Month: July 2022

Detroit Hockey Now continues its audit of the Red Wings organization’s prospects this evening, and Bob Duff introduces us to defenseman Gustav Berglund, who bounced around the SHL, J20 league and Swedish Allsvenskan this past season:

The 21-year-old Berglund tends to get lost in the shuffle of Wings defensive prospects from Sweden, and he was one of the few Europeans to not take part in the summer development camp last week, as Duff notes:

There were high hopes for Berglund as a sleeper pick when the Wings claimed him late in the 2019 NHL entry draft from Frolunda. That’s the same organization responsible for producing Red Wings rookie sensation Lucas Raymond and top prospects Simon Edvinsson and Elmer Soderblom.

While acknowledging that there appears to be a well of potential in Berglund, Red Wings European scout Hakan Andersson gave a frank admission that Berglund has encountered off-ice issues in the past.

“He moved to Frolunda and had a tough time living on his own,” Andersson explained. “He didn’t eat properly, he was tired, didn’t train as hard. They had to straighten him out a little bit.”

At best, Berglund was projecting to be a third-pairing rearguard in the NHL. With so many defensive prospects now in the system, it’s looking as though many are passing by him on Detroit’s depth chart.

Detroit GM Steve Yzerman treasures players with high levels of hockey IQ and work ethic. It’s entirely possible that Yzerman isn’t all that interested in investing a lot of time and energy in a player who has shown evidence in the past that he’s not willing to invest in himself.

“Yzerman is pretty strict,” Andersson said. “He wants competitive players, too. There’s no dogs. Sometimes you draft a guy with high talent but they don’t compete.”

Continued; Berglund could be a wild card prospect, certainly, but at this point, the 6’2,” 201-pound defenseman is not a likely graduate of the SHL right now.

DobberHockey.com posted a massive set of 21 fantasy hockey rambles, and, according to one Michael Clifford, the Red Wings’ key free agent signing was Andrew Copp, from both on-ice and fantasy hockey perspectives:

5. The biggest mover during Day 1 of Free Agent Frenzy had to be the Detroit Red Wings. They had over $30M in cap space entering the day and have a pretty clean cap sheet moving forward. It didn’t take them long to get busy as Andrew Copp‘s signing was announced almost immediately at 12:00 ET. Throughout the day, they added David Perron, Dominik Kubalik, Ben Chiarot, and Olli Mattta. In one day, GM Steve Yzerman quite literally added an entire forward line and a defense pair. I would quibble with some of the values – I do not think Chiarot is worth $4.75M for four years – but this was a team desperate for depth and added a lot of quality.

Adding Copp as the second-line center is the biggest note here. Since the retirement of Henrik Zetterberg, this team has not had a competent center to play behind Dylan Larkin; certainly not one that can play 18-19 minutes a night with good offensive contributions and penalty killing ability. With Perron added and the skill that already exists, Copp’s raw points upside is capped because of lack of power-play exposure. All the same, this was a big need for them and Copp should fare well there.

The additional scoring is important for them, but who does it help in fantasy? Well, the goalies, for starters (zing!). Whether the team improved defensively, well, we’ll get to that in a second. But the ability to score more goals throughout the lineup will only help the goalies rack up wins. If Larkin/Bertuzzi had an off-night, and the goalies weren’t stellar, they weren’t winning games. Having secondary scoring to pick up the top guns will help the goalies in that vital Win column. (This isn’t an exaggeration, either – Alex Nedeljkovic had 18 games where he allowed at least four goals and lost all of them. Jack Campbell won over 20% of his games where he allowed at least four. A team being able to score helps the goalie’s wins stats.)

More than that, it’s improvements to the power play that should help the skaters, fantasy-wise. Larkin had just 13 PPPs (!) in 71 games despite being featured on the top unit all season. Detroit had one of the worst power plays in the league, and as I mentioned in my write-up on Perron, they added one of the top wingers in hockey when it comes to goal-driving with the man advantage. Larkin was just a couple points shy of being a point-per-game player in 2021-22. Any bets he can be a point-per-game guy if that top PP unit improves to even just league average? (july14)

Continued; yes, Copp can be that valuable going forward. It’s not about scoring points (per se) for Copp–filling in that 2nd line, 2-way yeoman center’s role frees up Larkin, it frees up the 3rd line to generate more offense, and it allows the 4th line (which will likely be centered by Michael Rasmussen) to take some chances from time to time.

The Red Wings needed depth, depth, depth and more depth during free agency, and Copp may indeed be “the guy that pushes them over the top” in terms of possessing real depth up the middle of the ice.

I almost feel badly for Red Wings free agent signing Pontus Andreasson from Lulea of the SHL, because he didn’t sign with the Red Wings whose roster has been assembled by GM Steve Yzerman’s free agency signings. He signed with a much thinner, shallower Wings team, hoping to make the team out of training camp, and it’s not certain by any means whether Andreasson will steal somebody’s job come September.

That being said, the 23-year-old forward is someone to watch over the course of the upcoming season, and the Hockey News’s Ian Kennedy named Andreasson to his list of European free agents “which should make an impact“:

Pontus Andreasson, F (Detroit): At 23, Andreasson still has time to become an NHL contributor. He was second in SHL rookie of the year voting showcasing his skating skills and ability to finish around the net. Andreasson scored 18 goals with Lulua during the regular season and had 13 points in 13 playoff games. With Red Wings super-scout Hakan Andersson following Andreasson this season, the Wings certainly did their due diligence and feel Andreasson has NHL upside. He’ll likely join Grand Rapids in the AHL this season, but don’t expect him to be ignored for too long.

Continued

From the NHLPA: Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman has chosen to file for salary arbitration:

24 PLAYERS ELECT SALARY ARBITRATION

TORONTO (July 17, 2022) – The National Hockey League Players’ Association announced that 24 players have elected Salary Arbitration:

Mason Appleton (Winnipeg Jets)

Ethan Bear (Carolina Hurricanes)

Jesper Bratt (New Jersey Devils)

Lawson Crouse (Arizona Coyotes)

Morgan Geekie (Seattle Kraken)

Mathieu Joseph (Ottawa Senators)

Kaapo Kahkonen (San Jose Sharks)

Kasperi Kapanen (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Keegan Kolesar (Vegas Golden Knights)

Oliver Kylington (Calgary Flames)

Maxime Lajoie (Carolina Hurricanes)

Steven Lorentz (San Jose Sharks)

Isac Lundestrom (Anaheim Ducks)

Zack MacEwen (Philadelphia Flyers)

Niko Mikkola (St. Louis Blues)*

Andrew Mangiapane (Calgary Flames)

Matthew Phillips (Calgary Flames)

Jesse Puljujarvi (Edmonton Oilers)

Tyce Thompson (New Jersey Devils)

Yakov Trenin (Nashville Predators)

Vitek Vanecek (New Jersey Devils)

Jake Walman (Detroit Red Wings)

Kailer Yamamoto (Edmonton Oilers)

Pavel Zacha (Boston Bruins)

USA Today’s Mary Clarke posted a light-hearted article which attempts to rank the 30 “mascots” which are associated with NHL teams, and while nobody wears a big, purple suit to walk around Little Caesars Arena, I’d certainly like to see more of this guy, soon:

10. Al the Octopus: Detroit Red Wings

Though not a mascot by the standard definition anymore, Al the Octopus rocks. Al is yet another NHL mascot tied into its team’s traditions but the Red Wings pull it off wonderfully with a giant octopus that descends from the rafters. Here’s hoping we get to see Al the Octopus at a Red Wings game again in the near future.

Continued (with Gritty as #1); I wish that the Red Wings would employ Al the Octopus on a much more regular basis, not saving him for playoff time almost exclusively.

Kids love that big, purple thing, adults love that big, purple thing, and while I don’t want to see a mascot walking around the rink, “Al” would make a great secondary logo on an alternate jersey, for example.

The Hockey News’s Jason Chen admittedly issues “hot takes” on the biggest signings from the first four days of unrestricted free agency this summer, and the three scoring forwards the Red Wings added make his list:

Andrew Copp, Detroit Red Wings, 5 years, $28.125 million
David Perron, Detroit Red Wings, 2 years, $9.5 million
Dominik Kubalik, Detroit Red Wings, 2 years, $5 million

Copp will slot in as [Detroit’s] No. 2 center behind Dylan Larkin, and along with Perron and Kubalik, the Wings basically bought themselves another scoring line. Their additions capped off a big day for Steve Yzerman’s club, and along with a bolstered defense and goaltending should fare much better this coming season. Copp and Perron are already proven contributors, but note that Perron has historically had his best seasons with the Blues. Kubalik has a bit more to prove, having fallen off a bit after a 30-goal rookie season, but he’s leaving behind a train wreck in Chicago. Value: Copp and Perron, even; Kubalik, up.

Continued; at this point, I think it’s more likely that Copp plays alongside Jakub Vrana and Perron, but that’s just a guess in mid-July.

The Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons offers Moritz Seider quite the compliment during Simmons’ Sunday notebook:

An NHL man who has watched Victor Hedman’s entire career insists the Red Wings rookie of the year, Moritz Seider, is ahead of where Hedman happened to be at a similar age.

There is a remarkable number of game-changing NHL defenceman under the age of 25: Seider, Norris Trophy winners Cale Makar and Adam Fox, Miro Heiskanen, Quinn Hughes and still waiting for Rasmus Dahlin and Bo Byram to totally hit their marks.

Continued; Seider’s got some serious competition in terms of the plethora of capable offensively-minded young defensemen in the NHL right now. Here’s hoping that he and Makar become rivals in short order.

In his daily notebook, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes that two of the Red Wings’ former first-round draft picks are still unrestricted free agents four days into free agency:

Two Detroit Red Wings’ first-round picks, Evgeny Svechnikov (drafted 19th in 2015) and Dennis Cholowski (drafted 20th in 2016), are among those still looking for jobs in the NHL free agent marketplace.

Some fans thought Svechnikov never had a fair opportunity in Detroit because of multiple injuries. There was a thought that he might find a home with the Winnipeg Jets. It didn’t happen. He received his opportunity, played 72 points, and registered seven goals and 19 points. He even spent some time on the team’s top line. The Winnipeg Jets didn’t make a qualifying offer, making him a free agent.

Meanwhile, Cholowski, claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft, was waived, claimed by Washington, waived by the Capitals and claimed again by Seattle. He played a total of 11 games with Washington and Seattle. He didn’t receive a qualifying offer, putting him in the free agent market.

Svechnikov is 25 and Cholowski is 24. Maybe an NHL team will give them a look. But isn’t it time to close the book on their long-term potential?

Continued; Svechnikov is a good depth forward in a grinding role, and Cholowski has developed into a third-pair defenseman. That’s where they’re at developmentally speaking.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James wonders aloud whether the Red Wings might make the playoffs this upcoming season. St. James believes that the Red Wings playing .500 hockey is a more realistic goal:

As improved as the Wings look, they’ll be hard-pressed to deliver on playoffs at LCA next spring. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers aren’t likely to miss the postseason; that’s two spots in the Atlantic Division. The Toronto Maple Leafs have a new goaltending duo in Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov, and while that looks like a gamble, the Leafs have so much scoring power they project to make the playoffs, too.

The Boston Bruins, the fourth Atlantic team to make the playoffs in 2022, look like they’re on a downward trend, but the Ottawa Senators look to be on an upward trend after trading for Alex DeBrincat and signing Claude Giroux, who join a top six that also features Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Tim Stützle and Josh Norris. The Montreal Canadiens drafted Juraj Slafkovsky at No. 1, and acquired Kirby Dach.

In the Metropolitan Division, the Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins all project to return to the playoffs, though one of them could be pushed into a wild card spot now that the Columbus Blue Jackets added Johnny Gaudreau. The New York Islanders had a catastrophic start last season, but in the second half they played like the team that was projected to make the playoffs.

What it adds up to is this: As challenging as it will be to finish in the top three in the division or as a wild card, this is the best the roster (on paper) since Yzerman took control. The Wings possess speed, skill and size, youth and experience, and at the very least look poised to compete.

Continued

I’m going to weave a pair of disparate articles together by positing a particularly humbly-held opinion:

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman isn’t as mysterious a person as we might think. He chooses to share his thoughts with the media on his terms, which is to say infrequently. When Yzerman does speak, he lays out the Yzerplan quite bluntly and directly, usually only after the fact. In retrospect, the courses of action which surprise fans and confuse pundits become linear and deliberate. If not, to quote one of the authors of the articles I quote in this rambling missive, “obvious.”

A good example is the Red Wings’ decision to draft Marco Kasper as the 8th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal. In retrospect, the Red Wings only really had a couple of choices from which to pluck their future second line center.

Continue reading A late-night ramble: Two examples of an Yzerplan that’s more straightforward than we think it may be