Month: July 2022

The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro posted an article this morning which ranks the moves of the teams which have made additions to their goaltending this offseason, and the Red Wings, who traded for Ville Husso during this past week’s draft, and he ranks the Wings 6th out of the 9 teams which either traded for goalies or added them via free agency:

6. Detroit Red Wings

In: Ville Husso

Out: Thomas Greiss

It’s interesting that a year after taking a chance on Nedeljkovic following one strong season, the Red Wings are repeating the same formula with Husso.

Last year was only Husso’s second in the NHL, and his first with a save percentage north of .900. His stats in the AHL prior to that were solid but not spectacular. There’s no questioning his performance last season – he finished ninth in the NHL in goals saved above expected (13.5) according to Money Puck – but it’s worth wondering if it’s sustainable long-term.

Nedeljkovic’s brilliant break-out season in Carolina was highlighted by his impressive 15.7 goals saved above average, but he crashed back to earth in Detroit with a minus-11 goals saved above average in 2021-22. Husso is of similar age and career arc to Nedeljkovic, and also only has a sample size of only a single season as a strong starting goalie.

In terms of a stylistic fit, I think Husso is actually a better match in Detroit than Nedeljkovic. Husso is calm in net with outstanding lateral movement and flexibility that helps him get across to make saves on backdoor plays more than most. Both qualities should serve him well behind a young, developing defense in Detroit.

Continued; I read the above as “keep your expectations low, because it is Detroit, you know…“

The Free Press’s Shawn Windsor reflects upon Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s free agency moves this morning, suggesting that Yzerman’s additions have accelerated the timeline of the Red Wings’ rebuilding effort:

Even now, after the biggest spending spree in years, Steve Yzerman won’t commit to the goal of making the playoffs. Which isn’t to say it’s not his goal for the Detroit Red Wings team he manages.  

He just won’t say it publicly. He’d rather his team learn how to win first. His moves in free agency this week should help that. 

It’s not an accident five of the six players Yzerman signed this week have playoff experience. Three of them — Ben Chiarot, David Perron and Olli Määtä —have played in the Stanley Cup Finals. The other two, Andrew Copp and Dominik Kubalik, won a playoff series this spring; Copp played in the conference finals.  

Though the newcomers aren’t here as tutors. They can play, too, and give the Wings depth, savvy, offense and, most critically, defense.

“I think we improved the team,” Yzerman said Thursday. “I’m optimistic.” 

But? 

“The plan hasn’t changed,” he said. 

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of a surprising coincidental meeting between two of the Red Wings’ newest recruits:

Two of the newest Detroit Red Wings, center Andrew Copp and Ben Chiarot, were previously teammates with the Winnipeg Jets. Last week, while attending the same wedding and with both heading into unrestricted free agency, they joked about forming a union of their own again.

“I saw Chiarot at a wedding about 10 days ago,” Copp recalled. “We were just kinda joking around. The full market hadn’t really kinda set out yet. Hadn’t had those deep of conversations yet but kinda joked about it. But otherwise had no idea how many guys he was going to add.”

Two of six UFAs signed by Detroit over a two-day span, Copp feels that effort is displaying just how close Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman feels his group is to being a competitive club.

“I felt like he would do a few more but to the extent he did, I think it kinda shows the belief that he has in the group and the guys that he’s adding,” Copp said. “It feels like the next step is ready to be taken.”

Continued

The Free Press’s Helene St. James filed here customary 6 AM-posted column today, discussing Red Wings prospect Simon Edvinsson’s attempts to earn a roster spot on Detroit’s NHL team:

The first thing that struck Steve Yzerman was how big Simon Edvinsson looked.

Edvinsson is expected to compete for a roster spot with the Detroit Red Wings come fall, and he made a brief but favorable impression Thursday after travel issues delayed his arrival by several days. The 2021 No. 6 overall pick took part in a prospect-heavy three-on-three tournament at Little Caesars Arena. 

“Seeing him here in development camp, he’s very tall, he’s very thick,” Yzerman said. “It’s actually the first time I’ve gotten to meet him in person since drafting him. He’s thicker than I expected in a good way. He looked very strong, his skating is excellent. We’re optimistic. We’ll give him an opportunity, and if he’s ready to play and play a regular role, that would be great for us. We’ll let the whole thing play itself out.”

Edvinsson’s credentials are sound: He’s 6 feet 6 and 205 pounds, a strong skater and comes to the Wings having posted 19 points in 44 games with Frölunda HC, the same Swedish Hockey League team that begat Lucas Raymond. Edvinsson worked hard to improve all facets of his performance.

“At the start of the season, it was defense,” Edvinsson said. “I had a great mentor in Sweden, Christian Folin, who is a former NHL defenseman, who helped me a lot with the defensive work, how to think in all situations and also build muscle to be able to compete against those guys,” Edvinsson said. “Then the longer the season went, it was more offensive plays, I started to do new stuff and develop my game after that. Everything was just working itself out. It was good.”

Continued

The Detroit News’s astute John Niyo offers a late-evening-posted column which discusses Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s comments regarding his aggressiveness in unrestricted free agency, and hazards a guess as to whether the big-money signings will pay off in the short term:

After Yzerman spent more than two-thirds of his hefty salary-cap space this offseason – including the roughly $20 million for 2022-23 the GM doled out in the first 12 hours of free agency Wednesday – there’s finally a surplus of NHL-ready talent on the roster.

As a result, [coach Derek] Lalonde figures to have some decisions to make before the start of the regular season. And for a welcome change, those decisions won’t end once the puck drops for the Oct. 14 home opener against Montreal, either.

Because while this revamped roster – and a lineup that will feature at least a half-dozen new faces – promises to be more competitive with the rest of the league, it also promises more competition. Right from the start of training camp in Traverse City in September, in fact.

“A lot of guys have something prove here now,” Yzerman said Thursday, following a frenzied start to free agency that saw a handful of deals involving Detroit. “There’s competition for ice time. There’s competition for jobs on the team. So I’m hoping with the change in the coaching staff and the additions of the new players, that all of our guys are coming in ready to go. It’s important that they make a good first impression.

“They’re gonna want that, because the coach is gonna have to make decisions on opening night on who’s in the lineup and who’s playing in all different situations.”

Again, that’s what passes for progress in a program that’s now six full years removed from its last postseason appearance. It’s also a genuine sign of hope for a team that finished 26 points out of the final Eastern Conference playoff berth this past spring.

Continued

Former Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios is based in Chicago now, but the Traverse City Record-Eagle’s Brendan Quealy reports that Chelios is making an appearance in Northwestern Lower Michigan later this month:

The Traverse City Pit Spitters announced Thursday that NHL Hall of Famer Chris Chelios will appear at the Pit Spitters Hockey Night on Thursday, July 28.

Chelios played 26 seasons in the NHL, including 10 with the Detroit Red Wings. He also played with the Montreal Canadians, Chicago Blackhawks and Atlanta Thrashers in his storied career.

Chelios played in 1,651 NHL games, which is the fifth on that all-time list and the most for any NHL defenseman. During that time, he was a three-time Norris Trophy winner for best defenseman and an 11-time all-star and three-time Stanley Cup winner, including two with the Red Wings (2002, 2008). In the 2002 season, Chelios played in the Olympics and led the United States to a silver medal.

His amazing career culminated at his Hall of Fame induction in 2013.

On July 28, Chelios will be throwing a ceremonial first pitch and signing autographs for fans from 6-8 p.m.

The game starts at 7:05 p.m. and the gates will open at 6 p.m. The first 1,000 fans in the gate will receive a Pit Spitters hockey puck courtesy of Sip Shine.

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects participating in Detroit’s 2022 summer development camp concluded their on-ice activities by doing “something completely different” from the skill development drills which they engaged in during Day One, Day Two, Day Three and Day Four of assistant director of player development Dan Cleary’s camp:

The participants, including a late-arriving Simon Edvinsson, took part in a set of 3-on-3 scrimmages, with the skaters and goaltenders separated into the following teams:

It’s #DRWDC 3v3 Day!

Games start at 8:00am.

STREAM: https://t.co/HdQB06nrjy pic.twitter.com/pj5qGpT3WY— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 14, 2022

Team Draper won 3-2 over Team Watson; one Amadeus Lombardi, a 5’10,” 165-pound 2022 draft pick, scored a hat trick and added an assist in Team Watson’s first game, however, and the mere presence of Team Cleary’s Edvinsson definitely had an impact upon the stream audience, the social media crowd which got up at 8 AM to watch the games (you can thank comedian Kevin Hart’s “Reality Check Tour” for requiring the facility be prepared for tonight’s show for that 8 AM start), and the packed executive suite.

Continue reading Impressions from the fifth day of the Red Wings’ 2022 summer development camp

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry is 34 years of age, and the 6’3,” 201-pound defenseman (who is under contract at $6.25 million for three more seasons), has made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to continue playing for the Montreal Canadiens.

Canadiens GM Kent Hughes spoke with the media today, explaining that he’s not going to take on salary to “dump” Petry on another team, and that he will expect commensurate assets in return for a defenseman who’s posted over 40 points 4 times over the course of the last 5 seasons.

As such, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu has written an article attempting to discern the best “fits” for both Petry and the Canadiens. Given that Petry wants to play for an American team for family reasons, and given that he is from Ann Arbor, one of the potential destinations that Basu examines are Petry’s hometown team. Not a fit?

We are down to six [possible fits]: the Bruins, Red Wings, Stars, Kings, Blue Jackets and Predators.

Of those, the Bruins don’t seem like a great fit. They have a little less than $5 million in cap space left, and that’s not counting the expected contracts for Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. They don’t really need Petry, either, unless they consider him to be a significant enough upgrade on the right side to Brandon Carlo to go through all the gymnastics it would take to make this deal happen. I’m taking them out.

Same goes for the Red Wings, who have tons of cap space even after going on a free agent spending spree, but also have Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek on the right side in their top four, two young defencemen Steve Yzerman would probably rather have playing significant minutes. This would obviously be an ideal destination for Petry, a Michigan native whose whole goal here is to be closer to his family, but I don’t think the Red Wings would be willing to meet Hughes’ demands to make a trade they don’t really need to make.

Continued (paywall); long story long, Petry ain’t coming here unless something changes.

Fox 2 Detroit’s Woody Woodriffe narrates a video report which summarizes the takes of both the Red Wings’ first-day-of-free-agency additions (David Perron, Andrew Copp and Ben Chiarot) with today’s comments from Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, all in an easily-digestible minute-and-a-half clip:

The Red Wings signed Olli Maatta to a one-year, $2.25 million contract this morning, and DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills found that Maatta is particularly excited about joining his new team:

“I think it’s an exciting time, especially when you look at their team,” said Maatta, who had one goal and seven assists in 66 games last season with the Los Angeles Kings. “They’re young, but I think when you see the players they already had before free agency started, now adding a bunch of big pieces, I think that’s a great place and it’s an exciting time. Everybody knows; you can definitely see it.”

Maatta plans on being a mainstay on Detroit’s backline, but also hopes to contribute offensively.

“I’m known as a defensive guy,” Maatta said. “But I think I got more offense in my game than my stats show the last couple of years. That’s definitely something I’ve been working on.”

Maatta also brings valuable postseason experience to a young Red Wings roster, winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017.

The 27-year-old Maatta said he’s looking forward to seeing Moritz Seider‘s development up close.

“He’s an awesome player to watch,” Maatta said. “He’s already a great player and he’s gonna be a stud, so it’s just exciting to see that.”

Continued