Month: August 2023

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a profile of new Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry this morning, discussing Petry’s decision to pick playing hockey over playing baseball:

How do you tell your dad, a World Series-winning MLB hurler, that his sport wasn’t going to be your sport? That was the dilemma facing Jeff as he readied to broach the subject with his dad, former Detroit Tigers pitcher Dan Petry.

“It just came to a point where I guess I had to man up and go home and tell my dad I wanted to focus on my hockey career,” Jeff recalled.

He stressed over breaking his father’s heart. As things turned out, there was no cause for concern. Dan’s response was that Jeff should be pursuing his passion.

“He was great,” Jeff remembered of his dad’s response. “I should have done it a couple of years earlier. He never wanted to force us into anything.

As Jeff was working his way up the hockey prospect ladder, all Dan could offer was encouragement.

“I don’t know anything (about hockey), so there was no pressure on him,” Dan said. “I didn’t know what to tell him other than to go out and play hard.”

Continued; counting Austin Czarnik toward the total, the Wings have 5 Michigan natives on their roster for the upcoming season, and, in Andrew Copp, another two-sport star (Copp was a quarterback for Ann Arbor Skyline in high school).

The Athletic’s Ian Mendes, Max Bultman, Arpon Basu and Matthew Fairburn answered questions regarding the four respective teams they cover–the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres–for an article discussing the four teams’ playoff aspirations this morning.

Bultman believes that the Red Wings still have some significant questions to answer in terms of the team’s “weaknesses” going into the 2023-2024 season:

Bultman: There are still a few, but I’ll try to keep it brief. First and foremost, the Red Wings lack top-end players, and that limits their ability to score. DeBrincat was added to help change that, but he alone won’t make them a playoff-caliber offense. They need multiple players to step up. Beyond that, Detroit’s defense improved last season but needs to continue to improve, and the big question mark there will be on the second defense pairing. Jeff Petry has been a top-four defenseman for a long time in this league, and could still be one in Detroit, but will turn 36 in December. And beyond that, all of Ben Chiarot, Justin Holl, Shayne Gostisbehere and Olli Määttä are solid NHLers, but at least one of them will need to step up and give steady second pair minutes every night. And finally, Ville Husso could really use a bounce-back season in goal. He was good for long stretches last season, but fatigue got him as the year went on, and he finished with a save percentage below .900. Detroit needs to know it can count on him to be at least a league-average starter this season.

Continued (paywall);

1. To me, there’s no doubt that the Red Wings could still use another “natural goal-scorer” on the wing, because the team still needs more “pop” offensively. I’d imagine that we’ll see at least a pro try-out coming to training camp to address that particular need;
2. I’m not gonna bet against Petry. I know that he’s older than dirt by NHL standards, but he’s a strong skater with a good, hard shot;
3. Yes, there’s no doubt that Petry will need a solid defensive partner, whether that’s Maatta or someone else;
4. And if Husso can work on his positioning and flail himself from goalpost to goalpost a little less, he’ll be okay.

There’s no doubt that the Red Wings face a bushel full of questions going into the 2023-2024 season, and almost everything will have to go right for the team to make a playoff spot, luck in the injury department included. But now is not the time to douse fans’ tenuous optimism going into the fall, so I’m not about to do so.

The Red Wings drafted 6’3,” 181-pound defenseman Jack Phelan 137th overall in this past June’s NHL Draft. Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson posted a profile of Phelan this morning, noting that Phelan will play for the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede this upcoming season:

“The plan was always to play two years in the USHL,” Phelan says. “I’m sure there was an opportunity for me to go in this year (at Wisconsin). But when I committed to play for Wisconsin, I was always on a two-year plan. I think it would be good to go back and have a year of experience under my belt and, you know, grow as a player more.”

Red Wings director of amateur scouting and assistant general manager Kris Draper says adding strength will be a key part of Phelan’s development.

“For 17- and 18-year-olds, that’s a common theme for a lot of these guys,” he said. (Phelan’s) going to play another year of junior, going to school. It buys him time to do exactly what he needs to do and that’s to add strength.”

Phelan will be working to be more of an offensive presence at Sioux Falls this season after recording just one goal and four assists in 59 games last season.

“I want to get bigger, stronger, faster,” he said. “Guys get better and better every year. I’ve obviously got to be more offensive and find the holes to jump into and, um, you know, join the rush more and, uh, be a little more active at the blue line.”

Continued

Red Wings restricted free agent forward Joe Veleno spoke with RDS.ca’s Jean-Christophe Bertrand on Monday night via Zoom, discussing the Jeff Petry trade as it applies to the Canadiens adding Gustav Lindstrom, as well as his own contract negotiations with the Wings. What follows is roughly translated from French:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Joe Veleno discusses Gustav Lindstrom and his contract status with RDS.ca

The NHL Network spoke about the Red Wings at length on The NHL Tonight this evening. Here are two clips from the show:

1. In the first clip, Mike Rupp discusses the Jeff Petry trade to Detroit and what Petry’s addition to the blueline might mean for the Red Wings’ organization…

2. And in the second clip, Rupp and Tony Luftman discuss the Wings’ season outlook:

As noted on Saturday, six Red Wings players took part in the “All in 4 ALS” game in Windsor, raising over $200,000 for ALS research in the name of Bob Jones, an Ottawa Senators assistant coach who is battling the disease.

Today, the Windsor Spitfires’ website posted an 88-image gallery of photos taken by their team photographer, Remo Augustino, and it includes pictures of the Wings’ participants:

WXYZ’s Brad Galli posted a Tweet…I mean posted on “X” in video form, discussing the Jeff Petry trade:

The Red Wings acquired veteran defenseman Jeff Petry from the Canadiens, bringing home the Michigan native pic.twitter.com/c5murrzzeZ

— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) August 16, 2023

Quite the tribute here:

#46.

Like father, like son. 🏒⚾️ pic.twitter.com/IsEaRWSVI0

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 15, 2023

The Athletic’s Max Bultman filed a late-afternoon article discussing the ramifications of the Jeff Petry trade for the Red Wings’ blueline and their top defensive prospects:

[The trade] also comes with some interesting questions about potential fallout elsewhere on the blue line, which suddenly looks very crowded. After the projected top pair of Moritz Seider and Jake Walman, the Red Wings now may have to sit one of Petry, Gostisbehere, Ben Chiarot, Justin Holl and Olli Määttä, all of whom except Gostisbehere are under contract for at least the next two seasons, and all but Petry (whose cap hit is $2.34 million, after Montreal retained salary) will cost at least $3 million.

In many ways, that crowdedness can be a good thing — injuries are inevitable in the NHL, and in recent years, the Red Wings have had to resort to asking depth defenders to carry a real load. Last season, Detroit’s Nos. 6-8 defensemen (Lindstrom, Jordan Oesterle and Robert Hagg) combined for 126 games. Now, when all are healthy, the Red Wings would project to scratch a player who is better than all three of them — and that’s without knowing who, exactly, shapes up as the odd man out on a given night. There should be real competition.

Improving the blue line was the top priority for head coach Derek Lalonde when he arrived last season, and remains as such going forward, with Lalonde recently saying that even though Detroit improved defensively last season, it “still isn’t good enough.”

“I’ve been fortunate enough prior to coming here, being around some winning within this league, and it’s still about keeping it out of the net,” Lalonde said.

Clearly, Yzerman agrees, as the Red Wings now look much deeper (and more veteran) on defense. Petry had a 54 percent expected goals share last season in Pittsburgh, and while much of that was a result of what he brings offensively, he has a history of strong defensive impacts too.

And beyond that, finding more offense is still a major need for Detroit. Petry, for his part, has tallied 40 or more points in four of his last six seasons, in addition to being on pace to do so last season in the 61 games he played. That’s the good: the Red Wings got better, deeper, and more experienced, and did so without giving up much.

Bultman continues (paywall)

The Detroit Red Wings acquired defenseman Jeff Petry from the Montreal Canadiens for Gustav Lindstrom and a conditional 4th round draft pick. Here’s what the regular media folks have to say about the deal:

A. MLive:

MLive’s Ansar Khan weighs in as follows:

Continue reading Summarizing the Wings media corps’ takes on the Petry trade