Hello from South Lyon, Michigan, where this blog is based, and where Trey Augustine was born:
Trey Augustine, 18, of South Lyon, Michigan already led Team USA to the world U18 title in Switzerland. Now the 6'1" prospect aims to lace up the Red Wings' goalie gloves. #LGRW | @FiegerLaw pic.twitter.com/rddUrfikkT
— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) July 5, 2023
I was never allowed to have sugary cereals as a kid. “Honey Nut Cheerios” was considered a treat, so I like things like boring Cheerios, Rice Chex and Corn Flakes, and I eat them without sugar.
Anyway, enjoy one final Tweet from the Red Wings’ social media crew, who asked their 2023 Summer Development Camp participants what their favorite breakfast cereals are.
One more important topic for the prospects to cover before #DRWDC ended…
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 6, 2023
Cereal. 🥣 pic.twitter.com/oFwzMuyWS3
The Detroit Red Wings wrapped up their 2023 Summer Development Camp with a set of 3-on-3 tournaments at Little Caesars Arena this morning.
Four teams–“Team Rihela” (named for guest instructor and Lloydminster Bobcats coach Brad Rihela), “Team Osaer” (named for Red Wings goaltending development coach Phil Osaer), “Team Lashoff” (named for Grand Rapids Griffins assistant coach Brian Lashoff) and “Team Bain” (named for Toledo Walleye assistant coach Brent Bain) played each and every one of the other teams, via a 6-game preliminary round of 8-minute, running-clock 3-on-3 affairs.
The four teams then advanced to single-elimination playoff games, with seed 1 facing seed 4, and seed 2 facing seed 3.
Finally, the top two teams–ultimately, Team Bain and Team Osaer–faced off for the 3-on-3 championship, and Team Osaer came out on top thanks to an overtime goal by free agent invite Liam McLinskey.
To some extent, the 3-on-3 tournament allowed the prospects (minus the Dower Nilsson brothers, who have upper-body issues, and William Wallinder, who missed camp with an undisclosed injury) to build upon the skating and skill development drills which dominated Sunday, Monday and Tuesday’s skill sessions.
At the same time, the 3-on-3 games afforded the prospects some time to simply let loose and play physical, competitive hockey for the first time over the course of five total days of activities (the first day, July 1st, consisted of on-ice and off-ice skill testing).
In all honesty, the final day of a Summer Development Camp is something of a mixed bag, even if there are bragging rights on the line.
Continue reading Impressions from the 3-on-3 tournament at the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development CampThe Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a notebook article from the final day of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp, and he noted that the Wings’ participants don’t necessarily believe that there are no jobs on the line in July:
[Red Wings director of player development Dan] Cleary feels this camp is an excellent opportunity for players to have fun and learn, while not being evaluated on what they do on the ice. But, the competitiveness of the young players often comes through.
“We say it (no evaluation being done) but I feel like they don’t believe us,” Cleary said. “But, it’s more educational. Come in and have fun and get to meet, hopefully, your future teammates, which certainly a lot of them will be. We flood them with information, it’s almost an overload, and we just try to circle back with them with nutrition and sleep (habits) and a bunch of different talks.”
Testing is done on every player, in terms of skating and weight training, and players are given recommendations for the summer. But whether on the ice or off, players will compete.
“But try to tell Lambo (Lombardi) ‘if you don’t score a goal, it’s OK’,” Cleary said. “Some of these kids, they’re just wired differently. Marco (Kasper) was so mad he lost, but he’s a competitive kid, and you want competitive kids, even if it’s 3-on-3.”
Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen filed a notebook article which wraps up coverage of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp, and he focuses on the performance of one Amadeus Lombardi:
Center prospect Amadeus Lombardi makes more than his fair share of memorable plays. But it was Lombardi’s pregame preparation for the Detroit Red Wings 3 V 3 tournament that caught the attention of Dan Cleary, the team’s director of player development.
“Amadeus is drinking Red Bull before the first game at 8:30,” Cleary said. “He’s competitive, he likes to do well. You could see as the games went along, he got his legs, got more confidence. He’s super-pumped up for a good summer of training.”
Lombardi left the Red Wings’ Development Camp with some bragging rights after his Team Osaer won the 3-on-3 event. Lombardi and Co. downed Team Bain 2-1 on an overtime goal by free agent invitee Liam McLinskey of Holy Cross. He had both goals for the champion in the final. Detroit first-round pick Nate Danielson played for Team Bain. He’s a smooth competitor. He always seems to be where the puck pops out.
…
Lombardi was noticeable every time he was on the ice. He is likely to play for Grand Rapids in the upcoming season.
“Amadeus is a sponge out there, he’s a rink rat, he loves to play, he’s constantly asking questions,” Cleary said. ” Really excited for Amadeus. He’s got great speed, good talent, he’s got hands, but he’s driven, he’s very competitive.”
The Red Wings are still rumored to be in the running for one Alex DeBrincat’s services, presuming that the team can work out both a trade with the Ottawa Senators and a contract with DeBrincat’s representation.
MLive’s Ansar Khan isn’t quite so certain that Detroit can or will afford what DeBrincat’s likely asking for in terms of monetary compensation:
DeBrincat, 25, is a restricted free agent who is believed to be seeking a seven- or eight-year contract worth close to $9 million a season. The Red Wings might be hesitant to sign him for longer than five or six years in the $7.5 million range.
In any event, DeBrincat long ago declared he wouldn’t re-sign with the Senators, so a trade is inevitable.
Reports indicate the New York Islanders are the other primary suitor for the Farmington Hills native. The Islanders have less than $1 million in cap space, according to capfriendly.com, so they would have to shed a lot of salary.
The Red Wings currently have roughly $10 million in cap space and that might increase if they waive Filip Zadina Thursday for the purposes of terminating his contract, as reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Zadina, who cleared waivers on Tuesday, has two years remaining on his contract at a $1.85 million cap hit ($4.5 million in actual salary). According to Friedman, he would accept the termination in order to become an unrestricted free agent.
The Detroit News’s John Niyo attended the final day of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp today, and he penned a column discussing the man who drafted the vast majority of the Wings’ development camp participants:
Kris Draper didn’t quite know what to think when Steve Yzerman phoned a few weeks ago and scheduled a meeting with him in his office.
“I was never a big fan of being called down to the office,” Draper joked. “I saw the principal way too much in elementary school. So, I wasn’t sure how the trip was going to go.”
But all went well, he can report now, and the Red Wings made it official Wednesday, when they announced a promotion for Draper, the former “Grind Line” centerpiece of the franchise’s last Stanley Cup championship era. After serving as Detroit’s director of amateur scouting for the past four years, Draper, 52, is now adding an assistant general manager title as well, joining Shawn Horcoff, who oversees the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, in working alongside Yzerman on all hockey operations.
“I guess he appreciates what we’re doing right now, and that means a lot to me,” said Draper, who was a part of four Cup-winning teams in Detroit before retiring as a player after a 20-year NHL career, in 2011. “You know, for 30 years I’ve been part of this organization. It’s something that I take a ton of pride in. The Detroit Red Wings are one of the most important things in my life. And I want to be a big part of us getting back into the playoffs, and then from there, being Cup contenders and Cup champions again.”
He’s hardly alone with that feeling, he knows. And it’s that institutional knowledge the Red Wings are banking on these days. Yzerman, the iconic “Captain,” might be at the top of the organizational chart, but he has a long list of ex-teammates helping him make this latest championship push in various roles: Draper, Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Dan Cleary, Kirk Maltby, Jiri Fischer, Jesse Wallin.
“We played in arguably the greatest era of the Detroit Red Wings organization, and we want to bring that back,” said Draper, whose 1,137 games played in a Red Wings uniform rank fifth-most in team history. “And we all understand how hard it’s going to be. But, we’re all in this together.”
The Athletic’s Max Bultman offers a set of six observations regarding the entirety of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp, focusing on the performances made during this morning’s 3-on-3 tournament, and they include the following:
Speaking of mid-round success stories, Carter Mazur seems to take steps forward every time I see him. A 2021 third-round pick, Mazur has done nothing but trend up since he was drafted, and he looked a cut above the rest of the field, to me, for much of this week.
His skating, already a positive attribute, seems to have taken another step, and he just looks like a pro out there — flying around the ice, using his very good defensive stick to create turnovers, and displaying an impressive shot (though he was limited to a couple crossbars at the three-on-three tournament). And, while the scrimmages were low-contact, his competitiveness is clear any time he’s on the ice.
At this stage, with where the Red Wings roster sits, I’d be surprised if any true rookie forward were to make Detroit’s opening-night lineup. But if pressed for a pick to make that kind of push, my answer would be Mazur. He just has so many valuable elements to his game, and the arrow just continues to point up.
“I love Maze,” Cleary said. “I thought he looked strong out there as well. He’s a guy that you want on your team. He’s driven, competitive, strong. … His frame just needs to fill out a little bit. When it does, I think he’s going to be an impactful player.”
Adding that mass is of course a top priority, and part of the reason the safe money is on him starting in Grand Rapids. But there’s a ton to like, and it’s coming together pretty fast.
Continued (paywall)
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Red Wings are going to place Filip Zadina on unconditional waivers tomorrow, for the purpose of voiding his contract, and the Free Press’s Helene St. James explains why this is a shocking development:
Zadina, the No. 6 pick in 2018, has 28 goals and 40 assists in 190 career games. The 23-year-old has been unable to show he belongs in the lineup, and has been a healthy scratch at times. A couple weeks ago he asked for a “fresh start,” and when the Wings found no trading partners, they made him available on waivers.
General manager Steve Yzerman addressed the Zadina situation Monday. “Am I thrilled? Am I happy to put him on waivers? No. I signed him to a three-year contract a year ago because I believed he was going to grow. And when he signed that contract, my expectation was that he wanted to grow with us.”
Zadina’s contract runs through 2024-25 and has $4.56 million left in salary. Putting a player on waivers for the purpose of terminating the contract is different than buying out a player: There would be no penalty to the Wings – and no payday from the Wings for Zadina.
Friedman wrote that “the belief is Zadina is prepared to walk away from the money and not contest the move.”
Kris Draper was reintroduced to the media today as the Detroit Red Wings’ assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting, and he discussed his new, dual role with Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:
Draper, 52, will still run the Red Wings’ drafting operation, but will be adding other responsibilities.
“I want the opportunity to sit on meetings like last week with free agency.” Draper said. “Obviously the negotiations of contracts. Entry-level deals, I’d love to sit in on those and learn how to do those. Probably more of that stuff. But I know my main role is exactly what it’s been since Steve has come here and obviously running the draft. Just adding opportunities to really learn the business side of it, the contracts, sitting in when Stevie’s talking to agents. Stuff like that is something that I’m really looking forward to do.”
Draper’s goal today isn’t different than it was when he was a player: he wants to help the Red Wings win another Stanley Cup. He is just going about it differently.
“I take a lot of pride in my job right now as director of amateur scouting and to be added to assistant general manager by Stevie means a lot. I guess he appreciates what we’re doing right now and that means a lot to me,” Yzerman said. “…The Detroit Red Wings are one of the most important things in my life. It’s been like that for years. I want to be a big part of us getting back into the playoffs and then from there being Cup contenders, to being Cup champions.”
