Month: August 2022

Former Red Wings goaltender Thomas Greiss spoke with The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford recently regarding the end of his tenure with the Detroit Red Wings…

After Detroit’s season ended in April, goalie Thomas Greiss had a meeting with general manager Steve Yzerman.

The rebuilding Red Wings had missed the playoffs for the sixth straight season and given up the second-most goals in the NHL (310). Though starter Alex Nedeljkovic had been in net for 178 of those, Greiss’ goals-against average (3.66) and save percentage (.891) were worse.

The 36-year-old was also going to be an unrestricted free agent.

“I really respect Steve, I think he’s a good GM, and we had a good talk about the whole thing,” Greiss said. “He was very honest with me and told me he’s shopping around and seeing what he can get. So they went in a different direction.”

And his decision to sign with the Blues, for 1 year and $1.25 million:

A couple of other clubs expressed interest, and there was “a chance,” Greiss said, that he might have retired if the right situation didn’t come along. But after 13 seasons in the league, he didn’t want to call it a career and was hoping to hear from a contending team.

“It was definitely, ‘What’s out there? What’s available?’” Greiss said. “St. Louis, being a very good team and a good city for the family too, it was an easy choice. There were other options, and St. Louis was my No. 1 pick.

“I think I still have some good hockey in me. Obviously last year wasn’t my best year, but looking back, I’ve been a pretty good goalie overall in the NHL in my career. I just want to have a good year. I still enjoy playing hockey, and that’s the most important part.”

Continued (paywall), with a few more interesting snippets from Gresis and Nick Leddy about playing for the Wings and Islanders as teammates…

This is lovely to see late in August at Little Caesars Arena: rink operations staff painting the winged wheel on the ice:

We’ll call it…#RedWings ASMR. 🎨 pic.twitter.com/kRsFnpv9o0

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 30, 2022

Red Wings prospect Donovan Sebrango spoke with DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills earlier today regarding winning a gold medal with Team Canada’s 2022 World Junior Championship team, where Sebrango served as an alternate captain:

According to Sebrango, making the most of his time with Detroit’s American Hockey League-affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins last season prepared him to wear the ‘A.’

“Most of those guys are trying to make steps in the AHL next year,” said Sebrango, who had seven points (1-6-7) in 65 games with the Griffins in 2021-22. “Giving them my experience helped a lot. And with my experience playing a bit of professional hockey, that probably helped calm the team down a bit in stressful situations.”

Sebrango added that seeing his mother and grandmother watching from the stands throughout the tournament was extra special.

“Having them there helped me realize it wasn’t as stressful,” he said. “You look up in the crowd and you see them, then you are trying to win the gold medal and you do, then sharing that moment with my mom was probably the most special moment of my life.”

Sebrango wasn’t the only Red Wings prospect to take home hardware. Goalie Sebastian Cossa, who won his only appearance for Canada after stopping 22 shots in a 5-2 victory over Latvia on Aug. 10, also won gold. Defenseman Eemil Viro of Finland earned silver, while forward Theodor Niederbach and blueliners Simon Edvinsson and William Wallinder helped Sweden win bronze.

“It looks promising for Detroit to have all those guys there and be as good as they are,” Sebrango said. “Detroit is on the rise now. I was really impressed with how we did throughout the tournament. It’s an exciting time to be a Detroit Red Wing.”

Continued

Via Detroit Sports Nation’s Michael Whitaker, Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso’s new goalie mask, painted by IFK Helsinki equipment manager Joni “Bona” Hallikainen, very purposefully combines mask designs once worn by Mike Vernon and Eddie Mio:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Joni "Bona" Hallikainen (@bonahallikainencustoms)

Red Wings prospect and 2022 draft pick Owen Melenbacher spoke with his hometown newspaper, The Post of Fort Erie, Ontario, about his selection by the Red Wings and his decision to remain with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks for one more season before heading to the University of Wisconsin:

He is coming off a season where he tallied 42 points on 17 goals and 25 assists in for the Lumberjacks as a second-line centre.

“The extra year will help,” he said. “It’s about development.”

Melenbacher chose to go the collegiate route rather than play in the OHL when he was just 15. After a year with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres of the Greater Horseshoe junior-B Hockey League, he was tendered by the Lumberjacks. A full-ride scholarship to Wisconsin soon followed. While he attended the Red Wings’ prospect development camp, he will not be a part of the NHL’s club’s training camp for the upcoming season.

“I’m only allowed to go to the prospects development camp. If I went to training camp, it would hinder my college eligibility.”

On the ice, Melenbacher describes himself as two-way player who plays both ends of the ice.

“I’m a 200-foot power forward with size and strength. I have pretty good skills for a big guy.”

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that former Red Wings defenseman and current Russian Parliament member Slava Fetisov is suing the International Ice Hockey Federation for their decision to ban Russia and Belarus from international competition:

Fetisov also can’t see his national team in action. The IIHF has placed a ban on Russian involvement in international tournaments. This is also a result of the country’s attack on Ukraine.

Naturally, Fetisov isn’t supportive of this decision.

“The Russian team is always the draw of the World [Championship],” Fetisov told Russian TV program RBC Sport. “It is outrageous that the team with the most victories is missing from international tournaments.”

Fetisov previously served as head of the Russian Sport Federation. He is of the belief that any world hockey tourney minus the Russian national team is a decision on par with leaving the USA out of Olympic basketball, or Brazil and Germany out of soccer’s World Cup. It’s a move that lessens the caliber of the event.

He’s also of the opinion that allowing the political climate to influence the sporting world is a backwards philosophy. In the past he notes, sport has often proven to be a vehicle for breaking down cultural and political differences between nations.

“It is a reduction in quality and all the principles on which world sport was built,” Fetisov said. “I think it’s totally on purpose.

“It is necessary to reach a decision on the return of our players to the international stage or to abolish the sport as an international organization and create another, political organization. Then everything will be clear.”

Continued; why yes, it’s totally on purpose, and I agree with the IIHF in this situation.

Enjoy, Griffins fans:

The Grand Rapids Griffins’ Youth Foundation has named a new executive director:

GRIFFINS YOUTH FOUNDATION NAMES JENNIFER LARDIE AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Griffins Youth Foundation’s board of directors on Monday named Jennifer Lardie as the organization’s new executive director.

Lardie has a long association with the foundation, most recently having served as its director of coaching since 2014. She has also been involved with numerous volunteer opportunities within the foundation since 2009 and is a mother to two foundation hockey players, Caleb and Bradley. 

“We are absolutely thrilled to have had such a strong candidate as Jenn emerge from within our program,” said Bob Kaser, president of the Griffins Youth Foundation and vice president of community relations and broadcasting for the Grand Rapids Griffins. “Jenn is highly regarded among our foundation’s staff, coaches, players and families, and she has an extensive background in just about every capacity, including as our longtime director of coaching. Additionally, she has an intimate knowledge of our program from the perspective of a parent, as her boys have played in the foundation for many years.”

Frolunda HC defenseman Andreas Borgman took over Frolunda’s social media team’s camera for one Tweet’s worth of images, and the first one shows Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond hanging out in Gothenburg, with Liam Dower Nilsson shown on the ice in the third picture:

Andreas Borgman agerade fotograf under herrarnas ispass idag✌️ pic.twitter.com/gegv5edhsp— Frölunda HC (@frolunda_hc) August 29, 2022

Nice snag by the Winged Wheel Podcast gang: