for the next 20 years. Sitting two points behind Larkin in team scoring, the dynamic Swedish winger has displayed the ability to run his team, and doesn’t seem anywhere close to slowing down. There are so many of his tremendous plays that haven’t resulted in goals, that I feel confident saying that Raymond isn’t a bush-fire. He’s the real deal.

…

Moritz Seider: Just Good at This Whole Hockey Thing: When it comes to defense prospects playing their rookie season this year, none hold a candle to Moritz Seider. Hi defensive game is beyond refined: it’s elite. He breaks down plays and prevents zone entries with frightening regularity, and can manage NHL bodies like few 20-year-old defensemen ever have.

The German blueliner is up to 21 points in 33 games so far, and it really seems like nothing in his game is forced. NHL hockey just comes easily to him, and he uses his poise to delay and find options that lesser blueliners would never even begin to think of.

With their other defense prospect Simon Edvinsson exceeding expectations overseas so far, the Detroit Red Wings might just have their top pairing for the next 20 years. You don’t trade Moritz Seiders; you lock them up forever, and hope they re-sign after that. I’d be far from surprised if, five years from now, we aren’t looking at a Norris winner out of Seider. If I had my word to say on the matter, the Red Wings’ defenseman would be this year’s Calder winner. But we all know that points are paramount in determining the winner, so it’ll probably go to his teammate Lucas Raymond.

Continued with praise for Trevor Zegras, who seems to be the media darling right now…

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a game-day notebook ahead of tonight’s game vs. San Jose (7:30 PM EST on Bally Sports Detroit/NBCS California/97.1 FM), noting that Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill wants his team to take more shots after taking less than 25 against both the Capitals and Bruins:

“We got to make sure we do a good job shooting pucks when we have an opportunity to shoot pucks,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “We had three two-on-ones the first four minutes of the game (Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Bruins) that we didn’t get a shot off. That can change the whole story of the game if you score on those. So, we got to shoot more when we have the opportunities to shoot, got to make sure we cross in front of the goalie’s eyes and that we’re hard at the net.”

The Red Wings (15-15-3) have scored only one goal in each of their past two games. Tonight is the end of a three-game home-stand.

Two of the Sharks’ three games since they returned from the holiday break have been unusually high-scoring – an 8-7 shootout victory over Arizona and an 8-5 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday.

San Jose (17-15-1) still has a better goals-against average (3.06) than the Red Wings (3.39), who have scored only one goal in each of their past two games.

“Getting our offense back on track is largely up to us more than the opponent,” Blashill said. “Certainly, they’ve had some high-scoring games coming out of the break, but I also know that usually means that the team puts an emphasis on defense. Through the course of the season, they’re a good defensive team. They’ve been a team that’s had good defensive success in most of their different systems that we track. If they have a sour taste in their mouths, so do we. You got a chance to see two ornery teams tonight. That’s good.”

Continued

Shit. Kid got back from the World Juniors and he has COVID. Shocker there.

Frölunda faces Rögle today in the first of the Best-of-2 CHL semifinal games.

❌ Edvinsson (tested positive for Covid)
✅Wallinder, Söderblom & Niederbach (13th forward)#LGRW https://t.co/qD44hbYfXW— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) January 4, 2022

Updated at 12:03 PM: Not good news for the San Jose Sharks, who play our Detroit Red Wings this evening (7:30 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NBCS California/97.1 FM):

We have recalled #SJSharks Adin Hill and Scott Reedy from the @sjbarracuda and Logan Couture and Lane Pederson have been placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.

In addition, Alexei Melnichuk has been reassigned to the Barracuda.https://t.co/uwVOl8GbqZ— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 4, 2022

Update: Also:

#SJSharks Bob Boughner says he hasn’t finalized his lineup for tonight, including his defense pairs.— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) January 4, 2022

Boughner says Logan Couture tested positive but does not have symptoms.— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) January 4, 2022

? vs. ? pic.twitter.com/1xN0WTznxQ— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 4, 2022

Sharks coach Bob Boughner said Couture and Pederson will remain in Detroit and quarantine for now. He said it’s possible they will drive to Philadelphia and fly home with the team on Sunday if they are out of protocol by then.— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) January 4, 2022

Looks that way, based on the AM skate (Boughner also said he would likely play yesterday). https://t.co/efLXon8KEX— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) January 4, 2022

Boughner says that he hasn’t decided on defensive pairings, but scratching Vlasic seems possible https://t.co/X0k4KijY9o— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 4, 2022

Boughner said the lines are still TBD, but did say that Hertl will “probably” center Dahlen and Meier with Bonino moving up to the second line.

Vlasic and Gadjovich are still on the ice at LCA with Ryan Merkley, Nick Merkley and Zach Sawchenko. https://t.co/Xi41ynM6Wy— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) January 4, 2022

Updated at 1:13 PM: Okay, we didn’t get any information of Red Wings-related note out of the morning skate ahead of tonight’s game between the San Jose Sharks and Detroit Red Wings, who haven’t played in just over two years (the teams play tonight at 7:30 PM EST on Bally Sports Detroit/NBCS California/97.1 FM)…

But I tried to set y’all up with some familiarization regarding the Sharks, whose 17-15-and-1 record resembles Detroit’s 15-15-and-3 record, as does their smarting pride after they lost 8-5 to Pittsburgh on Sunday, just as Detroit lost 5-2 to Boston.

Of all honesty, the most interesting part of the Twitter timeline during the Red Wings’ morning skate was the Boston Globe’s Kevin Dupont suggesting that the Red Wings might have some interest in disgruntled Boston forward Jake DeBrusk, who’s asked for a trade. DeBrusk didn’t take part in the B’s morning skate today, and it turned out that he was placed in COVID protocol, but the theory is worth sticking in our back pocket and noting for later this season.

So here’s Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill’s media availability from today’s morning skate:

Update: First morning skate Tweet at 11:33 AM:

Morning prep.

?: https://t.co/a1ZFiGyALB pic.twitter.com/h63KPo8F0l— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 4, 2022

Update #2: Here’s Sharks coach Bob Boughner’s pre-game media availability:

The Detroit Red Wings host the San Jose Sharks tonight (7:30 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NBCS California/97.1 FM).

The Sharks are in a very different place in the standings (6th in the Pacific Division), but they’re 17-15-and-1 record is quite similar to Detroit’s 15-15-and-3 record. The Sharks have won 2 of their past 3 games, but they are smarting from an 8-5 loss to the Penguins this past Sunday.

Detroit is, of course, 0-and-2 in its post-holiday break games, and is looking to rebound after Sunday’s 5-2 loss to Boston while trying to salvage its sinking power play (31st in the league). I think we could all agree that putting Lucas Raymond in the “bumper” position seems a little strange, and Joe Veleno substituting for Filip Zadina makes more sense, but the PP needs to restore its motion to really get going again. When guys are standing around, they’re too easily defended.

The Wings have also lost 6 of their past 8 games, so late December and early January have not been kind to the 5th-place team in the Atlantic Division standings.

According to MLive’s Tyler Kuehl, this is the first meeting between these teams since New Year’s Eve of 2019, so if you’re a little rusty as to who the Sharks are, that’s okay.

Yesterday, the Mercury News’s Curtis Pashelka reported that the Sharks are planning on shaking up their defense after Sunday’s loss, so we’ll probably find out more about the Sharks’ lineup during their morning skate today.

The Red Wings and their beat writers have been a little delinquent in terms of posting morning skate stuff during game days, so our one Tweet of note is a video of Moritz Seider doing his puck-bouncing trick during warm-ups:

Game Day vs. San Jose. #LGRW

?: 7:30pm ET
?: @BallySportsDET
?: @971theticketxyt
?: @UWMLife pic.twitter.com/zv95qW7GXa— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 4, 2022

Ken Kal did say “hello” at the end of the morning skate…

Tonight’s roster for the stat guru’s out there in the twitterverse! Note there will be scratches. pic.twitter.com/oKh2Q7nWNc— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) January 4, 2022

In fact, our friends from San Jose said, “Good morning!” before we got anything out of the morning skate from the beat writers…

Stop #2 on the road!

?: Detroit, MI
?: 4:30 p.m. PT
?: NBCSCA
?: Sharks Audio Network
#️⃣: #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/YCizMIVwxv— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 4, 2022

You may also take this suggestion from the Boston Globe’s Kevin Dupont for what you will, in noting that the Bruins held Jake DeBrusk out of their morning skate:

DeBrusk not skating this morn – after finally showing some pop in his game over the weekend.

Foligno to LW w/ Coyle, Steen.— Kevin Paul Dupont (@GlobeKPD) January 4, 2022

DET with the cap room and need for DeBrusk.

Bruins played there Sunday. First-hand look for the DRW.— Kevin Paul Dupont (@GlobeKPD) January 4, 2022

I’d have no problem with that kind of move as long as the cost was reasonable.

DET not alone in terms of cap space/need re: DeBrusk.

BUF/ANA also have been recent BOS trade partners. But DET could be better fit right now.

Have to think large portion of Rask’s cap hit would be in DeBrusk’s $3.675.

ALL speculation here. https://t.co/LFPdw73PjU— Kevin Paul Dupont (@GlobeKPD) January 4, 2022

Update: Rut roh:

#NHLBruins place Jake DeBrusk and three staff members in @NHL COVID-19 protocol: https://t.co/gJSjVHVBDT— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 4, 2022