The second day of Derek Lalonde’s tenure as the Red Wings’ head coach basically built upon the first day’s worth of teaching and introducing the Red Wings’ players to a new system of defensive play.
Once again, the Red Wings’ 67 roster players were divided into three groups, Team Lindsay, Team Howe, and Team Delvecchio, but the coaching staff chose to change up Team Lindsay, which practices from 8:30 until 9:30. They swapped out most of the try-outs and Grand Rapids Griffins-bound prospects and players, who spent the day on Team Howe or Team Delvecchio, the two “big club-bound” practice squads.
As a result, the practices had something of a different flavor, with lines changed up and Tyler Bertuzzi absent due to a “flare-up” which coach Lalonde said he was made aware of only an hour before practice began. It’s believed that Bertuzzi will be fine, but that’s a situation worth monitoring.
Anyway, as was the case on Thursday, injured skaters Andrew Copp, Jake Walman, Jake Uberti and Tnias Mathurin took to the ice for an 8 AM skate, and they were joined by injured goaltender John Lethemon. They worked with Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon, player development consultant Dwayne Blais, and Griffins goaltending coach Brian Mahoney-Wilson.
Once again, the other injured players, including Oskar Sundqvist (undisclosed), Mark Pysyk (Achilles) and Robby Fabbri (ACL) were able to take part in both Team Lindsay and Team Delvecchio’s particularly lengthy video sessions.
Without getting too technical, Team Lindsay’s drills involved a lot of “tracking,” where players would “pick up” their opponents through the neutral zone and track them back into the defensive zone.
There were still a lot of two-on-none’s to warm up the goaltenders, more situational “square up to your opponent” drills where faceoffs in the offensive zone yielded controlled 5-on-5 situations, and layering of screens in front of the goaltenders to emphasize zone entries, but there were more battles between players, and even the condensed one-hour practice hinted at the course of things to come.
Team Delvecchio hit the ice at 9:25 AM, after a very lengthy 15-minute video session, and the first of the two “big groups” (with Team Howe being the late morning/early afternoon one) began with breakouts and layered 2-on-1’s and 3-on-2’s…
But more and more regularly, coach Lalonde’s drills began to focus on tracking through the neutral zone and battling through that tracking to try and score goals.
I noted that the drills were totally new to me, and that means they were totally new to the players as well.
It’s also worth noting that on Friday, only coach Lalonde and his staff–assistant coaches Bob Boughner, Alex Tanguay, Jay Varady, goaltending coach Alex Westlund and video coaches LJ Scarpace and Jeff Weintraub were the ones doing the drills.
Tanguay did a lot of the teaching, in fact, while Toledo Walleye coach Dan Watson, assistant coach Alden Hirschfeld, and Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon watched from the concourse surrounding the rink.
After a second video session, the drills became a little repetitious as checking got heavier and heavier, and I noted that in the corner battles and down low behind the net, players were being given more and more license to be particularly physical with each other. It was fun to watch Moritz Seider stick his butt out to protect the puck, Robert Hagg lay a couple of guys out, and players generally bump and grind, but defenseman Ben Chiarot was barely contained in terms of his raw physicality, really staying just on the line between playing aggressively and beginning to injure people.
The final drill was very strange to me–I’ve never seen coaches take the nets off their moorings, place them in the faceoff circles, and then tell players to battle from the nets to the half wall and goal line, but that’s what happened, and the “diagonal net” drills presented a tremendous around of rough play and heavy battles for the puck.
It was fun to watch the entire team really take on a harder-nosed edge in terms of attacking and defending, and the level of competition exceeded the levels of physicality that were witnessed.
Team Howe replicated Team Delvecchio’s drills in earnest, and Dylan Larkin of all people led the charge when it came to being particularly tenacious in puck battles, and, somewhat surprisingly, Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson stood out in terms of their competitiveness as well.
If the first day was an “impress your teacher” affair, the second day built upon the first while truly opening the gates to full-out competition for jobs and competition for pucks in a way that I’ve never really seen in a Red Wings training camp, and it was both exciting and a little scary to see the players follow Chiarot and Larkin’s leads and ride that fine line between competing and “hitting to hurt.”
This year’s team is going to have more fire and compete, and that’s a very deliberate decision by the coaching staff and players to embrace a harder-playing mentality.
I can’t wait to see some of the Wings’ more physical and tenacious players put their new lesson plan to use against opponents who they can really hit.
In terms of impressions and assessments of the Red Wings’ participating players, on a “team by team” basis…
TEAM LINDSAY
Forwards:
#22 Matt Luff: Luff remains something of an unknown quantity to me, but the 6’3,” 212-pound 25-year-old tends to point about a point per game at the AHL level, and then handles himself quite capably as a depth forward at the NHL level, and he’s been big, physical and useful as a bit of a sniper. I’m not certain where his ceiling is, but at 25, he’s pretty much headed to Grand Rapids for now.
#56 Pasquale Zito: Zito skated this morning with Team Lindsay, and he continues to display strong physicality as a 19-year-old who stands 6’1″ and 181 pounds, but the 2021 draft pick is still a little bit too happy to commit to physicality at the expense of his very solid puck-moving abilities as a pesky little center, and if he were a little less preoccupied with finishing every check, he’d be a more effective offensive producer. We’ll see how he fares when he’s playing for the Niagara IceDogs this upcoming season.
#62 Drew Worrad**: Grand Rapids Griffins-bound, the 25-year-old stands a stout 6’1″ and 186 pounds, and the Western Michigan University graduate is conscientious and diligent at playing a hard-working, two-way game. He’ll be battling against a gaggle of grinders in Grand Rapids for a spot, but I would not bet against the strong-skating forward who wore an alternate captain’s “A” in the prospect tournament.
#72 Trenton Bliss**: Bliss is another Griffins-contracted player who’s turning pro this season. The Michigan Tech graduate posted a point per game at the NCAA level, but the 6’1,” 193-pound 24-year-old is going to have to embrace a more spare game at the AHL level in order to “grab a spot” on the Griffins. He’s got a good goal-scorer’s touch, skates well and plays hard.
#74 Cross Hanas: If I may be blunt, the 20-year-old Hanas was a little pissed off that he’d been demoted to the Wings’ third team today. The 6’1,” 180-pound winger is 20-and-a-half years old, and he’s going to be turning pro with the Griffins after posting an excellent 60 assists and 86 points in 63 WHL games this past season with the Portland Winterhawks. Hanas definitely buys his linemates time and space, and he’s got an edge to him in addition to being a superb passer, but Friday he was pretty grumpy to be up and on the ice at 8 AM. He’s a bright prospect, though.
#75 Cedric Lacroix**: The big 27-year-old rides shotgun at the AHL level, and the 6’1,” 187-pound Lacroix will serve what I can only describe as a necessary role with the Griffins. In the AHL, you’ve still gotta have gunners and rugged types, and that’s what Lacroix brings to the table.
#76 Tyler Spezia**: 29-year-old Tyler Spezia is one of a slate of small Grand Rapids Griffins forwards, and at 5’10” and 170 pounds, he won’t bowl anybody over, but the plucky forward posted 13 goals and 35 points in 74 AHL games last season, and he’s looked efficient, sharp and speedy in limited viewing. The Griffins seem to bring the most out of smaller players, and he’s one of the veterans who will be pushing the Red Wings’ youngsters.
#83 Marcus Limpar-Lantz: The 19-year-old Limpar-Lantz has been dominant at the Swedish J20 level with Orebro, and the 6,’ 188-pound forward is coming over to North America to try his hand at the OHL game with the ever-contending Erie Otters. The free agent invite was “just okay” during the prospect tournament, but he does possess solid offensive chops in a right-shooting package, and he’ll be a better player for having participated in the prospect tournament and main training camp.
#84 Julien Anctil*: I’ve been less certain about Anctil, a 21-year-old free agent invite from the QMJHL’s Sherbrooke Phoenix, who stands at 6’2″ and only 177 lanky pounds. Anctil posted a point per game at the QMJHL level, and he’s speedy enough and carries the puck well enough, but he’s not looked fantastic as a fourth-line center at the prospect tournament, nor has he been a standout in training camp. He’s got an extra pandemic year’s worth of eligibility to play in the “Q,” and he’ll have to maintain his form, if not exceed it.
#87 Jacob Mathieu*: One more QMJHL-based free agent invite, the 18-year-old Mathieu was passed over in his draft year because he’s 5’10” and 177 pounds and only posted a point every other game with Rimouski. He’s been somewhat quiet, and while he’s got jam, he’s also only 18 and still growing into his body, so there’s a little more developmental runway for him to go back to the “Q” with.
#94 Mitchell Martin*: The free agent invite from the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers is big at 6’3″ and 199 pounds, and the 19-year-old wasn’t picked at 18 because the OHL didn’t play during the 2020-2021 season due to the pandemic. He’s physical and tough at times, but inconsistent in the application of his physical gifts. So he’ll head back to the OHL and will look to develop into a more consistent player.
Defensemen:
#49 Seth Barton: Barton and Wyatt Newpower are in tough spots this year. For both players, there’s a push of European defensemen on the Grand Rapids Griffins who want the jobs and/or ice time that Barton and Newpower currently earn, and the right-shooting defensemen are going to have to buck up and fight for their spots on the team as a result. In Barton’s case, the 23-year-old defenseman stands at 6’3″ and 194 pounds, and he’s got some AHL experience on his side, but he’s also played at the ECHL level, and the Red Wings may end up sending the physical but skilled defender down to Toledo if Albert Johansson, Eemil Viro and Simon Edvinsson all earn spots in Grand Rapids. Barton isn’t too old to be considered a prospect at 23, but his developmental runway i short.
#77 Oscar Plandowski: The 19-year-old Plandowski has looked solid overall over the course of the prospect tournament and main training camp. 6′ and 186 pounds, the right-shooting Charlottetown Islanders defenseman skates fantastically well, and he possesses a strong shot, good passing skills and he’s physical enough to get by, but the young man has yet to assemble a full toolbox with which to utilize his gifts, and, as a result, he hasn’t produced many points at the QMJHL level. The son of a pro skating coach and the director of amateur scouting for the Arizona Coyotes, he’s got the genetics and knowledge to succeed, as well as the talent to do so; it’s just a matter of bringing the disparate parts of his game together.
Goaltenders:
#31 Andrew Oke*: The free agent invite had an up-and-down prospect tournament, and the 18-year-old native of Shelby Township was passed over in his draft year because the rebuilding Saginaw Spirit weren’t very good. 6’2″ and 202 pounds, Oke is big enough and hard-working enough to develop into a professional prospect at some point, but even as hard as he’s worked with the Red Wings’ goaltending coaches, and as strong as he looked during the World Juniors, he’s probably headed back to Saginaw for another developmental season.
#33 Sebastian Cossa: How do you test the maturity of a player who’s working on putting his game together? Demote him! That was my theory as to why Cossa, who’s trying to break into the professional ranks at 19 years of age, was “sent down” to Team Lindsay. And the 6’6,” 229-pound Cossa was not particularly happy about not skating with the NHL’ers. He’s matured mentally and physically by leaps and bounds, but the ego bruise seemed to have him dropping to his knees early and losing some of that newly-found patience and poise with which he’s really developed into a strong NHL prospect. He’s still the massive and massively-talented goaltender that he was on Thursday, but there were occasions on Friday where his poise lapsed and he gave up some softer variety goals in practice as a result of dropping to his knees too early. Cossa sort of fought himself on Friday, and that was a strange battle to witness, but we must all deal with adversity in our own ways.
Injured reserve:
#61 Jake Uberti*: I can’t complain about what I’ve seen from the 6’2,” 197-pound free agent invite from Mississauga of the OHL in very limited viewing, but the emphasis for the forward who was out for the prospect tournament with an injury is in very limited viewing, because I’ve seen the 20-year-old skate for all of an hour now, with the Wings’ injured players in the early morning. He’s going to head back to Mississauga and attempt to sort himself out.
#68 John Lethemon**: The Red Wings conceivably signed the 26-year-old ECHL veteran because the 6’3,” 189-pound Lethemon is a solid performer at the ECHL level, but he’s injured, which is one of the reasons why the Toledo Walleye signed two goaltenders today. That complicates both the paths of Lethemon and Sebastian Cossa, but one way or another, talent will win out.
#95 Tnias Mathurin: Just 18, the 2022 draft pick and 6’3,” 201-pound defenseman from the OHL’s North Bay Battalion hasn’t been able to skate at all during the prospect tournament or training camp, and that’s too bad, because I had some lingering questions as to whether the summer development camp participant was drafted simply as a depth defender, or whether there was more to his game. We’ll find out over the next couple of seasons.
TEAM DELVECCHIO:
Forwards:
#15 Jakub Vrana: 26-year-old Jakub Vrana kind of let it slip this past summer that he’d been battling shoulder issues for two years prior to having surgery to rectify his shoulder problems just under one year ago, and while on one hand, it’s great to just have the 6,’ 190-pound winger healthy, the Red Wings want more out of him than a potential 30+ goal season. Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde was very serious when he suggested that Vrana has to be able to do more away from the puck, and I agree; the fleet-footed Vrana is truly a difference-maker when he jabs the puck in the back of the net with ease, but he’s got to be more than his skating, shooting and passing skills, all of which are elite. He needs to be able to back-check harder and compete for 50-50 pucks more regularly. I believe that he can succeed in rounding out his game.
#21 Austin Czarnik: The 29-year-old Czarnik is only 5’9″ and 170 pounds, but the Detroit native was signed because he’s a point-per-game player at the AHL level who happens to be able to come up to the NHL and play solid, strong minutes as a 3rd or 4th line center in a pinch. Sometimes you need those kinds of players as depth skaters, and there was a “fit” here for both parties, so here he is.
#25 Taro Hirose: The 26-year-old Hirose is in a different situation. 5’10” and 162 pounds, Hirose can post an assist per game–or nearly so–at the AHL level, but his size, or, more specifically, his inability to overcome the lack of it, has held him back from earning a spot at the NHL level. As of right now, Hirose looks to be a career-long AHL player, but it’s up to Taro to prove that he can not only pass, but also pass the test of holding up physically at the NHL level.
#27 Michael Rasmussen: Rasmussen seems set to blossom, or at least plateau, at the NHL level as a 23-year-old. 6’6″ and 211 pounds, the big center may end up as the Red Wings’ resident fourth-line center, should every center on the team be healthy come opening night, but he’s also been centering Jakub Vrana and David Perron in Andrew Copp’s absence, suggesting that the Red Wings’ new coach believes that the smart-skating, hard-working and dedicated Rasmussen can do more than check. He can indeed shoot and pass superbly, he’s conscientious defensively, and he can be used as a net-front screen on the power play. Whether he puts the disparate parts of his game together will be up to him.
#42 Kyle Criscuolo: The 30-year-old Criscuolo is another one of those small forwards that the Grand Rapids Griffins have accumulated as scoring players. 5’9″ and 167 pounds, the small center posts 40+ points per season in the AHL, playing a determined two-way game, and the plucky Criscuolo earned a two-way contract when he came back to Detroit after trying his hand at earning NHL spots in Buffalo and Philadelphia. He’s just a useful player at the AHL level who can play NHL minutes in a pinch.
#48 Givani Smith: Givani is at a real crossroads in his career at 24 years of age. The 6’2,” 214-pound scrapper and energy forward does a fine job of scraping up opponents and scrapping with them, but he has yet to display the kinds of offensive talent that he displays in practices and exhibition games on a consistent basis, and as a player who’s somewhat limited in his role, and penalty-prone on top of that, he can be both an asset and a liability. He’s going to have to fight smartly for a fourth-line spot this year, or he’ll be waived.
#50 Dominik Shine**: 29 and AHL-contracted, Shine posts 20 to 35 points at the AHL level while playing a strong checking game, and the 5’11,” 175-pound winger from Pinckney, Michigan has been with the Red Wings or Griffins’ organization throughout his professional career. Sometimes the grass isn’t greener on the other side, and that’s the case for the hard-working, dependable Shine.
#52 Jonatan Berggren: Now 22 and standing at 5’11” and 197 stout pounds, Berggren has grown up and grown into his body over the past couple of seasons, and his 64-point North American pro debut with Grand Rapids served notice to the Red Wings’ third and fourth-line forwards that there’s another slick-passing, smart-shooting forward coming up the ranks. Berggren used to shy away from physical contact, and now the tenacious forward seems to seek it out because he can win the physical battles that once dogged him. That’s good to see.
#57 David Perron: Perron is 34 now, but there’s no reason to believe that the 6’1,” 196-pound winger and free agent signing is going to do anything less than produce somewhere around 20 goals and 50 to 60 points this upcoming season, because that’s what he’s done for the past three years. The smart shooter and “sneaky dirty” competitor will provide the Red Wings with pluck, poise and leadership as well, and the Wings have probably needed a player like Perron for a long time now.
#58 Riley Piercey*: The 20-year-old free agent invite from the Flint Firebirds earned a promotion to one of the NHL-level teams for at least one day, and he performed fairly well, all things considered. 6’3″ and 193 pounds, Piercey posted 58 points in 59 games for Flint this past season, and while he scored 4 goals in one prospect tournament game, and had a fight in another, I think that he’s displayed enough inconsistency and jitters at times in terms of his enthusiasm to generate physical play that he’s going to go back to Flint for at least another season of development. He’s still a potential power forward in the making, but he’s got some rough edges and inconsistencies to his game.
#81 Dominik Kubalik: The Red Wings took a chance on the 27-year-old Czech hoping that the 6’2,” 190-pound winger would display more of the form he displayed as a 30-goal-scoring rookie as opposed to the 32 goals he’s scored over the two subsequent seasons. Perhaps best-suited as a 3rd line winger, Kubalik is a sniper and perhaps a poor man’s Jakub Vrana, fairly fleet of foot and able to fire pucks into the net with strong wrist and snap shots. He’ll most likely be paired with former Blackhawks teammate Pius Suter on the third line, and that’s a good spot for him to be.
#90 Joe Veleno: Veleno may be in a fight for a fourth-line spot and perhaps something more as a 22-year-old who’s no longer a rookie, but is still waiver-exempt and able to be sent to Grand Rapids, should he falter in his attempts to earn an NHL job this fall. 6’1″ and 203 pounds, Veleno is a strong skater and possesses a strong all-round offensive game, but he’s never been able to reproduce his prolific QMJHL scoring, and the Red Wings need Veleno to figure out what he is, be it scorer, grinder, or somewhere in between.
Defensemen:
#8 Ben Chiarot: The 31-year-old Chiarot may not be a top-pair defenseman on most teams, but on the rebuilding Red Wings, he may slot in perfectly next to Moritz Seider, and that may be because the 6’3,” 232-pound Chiarot is mean. He’s really played on the absolute edge between being a tough practice player and hitting to hurt his opponents, and that kind of ornery, take-no-prisoners defensive play is something that could very well complement Seider’s superb two-way game. Chiarot has apparently been something of a “leader in the room,” too.
#20 Albert Johansson: Johansson’s trying to break into North American hockey at 21 after a successful, SHL Championship-winning season this past year with Farjestads BK. 6′ and 184 pounds, Johansson is an elegant skater, he’s got superb gap control and can actually throw a hard bodycheck or two, but his main skills involve his excellent stick in terms of its poke checking and shot-blocking abilities, his elegant passing skills and his hard, accurate shot, all placed upon a fine set of skating wheels. He’s not big, but he’s determined and poised.
#32 Brian Lashoff**: The Grand Rapids Griffins’ captain is AHL-contracted, but the Red Wings have signed him to pro try-outs in the past in order to utilize the 32-year-old as a depth defenseman in a pinch. At the AHL level, the 6’3,” 210-pound Lashoff is a Jack of All Trades defenseman who plays on the power play, the penalty kill, when the team needs to take a lead, defend a lead, or try to score a tying goal in the last minute of regulation. He’s an incredibly admirable person, too, which is why he wears the “C.”
#44 Donovan Sebrango: Sebrango could be a sort of Lashoff-plus. The 20-year-old defenseman has 96 games of AHL experience to his credit, and the 6’1,” 197-pound defensive defenseman is spare but steady, and rough and tumble, another defenseman who possesses a fine stick that he uses to steer passes wide, block shots and send fine passes and a low shot toward opposing goaltenders. Sebrango plays in the Brad Stuart mold, if not Bob Rouse’s, and he’s an intriguing prospect.
#47 Wyatt Newpower: At 24 going on 25 this December, Newpower inhabits that nether region between prospect and project. 6’3″ and 207 pounds, he’s big and tough and useful at the AHL level, and he and Seth Barton represent a pair of players who are going to have to play their tails off in order to keep Johansson and Eemil Viro from stealing their jobs.
#53 Moritz Seider: I will readily admit that there are still times that Seider’s poise and skill levels leave my jaw on the floor. The 21-year-old is just immensely talented, and on top of that, supremely comfortable in his own skin, so the 6’4,” 204-pound defenseman with the elegant skating skills, tremendous stick, underratedly sneaky physical play and tremendous shooting and passing abilities still surprises me. The young man is incredibly skilled and incredibly hard-working, as well as calm and confident in who he is, and when you combine that trio of skill sets, you get one hell of a defenseman.
#63 Jeremie Biakabutuka*: 20-year-old Jeremie Biakabutuka is probably headed back to the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders, from whence the free agent try-out came, but he impressed the Red Wings enough that he earned a promotion from the non-NHL team to Team Delvecchio for a day. 6’4″ and 201 pounds, the young man still defers too much to his teammates, but when the big defenseman plays his own game, he’s an effective two-way physical defenseman with some panache to his game.
#82 Jordan Oesterle: The 30-year-old Oesterle was thrust into a role as the Red Wings’ first-pair partner for Seider last season, and that’s probably not fair to the 6,’ 187-pound defenseman, but Oesterle was the best left-side defender the Wings had, so over the boards he went. Perhaps better suited to a second or third-pair role, he’s going to be fighting for his job against Simon Edvinsson, and the spare, simple and steady Oesterle will have to find another level of consistency to keep his spot in the lineup.
Goaltenders:
#39 Alex Nedeljkovic: The 26-year-old Nedeljkovic is only still an NHL sophomore, technically speaking, and the 6,’ 208-pound goaltender isn’t big by today’s NHL standards, but he’s tremendously flexible in terms of knowing when to utilize a strong technical game and when to utilize superb reflexes to throw the book of fundamentals out the window and flop and flail to make spectacular stops. He still needs to work on making an extra stop from time to time, but overall, I believe that he and Ville Husso give the Wings a strong netminding tandem.
#45 Jussi Olkinuora: Olkinuora is a real wild card here. NHL-contracted, but probably AHL bound, the 31-year-old won the MVP of the 2022 Olympics as a Gold Medal-winning Finn, and he decided to give North American hockey another try after playing for Magnitogorsk of the KHL this past season. Massive at 6’3″ and 202 pounds, he’s an intriguingly bouncy butterfly goaltender who knows when to use his size and when to use his principled play to make stops.
Injured reserve:
#14 Robby Fabbri: Fabbri is conceivably out until January-ish as he’s had ACL repair surgery, and the 5’11,” 185-pound winger still needs to take that next step in terms of establishing himself as a 20-goal-scorer, but, with the right linemates, I believe that Fabbri can find that consistency in his plucky sniper’s game yet.
#70 Oskar Sundqvist: Rough and tumble like a Tonka Truck, the 6’3,” 220-pound Sundqvist came over from St. Louis in the Nick Leddy trade last season, and he’s going to form a fantastic pairing with big Michael Rasmussen on what will probably be the Red Wings’ “checking line.” Sundqvist plays spare, steady and tough, and he’s an excellent two-way forward with a physical flair.
#96 Jake Walman: The other component of the Nick Leddy trade, Walman is out until at least November after having had shoulder surgery, but the 6’2,” 215-pound defenseman is a superb skater with a hard shot and strong passing skills, and the 26-year-old should fit right back into the Wings’ “top four,” if not their “top six.”
TEAM HOWE:
Forwards:
#11 Filip Zadina: 22 going on 23 this November, Zadina is another player who faces a reckoning of a sort this season. The 6,’ 190-pound winger has looked very solid and snipe-y in training camp, but he may end up playing on the Red Wings’ third or fourth line to start the upcoming season, and he may end up as an extra forward if the 2018 first-round pick doesn’t display the kind of tenacity to match his scoring abilities that the Red Wings have hoped he would bring to the game. It’s gonna be an uphill climb for Zadina, who is of course often his own harshest critic.
#23 Lucas Raymond: All of 20 years old, Lucas Raymond is coming off a 23-goal, 57-point season, and everyone is expecting more from the supremely talented 5’11,” 176-pound winger, including Raymond himself. He’s been particularly dogged on the puck during training camp, hacking and whacking at rebounds and battling his tail off to ensure that he’s the one tucking in that extra goal. Possessing excellent skating skills, great shooting and passing abilities and superb “hockey sense,” Raymond has done more than scratch the surface of his talent reserves, but he seems to believe that there’s more tenacity and consistency to give. Cool.
#24 Pius Suter: Now 26 years old, maybe the 5’11,” 179-pound Suter is best suited to playing on the “third line” with Dominik Kubalik as his winger. Suter wasn’t quite up to the task of playing as a stalwart second-line center behind Dylan Larkin, but get him away from some of those prime-time match-ups and heavy checking lines, and perhaps he’ll display more of the promise he did when he was centering Chicago’s third line. He’s a plucky waterbug who knows how to set up his teammates and snipe occasional goals himself, he wins faceoffs when not overpowered, and the Wings’ improved depth can only help his game blossom.
#26 Pontus Andreasson: The Red Wings signed the just-turned-24-years-of-age free agent from Lulea of the SHL because the 5’10,” 183-pound winger has remarkable sniper’s hands. He’s small and stocky, but man, can the little dude shoot, and he’s been sneaky superb in training camp, at least from a goal-scoring perspective. Whether he can keep up with the bump and grind of North American professional hockey while en route to scoring gorgeous goals is up to him.
#46 Chase Pearson: Pearson, now 25, understands that he’s going to make the NHL as a checking forward, and the 6’2,” 200-pound center was just developing into that kind of forward when he had to step away from the team due to personal reasons. He’ll head to Grand Rapids when he comes back and he’ll work his tail off to advance to the NHL level.
#59 Tyler Bertuzzi: It’s a pivotal year for Tyler Bertuzzi, too. The 27-year-old is coming off a career-best 30-goal season, he’s going to be an unrestricted free agent next summer, and the 6’1,” 186-pound winger is plucky as hell, beloved by his teammates, and facing an uncertain future here. It’s up to both Bertuzzi and the Red Wings to determine whether his “competitive window” and that of the team coincide, and if it does, that’s great! If not, the Wings will try to move their pugnacious power forward.
#67 Joel L’Esperance**: Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted, the Red Wings signed the 27-year-old to an AHL deal because the 6’2,” 21-pound winger scores 40 to 50 points at the AHL level. On a Grand Rapids Griffins team that needs scoring, L’Esperance is a safe bet to generate points and score 20+ goals. Thus far, in training camp, he’s been solid, albeit not spectacular.
#71 Dylan Larkin: The exciting part of watching Dylan Larkin compete at training camp is the fact that the 26-year-old captain believes that he can still be a better, more consistent and more well-rounded player. Standing at 6’1″ and 198 pounds, and coming off a career-best 31-goal, 69-point season, Larkin is a lot like his younger charges in Raymond and Seider in that he is ultra-competitive, supremely dedicated to the game he loves, and proactive when it comes to protecting his teammates’ best interests. Larkin is an active captain and a fine #1 center with speed to burn, scoring and passing abilities galore and a real edge to him.
#74 Adam Erne: The Red Wings are a franchise at an inflection point, so perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised that the team has so many players who face career crossroads. The 27-year-old Erne faces a difficult year in terms of attempting to find consistent power forward’s form while possibly being relegated to the Red Wings’ checking line. The 6’1,” 212-pound forward just hasn’t hit the back of the net consistently enough, nor has he been consistently physical enough to merit more playing time, and it’s time that Erne staked his claim upon a competitive spot on the Wings’ roster.
#78 Amadeus Lombardi: All of 19 and 5’10” and 165 pounds, the Flint Firebirds center has been nothing short of a small revelation. The fearless little bugger played seamlessly alongside Elmer Soderblom at the prospect tournament, and at training camp, the speedy scorer has given much bigger and more established players no quarter. He’s not been revelatory in that regard, but he’s still been competitive and tenacious, and that’s great to see from an enthusiastic player who may defy the odds in a big way.
#79 Kirill Tyutyayev**: At 22 years of age, the Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted winger needs to start taking some of those sublime dekes and dangles and deposit them into the back of the net, because glorious moves will make you internet famous, but they won’t get you to the NHL unless you can finish them. 5’9″ and 178 pounds, Tyutyayev has a similar kind of fearless play to Lombardi, but Tyutyayev is a little too focused on generating gorgeous goals over goals, period, and that’s a detriment to a fine game.
#85 Elmer Soderblom: At 21 years of age, Soderblom’s coming over to try his hand at North American hockey after successful seasons with Frolunda HC of the SHL, and the 6’8,” 246-pound Soderblom has already displayed close to NHL-ready form. Blessed with a gigantic reach and the skating skills of a much smaller, more nimble man, Soderblom uses his wingspan to generate scoring chances for teammates, and he’s pretty damn good at taking the puck to the net all on his own. He’s not physical per se, but being a big man means that he’s able to win physical battles for the puck, and he’s a tremendous screen on the power play as well. It’s a question of when he’s going to be ready for the NHL, not whether or if he will ever be ready.
#86 Ivan Ivan*: Ivan Ivan didn’t look too out of place with the big boys, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the 6,’ 199-pound forward needs to go back to Cape Breton of the QMJHL and play at least one more season of Major Junior in order to find his finishing touch. He’s certainly skilled in terms of his skating, his dekes and dangles (though not of Tyutyayev caliber) and passing skills, but he’s a goal-scorer who doesn’t score goals, and that’s a bit of a problem.
Defensemen:
#2 Olli Maatta: The 28-year-old Maatta really is something of a human eraser. The 6’2,” 207-pound free agent signing isn’t necessarily an elegant defenseman, and he isn’t going to make many highlight reels, but he’s going to stop opponent scoring chances through fine skating, great positioning and “reads,” a smart stick and an occasional body check. He’s a blue-collar Finnish defenseman.
#3 Simon Edvinsson: More than anything, I’m encouraged by the fact that Simon Edvinsson is tremendously interested in learning how to play defense, because that’s all that separates the 19-year-old from being NHL-ready. Massive at 6’6″ and 209 pounds and able to all but float on the ice thanks to remarkable skating skills, he’s sublimely talented in terms of his passing game and shooting skills, he sees the ice superbly, his gap control is great, his stick can be utilized as a defensive weapon, and he’s physical at times. But he needs to bear down and become a competitive defender, and his teammates and management apparently realize that, and have told him that his tenacity is what’s going to get him to the NHL.
#17 Filip Hronek: 24 until November, Hronek, perhaps like Oesterle, is better-suited to being a second-pair defender than the Wings’ de-facto #1 defenseman. 6′ and 190 pounds, Filip still possesses an excellent stick, a hard shot, smart passing skills, he skates very well and he’s got a real edge to him, but he can be inconsistent at times, and he has to find his own brand of edge in order to really succeed at the NHL level on a consistent basis.
#28 Gustav Lindstrom: The 23-year-old Lindstrom is very quietly in a fight for his career right now. Not huge at 6’2″ and 186 pounds, but very solid, it appears that Lindstrom put on some mass this past summer, and he looks stronger and less likely to be overpowered physically in one-on-one battles for the puck, and he’s utilizing his skating and passing abilities to move the puck a little more crisply. There are people after his third-pair job, and he’s going to have to quietly out-compete them.
#38 Robert Hagg: The 27-year-old Hagg is one of those competitors. The Red Wings signed the 6’2,” 210-pound Hagg when Mark Pysyk tore his Achilles tendon, and Hagg has been a heavy hitter thus far with strong mobility and a solid puck-moving game. He’s just a rugged fellow, and that spells trouble for his competitors.
#41 Jared McIsaac: A bit of a forgotten prospect at only 22, McIsaac has a Sebrango-like game with a little less flair for the bombastic physicality, and his quietly efficient game is still near-NHL caliber. 6’1″ and 197 pounds, McIsaac gives no quarter to anyone, and he’s just a really solid two-way defenseman who has had to recover from two shoulder surgeries.
#51 Eemil Viro: Both Eemil Viro and Albert Johansson are going to have to fight for spots in Grand Rapids, and while neither player is particularly physical, fight they will. At 20 years of age, Viro comes from the superbly successful TPS Turku program in Finland, and he’s not big at 6′ and 177 pounds, but the wiry little bugger possesses an immaculately-sharp, short stick that elegantly pokes away scoring chances, blocks shots, steers passes wide, and sets up plays or fires hard shots of his own. He skates very well and aims his hips in the direction of the puck, and as a result, he “tracks” superbly.
#54 Steven Kampfer: 33 going on 34 tomorrow and full of experience, the 5’11,” 198-pound Kampfer has been around the block a couple of times, and the Ann Arbor native chose to come back to Michigan and play for what will probably be a growing Grand Rapids team after spending the past season in Kazan of the KHL. Kampfer actually had a 30-point season in 46 games this past season, so he had an offensive explosion after being a single-point scorer for many seasons. He’ll be happy to be closer to home, and he’s a tough little bugger, too.
Goaltenders:
#34 Victor Brattstrom: The 25-year-old Brattstrom had a rough season with Grand Rapids this past season, but the Red Wings brought the 6’5,” 182-pound goaltender with fantastic reflexes and a still-evolving sense of where exactly his net is behind him back for another try. Brattstrom is still sorting out his training as a puck-blocking, reflexes-first netminder with the principled, poised goaltender that the Wings’ goaltending coaches have trained him to become. As a result, he’s a bit complicated in terms of consistency, and he’s got to find his comfort zone to succeed as a pro.
#35 Ville Husso: 27-year-old Ville Husso is coming to Detroit to get out of Jordan Binnington’s shadow and to start his own netminding legacy. 6’3″ and 200 pounds, Husso is remarkably flexible and supremely lanky, so he can flop and flail when necessary, but he also plays a principled butterfly game that’s superbly technical and downright elegant at times to watch. He and Nedeljkovic have some things in common when it comes to knowing when to make the principled stop and when to just throw the manual out of the window.
#60 Jan Bednar: Bednar got a promotion to one of the NHL-bound teams for a day, and he looked okay–just okay–in the net. There are times that the 6’4,” 199-pound Acadie-Bathurst Titan goaltender is just remarkably poised, and/or he’ll make remarkable saves with fantastic netminding abilities, but at the same time, he can be particularly inconsistent, and he struggles with himself from time to time. He needs to find some poise.
Injured reserve:
#18 Andrew Copp: The 28-year-old Copp will miss the preseason as he recovers from abdominal surgery, and that’s not ideal for a player getting used to a new team, but the 6’1,” 199-pound center who blossomed offensively in New York after blossoming defensively in Winnipeg should be okay. He’s looked mobile, smart, certain of himself as an older player and as a late-bloomer during morning practices, and he’s got a good shot, a strong passing skill and he likes to tip pucks and go to the front of the net to jab rebounds home.
#43 Mark Pysyk: The 30-year-old Pysyk was signed because he is a rock-solid defensive defenseman, but the 6’1,” 205-pound defender soon tore his Achilles tendon, and he’s not playing yet, though he appears to be able to work out, if only on a limited basis. As I said yesterday, he’ll be coming back toward the middle of the season, when teams begin to really accumulate injuries, so he’ll be necessary by then.
*= Training camp invite, **= Grand Rapids Griffins contract
As you know by now, I’m doing this for both fun and money, and the money part comes from you. I’ve received some remarkably generous donations on Friday, so I only have about $400 to make to pay off my hotel bill, and a few hundred after that to get home, so I have to ask.
If you’re are willing or able to lend a fundraising assist, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums” (an old nickname).
