Month: August 2023

Via A2Y: Recalling the Yashin-for-Yzerman trade rumors

Via Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman comes this from the Hockey News’s Steve Warne, who recalls the trade rumors surrounding Alexei Yashin and Steve Yzerman in 1995-1996:

Alexei Yashin remains the only Ottawa Senator to finish as a Hart Trophy finalist. He was that good, the club’s first superstar. But in 1995, the Senators felt like they needed a bigger name to help them fill their new arena, which was nearing completion at the time. Who better than Nepean native Steve Yzerman?

Sens GM Randy Sexton made the pitch to the Wings and reportedly offered up Yashin, who was still in fairly good standing with the Senators at the time.

The Wings, meanwhile, had begun to wonder if the 30-year-old Yzerman, despite his gaudy offensive numbers, would be able to lead them to the promised land. GM Scotty Bowman entertained the idea for a while, letting it known Yzerman was indeed available, much to Yzerman’s chagrin.

So both sides were interested, but it’s believed things eventually fell apart at the ownership levels. The late Mike Ilitch loved Yzerman and Sens ownership was having money issues.

It may have lit a fire under Yzerman, who played 11 more years in the NHL, becoming a more balanced player, a truly great leader, and a winner of three Stanley Cups. 

Continued; it was Yashin and a 1st round pick, I believe, and the Red Wings thankfully said “no.”

Duff discusses Gustav Lindstrom’s shortcomings

The problem with prospect development is that it’s bloody hard. Players have to develop their skill sets, they have to develop physically and they have to develop mentally into professional athletes who are dedicated to their craft…

And all three of those developmental curves have to intersect at the same time for a player to succeed at the professional level.

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff suggests this morning, 24-year-old Gustav Lindstrom just never quite developed into the middle-pair defenseman that the Red Wings hoped he’d become, and that’s why the Wings chose to trade Lindstrom to the Montreal Canadiens in the Jeff Petry trade:

Though he was never going to be an NHL star, there was a sense that Lindstrom could develop into a servicable NHL rearguard when he was first given the call to Detroit during the 2019-20 season. He competed, played within his abilities and seldom was caught out of position.

“(I) just try to play a simple game, move the puck quick to the forwards and make it easy for them,” Lindstrom said. “I’ve been that same player my whole career.”

However, it didn’t take long for NHL opponents to unearth the weakness in Lindstrom’s game, mainly his below-average footwork on his skates. Soon, they were exploiting his shortcomings.

Last season, it all came to a head. The wheels completely came off Lindstrom’s game.

After playing 63 games for Detroit in 2021-22, he played only 36 last season. He was -16 in those games. His average playing time fell from 16:07 in 2021-22 to 14:10.

Continued; Lindstrom is one of those defensemen who can get caught “turning” on his skates to retrieve pucks instead of skating into them, and while skating can always be taught, I’ve felt that Lindstrom’s upper-body strength never reached an NHL level.

If you’re not a great skater and you’re not strong enough to deal with the physical contact that’s going to come from your inability to out-skate opponents to the puck in your own zone, you’re going to turn the puck over with regularity, and that’s not ideal.

Now I fully believe that Gustav can develop into a steady NHL defenseman, but it’s going to take hard work for him to find his eventual form.

NHL.com’s Stubbs explains a Howe reunion with the Stanley Cup…of a sort

I can only tell you this: as someone who’s outlived both his parents, this might sound weird to you, but it doesn’t sound weird to me. NHL.com’s Dave Stubbs tells us how Gordie Howe got close to the Stanley Cup in a sort of roundabout way recently:

Gordie Howe won the Stanley Cup four times during his illustrious career with the Detroit Red Wings.

On Wednesday, the legendary Mr. Hockey was in the company of professional hockey’s priceless sterling trophy once more — in spirit and, in a very small way, in body too.

As part of its summer tour with members of the 2022-23 championship Vegas Golden Knights organization, the Stanley Cup was in Glastonbury, Connecticut for a portion of the day with Keith Veronesi, the team’s director of scouting operations.

For the occasion, Marty Howe brought a small sharing urn of his father’s ashes to a quiet celebration at the home of Steve and Linda Veronesi, Keith’s parents, “so that Gordie could get next to the Stanley Cup one more time.”

Continued; you’d be surprised what people do with their loved ones’ ashes sometimes. It may sound strange, but it is usually very meaningful for the bereaved.

A game of injuries

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen goes into detail breaking down the Red Wings’ defensive pairings as they might apply to the seven healthy defensemen on the roster, but I think the most important part of his article to note is the introduction, because it’s the blunt truth:

The Detroit Red Wings probably aren’t concerned today about sorting out who the odd man out is on their defense because they understand the game will likely do it for them.

After the Jeff Petry acquisition, the Red Wings have seven defensemen with noteworthy NHL resumes. If Detroit had a game today, one of them would be a healthy scratch.

But by the time the season launches on Oct. 12, one of those players may be injured. Last season, Red Wings defensemen lost 44  games to injury. That’s more than half a season. Moritz Seider is the only Detroit defenseman to play all 82 games. Last season, Petry missed 21 games last season with injuries. At one point, Petry’s Pittsburgh Penguins had four of their top six defensemen sidelined with injuries. It seems like a 50-50 proposition that an injury will make this decision for the Red Wings.

Allen continues, and his breakdown is worth reading, but the reality of the game is harsh sometimes, and injuries will come into play in determining which of the Red Wings’ defensemen actually start the season skating on the blueline.

A few more notes on the Petry presser from THN’s Stockton

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton posted his article about Jeff Petry’s introductory presser earlier this afternoon, and Stockton took note of a couple details not yet mentioned by the Wings’ press corps:

On the ice, Petry looks forward to playing alongside Moritz Seider, a player who captured Petry’s attention before Seider took an NHL shift.  “I remember the year he was drafted and coming down here and skating with him, and he was 18 at the time—just seeing the body that he had, his frame and what he already had at that age,” Petry says.  “And then to see him step in and play as well as he did and to continue to grow, I think he’s a very, very good player now, and I think he’s only going to continue to get better.  I’m excited to play with a guy like that that.”

Petry played with Ben Chiarot in Montreal for an added bit of familiarity, and he likes what he sees across the Red Wings blue line: “There’s a good balance on that back end.  Everyone has different skillsets that come into play…It’s exciting to see.”

Since the trade that returned him to Montreal a few weeks ago, Petry knew another move was more than possible.  He expressed appreciation for Hughes, who asked for a list of preferred destinations even if he couldn’t make a guarantee.  Per Petry, “Detroit was the number one spot on my list.”

“You grow up seeing the success he had and what he brought to this city,” Petry said of his new boss, Steve Yzerman.  “The conversation that we had was easy—asking about family, living situations, and all that.  He’s a guy that definitely cares about more things than just things on the ice.”

He admits his summer of uncertainty was “stressful” throughout a “long three weeks trying to figure out if we’re not in Pittsburgh, where are we gonna be…All situations went through our minds…It was a big relief getting the call yesterday, knowing that I was going to be here.”

Asked what he’s learned with the experience of 864 NHL games under his belt, Petry said “There’s gonna be many ups, many downs.  You try to ride those ups as long as possible, and try to shorten those downs to as short of a period as possible.  I’ve been through many of those.”

Continued

‘Click the link’ audio: Ken Daniels discusses the ‘Roast and Toast of Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom,’ Wings’ offseason moves on 97.1 the Ticket

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels appeared on 97.1 the Ticket’s Stoney and Jansen show this morning (click the link to listen), discussing the Jamie Daniels Foundation’s “Roast and Toast of Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom” on August 26th. Daniels also discussed Detroit’s offseason moves and the possibility of the Wings making the playoffs, should all go well, this upcoming season.

Give ‘er a listen over at 97.1 the Ticket’s Audacy page.

Update: FYI:

Regner’s ‘How Swede It Is’ series begins with a superb profile of Hakan Andersson

DetroitRedWings.com’s Art Regner is going to be producing an extensive series of articles heading up to the Red Wings’ participation in the 2023 NHL GLOBAL SERIES in Sweden, highlighting the organization’s most important Swedish players and executives. The series of stories is called, “How Swede It Is.”

Today, Regner begins his series with a profile of Hakan Andersson, the super-scout who discovered Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg (among many others). Andersson started his career as a fishing guide, and, as Regner tells us today, Andersson’s long career with the Red Wings began thanks to a recommendation from a departing Swedish scout:

In 1989, Detroit Red Wings general manager, Jimmy Devellano, was facing a potential crisis in his scouting department.

Neil Smith, Detroit’s head scout, left the Wings to become general manager of the New York Rangers and in the process offered a job to Detroit’s chief scout in Europe, Christer Rockstrom, who accepted.

“I really wanted to retain Christer very badly, almost to the point that I got down on my knees to beg him to stay, but he was really tied in with Neil. He went to the Rangers. So now what do I do?” Devellano recalled. “I need a good man in Europe, in Sweden, and Christer was probably the best at that time.

“So, before he left for the Rangers, I said, ‘Christer, you’re going to be a hard person to replace. I don’t know whether I can trust you with this request, but could you recommend us to somebody that could take your place?'”

Devellano was aware of the risk involved in what he was asking, especially in the competitive NHL. Rockstrom could have recommended just about anyone, but his recommendation was sincere and continues to have a positive impact on the Red Wings to this day.

Rockstrom told Devellano, “I have a young guy that I fish with in the summertime, he’s a cab driver in the winter and he comes to all the junior games with me, and he played junior hockey in Sweden, and he knows players and he sat with me, and I told him what I look for. I think you should give him a chance.” Devellano replied, “Well, who’s that?” Rockstrom said, “He’s about 23-24 years old, his name is Hakan Andersson.”

Continued (at length); give this one a read. It’s fun.

Khan on Jeff Petry’s love of hockey

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses Jeff Petry’s status as a hockey-mad kid growing up in Metro Detroit in the late 90’s this afternoon:

“Both my parents being from California, my dad retired (in Michigan) and thought, ‘What can we put our two boys in that’s going to keep them busy all year round?’ ” Petry said. “So, it was baseball in the summer. And my dad knew nothing about hockey, but he knew it was big in Michigan and that was his reason behind putting us (him and older brother Matt) into hockey.”

Petry was born four days after the Tigers traded his dad to the California Angels on Dec. 9, 1987.

After briefly living in Southern California, the family returned to Michigan, where Petry lived in Grosse Pointe before moving to Farmington Hills, where his parents still reside.

His father, a Tigers analyst for Bally Sports Detroit, retired in 1991. That’s the year the Red Wings launched what would become a 25-season playoff streak that included four Stanley Cup championships.

That got Jeff hooked on hockey.

“I was always watching Red Wings games. My childhood room was Red Wings everything,” Petry said. “Hockey was always something I enjoyed more than baseball. It took me a while to finally tell my dad that. Hockey always meant a little bit more to me. He was very supportive of both sports growing up. When I ultimately made the decision to stop playing baseball, he was thrilled that I picked hockey and was going to continue down that road.”

Continued

Video: Windsor Spitfires post 7-minute highlight clip from ‘All in 4 ALS’ game

As you know by now, the Windsor Spitfires held their “All in 4 ALS” game last weekend to raise funds for ALS research and Ottawa Senators assistant coach Bob Jones, raising over $200,000 in the process. Six Red Wings players took part in the event, and, this morning, the Spitfires have posted a seven-minute video highlighting the game’s events: