Month: September 2022

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a morning article in which he discusses the Red Wings’ adaptation to coach Derek Lalonde’s new systems of play:

“It’s very impressive,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said of the type of game Lalonde desires for the Red Wings to play this season. “Obviously, he’s coming from Tampa, so it’s a lot of things they’ve done. It’s kind of eye opening. We play against them quite a bit and they’re always very difficult nights.”

Many nights under Blashill’s tutelage were difficult nights for the Red Wings, and that’s not to suggest it was entirely of his doing. There was a lot wrong, a number of holes in the lineup that he was often left to put out on the ice.

In Lalonde, though, the players are seeing someone who’s coming in with a resume of success. He’s arriving from an organization with three consecutive Stanley Cup final appearances. That span saw the Lightning earning two championships.

It’s certainly lending a lot of gravitas to what he’s telling them. It lends credence to the ways he’s showing them how to be a more effective and efficient hockey team.

“There’s been great communication and he’s very organized,” Larkin said. “He believes in what he’s preaching, which I think is great walking into a new locker room. He’s made a great impression on the guys.”

Continued

The Athletic asked its beat writers to pick one player from each NHL team who might be traded over the course of the 2022-2023 season, and here’s Max Bultman’s pick for the Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings

Olli Maatta: For the first time in a long time, there’s not a great answer to this question in Detroit, as the Red Wings finally appear to be looking more toward competing for the playoffs than rebuilding. It’s possible Tyler Bertuzzi could fit here if he and the Red Wings can’t agree to a contract extension, but if they do, then it gets pretty tough to find the answer on a team that wants to start playing meaningful games past the trade deadline. I picked Maatta because he’s on a one-year deal and the kind of shutdown defender contenders would surely value for a playoff run, but it’s kind of refreshing to not have an obvious name here. — Max Bultman

Continued; I would have stuck with Bertuzzi

I’m a little disappointed to report that Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman posted a lengthy interview with Red Wings defensive prospect Simon Edvinsson, but it’s behind a Swedish paywall, so I won’t be able to translate it for you.

Bjurman is here at camp and I have yet to say hello to him!

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a story this morning which discusses Jakub Vrana’s relationship with new Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde:

Though Vrana has been with the Wings for 18 months, he only squeezed in 11 games after arriving at the 2021 trade deadline, and missed the first 56 games last season recovering from shoulder surgery. Vrana has 21 goals in the 37 games he’s played in a Wings uniform, and his ability to score sometimes seemingly out of nowhere registers with new head coach Derek Lalonde, who saw that in spades while an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“Offense is tough to come by and you need some of those offensive playmakers,” Lalonde said Friday. “I came from a team where it did not take much for us to create offense, and it just helps with those guys, those elite finishers — you need them. That’s the reality of it, if you’re going to be successful in this league. We certainly have one in him.”

Coaches like a guy who can score, but love a guy who plays a complete game. That’s what the Wings need to see from Vrana, 26, and his response to their instructions just from the first day of camp to the second were an encouraging sign.

“In yesterday’s practice, we addressed some things, pointed out some things where he can be a little bit better away from the puck,” Lalonde said. “He’s impressive with the puck, certainly. Sometimes you know guys are skilled guys, but until you’re actually with them on the ice, you don’t get an appreciation of how skilled. Man, he’s got a special shot. He’s got some offensive tools that are very special. But, hopefully a little more accountable away from the puck. To his credit, I thought he was better today on the whole. He stood out with some effort and some compete. He had his nose in everything, the high-compete drills, the physical reps. He looked good.” 

Continued; I’m with coach Lalonde. Vrana is a wonderful goal-scorer, but he needs to be better defensively to truly flourish.

A two-minute interview:

I’m going to post this because it’s my blog and I can post it even when things are silly.

Soup szn 🍜 pic.twitter.com/rmCkDxzfI5— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 24, 2022

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a fine set of second-day-of-training-camp observations, including the following:

If Day 1 of Red Wings training camp was about first impressions and setting a tone, the story of Day 2 might have been about intensity — headlined by a battle drill in the corner to end practice.

And though you might not have picked 5-foot-11, 176-pound Lucas Raymond to have been one of the standouts in that kind of drill, the Red Wings’ dazzling 20-year-old winger made it his own anyway. Going up against Dylan Larkin, Raymond had to find a way to outmaneuver Detroit’s bigger, faster captain one-on-one. But he did it, scoring twice in some of the most impressive reps of the day.

“I thought that was amazing,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “And Dylan got frustrated from it. That’s the type of compete you want to establish in practice. You want to have those just natural habits. And that practice, that drill was there for a reason, and Raymond produced very well in that, and that was very exciting to see.”

There’s not much more that can be said about Raymond’s exceptional rookie campaign — which is good, because it’s time to move on to what he might have in store for an encore.

And if he’s going to be able to blend his skill and smarts with that kind of competitiveness, that is indeed an exciting possibility for the Red Wings.

Continued

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.

Continue reading Impressions from the second day of the Red Wings’ 2022 training camp

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has filed his second-day-of-training-camp notebook, and he focuses on one Jakub Vrana, who is finally healthy after shoulder surgery this past year repaired an issue that he was dealing with for two seasons:

“I can’t describe my excitement,” Vrana said Friday of being able to compete. “Being out for a long time (last season), and the shortened season the previous season, I wasn’t able to play a full season for a few years. I’m real excited and just focusing on what we have to do. I’m enjoying being here and playing hockey.”

The time span feels longer, but Vrana was acquired from Washington at the April 2021 trade deadline for Anthony Mantha and draft picks. Ironically, Mantha also missed most of last season because of shoulder surgery.

When Vrana returned in March, he gave a glimpse to the Wings and fans of what could have been — and what could be this season. Vrana scored 13 goals and had six assists in 26 games.

In his brief time with the Wings, Vrana has 21 goals in 37 games. Touted as a pure goal scorer, Vrana has lived up to the billing.

“Sometimes you know guys are skilled guys and you have an appreciation for their skill,” said coach Derek Lalonde, who saw plenty of Vrana in Washington while he was in Tampa Bay. “But until you are out with them on the ice you don’t get a true appreciation of how skilled they are. But, man, he has a special shot, and he has some offensive tools that are real special.”

Continued

The Detroit News’s David Guralnick posted a 66-image photo gallery from the first day of the Red Wings’ 2022 training camp, and he’s back with a 65-image gallery from day two:

Photo gallery: Day 2 of #redwings training camp. https://t.co/HY7w3giaWg @DetroitRedWings pic.twitter.com/KZ6mpGbcRX— David Guralnick (@DavidGuralnick) September 23, 2022