Month: September 2022

Per the Red Wings, while they were practicing:

Down to 60.

📰 » https://t.co/LKYSeUAPNs pic.twitter.com/akSEl3xl5k— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 26, 2022

Per the Wings’ PR department:

The Detroit Red Wings today assigned forwards Amadeus Lombardi and Pasquale Zito, defenseman Oscar Plandowski and goaltender Jan Bednar to their respective major junior clubs and released forwards Julien Anctil, Marcus Limpar-Lantz, Mitchell Martin and Jacob Mathieu and goaltender Andrew Oke from their amateur tryouts.

The Red Wings currently have 60 players on their training camp roster: 34 forwards, 20 defensemen and six goaltenders. Detroit will continue practices in Traverse City, Mich., on Monday, Sept. 26 prior to beginning an eight-game preseason schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at Pittsburgh.

Here are the breakdowns of teams for today’s practices:

Rogle BK’s YouTube channel posted a Swedish-language video in which Red Wings prospect and Rogle defenseman William Wallinder is profiled after scoring 2 goals over the course of Rogle’s first SHL games (as is forward Linus Sjodin):

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a set of training camp observations this morning, and among them are the following:

Big Kid: Dominik Kubalik, like [Ben] Chiarot a newcomer who has looked really good in camp, smiled when asked about 6-foot-8 prospect Elmer Soderblom.

“He’s huge,” Kubalik said. “When I saw him the first time, he’s a big kid. And he skates pretty well, he’s got a good shot, good hands. It’s exciting to watch him. I like him so far.”

It’s one thing to see Soderblom from the stands, another to see him at ice level. He towers over even taller players like 6-6 Michael Rasmussen and Sebastian Cossa. Soderblom, 21, dates to Steve Yzerman’s first draft as general manager of the Wings, selected in the sixth round, at No. 159. As much as rebuilding teams need their top picks to thrive, they need to hit on some of their later-round picks, too. Soderblom will get lots of looks in exhibition season, and his odds of earning a job are tied to whether he can help their power play with his big, net-front presence.

Sharp shooters: The emphasis in camp has been on being good defensively as a team, but it helps put opponents on their heels when they have to be wary of offensive threats like Vrana and Kubalik. The Wings know Vrana only needs one shot to change a game, but Kubalik looks like another guy who can finally give the Wings the scoring depth they’ve lacked for years. The 27-year-old scored 30 goals with Chicago in 2019-20, but has been in the mid-teens the past two seasons. He’s fast, hard on the forecheck and has a shooter’s mentality. He should fit in well with the top nine and power play group.

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The Athletic’s Max Bultman filed his training camp notebook for Sunday evening, and, among his observations are the following:

Another storyline from the week that repeated itself in the scrimmage was the tone-setting physicality of Chiarot. Detroit went out and signed the 31-year-old in free agency this summer as it looks to become a tougher team to play against, and it’s already crystal clear how Chiarot will help that aim.

On one shift in the first period, he tossed 6-foot-6 Michael Rasmussen toward the bench, then delivered a bit hit on Zadina — arguably from behind, but at open ice. Lalonde called that sequence a “tone-setter” signaling, “we’re going to get to work today, this is how we’re going to play.”

Of the overall edge to the game, he went on to say: “We encouraged it. We talked about it. We ended both meetings asking for it. And I think you saw that. You can’t turn it on and off. And we want to be able to turn it on and make it just a habit of who we are.”

The play led to a transition opportunity for Raymond, so it wasn’t just physicality for the sake of physicality. It helped drive play favorably for Detroit.

Notably, Chiarot also was one of five players wearing an “A” on his sweater for scrimmage, along with Rasmussen, Määttä, Hronek and David Perron.

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The Detroit Red Wings concluded the most formal portion of their training camp activities with a Red vs. White Game on Sunday. Played over the course of 2 25-minute, stop-time halves, spiced up with a pair of shootout sessions at the end of each regulation period, and shootouts for every penalty taken.

Ultimately, the Red Team defeated the White Team 4-2; Dylan Larkin opened the scoring for the White Team, Givani Smith scored on a penalty shot penalty (Simon Edvinsson high-sticked him), and that was the first half.

In the second half, forward Matt Luff scored the go-ahead goal for the White Team on a set of slick plays from Drew Worrad and Jonatan Berggren….

But Jakub Vrana responded with a game-tying goal for the Red Team on a one-timer 11:57 into the 2nd half, Cross Hanas jabbed home a rebound 43 seconds later to give the Red Team a 3-2 lead, and Givani Smith tucked home an empty-net goal with 2 seconds left in regulation time.

After the game, the Red Wings’ players took their annual picture with a majority of the volunteers who make the prospect tournament and main training camp happen:

Continue reading Impressions from the Red vs. White game at the Red Wings’ 2022 training camp

Both MLive’s Ansar Khan, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff follow the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan’s lead in discussing Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s takes on Sunday’s Red vs. White Game.

In Khan’s multi-faceted notebook, Ansar leads off with Lalonde’s remarks regarding the process and the product:

“Everything we put on paper the last 2-3 months translated very well,” Lalonde said. “To me it’s a credit to the guys. They were dialed in in our meetings, they were dialed in within our practices and they went out and executed. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. But for the most part I’m happy with how things have gone so far.”

That includes a mixed review on Sunday’s Red/White scrimmage at Centre I.C.E. Arena in Traverse City, which followed three days of hard practices.

“Obviously, a ton of turnovers, which is kind of expected,” Lalonde said. “I think it’s a good picture to paint for the guys, starting tomorrow, cleaning up some of that puck play. But for the most part the three days we worked on some structure, some of it translated and we’re in a good spot heading forward with our structure.”

Khan continues, while Detroit Hockey Now’s Allen focuses on five player-centered quotes from Lalonde…

Continue reading Three takes on coach Lalonde’s post Red vs. White Game comments

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a Sunday notebook article which focuses on the Red Wings’ Red vs. White Game, and in his article, he discusses some of the stand-outs, as well as those who drew criticism from coach Derek Lalonde:

As expected, this early in the exhibition season, there were positives and negatives during the afternoon. Coach Derek Lalonde saw things he liked − and some things he did not.

“I liked it structurally; some things we worked on whether it was the new neutral zone (coverages) or our defensive zone, there was a conscious effort to execute,” Lalonde said. “So we did a good job with that. Obviously, a ton of turnovers, which is kind of expected, but turnovers led to most of, if not all, of the offense. So it’s a good picture to paint for the guys starting tomorrow, cleaning up some of the puck play. But for the most part, the three days we worked on some structure, and some of it translated and we’re in a good spot going forward.”

There was a good amount of physical play, which Lalonde wanted and was pleased to see come to fruition.

“We encouraged it and we talked about it, we ended up both meetings asking for it and you saw that,” Lalonde said. “You can’t turn it on and off. We want to be able to turn it on and just make a habit of who we are, and you saw it on both ends. Nobody was concerned about who was in the other jersey, and that makes for hockey played the right way.”

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From the Red Wings:

The Free Press’s Helene St. James offers a short set of observations regarding the Red vs. White Game, which the Red Team won 4-2, this afternoon:

Newcomer Dominik Kubalik was among the Detroit Red Wings players who entertained during Sunday’s scrimmage that broke up the monotony of training camp.

Kubalik’s Red squad bested the White squad, 4-2, before a sold-out , enthusiastic crowd at Centre Ice Arena, on the penultimate day before the Wings head to Detroit. Kubalik had a couple chances during two 25-minute running-clock periods, and scored in a shootout that was part of the halftime fun.

“He did have a good scrimmage, he was skating, pucks seemed to find him a lot,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “He had a good day and looked like he built some confident. he’s a shooter, someone who can skate.”

Lalonde sounded pleased overall with how a blend of NHLers and minors leaguers played after three days of practices. Tyler Bertuzzi didn’t play and remains-to-day with an undisclosed injury; Robert Hagg left the scrimmage after taking a puck to the side of his head. Lalonde did not have an update immediately after the game.

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