Month: July 2023

Newly-acquired Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat appeared on 97.1 the Ticket’s Inside Hockeytown with Ken Kal and Daniella Bruce yesterday night, and while the interview wasn’t posted online, Will Burchfield took note of the important points thereof:

In the deep Atlantic, a rivalry is brewing between Detroit and Ottawa. Between Alex DeBrincat’s new team and his old one. He felt it from the other side when the Senators hosted the Red Wings on back-to-back nights last season and sent them packing in a pair of playoff-like games. Aggregate score: Ottawa 12-Detroit 3.

“For us as the Senators, we were a couple points behind the Wings at that point and those were probably our two biggest games of the season. Going into that, everyone was fired up and obviously playing at home, the crowd was there, so we just had that energy and that jump and I think we took them out of the game early,” DeBrincat said Thursday on 97.1 The Ticket’s Inside Hockeytown. “Hopefully we’ll have a better experience on the Wings this year than they did last year.”

DeBrincat’s move from Detroit to Ottawa adds another log to a growing fire. The Red Wings and Senators are on parallel paths in the Atlantic Division, both trying to beat the other back to the playoffs. Ottawa’s drought is going on seven years, Detroit’s on eight. Both are franchise worsts. Along with the Sabres, who have the NHL’s longest active playoff drought at 12 years, the Wings and Sens figure to be fighting for one of the final postseason berths in the East next season.

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman has acknowledged himself that Detroit isn’t so much competing with Tampa, Boston, Toronto and Florida in the Atlantic, the powers that be, but Ottawa, Buffalo and Montreal. And he didn’t mince words last season when he said in regard to the Senators and Sabres, “I look at their nucleuses of young players and what they have coming, they’re just ahead of us.” Of course, that was before Yzerman brought DeBrincat to Detroit.

Now the Red Wings have a two-time 40-goal scorer at the top of their lineup, and the Senators don’t. DeBrincat joins a young core in Detroit led by captain Dylan Larkin, his likely center to start next season, and bolstered by Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Jake Walman and top prospects Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper. Goalie Sebastian Cossa is on his way. Not that the Sens are lacking. They boast two of the best young wingers in the game in Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle and a star-studded blueline featuring Tomas Chabot, Jacob Chychrun and Jake Sanderson, all of them 26 or younger.

The stage is set for a heavyweight fight over the next several years. It may not be long before the two teams aren’t scratching to get into the playoffs, but trading blows to win the division.

“100 percent,” said DeBrincat. “I think a lot of guys feel that. We’re pretty much at the same stage as them in the rebuild and hopefully we can pass them in that, but I think it’s two teams that have really successful futures. Obviously the Senators have a lot of great young players, just like the Wings, so I think it’s definitely going to be a rivalry in the future. It’s already starting to be one, so I’m excited for that.”

Continued

You can watch the press conference here:

Per Bill Simonson on Twitter:

Today on the show 5-5:40pm @griffinshockey new assistant coach and former player Brian Lashoff is in studio talking Griffins and Wings Hockey. Listen on 96.1 in Grand Rapids/ Across the Michigan Sports Network.

— HUGE (@Hugeshow) July 14, 2023

You can listen to the show here.

The Toledo Walleye are holding a press conference to formally introduce Calumet, Michigan’s Pat Mikesch as their head coach today at 11 AM EDT, and the event will be streamed on the team’s YouTube channel.

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes in his “The Daily,” Mikesch has a significant connection to the Red Wings’ current head coach:

The Derek Lalonde influence on the Red Wings’ organization extends beyond the confines of the Detroit bench. The Toledo Walleye named Pat Mikesch as the team’s new head coach.

That means both of the Red Wings’ affiliate teams have coaches who used to serve as Lalonde’s assistant.

Mikesch was Lalonde’s assistant when Lalonde coached the Green Bay Gamblers from 2011-14. New Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson was Lalonde’s assistant when he coached the Toledo Walleye.

Lalonde and Mikesch won a USHL championship together.

“Pat is a diligent work, detailed and organized,” Lalonde said in a statement released by the team. “He will continue the recent success of the Walleye. Great hire by the organization.”

He is replacing Watson in Toledo. Watson spent 14 seasons in Toledo, including the last seven as head coach. Prior to joining Green Bay, Mikesch was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Michigan Tech University, from 2004-11.

Continued

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the Red Wings’ belief that their revised roster should be more potent on special teams this morning:

The Detroit Red Wings’ power play last season was the best it has been in eight years, though the bar was low.

They ranked 17th with their best percentage (21.1) since 2014-15 (23.8) and with little contribution from Tyler Bertuzzi (five power-play points) and nothing from Jakub Vrana and Filip Zadina.

They’re gone, as are Dominik Kubalik (17 power-play points) and Filip Hronek (16 points).

The replacements – Alex DeBrincat, J.T. Compher, Daniel Spring and Shayne Gostisbehere – give the Red Wings’ power play the potential to be better.

“Potential being the key word,” general manager Steve Yzerman said. “I think we have more options. I think we have more left and right shots, a bit better balance. I would hope that both units are a little deeper and we can put both units out there and be a little more effective and in turn bump that power-play percentage up a little bit.”

Continued

The Big Rapids Pioneer’s John Raffel reports that both Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde and coach alumnus Jeff Blashill took part in a golf outing to raise funds for the Big Rapids Cardinals‘ hockey program:

Derek Lalonde, the current Red Wings coach and his predecessor Jeff Blashill, now an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning, played at the event. Lalonde and Blashill are both former FSU assistant coaches under Bob Daniels, who also played at the event along with Tim Blashill, Cardinal hockey coach and Jeff Blashill’s brother.

Tim Blashill is also the assistant athletics director for facilities and event operations at Ferris State.

“We have had it this corresponding weekend for the past few years,” Tim Blashill said. “I think they’re now planning on July 6, 2024). It is our biggest fundraiser for sure…something that keeps our program financially stable.

“We have tremendous support from our parents, local businesses, and local community. Jeff has played in it over the years. Lalonde has played in the past, but this was the first time in quite a few years, so we’re happy it worked out for him to come. This was the first year I played with my brother, and both his sons (Teddy 17 and Owen 12) so that was nice.”

Continued

NHL.com is examining each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams this month, discussing the “Roster Reset[s]” as the free agency period has died down. Tonight, Nicholas J. Cotsonika discusses the Red Wings, who’ve turned over a full third of their roster through free agency and trades:

What they still need: High-end talent. The Red Wings added some by acquiring DeBrincat, and they bolstered their depth this offseason. General manager Steve Yzerman said they are likely finished making major moves for now. But they have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for seven straight seasons and face stiff competition in the Atlantic Division. To contend for the Cup again someday, they need difference-makers to emerge from the draft or their system, or they’ll need to make more moves to get them.

They said it: “I think this team’s a good fit for me, and obviously, hopefully, we can get back in the playoffs. Obviously, that’s everyone’s goal, and hopefully, it’s sooner than later, and we’ve just got to keep growing as a team and I think just put in the work to get back there.” — forward Alex DeBrincat

Fantasy focus: DeBrincat going to Detroit boosts his individual fantasy value and the Red Wings’ stacking outlook as a team. The trade gives the Red Wings three players in NHL.com’s top 75 overall fantasy rankings, with DeBrincat joining defenseman Moritz Seider and center Dylan Larkin. DeBrincat should be considered a top 40 player in the NHL among those 25 years old and younger for fantasy keeper and dynasty leagues after signing a four-year contract with Detroit after the trade. Over the past three seasons combined, DeBrincat ranks 12th in the NHL in goals (100) and could give Larkin another gear to reach after the center had an NHL career high with 79 points (32 goals, 47 assists) in 80 games last season. — Pete Jensen

Continued; if I may be honest, I still believe that the Red Wings may add another goal-scoring free agent forward and/or depth defenseman.

At this time of the season, you build for 16 forwards, 10 defensemen and 3 goalies deep at the NHL level, and the Wings are still a forward or two and defenseman short.

The Woodward Sports Network’s Jeremy Stover suggests that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman made a very good trade in acquiring Alex DeBrincat from the Ottawa Senators for Dominik Kubalik, Donovan Sebrango, a 2024 1st round pick and a conditional 2024 4th round pick, but what impresses Stover the most is the contract extension to which Yzerman inked DeBrincat after the trade was made:

The 25-year old forward is not a superstar, but he’s certainly classified as a star player. If this was the NBA, DeBrincat would be a max contract player.

In the NHL, those players almost always sign contracts for seven or eight years. The max amount allowed in the league. This off-season alone, we saw David Pastrnak, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Timo Meier, and Jesper Bratt all sign eight-year deals with their respective teams.

All four of those players are in their prime age range and are star players like DeBrincat. There is a great argument Pastrnak is a superstar but I digress.

The main point here is Yzerman was able to get their guy to commit to half the amount of term as these other high-caliber players. That’s almost unheard of these days.

Alex Killorn is a 33-year-old forward who is past his prime. He never has been nor will he ever be as good as DeBrincat. Anaheim just signed him to a four-year contract a couple weeks ago.

You got a guy who’s eight years younger in the prime of his career at the same term. That’s absolute wizardry from Yzerman.

Continued

Per the Toledo Walleye:

Newsy on the hire of Walleye head coach Pat Mikesch. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/XzVgahxP8v

— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) July 13, 2023

Red Wings defenseman and Kitchener, Ontario native Ben Chiarot will be taking part in a charity street hockey tournament in Waterloo, Ontario on August 12th. The Observer-Extra’s Bill Atwood relays the details thereof:

Back for its second year, the Scotland’s Yard Road Hockey Classic will raise money for Waterloo Wellington’s first positron emission tomography (PET) computed tomography (CT) scanner. Without this equipment, many cancer patients have to travel elsewhere, such as Hamilton or Mississauga, to receive scans, said Ashley Howat, chief giving officer at the Grand River Hospital Foundation.

“It just gets expensive for families. A lot of the times when you’re doing that, especially with a child who’s going through that treatment, one parent, at least, is putting a job on hold in order to make sure that they can make all appointments, that treatments are being received and they’re caring for their sick child,” Howat said.

To date, the foundation has raised $2.5 million of the $7 million price tag for the scanner. Named for Scottie, the daughter of local couple Brian Santos and Joy Stewart, who was diagnosed with cancer at just three months old, Scotland’s Yard aims to raise $50 million for the foundation over a 10-year period. Scottie, who will turn 4 soon, is now considered a cancer survivor, Howat said.

Led in part by foundation board member Jacqueline and Ben Chariot – a Detroit Red Wings defenseman – the August 12 tournament will see around 10 current and former NHL players participate. Professional women’s players Loren Gabel and 2014 Olympic gold medalist Laura Fortino will also be in attendance.

“Part of the fact that they get to play with the kids is what really makes it for them, and that’s what all of them said last year: it was the kids that made it and they had fun. So, most of them from last year have come back and now we have more, including a women’s gold medal winner, because for all of the teams that have females on them they’re playing with their idols,” Howat said.

The tournament will go from 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Registration for teams of six players plus a goalie is $600, and $50 for each additional player. Each team is guaranteed to play at least three games. The top youth fundraising will win an autograph session and a professional photo shoot with the NHL and women’s players. The top adult fundraising team will receive four tickets to a Red Wings home game.