Month: August 2022

Red Wings assistant director of player development Daniel Cleary spoke with NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman regarding the fact that the Wings are represented by 9 prospects at the World Junior Championship:

“We’ve had a lot of a lot of draft capital the last number of years, our amateur scouts did a great job and it’s been great to work with some of these young guys,” Red Wings assistant director of player development Dan Cleary said. “We’ve got some talented players coming through that should come to fruition here within a year, two years, next year.”

Topping that list is their two picks from the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft, Sweden defenseman Simon Edvinsson (No. 6) and Canada goalie Sebastian Cossa (No. 15). Edvinsson had 19 points (two goals, 17 assists) and averaged 19:42 of ice time in 44 gams with Frolunda in the Swedish Hockey League last season, and a strong tournament could give the 19-year-old a jumpstart on earning an NHL roster spot this season.

“Simon is an excellent prospect,” Cleary said. “He’s big (6-foot-4, 198 pounds), he skates effortlessly, he’s confident, he’s got good puck skills. He was off to a great start last year and he played great in Frolunda at 19. It’s not an easy league to play in and he played very well for one of the best teams in the league. We’ll see what happens in September. Our team is better, but certainly if Simon comes in and plays the way I believe he can play, I don’t see any reason why not.”

Cossa was the third goalie for Canada when the tournament was held in December but could see an elevated role after the 19-year-old was 33-9-3 with a 2.28 goals-against average and .913 save percentage in 46 regular-season games for Edmonton, and had a .919 save percentage and five shutouts in 19 playoff games to help Edmonton win the Western Hockey League championship.

“I’m really excited for him,” Cleary said. “His attitude in terms of preparation was great. After development camp [July 10-14], he stayed a few weeks later to get a lot of good prep work with our goaltending [development staff]. … You’re just one of the team. That’s the way we want him to go into it and go and just work hard and be a great teammate. Just go in and do your job and let the chips fall where they may. Be willing to do your job and you’ll be in the net.”

Other Red Wings prospects playing in the tournament are goalie Jan Bednar (Czechia); defensemen Donovan Sebrango (Canada), Eemil Viro (Finland) and William Wallinder (Sweden); and forwards Carter Mazur (United States), Theodor Niederbach (Sweden), Redmond Savage (United States).

“I think anybody who’s a Red Wings fan, part of our organization, should be really excited as well,” Cleary said.

Continued

TSN’s Mark Masters is following Team Canada at the World Junior Championship in Edmonton, and he filed an expansive report today which noted the following ahead of tonight’s exhibition game vs. Sweden, in which Sebastian Cossa stopped 8 of 11 shots while splitting time in Team Canada’s 4-3 win over Sweden (which received goals from William Wallinder and Theodor Niederbach):

[Sebastian] Cossa, who stands 6-foot-6, is also riding a wave of confidence after backstopping the Oil Kings to the WHL title.

“It was a good experience for me going on that long playoff run and getting a championship under my belt,” the Detroit Red Wings prospect said. “There were a lot of ups and downs in that playoff run.”

Cossa went 16-3 with a .919 save percentage in the WHL postseason. What’s he doing better now versus December?

“Just keeping my feet underneath me and being set for every single puck,” he said. “My hands have also gotten better because of that.”

Continued

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has weighed into the fray of Red Wings pundits examining Detroit’s 9 participants in the 2022 World Junior Championship, and here are a couple of pertinent takes:

► Canada: Defenseman Donovan Sebrango and goaltender Sebastian Cossa. This will be an interesting situation for Sebrango, who already has two seasons of pro experience in Grand Rapids and will be an alternate captain for Canada.

Sebrango, 20, is excited to impart what he’s learned in the American League to his Canadian teammates.

“In the room you try to be a leader and just lead by example and take it day by day,” Sebrango said. “They’re still the same age as me, so you don’t want to come in like you’re better than them. I just try to show them what pro hockey is like and what it takes to get there. On the ice, you’re playing against the best players in the world in your age group, so it’s not a huge adjustment. I just try to bring my leadership and experience playing against men and hopefully that takes us to gold.”

Cossa, a 2021 first-round pick, was 33-9-3 with a 2.28 goals-against average and .913 save percentage for Edmonton in the WHL, pacing the team to the Memorial Cup before being eliminated.

“It was a lot of experience for me and it was really good,” Cossa said of the long season.

The pressure of representing Canada is something Cossa values.

“Being a goalie, it’s being the last end-all or be-all. I like that about the position, for sure,” he said.

Continued; it remains to be seen whether Cossa will actually play for Canada, whose presumptive starter is Dylan Garand…

Detroit Hockey Now’s Nate Brown analyzes the Red Wings’ drafting tendencies over the past 3 seasons in the first 2 rounds of the draft today, kicking off a series of articles which promise to explain the “Anatomy of the Yzerplan.” Here’s his take on the second round selections:

Prospects in the first and second round of the draft according to Dobber Prospects have a 37.3% and 17.2% chance respectively of making it to the NHL. The drop off is steep from the first to second round, but it goes without saying that when 54.5% of NHL bound prospects are in the top two rounds, choosing well is crucial.

In the first round, 80% of Yzerman’s selections came from an international league. In the second round, five of the nine picks came from international rinks. Until the Hanas pick in 2020, Yzerman had almost exclusively gone international, with seven of the eight picks (87.5%) in the first and second round being from either the Finnish or Swedish leagues.

Positionally, it’s pretty split between wings and defensemen with the lone center being Niederbach in 2020. To no one’s surprise, the bulk of Detroit’s picks in the first two rounds came from the Swedish League, both professionally and in J20.

Continued

The Red Wings will have 9 prospects participating in the World Junior Championship in Edmonton, Alberta, starting tomorrow. I’ve broken down each prospect, and DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills does so today. Among his observations:

Blueliners Simon Edvinsson and William Wallinder will play for Team Sweden.

Edvinsson had two goals and 17 assists in 44 games last season with Frolunda HC’s Swedish Hockey League team. The Red Wings’ sixth overall pick in 2021, Edvinsson was also named a finalist for the SHL Rookie of the Year.

Wallinder, who was Detroit’s 32nd overall pick in 2020, led all U20 SHL defensemen in 2021-22 with 19 points in 47 games with Rogle BK.

Also representing Sweden is forward Theodor Niederbach, who was Detroit’s 51st overall pick in 2020. In his second campaign with Frolunda HC, Niederbach recorded nine goals and seven assists in 51 games.

Continued; this is a good, concise summary of the players’ backgrounds…

I have to raise funds this month, and there are several reasons why:

• My web-hosting bill is due, and while Bluehost and WordPress have helped whittle it down a bit from $500, between the three services I use (Jetpack is the third), it’s still going to cost about $400 for me to keep running this website for another year.
• Put bluntly, there are bills to pay this month, and we’re under-budget;
• My hotel accommodations are booked for the third and fourth weeks of September, but, as you might imagine, heading up to the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and training camp will be an expensive trip. Despite earning a massive discount from my hotel, the bill is still gigantic; groceries, gas and getting my headlights fixed so that I can drive at night will cost a fair amount (I have a wonky headlight and a wonky tail light). It all goes down from September 14th-28th. So the Big Prospect Tournament/Training Camp fund is open for business.

I’m admittedly scared right now, because the stakes are high and the budget is particularly low. Aunt Annie and I live as simply as possible. She’s been kind enough to afford me the opportunity to do this job in addition to caring for her, but it’s got to put food on the table, too.

Continue reading ‘Survival mode’ fundraising

As noted last week, the ESE Hockey All-Star Challenge is taking place today at Mt. Clemens Ice Arena:

The 2022 ESE All-Star Challenge will kick start the event with two High School Division games and an Elite Division game – all part of the ESE Summer League. Following the two High School Division games and Elite Division game, an ESE All-Star Challenge – College Division will take place featuring elite NCAA players. The main event is the highly anticipated and fan-favorite ESE All-Star Challenge – Pro Division! The ESE All-Star Challenge – Pro Division will feature NHL, AHL, and ECHL players including NHL All-Stars Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Zach Werenski, and local favorites Vlad Namestnikov, Jordan Oesterle, Michael Rasmussen, Taro Hirose, Riley Barber, Josh Norris, Will Lockwood, and Ben Gleason!

The event starts at 2:30 PM, and tickets should be available at the door.

As CapFriendly notes, the Red Wings are one of only 2 teams that has not come to terms with 1 of the 24 players who filed for salary arbitration in early July. Defenseman Jake Walman, who’s coming off a 2-year deal with an average annual value of $725,000, might end up going to arbitration with the Red Wings on Thursday.

There are now only 2 arbitration cases remaining, both scheduled for August 11th (Thursday):

1. Jake Walman (DET)
2. Pavel Zacha (BOS)https://t.co/YAOHlKX0Fl pic.twitter.com/rB72vAJAKI— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) August 8, 2022

The Hockey News’s Stan Fischler spoke with Red Wings executive vice-president Jimmy Devellano for an interview published today:

On Building Detroit’s First Championship Team: “We had Steve Yzerman but we needed a few more superstars to go along with him. We got two in the 1989 Draft — Lidstrom and Fedorov — so we had three world-class players. We then made a deal to add a power forward, Brendan Shanahan, giving up Paul Coffey and Keith Primeau!!! These four players drove the bus.”

About The Current Rebuild: “It’s been long and tough but we are making slow, gradual progress and getting better. We now have terrific young players such as Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Moritz Seider, the young defenseman who won the Calder Trophy.

Looking Ahead: “Those young players are the building blocks and we’ll keep adding to them. Steve has acquired a lot of extra Draft picks and is using them wisely.”

Playoff Possibilities: “I suspect that we’re getting closer to competing for a playoff spot but now — in a 32-team NHL — it’s never been so tough with 16 teams not making it. I feel that we’re two seasons away but we are getting better.”

Overall Overview: “Steve Yzerman has just completed his third season. We have improved some in each of his three seasons and we will be somewhat better in the upcoming season because he added four good players from Free Agency in July. Steve got goalie Ville Husso, right wing David Perron, who can score, Andrew Copp, who can play center or wing, and Ben Chiarot, a defenseman who is big and mobile. These four players are upgrades for us. I believe that our team can push for 90 points!”

Continued

Per the NHLPA:

NHLPA selects firm to assist with Executive Director search

The NHLPA has retained the executive search firm of Russell Reynolds Associates in the search for a new Executive Director.

TORONTO (Aug. 8, 2022) The National Hockey League Players’ Association announced today that its Executive Board has approved the Executive Director Search Committee’s recommendation to retain the executive search firm of Russell Reynolds Associates. Before making its recommendation, the Search Committee considered and met with several executive search firms with experience in sports and related industries.

Russell Reynolds has offices in 26 countries around the world, and has led many searches for sports, business, financial and other executives worldwide. The NHLPA’s Executive Board previously approved the retention of Christina Guerola Sarchio, partner of the law firm Dechert LLP, to provide advice and counsel during the search process. The NHLPA is also being advised by long-time counsel, Virginia A. Seitz, partner of the law firm Sidley Austin LLP. The search process is expected to take several months and the NHLPA continues to be led by long-time Executive Director Don Fehr.

The NHLPA’s Search Committee consists of seven NHLPA members Ian Cole (Tampa Bay Lightning), Justin Faulk (St. Louis Blues), Sam Gagner (UFA), Zach Hyman (Edmonton Oilers), Kyle Okposo (Buffalo Sabres), Nate Schmidt (Winnipeg Jets) and Kevin Shattenkirk (Anaheim Ducks).

Any applications or recommendations for the Executive Director position can be sent to EDSearch@nhlpa.com.