Month: September 2022

The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe, a.k.a. “Down Goes Brown,” posted a set of the “most intriguing names” to watch during the 2022-2023 NHL season, and he made a familiar pick for the Red Wings:

Moritz Seider, Red Wings: Can somebody be a sleeper Norris pick if just about everyone is picking them? No, of course not, but that won’t stop any of us. For years, the Norris was largely a lifetime achievement award, one that a defenseman would become eligible for after roughly a decade of dominance, often at the expense of younger and more deserving options. Not anymore, with Adam Fox and Cale Makar taking home the last too. So is Seider next? Maybe, although for this roster I’m going to put him on a pairing with another candidate…

Continued (paywall)…and he pairs Seider with Quinn Hughes, which is not surprised.

The Athletic asked its beat writers to answer one “burning question” in the fantasy hockey category for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and Max Bultman offered the following:

Detroit Red Wings: What does Moritz Seider have in him for an encore — and how many points will he hit?

It’s certainly not going to be easy for Seider to top his stellar rookie season, in which he chipped in 50 points from the blue line en route to the Calder Trophy. But if he’s going to top it, it has to start with an improved Red Wings power play. Detroit converted on just 16.3 percent of its man-advantage opportunities a year ago, and while Seider did pick up 21 of his 50 points on the power play, that number could grow if the Red Wings find a way to be better five-on-four. Interestingly, the coach in charge of the power play, Alex Tanguay, was the only one retained from the previous staff, but you can still expect Detroit to revisit its approach under new coach Derek Lalonde. By this point, you can feel good that Seider is going to bring production (and hits, if you play in a bangers league), but a better power play could take him one level higher. — Max Bultman

Continued (paywall);

Update: Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin also offers a “bold fantasy hockey prediction” regarding Seider:

Moritz Seider finishes as a top-three fantasy defenseman in banger formats.

Even the rookie version of Seider finished as the No. 11 fantasy blueliner in my scoring system. His Calder Trophy campaign included 50 points, 187 shots, 151 hits, 161 blocks and 0.0 missed games. He’s established himself as a horse at both ends of the ice, which will keep his workload in the 23-minute range at worst, and with the Red Wings adding more talent around him, he should rack up additional assists, particularly on the power play, where UFA signee David Perron is a wizard.

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde was asked whether the coaching staff might consider placing Dominik Kubalik, Jakub Vrana and Filip Zadina on a line together, and the coach was blunt:

“No,” Lalonde answered flatly when asked if a Czech forwaard unit was move he had taken under consideration.

There are certainly reasons why the Czech line wouldn’t work. For starters, none of the three play center. Kubalik and Vrana are left wingers. Zadina is a right winger.

“Probably, I wouldn’t say by accident, but a lot of those guys are similar-like players,” Lalonde said. “Skill, skate, shooters.”

That’s another reason why an all-Czech line likely wouldn’t work for the Red Wings.

All three are known for their finishing skills than their playmaking ability.

“Dominik and me played together on the junior national team, played against each other a lot in Czech,” Vrana said. “All I can tell you is he has a great shot. He has a hell of a one-timer. He’s a big, strong forward. He’s strong on the puck. I think his biggest weapon is his shot.”

Continued

The Traverse City Record-Eagle’s Jordan Puente posted an article which discusses the Red Wings’ points of emphasis as the preseason gets underway tonight in Pittsburgh:

Detroit’s first preseason game is Tuesday at [PPG Paints Arena] against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Head coach Derek Lalonde, who was hired during the offseason, is pleased that there are games to play before starting the season.

“Structure and keep building in on our process with implementing new neutral zones,” said Lalonde on what he wants to see in preseason. “Take a step every day, and hopefully with our structure, which is something new for the guys, but certainly establishing some attitude. I feel fortunate that we have eight (preseason) games this year to tune some things up before our home opener.”

Like most NHL organizations, rosters haven’t been set in place. Lalonde hasn’t thought much about it, saying he’ll have a better idea through those eight games.

“(General Manager) Steven (Yzerman) and I have talked a few times, we’ve talked directly about being patient with this,” Lalonde said. “Haven’t stressed about it or gone too deep into it. So I can’t look at all our numbers going forward.”

For teams who are well experienced with each other, having eight games may seem like a lot; but for Lalonde and his staff, it is a godsend.

“This is the first time and only time in my NHL career I’ll be happy to have eight games,” said Lalonde with a smile.

Continued

Tonight’s game between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins (7 PM EDT start) was supposed to only air on 97.1 the Ticket locally, but it appears that the Red Wings will be picking up the Penguins’ “local stream” of the game, per this morning’s Tweet of note:

HOCKEY IS BACK! #LGRW

🏒: 7:00pm ET
💻: https://t.co/jLX5LxapNh pic.twitter.com/F0xhM14cF8

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 27, 2022

ESPN posted a set of “future power rankings” in an attempt to assess the way the NHL might look in three years, and Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski rank the Red Wings as the 4th-best team in terms of its future:

4. Detroit Red Wings
Overall score: 82.9

Why they’re here: Detroit isn’t just Hockeytown, it’s also Tomorrowland. The Red Wings have the No. 1 ranked prospect pool in the NHL, with towering defenseman Simon Edvinsson and No. 8 overall pick Marco Kasper waiting to join Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider on the roster. GM Steve Yzerman, the architect of that rebuild and the overseer of the fifth best salary cap outlook, ranked No. 4 overall. The franchise’s long-respected ownership group no doubt helped there, too. The only thing pumping the brakes on the team from Motown is the current roster, which ranked No. 24 overall. But not for long. — Wyshynski

Points of concern: Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi are both entering the last season of their respective contracts. So is goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. One of the reasons this may not feel as dramatic as it sounds is the Red Wings have more than $41 million in available cap space. They will have the money to re-sign those players while being able to add the needed personnel who play a role in the Red Wings insulating their young players with experienced teammates. — Clark

Reason for hope: After the offseason Yzerman put together, it finally feels like the Red Wings of old — who famously made the postseason for 25 straight years between 1990 to 2017 — are on their way back. Yzerman has done an admirable job rebuilding around the team’s core, and what we saw from Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond & Co. last year showed Detroit’s future may well have pulled in ahead of schedule. Across the board, the Red Wings are in excellent shape to start challenging the league again. — Shilton

Continued

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted her early-morning article today, and in it she discusses the Red Wings coaching staff’s belief that, for once, 8 exhibition games to be played over the course of 12 nights equals a “just right” exhibition season:

“It’s the first time and the only time in my NHL career that I’ll be happy to have eight games,” [coach Derek] Lalonde said Monday, on the Wings’ last day in Traverse City. “To me six is good, seven is maybe a little too much. Eight seems very excessive. But I understand, there’s a business aspect to it. For us this year, it’s going to be beneficial.”

The rosters will be balanced by minor leaguers to offset the hectic pace — to start, the Wings play at Pittsburgh Tuesday, and host the Chicago Blackhawks Wednesday — but the emphasis is on finding chemistry for the group that will take the ice Oct. 14 when the Wings open the regular season. Lalonde, who is in his first season as head coach, has one line that makes sense to carry over from last year in Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi and Lucas Raymond, though Bertuzzi’s status depends on how quickly he re-appears after an undisclosed injury sidelined him the second day of camp. Andrew Copp is recovering from abdominal surgery and expected back the first week of the season. Oskar Sundqvist, who has yet to practice because of an undisclosed injury, is also among those not available. He and Bertuzzi are considered day-to-day.

“It’s a little frustrating to have three or four or five of our top nine out for camp to start, but it’s given an opportunity for other guys to get some looks,” Lalonde said. “Some of our games, we’ll work back from a special-teams standpoint. We’ll have a special-teams unit and try to get that organized and designed, and then we can work back the roster from there with the idea of getting certain guys a certain amount of games, certain amount of looks. It will certainly change throughout.”

Continued

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ website reports two things this morning:

1. There will be a “local” stream of the Red Wings-Penguins game at 7 PM EDT on Tuesday, in addition to coverage on 97.1 the Ticket;
2. And the Penguins are absolutely stacking their lineup for tonight’s game, playing almost all of their star players. Here’s the listed roster:

Continue reading Penguins post lineup for Tuesday night’s game vs the Red Wings

Looks like the University of Michigan has an affable lad in 20-year-old freshman and Red Wings prospect Kienan Draper:

Former teammates reunited, take a lap with Jacob Truscott and Kienan “The Cheetah” Draper#GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/XPy8fKXlth— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) September 26, 2022

This is…Very different.