Month: July 2023

Tweets of note: highly reliable report states Noah Dower Nilsson has had shoulder surgery, will miss WJSS

Red Wings Swedish super-fan and “The Swedish Winger” podcaster Lars Thorsell reports that the “upper-body imaging” that Liam and Noah Dower Nilsson had at the end of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp led to some bad news, per Rakapuckar’s Henrik Leman:

This certainly explains why Noah wasn’t listed on Sweden’s World Junior Summer Showcase roster.

Here’s hoping he gets better soon…But Frolunda Hockey’s official channels have not confirmed Noah’s shoulder issue, so we’re going to classify this as a highly-reliable “report” until the official news comes out.

And the WJSS starts next Saturday at USA Hockey Arena. The only two Red Wings prospects who will be taking part are USA Hockey White’s Trey Augustine and Sweden’s Axel Sandin Pellikka.

If you’re interested in heading to the WJSS, games will take place on July 29th, July 31st, August 2nd and August 4th. It’s a fantastic event to take in top 2023-drafted prospects and some top prospects eligible for the 2024 and 2025 NHL Drafts.

Roughly translated: Griffins goaltending coach Roope Koistinen discusses his career’s maturation with Karpat Oulu’s website.

Grand Rapids Griffins goaltending coach Roope Koistinen spoke with Karpat Oulu’s website regarding his decision to leave the Finnish Liiga’s organization for North America. Here’s a rough translation of his conversation:

Roope Koistinen about his AHL contract: “It’s a dream come true”

The career of Roope Koistinen, who worked as the goaltending coach for Karpat’s Under-20 team, and as the youth team’s goalie coaching manager, took a big step this summer. At the beginning of this month, Koistinen, who worked as the goaltending coach for Karpat, signed a contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins, the AHL team of the NHL team Detroit Red Wings.

“Things happened quickly. Through the NHL’s drafting of young goalies, many networks have been formed over the years, and I’ve tried to actively create those networks myself as well. It’s been my goal and dream to one day be able to coach in North America. I didn’t think it would happen in such a short span of time. Discussions took place briefly during June. After that came an invitation to an official interview, and shortly after that they wanted to offer me a contract. After all, it was a dream come true.”

Continue reading Roughly translated: Griffins goaltending coach Roope Koistinen discusses his career’s maturation with Karpat Oulu’s website.

Nate Danielson speaks with his hometown paper regarding his draft and development camp experiences

Last week, the Red Deer Advocate’s Ian Gustavsson spoke with two of Nate Danielson’s youth hockey coaches regarding the on-ice maturation of the Red Wings’ 2023 9th overall pick, and this evening, Gustavsson speaks with Danielson himself regarding his draft and summertime experiences:

“To get drafted by the Red Wings and hear [general manager] Steve Yzerman call my name it was pretty surreal,” he said. “Just the history that they’ve had with such great players go through there it’s cool to be a part of that.”

The selection was also a historical moment for the city of Red Deer. He became the first from the community to be drafted that high since Glen Wesley was taken third overall by the Boston Bruins in 1987. He was surprised to be taken that high but felt he had a great interview with the Red Wings during the NHL combine.

Following the draft, Danielson joined his fellow draftees and prospects at the Red Wings development camp in Michigan which was five days long. Danielson spent plenty of time on the ice developing his skills and learning from experienced coaches. He also got to meet members of the organization and got acquainted with the local media. The camp also wrapped up with a three-on-three tournament.

“It was really fun. Just to get to go down there, see their facilities, and get to meet a lot of the people there was a lot of fun,” he said. “Also, learning through skills work and power skating and a lot of off-ice work too. It was a really great week.”

At the end of July Danielson will head back to Detroit to get settled in before training camp where he’ll compete for a roster spot. Danielson explained the Red Wings have not indicated whether he’ll be playing for their American Hockey League affiliate the Grand Rapids Griffins or if they’ll send him back to the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings where he’s spent the last three seasons.

They’ll talk about that more once training camp starts where they can further evaluate his development.

“It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. Being in Nashville was a really cool week but having my family there too it was nice to be able to spend some time with them,” he said. “Detroit was a lot of fun and I had a really great week. I signed with the Red Wings a couple of days ago so that was a pretty cool moment to sign my first NHL contract. It’s something I’ve dreamed of ever since I was young.”

Continued;

Danielson plays in the Canadian Hockey League (and the WHL, specifically, with Brandon), so he has to play in the WHL if he doesn’t make the Red Wings’ roster out of training camp. The rule right now states that if you’re an 18-year-old or 19-year-old, you can’t play in the AHL–it’s the NHL or the WHL, and nothing in between. The little pandemic exemption that allowed Donovan Sebrango to play in the AHL instead of the OHL has expired.

Khan’s mailbag: Discussing potential personnel moves (or the lack thereof)

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a mailbag feature today, and his first question might be the most pressing one to Red Wings fans:

Q: We still have cap space and there’s some intriguing options still available, like Patrick Kane and (Vladimir) Tarasenko. Would love to see Kane on (Alex) DeBrincat’s line. They worked well together in Chicago. Any chance of that happening? – Doug

A: For what it’s worth, this is what Yzerman said about potentially making another move after acquiring DeBrincat:

“I’m not going to rule anything out. If there’s a great player out there and we can acquire him … we would strongly consider it. We’re not restrained by finances, we’re restrained by the salary cap. We’re not going to go to the cap just to go to the cap, but certainly if an opportunity comes along that makes our team better … we’re prepared to do that. Having said that, I’m not aware of any scenario that’s going to happen at this time. So, I don’t see us doing a whole lot more.”

Kane underwent hip resurfacing surgery on June 1 and is expected to miss four-to-six months. He’ll likely sign with a team when he’s closer to returning. He’s probably looking for a multiyear deal with a Stanley Cup-contending club. Don’t think he’d be interested in being part of a rebuild at this stage of his career.

Tarasenko reportedly is seeking a multiyear deal in the $6 million-a-year range. He won’t get that in Detroit. If the New York Rangers can’t afford him, maybe he goes to Ottawa as DeBrincat’s replacement if the Senators can find the cap space.

The Red Wings aren’t going to exhaust all of their cap space but could use another forward, maybe a bottom-six center.

Perhaps they’d be interested in bringing back Pius Suter on a reasonable one-year deal. At this point, he’s probably not getting the two-year contract he’s seeking on the market.

Another possibility is helping a cap-strapped team by assuming an expiring contract and acquiring a second-round pick in the process, like they did with Marc Staal and Nick Leddy.

Continued;

Kulfan profiles Marco Kasper

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan profiles Red Wings prospect Marco Kasper today. Kasper is arguably the team’s best offensive prospect, and, as Kulfan notes, he may be Detroit’s most well-rounded player:

The pictures were all over social media and for many Red Wings fans, it was a stark realization of how old many of them are.

The pictures of Marco Kasper, 19, graduating high school in Sweden earlier this spring and beaming in his school uniform. It shows how relatively young Kasper still is. But also shows the dedication and will that are also some of Kasper’s main attributes on the ice.

“In Sweden it’s hard to try to juggle school and hockey,” said Kasper, who happens to speak fluent Swedish, German and English. “I managed to do it with help from the teachers and principal.”

A typical day in Sweden the last couple seasons was practice early in the morning, work out, have lunch, then go to school. Kasper would get his classes done, maybe get caught up in his school work right after, then go home, have dinner, and finish up more homework.

“Then do it all over again the next day,” Kasper said.

Continued (paywall)

Press release: Grand Rapids Griffins reschedule Wednesday, March 13th game at Cleveland for Tuesday, March 12th

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The American Hockey League on Friday announced that the Grand Rapids Griffins’ road game against the Cleveland Monsters originally set for Wednesday, March 13 has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 12 at 7 p.m. due to a scheduling conflict at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The Griffins will begin the 2023-24 season at Van Andel Arena on Oct. 13 against the Colorado Eagles. Fans can secure their full-season, select-season  or group ticket packages by calling (616) 774-4585 ext. 2 or visit griffinshockey.com for more information. Single-game tickets for the Griffins’ 2023-24 season will go on sale to the public later this summer through griffinshockey.com/tickets. Be sure to sign up to receive the Griffins Nation newsletters to be the first to know when tickets go on sale.

Toledo Walleye ink D Sean Farrell to 1-year contract

The Toledo Walleye have inked defenseman Thomas Farrell to a 1-year contract:

Here’s the Walleye’s press release:

(Toledo, OH) – Defenseman Thomas Farrell has agreed to terms with the Toledo Walleye for the 2023-2024 season.

Farrell made his pro debut with the Walleye during the 2022-2023 season, appearing in four games starting on March 8 at Wheeling. The Lake Bluff, Illinois native scored his first pro goal in his second contest, March 10 at Kalamazoo. He finished with a goal and assist in his four contests with Toledo, while logging a plus three rating.

The 24-year-old played his college hockey at Army, appearing in 126 games over four years. He finished with 62 total points (16G, 46A) over his college career, while serving as team captain in the 2022-2023 season. Farrell posted career-bests in goals (6) and assists (14) in his senior season and was honored during the 2020-2021 by being named to the AHA First Team.

Reviewing Andrew Copp’s 22-23 season

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills looks back at Andrew Copp’s 2022-2023 season this morning:

While his Detroit Red Wings teammates prepared for the 2022-23 season throughout training camp and the preseason, Andrew Copp was rehabbing from offseason abdominal surgery.

Copp did recover to make his Red Wings debut on Opening Night, but the 29-year-old forward admitted he was not his normal self at the start of his first campaign in Detroit.

“Especially in the beginning of the season, I don’t think I was playing my best,” Copp said in his end-of-season media session. “I got very pass happy. Kind of related to the injury, not being able to drive and skate with the puck as well as I would have liked.”

But Copp got healthier as the season progressed and finished with 42 points, including a career-high 33 assists, and was one of only three Red Wings skaters to play all 82 games.

“As the year went on, I thought he had a bigger impact,” Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman said. “He was very good on our penalty kill. He’s a very good defensive player. He was one of our plus players and played a lot of hard minutes.”

Continued; Copp will definitely be a better player after a year’s worth of recovery from his core muscle surgery, as well as a year’s worth of acclimation to the Red Wings’ systems of play.

DHN’s Allen examines three statistical metrics for Red Wings improvement

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen suggests that the Red Wings need to improve in three specific statistical categories in an attempt to make the playoffs during the 2023-2024 season. Here’s one of those statistical categories:

271 Goals Scored: The Red Wings only netted 237 goals last season. That means the team needs to increase goal production by 14.3%. Even with the addition of Alex DeBrincat and JT Compher, that’s a big ask. The Red Wings added Daniel Sprong, coming off a 21-goal season. But they moved out Dominik Kubalik’s 20 goals.

The key, as Yzerman has pointed out, will be increased production from everyone on the roster. Can Lucas Raymond go from 17 to 25 goals? It feels like he can. Certainly, Andrew Copp will improve on his nine-goal production. At worst, he should score 15-plus goals. That’s also true for Michael Rasmussen who has made himself valuable by becoming a better all-around player. But more goals are expected.

Younger players like Joe Veleno and Jonatan Berggren can do more. There’s no reason why Berggren can’t go from 15 to 20, given enough ice time.

The 271 goal standard is important. Eleven of the 12 teams that reached that number made the playoffs last season. The Vegas Golden Knights (267) and Carolina Hurricanes (262) also made the playoffs after falling just short of 271.

Continued (paywall)