Month: July 2023

Your DeBrincat rumor of the day: TSN’s Dreger reports that DeBrincat wants ‘Meier Money’

Per TSN:

As the NHL off-season continues, the Ottawa Senators are searching for a landing spot for winger Alex DeBrincat, who is unwilling to sign with the club long-term.

Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports the Senators have given DeBrincat’s agent permission to negotiate with at least three teams regarding an extension, but his price appears to be too high for all of them. 

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger said on the Ray and Dregs Podcast that the winger is looking for a contract similar to the one Timo Meier signed with the New Jersey Devils last week – eight years, $70.2 million, with an average annual value of $8.775 million. Dreger notes, however, that acquiring teams see DeBrincat’s value as being close to Jesper Bratt, who inked an eight-year, $63 million contract with the Devils, carrying a cap hit of $7.875 million.

“If that’s holding up a trade, and it sounds like it might be, then it’s got to be up to Alex DeBrincat to reconsider or maybe he stays in Ottawa,” Dreger said.

Continued

Blurb: HockeyNews.se takes note of ASP’s plan to play for Skelleftea this upcoming season

In the FYI department: HockeyNews.se’s Alexander Nilsson reports “reassuring news” from Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka’s Monday press conference, noting that Sandin Pellikka said that he’d return to Skelleftea AIK of the SHL this upcoming season.

There’s nothing new otherwise in terms of Sandin Pellikka’s remarks, but it’s a virtual “sigh of relief” from Sweden.

A bit more on Edvinsson/Kasper from Allen

MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s comments regarding Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper’s chances of making the team out of training camp, as did Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:

Yzerman wants to keep the door open for younger players. The last thing he wants is to discourage top prospects.

“I’m not gonna tell any of these kids, ‘Hey you’re not on the team next year., ‘” Yzerman said. “‘Go out and play well and perform.’”

Lucas Raymond’s presence on the roster is a reminder that young players can persuade Yzerman to keep them.

“Two years ago we were sure the plan with Lucas was he’s gonna need a year in the American League,” Yzerman said. “Why did we say that? We’re watching him in Sweden and we don’t really know. When he came over, he performed really well. He looks good in the rookie tournament, he looks good in the preseason. Well, we’ll start him off in the NHL. Hopefully he doesn’t go backwards and he had a good year. He wasn’t handed that spot, because our plan was to keep him in the American League for that year. With all these guys, we’ll let their play determine where they go, but we don’t want to put ourselves in a position where we’re hoping they make it, because if they don’t, then what are we gonna do?”

Continued

HSJ in the morning: on the scoring issue

Our final story about Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s Monday press conference comes from the Free Press’s Helene St. James, who notes the following:

Asked what else he wants to address, Yzerman smiled and replied, “Sleep would be one.”

But here’s what’s keeping him awake: “I think the general consensus is, ‘Hey, the Red Wings need to score more,’ ” Yzerman said. “We need to keep the puck out of our net, we need to be better defensively, we’d like our special teams to be better. I’m counting on collectively, the entire group, that everybody chip in a little bit on offense, which will help us score more. Getting Robby Fabbri back healthy, Lucas Raymond a year older. J.T. Compher coming into the mix, chipping in some goals.

“Collectively, I expect us to improve a little bit. Probably still not where we’d all like to be, so we’ll continue in the offseason here, what, if anything, if it be through some more free agents that are still out there, or even look at potential trades.”

Yzerman has about $10 million left in salary cap space after his shopping spree. He had to replace goal-scoring forwards Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrána, and defenseman Filip Hronek, all of whom were traded, and goaltenders Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg, who were not re-signed.

Continued; nobody wants to hear this, but we’ll have to wait and see what the rest of the summer holds in terms of free agency and trades.

Khan in the morning: Yzerman on Edvinsson and Kasper

Perhaps the most interesting comments Steve Yzerman made yesterday involved the futures of the Red Wings’ best prospects in Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper. MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an early-morning article which discusses Yzerman’s remarks regarding his top prospects:

“We have high hopes for Simon,” Yzerman said. “I’m not prepared to put him on the team in a top-six role. Certainly, I don’t think it’s beyond a possibility that Simon comes in and has an outstanding training camp, and outstanding preseason and simply forces his way into the lineup. That’s what every one of us – our fans, our organization – would love to see. And if that happens, that’s great and we’ll figure it out.”

The Red Wings are being patient with the development of their top prospects.

“At this stage, to say we’re going to put (Edvinsson) right in the top six, I’m not prepared to say that and I’m not prepared to do that,” Yzerman said. “It’s not fair to him and it’s not the right thing for any of our young players or the team itself.”

…

The Red Wings hope Kasper does what Lucas Raymond did in 2021 – play so well in the preseason that he forced his way onto the roster.

“I’m not going to tell any of these kids, ‘You’re not on the team next year,’ ” Yzerman said. “Go out and play well and perform. … With all these guys, we’ll let their play determine where they go. But we don’t want to put ourselves in a position where we’re hoping they make it because if they don’t then what do we do?”

Continued; I’m fine with the Red Wings’ decision to ask players like Edvinsson, Kasper and Elmer Soderblom to “steal a job.”

I just don’t want there to be roadblocks to players earning spots on the roster in “untouchable” veteran players, as the Red Wings tended to defer to veterans under Ken Holland and Mike Babcock.

Duff: Yzerman feels that the Red Wings ‘targeted their needs’

This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff offers yet another survey of the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman on Monday afternoon:

While the fanbase seems to be divided on the issue, Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman is expressing confidence that his July 1 moves in unrestricted free agency were filling in holes that the team desperately needed to fill.

“We (didn’t) address every need that we had, but addressed a lot of the needs we had,” Yzerman said. “Signed two goaltenders, addressed our blue line, got a right-shot defenseman (Justin Holl), which was a need, a defenseman that plays on the power play (Shane Gostisbehere), which is a real need, a right-shot centerman.

“Daniel Sprong addresses another right winger, right-shot winger, (who) scored some goals. Christian Fischer, (is) a good-solid checker, penalty killer, another right winger, right shot. J.T. Compher can play any of the three forward positions, (will be) very versatile for us.

“Overall, we targeted specific needs and we were able to address those. Very comfortable with the term of the all the contracts.”

Continued

Eleven new faces

Of all the press reactions to Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s 33-minute press conference with the media today, it’s DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills who reminds us how very different the 2023-2024 Red Wings already are from last year’s team–for better, worse, or indifferent:

Before free agency began Saturday afternoon, the Red Wings signed center Klim Kostin and re-inked defenseman Gustav Lindstrom and right wing Matt Luff. Since free agency opened, Detroit has signed 10 new players: centers J.T. Compher and Nolan Stevens, left wing Tim Gettinger, right wings Daniel Sprong and Christian Fischer, defensemen Justin Holl, Brogan Rafferty and Shayne Gostisbehere and goalies Alex Lyon and James Reimer.

“Good teams have depth,” Yzerman said. “I think we have some depth. We would all love a couple of big-time scorers. Hopefully we’ll get that. Again, we’ll continue to work to get that.”

The NHL’s flat salary cap in 2023-24 influenced this year’s signing period, as most clubs opted to offer many short-term deals to free agents.

“Not every team, but a lot of teams, are squeezed,” Yzerman said. “So trying to get guys on shorter-term deals. For a lot of the players, they’re looking at this, potentially, what happens to the cap a year from now? If they couldn’t get a deal that they like – one with term that was a good fit – ‘Hey, I’ll do a shorter-term deal, the cap is gonna go up and I’m gonna go back at it.'”

…

While Monday marked just the third day of free agency, Yzerman acknowledged that trade opportunities could still arise this summer, so he will keep an open mind regarding how to further improve Detroit’s roster.

“Generally after July 1 and 2, things start to settle down and teams reevaluate where they are and what they need to do,” Yzerman said. “For various reasons, [teams] might have to make a move. We’ve all kind of settled in after July 1 and 2, kind of knowing now where we go from here. We’ll explore some other opportunities potentially.”

Continued

Impressions from the second (skill development) day of the Red Wings’ summer development camp

The second skill-development session of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp was held on Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.

Preceded by a little bit of skating by Robby Fabbri, Ben Chiarot and a player who was probably Mark Pysyk…

The Red Wings’ prospects and try-outs took to the ice to work with skating coaches Brodie and Tracy Tutton, and then engage in skill drills with skill development coach Dwayne Blais.

The sessions were much shorter than Sunday‘s two-hour-and-twenty-minute sessions, with the players only working for an hour and twenty minutes.

That afforded the prospects both the opportunity to speak with the Red Wings’ beat writers, as well as what’s likely some sort of out-of-the-rink activity involving attending a Detroit Tigers game today (assuming that the Tigers are playing?).

That being said, the Red Wings’ prospects were skating into their third day on the ice, Saturday’s fitness testing included, so the action-packed skating sessions and skill drills seemed to leave the players a bit tuckered out at times. They’ll get back to those 2:20 sessions tomorrow, so here’s hoping that they use their time off wisely.

Continue reading Impressions from the second (skill development) day of the Red Wings’ summer development camp