Month: September 2023

Ahead of today’s game between the Red Wings’ prospects and Columbus Blue Jackets’ prospects, DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted a profile of Wings defenseman William Wallinder. Wallinder is one of the organization’s brightest prospects, and he’s making the jump to North America this season:

“That was a good test for me to see how it is to play on the small ice,” Wallinder said Friday at Centre Ice Arena. “It’s a lot quicker and you need to make decisions faster.”

Last season with Rogle BK, Wallinder compiled 26 points (7-19—26) in 50 regular-season games to go along with three points in nine postseason contests. His 26 points were tied for the most among any skater 22 years old or younger in Sweden’s top professional league.

“There’s a lot of good players there,” Wallinder said about the SHL. “It’s a great league. To play professional for a couple years in Sweden for sure has helped me get to where I am now.”

Wallinder, who signed a three-year entry level contract with Detroit on March 27, made his North American debut with the Griffins on April 2 at the Rockford IceHogs.

The 6-foot-4, 190-pound blueliner said while training in Detroit this summer, he focused on adapting his game to the North American rink.

“It’s a big change,” Wallinder said. “The way we play back in Sweden is a lot different than here. More possession back home than here.”

Continued; Wallinder is definitely going to face an adjustment period in terms of making decisions more quickly and moving the puck with pace, but he’s got all the tools necessary to succeed.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson posted a profile of Red Wings prospect Marco Kasper, who is tri-lingual, graduated from high school in Sweden this past spring, and has already played professional hockey with Rogle BK of the SHL, all at the age of 19:

Grand Rapids coach Dan Watson, who is coaching the Red Wings team in the NHL. Prospects tournament this weekend, is impressed with Kasper’s compete level and more.

“He’s got good stick detail,” Watson said. “He’s gonna find that offensive touch this year, for sure. But again just another smart player, moves his feet well and makes the players around him better. I liked his game (Thursday).”

It was Kasper’s first game since suffering a broken kneecap against Toronto in his NHL debut last season.

“It was a good game,” Kasper said of Thursday’s game. “A couple of turnovers cost us at the end of the game. We played hard. It was a gold first game.”

Kasper worked diligently in rehabbing the knee during offseason workouts in Detroit. So much so that Director of Player Development Dan Cleary fretted at one point that Kasper was working too hard.

Continued

Here’s the Red Wings’ YouTube streaming link for today’s 3:30 PM EDT game vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets’ prospects at the 2023 Prospect Tournament:

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects cancelled their 9:30 AM-scheduled morning skate ahead of today’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets’ prospects (3:30 PM EDT, streamed on the Red Wings’ YouTube channel, Facebook page and official site).

So there’s no update on Carter Mazur’s status this morning. We’ll have to wait to find out whether he can play through his lower-body injury.

The Athletic asked its beat writers to name one player on each of the NHL’s 32 teams that might be traded over the course of the 2023-2024 season, and Max Bultman threw a bit of a curve ball here:

Shayne Gostisbehere: The trade bait board is less plentiful in Detroit this season, owing both to a relative dearth of pending UFAs and the fact that the Red Wings have continued to increasingly invest in the present. Really, this one comes down to Gostisbehere and veteran winger David Perron, the team’s two top pending unrestricted free agents. And while Perron would likely be in higher demand, considering the playoff brand of hockey he plays, Gostisbehere plays the much more crowded position for Detroit, giving the Red Wings more incentive to move him. — Max Bultman

Continued (paywall); my hope is that the Red Wings won’t be in “sell mode” at the trade deadline this upcoming season. I don’t necessarily expect the Wings to make the playoffs this season, but remaining relevant to that discussion from start to finish would mark significant progress.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson posted a behind-the-paywall article about Red Wings 2023 first-round draft pick Nate Danielson. The 9th overall pick might only be 18 going on 19 this September 27th, but the young man is composed, on and off the ice–and confident in his abilities:

“I’m here to try to make the team,” he said. “Obviously, I’m gonna take it one day at a time and just focus on each practice and each game, but overall, I’m here to make the team.”

[Coach Dan] Watson, on the the other hand, indicated Danielson will likely have his chance to bid for a spot with the Red Wings after another junior season with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League.

“He’s very mature, very smart player,” Watson said. “It’s going to be making sure he manages the puck the right times, and he’s going to have to grow into the offensive game, too,  He’s going to be a really good junior player this year  when he goes back, and I think it’s going to be an opportunity to grow his game offensively.”

Continued; most likely (like 99%), Danielson is headed back to Brandon of the WHL, but if you can rate a prospect on will and self-belief–and healthy confidence–Danielson is a 10.

The defensive pairing of William Wallinder and Antti Tuomisto had a couple of hiccups on Thursday night, but the Red Wings’ top prospect tournament team’s d-pairing looks damn good in terms of its overall potential. Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen wonders aloud whether it might be a full-time partnership:

I thought last night they were the best D team on the ice,” Watson said Friday.

Tuomisto scored one of Detroit’s goals in a 4-2 loss to the Stars and Wallinder generated five shots on goal. Watson used both of the players on the power play, penalty kill and matched them up against the best players. This feels more like a coach wanting to see how they play together than a coach just mixing and matching for a short tournament. Wallinder and Tuomisto even room together. They have been training together for two weeks.

What pro coach wouldn’t want two extra-large men, whose abilities complement each other, playing on a paring.

“I think so,” Watson said about their potential to be a long-term pairing. “They play different styles No. 1. William is real mobile. He can move pucks. He can provide some of that offense. With Antti, he’s got a great first pass. He’s big. He’s long. He has no problem playing a physical style of defensive game. So that’s a good pair, a pair that could go against the other team’s top lines. They have that experience of playing against pros in Europe. So that’s the basis for why they are paired together. ”

Continued; it’s worth noting that most of the Red Wings’ prospects who’ve spoken with the media have said that they’ve been in Detroit for at least two or three weeks. It sounds like a very busy time with “Captain’s skates” at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center.

I posted audio from the Red Wings’ media availabilities earlier this afternoon, and this evening, the Wings have made video of the pressers available, though only as links as opposed to embedded videos.

You can watch, William Wallinder, Elmer Soderblom, Marco Kasper and coach Dan Watson’s videos on DetroitRedWings.com.

The Hockey News’s Jacob Stoller asks a “lingering lineup question” for the Eastern Conference’s 16 teams today. Here’s his question regarding the Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings: Who Does Alex DeBrincat Play With?

For Alex DeBrincat to be a 35- to 40-goal scorer, he needs linemates who can tee him up for one-timers. That’s his bread and butter. While it seems like a foregone conclusion that DeBrincat starts the season on Dylan Larkin’s wing, the real question is who will accompany those two. The knee-jerk reaction would be to assume it’d be Lucas Raymond or David Perron, although Wings coach Derek Lalonde may opt to have them on the second line to spread things out. Keep an eye out on sophomore forward Jonatan Berggren – he could complement DeBrincat quite well if he takes a step forward this upcoming year. The 23-year-old Swede is an elite passer who possesses the type of top-notch vision required to feed a talent like DeBrincat in prime scoring areas.

Continued; “Johnny Burgers” makes some sense as a top-line catalyst.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted an article regarding the comments made by one Elmer Soderblom on Friday afternoon. “Big Elmer” is attempting to round his game into full-health form after an injury-marred first season as a North American professional:

After posting eight points in 21 NHL games [with Detroit], he was assigned to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins on Jan. 8. With Grand Rapids, Soderblom recorded eight points in 20 games, but did not play after March 10 due to injury.  

Speaking to the media Friday at Centre Ice Arena, Soderblom said all he can do is “learn from it (last season) and get better.” And as the 22-year-old looks ahead to the rest of his time in Traverse City, his focus is clear.

“I want to be as good as I can be,” Soderblom said. “And show everybody that I can play at the highest level. I am just trying to focus on my game and improve all the small details every single game.”

Soderblom, who was selected 159th overall by the Red Wings in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, is amidst his third NHL Prospect Tournament. On Thursday night against the Dallas Stars in the tournament opener, Soderblom scored a goal and recorded a game-high six shots.

After spending his offseason working back to full health, Soderblom said he enjoyed being part of a competitive game environment again.

“It felt pretty good,” Soderblom said. “I haven’t played a game in like six months. It was fun to get out there again.”

Continued