Tweet of note: Donovan Sebrango earns an alternate captain’s ‘A’ for Canada’s World Junior team

This is pretty cool, via the Grand Rapids Griffins:

Captains for #WorldJuniors… 🇨🇦

C: Mason McTavish (@HEOhockey)
A: Kent Johnson (@BCHockey_Source)
A: Donovan Sebrango (@OHFHockey)

Hear from Captain Canada! 🗣️👇 pic.twitter.com/OXvrPsNRmj— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) August 2, 2022

DHN’s Allen profiles Dylan James

The Red Wings are believed to have made a bit of a reach in picking 6,’ 181-pound left wing Dylan James with the 40th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. It’s a little early to say whether the young winger with Carter Mazur’s scrappy competitiveness will pan out as a second-round pick, but Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a profile of James this afternoon:

United States Hockey Rookie of Year. Picked in the second round by the Detroit Red Wings. Named as a late addition to the Canadian National Junior Team.

Red Line Report Chief Scout Kyle Woodlief said James was the “fastest riser on our list in the season’s second half.”

This Calgary native James will take plenty of momentum into North Dakota next season.

This is what Red Line Report’s assessment of Dylan James’ season: “Came on like gangbusters down the stretch. One of the keys to the Sioux’s shocking run to the championship…Second half offensive production was off the chart.”

Red Line Report is into its third decade of evaluating players and the independent scouting review sees James as a “big-game” performer, similar in style to Ondrej Palat. It’s interesting to note that Yzerman was Tampa Bay’s GM when the team drafted Palat.

Continued; he’s plucky, he’s got a good skill set, but he’s raw as raw can be, so we’ll see what the University of North Dakota can do for his development.

Red Wings Alumni game vs. ‘Yoopers United’ tickets will go on sale Thursday, August 4th

WLUC TV 6’s Matt Price reports that the Red Wings Alumni Association’s game against a team of Yoopers representing the Marquette United Way this September are going on sale tomorrow:

On Saturday, Sep. 17, the team will be facing off against Yoopers United at Northern Michigan University’s Berry Events Center to raise money for United Way of Marquette County.

This event kicks off the nonprofit’s annual fundraising campaign. The funds raised will go to 28 different partnering organizations, including Room at the Inn, Women’s Center and Janzen House.

United Way is looking forward to having former players from the historic NHL team in the area.

“A lot of the hockey fans grew up watching these players, and now they’ll come here to play against them,” said Executive Director Andrew Rickauer. “A lot of the players on the local team are high school hockey players that went on to play at Northern or elsewhere.”

Tickets are $20.00 and will go on sale starting this Thursday. To purchase tickets, visit the Berry Events Center ticket office from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, or go to nmu.universitytickets.com.

To make a donation towards United Way’s annual campaign, visit uwmqt.org.

The Hockey News’s Ferrari examines the Wings’ prospect pool

The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari posted a prospect pool overview for the Red Wings this afternoon, and here’s a solid chunk of a very good introduction:

[GM Steve Yzerman’s] moves have often gone against consensus and have looked outstanding in hindsight. That begins with defenseman Mortiz Seider at sixth overall from the 2019 NHL draft. Since that pick, Seider has been a force in the AHL, SHL, and NHL, winning the Calder as the NHL’s top rookie in a runaway vote.

The Red Wings have gone from grasping at straws to make the playoffs towards the end of the Ken Holland years to building up one of the deeper prospect pools in the league. The Red Wings have used their top picks on players out of Europe in every draft that Yzerman has been a part of, and it’s hopeful that pays off.

After Seider in 2019, winger Lucas Raymond was drafted fourth overall in 2020 out of Sweden. The following year, defenseman and fellow Swede Simon Edvinson was selected in 2021. The 2022 draft didn’t defer from that trend, with center Marco Kasper’s name being called at eighth overall, who happened to play in Sweden.

The Red Wings done a masterful job of filling out their positional depth chart. The Red Wings traded up to take goaltender Sebastian Cossa at 15th overall in 2021 to fill that glaring hole in their prospect pool. In the four drafts that Yzerman has been at the helm, they have drafted a center, a winger, a right-shot defenseman, a left-shot defenseman, and a goalie in the top 15 picks of the draft.

The depth built out behind that group of high-end picks has been admirable as well. Jonatan Berggren, Liam Dower-Nilsson, and Carter Mazur highlight some of the depth names up front while William Wallinder and Albert Johansson are the names to watch on the back end. Jan Bednar provides some depth in net as well. The Red Wings management team has done a wonderful job of building out a strong stable for the future.

Continued

A friendly reminder that the Wings need to re-sign Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi this upcoming season

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a list of the top unrestricted free agents going into the summer of 2023, and he reminds us that two Red Wings players need to sign contract extensions before all is said and done:

Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings: Would the Michigan boy and team captain bolt just as things are starting to turn around? At some point, the guy who grew up cheering for Cup-winning clubs in Detroit is going to want some playoff action of his own beyond the five-game taste he got as a 19-year-old in 2016.

Larkin, who just turned 26 on July 30, would command all kinds of attention on the open market given what he’s achieved playing for subpar squads in Detroit. Still, it’s tough to imagine he doesn’t re-sign banking on the next chapter being far more enjoyable than the first seven years of his career.

Not included in Dixon’s list, of course, is one 27-year-old Tyler Bertuzzi, with whom the Red Wings also need to “fish or cut bait.”

The Hockey News on the Wings’ next ‘Reverse Retro’ jersey

I’m not a fan of this concept, but the Hockey News’s Avry Lewis-McDougall suggests that the next set of “Reverse Retro” jerseys from Adidas should include the Detroit Cougars logo:

The Red Wings To Return To the Detroit Cougars Logo: Among the first batch of reverse retros, a few stood out for how good they were, while others stood out for how underwhelming they were. Detroit fell into the latter. The jerseys looked very plain, and social media let it be known how they felt about a uniform that regularly polled among the league’s worst in 2020-21. 

Regarding what the team should do next, it’s time for the Wings to dig into a look they’ve yet to revive. Forget making a Detroit Falcons reverse retro or just using the Old English D letter on the front of a jersey, it’s time for the Red Wings to use an image that they haven’t worn since 1928-29.

The Wings haven’t worn the cougar head logo of their original identity in any throwback jersey, and keeping up with the reverse theme with the red cougar logo turned white on a red jersey would be a refreshing change. An updated twist on the cartoon cat is long overdue. 

Per the NHL Uniform Database website, this is what Avry’s referring to…

Continue reading The Hockey News on the Wings’ next ‘Reverse Retro’ jersey

Press Release: NHL Network to televise World Junior Championship from August 9th-20th

From the NHL Network:

NHL Network Announces Return of 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship Coverage and Game Broadcast Schedule

All World Junior Championship E.J. Hradek and Dave Starman to Call Every USA Game Throughout World Junior Championship; Games to Air Live on NHL Network Beginning Tuesday, August 9

NHL Network today announced it will provide complete coverage of the return of the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship, as it continues to serve as the exclusive U.S. TV home. Every World Junior Championship game telecast is set to air live, with comprehensive analysis, highlights, interviews and previews of the tournament from Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB, Canada, airing within the flagship studio show NHL Tonight and via @NHLNetwork on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

NHL Network’s E.J. Hradek is set to provide play-by-play for each USA game along with longtime NCAA hockey analyst Dave Starman and reporter Jon Rosen, beginning on Tuesday, August 9 at 10 p.m. ET when Team USA takes on Germany live from Rogers Place. NHL Network’s extensive coverage and game broadcast schedule begins earlier in the day next Tuesday with live telecasts of Slovakia vs. Czechia at 2 p.m. ET, followed by a Finland vs. Latvia matchup at 6 p.m. ET.

Continue reading Press Release: NHL Network to televise World Junior Championship from August 9th-20th

InGOAL Magazine posts a ‘Pro Reads’ article with Alex Nedeljkovic

InGOAL Magazine’s Kevin Woodley posted a subscriber-only “Pro Reads” article in which Alex Nedeljkovic explained how he breaks down plays made off the rush, and part of the article is available for everyone to read:

Alex Nedeljkovic is busy preparing for his second season with the Detroit Red Wings but here at InGoal Magazine we’re still working through his Pro Reads session from the previous summer while he was still stopping pucks for the Carolina Hurricanes. And while we are excited to move forward and hopefully break down footage of Ned wearing the Winged Wheel soon, we also don’t want to waste any of his insights from that original video sessions, in large part because they were so darn good. The jersey may be outdated, but the advice certainly isn’t.

Continued

Press release: Red Wings post promotional schedule; single-game tix on sale Friday

FYI:

Your 2022-23 theme nights and giveaways are in!

Yes… there are bobbleheads! đź‘€

🎉: https://t.co/K6Y9mlOYpo
🎟️: https://t.co/U5VWZdnVuh pic.twitter.com/MPnqWt5X53— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 2, 2022

Here’s the press release:

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings post promotional schedule; single-game tix on sale Friday