Month: September 2023

Red Wings’ prospects lose 4-2 to Dallas in 2023 Prospect Tournament opener

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects dropped a 4-2 decision to the Dallas Stars’ prospects at their first of three games at the 2023 Prospect Tournament in Traverse City.

Elmer Soderblom and Antti Tuomisto scored goals, Nate Danielson had 2 assists, and Sebastian Cossa (14 of 16 shots) and Jan Bednar (10 of 11 shots) split time in goal, with Dallas ending the game on an empty-netter.

There’s more to come, obviously, and I’ll report more as the night progresses.

Prospect round-up: the SHL gets underway

In the SHL, Anton Johansson finished at -1 with 1 shot on goal in 18:03 of ice time as Leksands IF lost 5-3 to Orebro;

And in the battle between Skelleftea AIK’s Axel Sandin Pellikka and Modo’s Theodor Niederbach, Skelleftea won 2-1 over Modo in a shootout.

For Skelleftea AIK, Sandin Pellikka finished even with 3 shots in 18:03 of ice time, and for Modo, Niederbach finished even in 18:49 played.

Tweet of note: Danny DeKeyser and Carley Johnston take in the Detroit Auto Show

For the sake of posting everything Wings-related…

Daily Faceoff’s McKenna ranks the Wings’ goaltending trio 26th in the league

Daily Faceoff’s Mike McKenna ranks every NHL team’s goaltending tandem today, and, well, this can’t surprise us:

#26: Detroit Red Wings: Ville Husso, James Reimer, & Alex Lyon

Key questions: Are the Red Wings going nowhere fast with this trio? Can Husso regain the form he previously showed with the St. Louis Blues? What if Lyon is one of the top two netminders, but he gets buried in the minors?

Continued; there is such a thing as a meritocracy.

Tweets of note: NHL Media Tour quips from captain Larkin

From the Red Wings’ captain, via The Score’s Jon Matisz and The Athletic’s Michael Russo:

Tweet of note: Bultman posts Wings, Stars’ lines ahead of tonight’s prospect tournament game

Here are the Red Wings and Dallas Stars’ lines for tonight’s 6:30 PM game between Detroit and Dallas, via The Athletic’s Max Bultman:

Mills: Marco Kasper’s ready to go as the prospect tournament begins

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills spoke with Marco Kasper ahead of tonight’s game between the Red Wings’ prospects and Dallas Stars’ prospects at the 2023 Prospect Tournament in Traverse City:

Kasper recorded 23 points in 52 Swedish Hockey League games with Rogle BK to start the 2022-23 season before making his NHL debut on April 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Unfortunately, the 6-foot-1, 183-pound forward sustained a season-ending lower-body injury in that game and was shut down for the remainder of the campaign.

While his brief NHL experience last season was beneficial, equally important to Kasper’s development has been his time in the club’s facilities in Detroit and forming close friendships with his fellow Red Wings prospects.

“It’s awesome,” Kasper said. “I’ve met a lot of guys at development camp the past two years. A couple new guys coming in this year. It’s just fun to be around those guys.”

Kasper was a full participant at Detroit’s Development Camp in July, and after putting in the offseason work, he said he feels “fully recovered” from his injury.

“I worked out hard this summer to get stronger, even working on the ice as well,” he said. “Really excited to get the season started.”

Continued

Impressions from the morning skate ahead of the Red Wings’ prospect tournament game vs. the Dallas Stars

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects held an hour-long morning skate ahead of tonight’s game vs. the Dallas Stars’ prospects (6:30 PM EDT on the Wings’ YouTube channel, Facebook and official website, and stats are available on PointStreak).

An hour is a little long for a “morning skate,” but the players usually get in a quick “getting to know you” skate on Wednesday, and Thursday’s morning skate is always about instruction–and structure.

Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson is in charge of the prospects, with Griffins assistant coaches Stephane Julien, Brian Lashoff and goaltending coach Roope Koistinen also working with the prospects today.

The drills the players engaged in this morning mostly focused on establishing structure in terms of puck retrievals, break-outs, speed through center ice, and power play-and-penalty-kill formations. The emphasis on speed and puck possession were evident from the get-go, as this year’s Red Wings prospects team moves the puck well up ice.

As I said on Twitter, or X, the power play formations were kind of exciting:

Continue reading Impressions from the morning skate ahead of the Red Wings’ prospect tournament game vs. the Dallas Stars