Month: July 2022

The Associated Press’s Stephen Whyno posted a fairly lengthy article in which he examines what big-market teams like the Philadelphia Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, Montreal Canadiens and a certain Detroit Red Wings team could or could not do over the course of the first two days of free agency, all due to salary cap space–or the lack thereof.

Whyno’s main focus is on the Flyers, who weren’t able to woo now Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau due to their inability to clear space, and he talks about Vegas’ salary-dumping trades with Carolina before setting up Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen’s successful pursuit of Gaudreau, but there’s a bit about the Red Wings in Whyno’s story, and it’s worth noting:

More expensive in the long term might be a half-empty arena in a sports-crazy town that has become apathetic about its hockey team. The climb back to relevance is just beginning for the Red Wings, who shelled out contracts worth more than $60 million on Wednesday alone.

It’s something GM Steve Yzerman — who built up the Lightning before leaving to go back to Detroit — was able to do because he managed the cap so well. Three years ago, he decided not to spend a lot of money and picked his spot.

“We have roster spots, we have cap space — there were players there that we felt would help us and not really deviate from what we’re trying to do, but also not necessarily give maximum term and maximum dollar to players,” Yzerman said. “With the cap situation the last couple of years, it has had an effect on what some teams can do and some teams want to do.”

Continued; what’s noteworthy about this? It’s the “national press’s” view of the Red Wings, as a team that has “tanked” (to use The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro has suggested) and is irrelevant right now.

We may disagree with this take regarding the team you and I feel strongly about, but fans, partisans and friends of the Red Wings don’t necessarily represent the representative take on the home team.

Has the shine come off the “Yzerplan?” Not according to the free agents who signed with Detroit. But the rest of the country seems to think that Yzerman is nursing a lame horse, and that’s…annoying.

Red Wings prospect Sam Stange has been spending his past week in Detroit, taking part in the Red Wings’ summer development camp, but the University of Wisconsin junior has spent the past two seasons in Madison, skating under the tutelage of coach Tony Granato.

Stange is both an NCAA Division 1 hockey player and a student, and, this evening, the University of Wisconsin’s athletic department released a list of their 115 “Big Ten Distinguished Scholars“:

Honored for their work in the classroom, 115 student-athletes from the University of Wisconsin have earned 129 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award honors (including multi-sport honorees), the conference office announced. The list includes students from all 23 UW sports who earned a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year.

The Badgers’ 2021-22 class of Distinguished Scholar Award recipients includes 33 students who maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA during the previous academic term (bolded below).

Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. Distinguished Scholar Award recipients must have earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition in the previous academic year, must have been enrolled full time at the institution for the entire previous academic year (two semesters) and earned a minimum GPA of 3.70 or better during the previous academic year, excluding any summer grades. The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for a student-athlete’s academic career.

Learn more about the Fall, Winter, Spring and At-Large Academic All-Big Ten honorees.

Stange, a 6’1,” 208-pound right wing who’s 21 years of age, is the only member of the men’s hockey team to have made the list.

What’s his major, you might ask?

Neurobiology.

Not bad, Sam, not bad.

MLive’s Ansar Khan wraps up the day’s worth of beat writer reflections upon Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s post-free agency presser with a column which focuses on the concept that the GM’s job may be over in terms of team building–for the present moment, at least:

“We have a lot of improving to do,” Yzerman said. “With the young players coming in and a small nucleus of remaining players, I think we are trending in the right direction. But we will see how this season plays out to gauge where we are. It’s another step in the process.”

The Red Wings finished 25th overall at 32-40-10 following a late-season slide that prompted Yzerman to dismiss coach Jeff Blashill immediately after the season and hire Derek Lalonde two weeks ago. Lalonde will be coaching a better team.

“It’s up to the coaching staff to try to maximize the talent they have and try to find a way to be most efficient in all areas with the players we have,” Yzerman said. “For our coaching staff to try to improve in these areas we need better play from our team, whether that’s our returning players maturing, getting one year more experience, and bringing in some new faces who are maybe more adept in those roles.”

Yzerman said he didn’t need to sell any players on coming to a rebuilding team because they are aware of the talent in place and the opportunity before them.

“You have Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi and then Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider coming to create a little excitement,” Yzerman said. “Add to our team Joe Veleno, Filip Zadina. There’s a core of young players that potentially has a chance to be a pretty good team one day. Players recognize it. I think that was attractive to some of the players.”

Yzerman does not to expect any more free-agent signings, at least nothing big, but he will continue exploring trade possibilities.

“I want to see how things play out with our group,” Yzerman said. “I’m content right now to go into training camp with the group we have. But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t exploring, if there’s any other opportunities out there, by trade. I’m always looking at ways to try to get better.”

Continued

The Red Wings’ “forgotten man” in terms of their free agency signings was one Olli Maatta, a 27-year-old defenseman whose one-year contract wasn’t announced by the Red Wings until just after 7 AM this morning.

Maatta spoke with the Wings’ media corps today, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan asked Maatta why he left an up-and-coming Los Angeles Kings team to join Detroit:

“You see some of the players they already had before free agency started, and adding some big pieces, it’s a great place and exciting times,” Maatta said. “You can definitely see it, they’re up and coming and they want to be contenders and I want to be part of it.”

Maatta, who’ll be 28 in August, has been known as a defensive defenseman throughout his nine-year career. But Maatta feels he can contribute in other ways, as well.

“I have more offense in my game, more than in the last couple of years, and it’s definitely something I’ve been working on,” said Maatta, whose extensive playoff experience with Pittsburgh should be a benefit to a young team. “I hope so, but when you come to a new team you want to be yourself and just try to fit in and find your spot and just fit in well.”

Los Angeles teammates Andreas Athanasiou and Troy Stecher, both former Wings, gave Maatta glowing reports on the Wings organization.

“Nothing but good things to say, organization- and team-wise,” Maatta said. “My agent said there were teams that were available, but to be honest, there was nothing bad about Detroit and it was all great things, and how exciting the team is, and they definitely want to be a contender.  It felt right.”

Continued

97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield discusses Red Wings prospect defenseman Simon Edvinsson’s uphill climb in terms of attempting to make Detroit’s roster this upcoming season:

There’s no such thing as a complete defenseman at the age of 19. But Edvinsson, who doesn’t turn 20 until next February, is about as close as it gets. One of the top prospects in hockey, he strengthened his game playing against men for two seasons in Sweden and now he has his sights set on Detroit. When the Red Wings start the season Oct. 14 against the Canadians at Little Caesars Arena, Edvinsson intends to be there.

“To take a roster place, to be in the lineup of the first game, that’s the main goal,” Edvinsson said.

It’s not a given, just as it wasn’t last year for Seider. And Edvinsson’s challenge is, well, taller, after the Wings signed a pair of top-four left-shot defensemen Wednesday in Ben Chiarot and Olli Maatta. That leaves Edvinsson, who has no North American experience, to battle Jake Walman and Jordan Oesterle for the final left-side spot on Detroit’s blueline. If he doesn’t outplay both of them in training camp and the preseason, his season will start Oct. 14 in Grand Rapids.

Which would be just fine for his development. Grand Rapids is where Seider spent his first season in North America, too. Indeed, the experience he gained there in 2019-20 is a big reason he adjusted so smoothly to the NHL last season. Who knows if he makes the Wings’ opening night roster without it.

But that’s the thing. Seider leapt from the SHL to the NHL without a hitch. So did Lucas Raymond, Edvinsson’s former teammate with Frolunda, and he did so without ever testing the AHL waters. Naturally, Edvinsson said he wants to “make the same journey as they did.”

“You need to have those expectations that you’re going to take a place on the roster, and to want to do that,” he said. “The SHL is a hard league, there’s a lot of good players and hard games, so it’s a good run-up for the NHL. Watching Lucas and Moritz do that, it gives you more confidence to really do this right here now.”

Continued

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan offers a set of bullet-pointed notes from Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s post-free agency day press conference:

► Signing [Dominik] Kubalik, who became an unrestricted free agent when Chicago surprisingly decided to not give a qualifying offer to the restricted free agent, making Kubalik unrestricted Wednesday: “He’s big, can skate, has a great shot and the contract we think is very reasonable. It’s a guy who has a lot of upside, and another player that gives more scoring depth. We reached out to him through Jiri Fischer and he expressed an interest in coming here. We’ve very pleased.”

► Yzerman expects the Wings to be tougher to play against: “Harder to play against isn’t necessarily running guys through the glass. It’s being more dogged on the puck, being more responsible with the puck, tighter and diligent defensively, competing harder. We want to be harder to play against because we’re better defensively and we’re more competitive and we have more depth up front. We can match up better.”  

► Yzerman was pleased to sign [Andrew] Copp, who appears to fill a big need at second-line center, but can play all three forward spots and both special teams: “At 28 years of age, he’s a very good athlete, very versatile, a good face-off man and at I’m comfortable giving (that kind of player) a five-year contract. That’s not a concern for me.”

► Signing [David] Perron also helps the Wings in a variety of ways: “He’s a pretty competitive guy. We like he’s a (right-handed) shot, a natural winger with a right shot, very good on the power play and he’s been through a lot of playoff runs. He’s very experienced and excelled in the playoffs, played on St. Louis’ Stanley Cup team (in 2019). He really fills a need for us, I like the veteran leadership he can provide.”

► Rebuilding the left-side defense with [Ben] Chiarot and [Olli] Maatta: “Defense-first defensemen, bigger bodies, they get in the way and are kind of hard to play against. I would expect those two guys will play with Moritz and Filip (Hronek), they’re good complements for them. They’re big guys, good length, block shots and are a little harder to play against.”

Continued

NHL.com’s Tracey Myers surveyed the comments made by both the Red Wings’ free agent signings and their new general manager to offer this particular take on Detroit’s post-July 13th roster:

“I think we’ve improved the team, but we have to go on the ice in September and play in October,” [GM Steve] Yzerman said. “I think we’ve addressed some needs. I’m hoping we’re a better team. I think we’re progressing slowly in this rebuilding of the Red Wings.”

Yzerman showed he can reshape a team when he was Lightning GM from 2010-18. Under his watch, Tampa Bay drafted forward Nikita Kucherov, goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, hired Jon Cooper as coach, convinced captain Steven Stamkos to re-sign for eight more seasons in 2016, and acquired defenseman Mikhail Sergachev in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens.

The Lightning reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2015, then won back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021 and advanced to the Final in 2022, where they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in six games.

“Not to take anything away from [current Lightning GM Julien BriseBrois], but Steve was there for a while and drafted a bunch of guys and turned that into a big part of where they’re at today,” [Andrew] Copp said. “So, I think that trust stems from there.”

The players seem determined to bring the Red Wings back to prominence. Yzerman said he is certainly hoping for a more competitive squad.

“Are we good enough to make the playoffs next year? I don’t know,” Yzerman said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll score more goals, we’ll give up fewer goals, I’m hoping our power play will be a little bit better (26th in NHL last season), our penalty killing is a little bit better (last in NHL), our goals-against is a little bit better (3.78 last season, second-most in NHL) and that pushes us higher up in the standings.”

Continued

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted a notebook article which mostly focuses on Theodor Niederbach and Simon Edvinsson’s remarks regarding what they’re going to be taking away from the Red Wings’ summer development camp, but the most interesting part of Mills’ article comes in the form of a comment from the GM regarding the camp as a whole:

The Detroit Red Wings’ promising young prospects concluded 2022 Development Camp on Thursday morning at the BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena, competing in a three-on-three tournament that saw Team Draper defeat Team Watson, 3-1, in the championship game.

Speaking to the media in a free agency Zoom call on Thursday afternoon, Red Wings executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman described this year’s camp as “excellent.”

“I thought Danny Cleary and our entire staff did a really good job in preparing it and organizing the camp,” Yzerman said. “The feedback and watching the players, they really seemed to enjoy all the different aspects of the week.”

Continued; the development camp was excellent except for the fact that it started at 8 AM or earlier for five straight days…

Former Red Wings forward, sports commentator, rock band leader, amateur wrestler and cannabis entrepreneur Darren McCarty weighed in on the Red Wings’ free agency moves on the Woodward Sports Network today…

As did the Winged Wheel Podcast’s Brad Krysto (nobody asks me to come on sports talk radio…yet…):

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen took note of this quip from Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s post-free agency day (day one, anyway) press conference:

Yzerman believes strongly that youngsters shouldn’t be given a roster spot until they earn it. That was how Lucas Raymond made the Red Wings last season. He was exceptional in training camp and in the preseason.

“If our young guys are really good, we are in a position that we will we will create a spot for them,” Yzerman said. “Having too many good players is never a problem.”

Yzerman believes he’s buying free agents. He has more than $10 million in cap space, although he still needs to re-up Wallman and Filip Zadina.

“I don’t have a blockbuster in the works or anything like that,” Yzerman said. ” I think we get through free agency and kind of explore some teams that have to make moves in light of what’s happened. It’s important to keep looking around, keep communicating with other teams around the league to see if there is any potential fit, but I don’t expect to announce any future signings. “

Continued