Month: July 2022

Derek Lalonde speaks with the Green Bay Press-Times regarding his hiring by the Wings, time spent in Green Bay

The Green Bay Press-Times’ Greg Bates spoke to new Red Wings coach and former Green Bay Gamblers (of the USHL) coach Derek Lalonde about his hiring by the Red Wings, as well as his evolution as a coach:

When Jon Cooper hired longtime friend Derek Lalonde as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Cooper foresaw the future.

“He said, ‘As much as I’ve accomplished in my career, I’ve never moved anyone on to become a head coach in the NHL,’” Lalonde said. “He told me, ‘You’re going to be that guy.’ He meant it, and he helped develop me these four years. We kept our eye on winning and team success, and it came to fruition.”

Lalonde, who coached the Green Bay Gamblers from 2011-14, was named the Detroit Red Wings’ new head coach June 30. Cooper is also a Gamblers product, coaching the team from 2008-10. The 49-year-old Lalonde is the 28th head coach in the storied history of the Red Wings — winners of 11 Stanley Cup titles.

“It’s exciting,” Lalonde told The Press Times. “It’s surreal at times, but it’s been like the rest of my career. It was never about becoming an NHL head coach or about the next step or getting to the next level – it was always about trying to be good at the job you’re at. Every step has taken care of itself where the phone kept ringing. It’s a huge responsibility because it’s the Red Wings, but it’s a huge challenge and honor.”

Lalonde offers this to Bates regarding the hiring process…

Continue reading Derek Lalonde speaks with the Green Bay Press-Times regarding his hiring by the Wings, time spent in Green Bay

Video: WXYZ’s Galli wonders whether the Red Wings might have interest in Matthew Tkachuk

WXYZ’s Brad Galli discusses whether the Red Wings might be interested in Matthew Tkachuk of the Calgary Flames via a video report:

The problem with acquiring Matthew Tkachuk is very simple: it’s going to hurt. He’s 24 years old (he turns 25 in December) and posted 104 points this past season (42 goals and 62 assists).

Acquiring Tkachuk would take an A-level NHL star, an A-level prospect and a first-round pick (at bare minimum). If vaccination status were no issue, it would be Tyler Bertuzzi + Simon Edvinsson + a 1st round pick, or something comparable. Without Bertuzzi, we’re looking at an alternate of something like Jakub Vrana + Jonatan Berggren + a 1st round pick + a sweetener.

You’re not going to get an asset like Tkachuk without making some sort of hole in your roster and/or prospect pool. It’s that simple.

DRW.com notebook: Red Wings’ youth hockey camp concludes at the BELFOR Training Center

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills details the goings-on at the BELFOR Training Center under Little Caesars Arena’s west (Chevrolet) plaza, where the team is holding a youth hockey camp this week:

On Wednesday, the Detroit Red Wings concluded their annual Youth Hockey Camp at the state-of-the-art practice facility, with more than 70 energetic boys and girls, ages 6-10, receiving specialized hockey instruction from former Red Wings forward and four-time Stanley Cup champion Kirk Maltby along with current Red Wings coaches.

All participants received 75 minutes of on-ice training and 35 minutes of dryland training each day, as well as an official Youth Hockey Camp jersey, a certificate of participation and two tickets to a 2022-23 Red Wings game.

Maltby, who currently serves as a pro scout with Detroit, believes the campers experienced a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“As a kid, if I could put myself in their shoes to have the opportunity to come to a facility like this and see the Red Wings prospects skating on the ice before them, this would be a dream come true,” Maltby said. “I don’t know if they can really grasp and understand how lucky they are.”

This year’s camp was divided into three sessions. Monday’s session focused on individual skills like power skating, edgework, agility, puck-handling and shooting. Tuesday’s session emphasized team skills in addition to one-on-one and two-on-two drills, while Wednesday’s session put campers’ skills to the test in games and scrimmages.

“We only have them for a little bit over the course of three days, so we’re a little limited on what we’re able to teach,” Maltby said. “That’s why we’re going out there, working on some stuff and having fun.”

Continued

Another vote for the Red Wings as a possible destination for Matthew Tkachuk

This morning, The Athletic’s Hailey Salivan and Sean Gentille surmised that, should Matthew Tkachuk want “out” of Calgary (which, as it turns out, he does), the Red Wings might be a logical destination (though not the favorite).

This evening, USA Today’s Mary Clarke also believes that the Red Wings could make something work (though they’re not the favorite destination):

Detroit Red Wings: Never count out Steve Yzerman when it comes to getting moves done when it looks like he’s dealing from a position of weakness. The Red Wings are also in a similar boat to the Kraken, though Detroit’s rebuild is much further along than Seattle is to contending. Tkachuk makes sense as a move for the Red Wings to make, but who can say if he wants to go to a team still finding its legs.

At the very least, the Red Wings have the cap space and assets to make a Tkachuk trade work, it would all just depend on Yzerman’s pitch to the Flames and the young winger.

Continued; I don’t see the Wings as Tkachuk’s landing spot, mostly because the Wings are on their way toward addressing their roster holes without needing to bring on another high-salaried player…

But with Steve Yzerman in charge and in “aggressive GM” mode, you never say never.

The ‘Yoopers United’ will battle the Red Wings Alumni team on September 17th in Marquette

Here’s a story that slipped under the radar over the last couple of days: a team of amateur hockey players has assembled in the Upper Peninsula, representing the United Way of Marquette, and the “Yoopers United” will be battling the Red Wings Alumni team on Saturday, September 17th.

The Marquette Mining Journal’s Travis Nelson explains:

With the hockey game against the Detroit Red Wings Alumni team now less than two months away, the United Way of Marquette County hosted a Team Launch Event at Blackrocks Brewery on Monday evening.

While the evening consisted of members of the team and the community joining up for a couple of cold beers, the hype is being built for when the Red Wings Alumni team comes to play inside of the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Saturday, Sept. 17.

Along with the chance to purchase beverages, there were also door prizes and an introduction of the players in attendance at the event.

The Yoopers United team has 22 players, with 10 in attendance for the event. All of the players are fundraising money for the game, and the two who earn the most will get to fill the two open spots on the Red Wings roster and play with them. With all of the fundraising and this event that was held, September’s game will be here for before we know it.

“Tonight’s (Monday) event is great because it launches the team and the event out publicly,” United Way Executive Director Andrew Rickauer said. “This lets people meet who the players are, and what’s going on. It’s going to be a big event for the community, and it really brings everyone together. Bringing everyone together and also helping out the community.”

Continued

Kulfan profiles Shai Buium

Red Wings prospect and University of Denver defenseman Shai Buium is all of 19 years old, and, last week, the 6’3,” 209-pound defenseman looked like something between a gazelle and a giraffe on the ice. Likely a good 20 pounds short of his playing weight (if not a couple inches short), the Denver sophomore looks utterly elegant when he’s in motion, but when he’s stopped, he’s gangly and awkward.

Buium’s play, however, is quite smooth and improving, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a profile of Buium this afternoon, noting that Buium’s hockey education benefited from Denver’s journey to the NCAA Division 1 hockey championship this past spring:

Heading into his sophomore season, Buium is hoping to pass some of that experience and knowledge along.

“I want to be a role model for the freshmen,” he said. “We have two incoming defensemen and I want to show them the way and hopefully pick up a bigger role and try to do the same thing (win a title). It’s hard to win, (but) we’ll try to do that again.”

What made the recent Red Wings development camp special for Buium was the ability to work with Niklas Kronwall, the former Wings star who coached the defensemen in camp.

“Working with Niklas Kronwall is pretty awesome,” Buium said. “He’s obviously an NHL legend. He teaches you a lot of things. I’m just trying to work them into my game, like learning how to walk the blue line, playing defense. I was pretty intimidated at first, but he’s a really good guy and pretty easy to talk to. He communicates well with us. It’s pretty surreal because he’s an NHL legend.”

Overall, the development camp was a good way to get comfortable with the Wings’ program, along with getting ready for the upcoming hockey season.

“It’s really an educational camp,” said Buium, who is familiar with the Detroit area given his younger brother is in the Plymouth Township-based United States National Team Development Program (brother and mother live in Novi). “Met a lot of different guys I bonded with, so it’s real good.”

Continued; Buium gets lost in the shuffle with the Red Wings’ numerous Swedish stars-in-the-making, but he’s a real gem of a prospect himself.

Video: Darren McCarty says, ‘Retire #91!’

There remain certain members of the Red Wings hierarchy who do not believe that Sergei Fedorov’s #91 should be retired due to his acrimonious departure for the Anaheim Ducks in 2003. At present, the CSKA Moscow coach is OK with his number not being retired, but the Woodward Sports Network’s Darren McCarty feels otherwise:

Grand Rapids Griffins to open 2022-2023 season at home vs. San Diego on October 14

The AHL’s 2022-2023 schedule is coming out tomorrow, and, in advance thereof, the AHL’s teams were allowed to post the dates of their home openers:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Duff profiles Jonatan Berggren

Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren had a big season with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, and the 5’11,” 194-pound center/wing, who’s 22 years old as of last Saturday, is profiled by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff this evening:

His first season in North American couldn’t have gone much better for Jonatan Berggren. Performing for Detroit’s top farm club the Grand Rapids Griffins, Berggren finished 12th in the American League scoring race with 21 goals and 43 assists for 64 points. That established a new Griffins’ record for points by a rookie. Berggren was the AHL’s second-highest rookie scorer, trailing only Buffalo Sabres JJ Peterka (28 goals, 68 points).

He ended the season with an 11-game point streak. Berggren registered points in 15 of his last 18 games. In those 15 games,  Berggren boasted 10 multi-point games.

“We’re very pleased with the season that Jonatan had,” Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman said. “As an adjustment coming to play in the American Hockey Legue versus the Swedish Elite League that he played in, there’s areas of his game that we asked him to focus on and try to improve on and he did that.

“We’re very happy with his progress.”

Continued; as Duff suggests, Berggren may not make the Red Wings’ roster out of training camp, but he’s a fine prospect who should slot into the second line in the not-too-distant future.