Month: July 2022

Your promotional Tweet of the morning: There’s a draft party at LCA tonight

If you’re interested…

Don’t forget to join us tonight at Little Caesars Arena for another fun-filled NHL Draft Party! Limited (free) tickets still remain!

?: https://t.co/YZ3PHeq339
?: https://t.co/0Twb1jlR8s pic.twitter.com/Qpblhjvqi6— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 7, 2022

And we’re back (seven months later)!

I’m sitting behind my laptop’s keyboard as a hockey blogger for the first time in seven months this morning.

It’s taken a long time to get here, and a lot of hard work. I battled through one of the worst depressive episodes I’ve had, and it involved seven months of recovery.

I worked with a psychiatrist to alter my medication regimen, slowly boosting one mood stabilizer from 100 milligrams to 300 milligrams, and I’ve dropped my “sleeper” medication down from 300 milligrams to 200 milligrams. In addition, I’ve got a new therapist, and instead of being seen once a month, I’m seeing my new therapist every other week, which has been incredibly helpful in terms of the healing process…

But it’s taken time. More time than I would have liked. As my psychiatrist said, “This may take more time than you’re anticipating,” and that’s exactly what it did.

I’m still not at 100% yet, but if I can get to 75-80% for the draft, development camp and free agency, that will be enough to “fake it ’till I make it” and get by.

Mentally and emotionally speaking, I’m a lot better, and I have at least been able to continue caring for my Aunt Annie over this time, but I was basically sleeping through the rest of the day and rest of the night as my body healed, and that wasn’t fun. I managed to follow the Wings fairly closely, but there’s nothing like being “on the blog.”

Financially, I must be honest here: we’re in debt. There is no AFLAC for sick bloggers, and we’re a bit “banged up” financially, so yes, you’re gonna see that PayPal button soon, first for development camp, and then to pay the dang bills.

For better or worse, making a modest living off this job is important, but so is doing it to begin with.

I’m not sure how things are going to go in the upcoming days. I’ll do my best to be here and will work my hardest to balance a little bit of self care, a lot of working for you and a lot of taking care of the aunt. I’m better-equipped to do so pharmacologically speaking, and I’m better-equipped to do so in terms of coping skills, but I have a ways to go yet.

Here’s hoping that by fall, TMR will be running on all cylinders. In the interim, I’ll give you everything I’ve got, and take it day by day and take my health day-to-day.

I’m grateful to be back. It’s time for the draft, two of the busiest days in the NHL; then we hit a 5-day development camp (Ken Kal let it slip during Yzerman’s pre-draft presser that the camp will be held at the BELFOR Training Center from Sunday-Thursday), and free agency hits on the 13th.

Let’s try to go through those things together, and see what happens as I try to rebuild the blog…Again.

THN’s Ferrari: Wings need to improve depth at center

The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari examines the Atlantic Division’s “weak spots” in terms of prospects this morning, and if you didn’t already know by now, the Detroit Red Wings need to shore up their center position:

Detroit Red Wings: Center

First Draft Choice: Round 1, 8th Overall

Steve Yzerman has come into Detroit and really begun to turn things around and build up their prospect pool. His drafting has been spot on and he seems to trust his scouts who happen to be some of the best in the game, especially in Europe. They just had Moritz Seider win the Calder Trophy and fellow rookie Lucas Raymond finish fourth in the voting. They have Simon Edvinsson headlining their loaded defensive pool and Jonatan Berggren has been improving year-over-year to lead the forward pack. The one glaring need is their hole down the middle. Captain Dylan Larkin is a good center but he can’t do it alone. With no other top-six option presenting itself at the moment, the eighth overall pick looks poised to net them a center to fill that void. They could play it safe with a Marco Kasper or take a swing on Matthew Savoie. Could they go against consensus yet again by taking Brad Lambert in the top 10?

Continued; I’m expecting the Wings to be active in free agency to build depth at center as well.

Duff discusses a ‘Habby’ start to the Wings’ 2022-2023 regular season

The Detroit Red Wings released their 2022-2023 regular season schedule yesterday afternoon…

And if you’re interested in the “ins and outs” thereof, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of some of the special dates on the ’22-23 sked:

The Montreal Canadiens had already been in the NHL for a decade when the Detroit Red Wings – as the Detroit Cougars – came aboard for the 1926-27 season.

In the 95 NHL seasons. the Canadiens and Red Wings have faced off against each other 600 times in regular-season play. However, when they take the ice to open the 2022-23 NHL campaign, it will mark the first time that Detroit will be at home playing the Canadiens in the Red Wings season opener.

Unveiling of he NHL schedule took place on Wednesday. Detroit’s 82-game regular-season slate gets underway Oct. 14 at Little Caesars Arena against the 2021 Stanley Cup finalist Canadiens.

Continued…

Talkin’ about the draft ahead of tonight’s first round

The 2022 NHL Draft begins this evening at 7 PM EDT in Montreal, and ESPN’s going to air coverage of the 1st round tonight; tomorrow morning at 11 AM, rounds 2 through 7 take place, and coverage will shift over to Sportsnet, the NHL Network and ESPN+.

The Red Wings will pick 8th overall this evening, and then 40th, 52nd, 73rd, 105th, 113rd, 129th, 137th, 201st and 212th on Friday.

This morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan notes that the in-person event feels like a return to what passes for “normal” for much of the league, as Wings GM Steve Yzerman noted in his pre-draft address:

“Certainly, [this year we have] a little bit more familiarity with all the players,” Yzerman said. “Two years ago, we’re all excited about the U-18s and watching these kids in the playoffs throughout all the junior leagues, and then everybody is shut down, so we missed an important part of the season. Last year some of the kids didn’t even play. It was really challenging.

“This year it was somewhat a return to normalcy. Russian players were hard to assess and evaluate because it was difficult to get in there early in the season and then you really weren’t getting in there at all. Apart from that, it’s been for the most part a much more normal season.”

Yzerman said there is some concern about drafting Russians due to the war with Ukraine.

“The usual concerns are there and throw in the uncertainty of what’s going on in Russia and there’s a little bit of uncertainty of what players can and can’t do,” he said. “Will they be available now or anytime in the future? It’s just another level of uncertainty to the drafting of Russian players.”

Khan notes the names running through the rumor mill at present…

Continue reading Talkin’ about the draft ahead of tonight’s first round