Month: September 2023

The Athletic surveyed its NHL beat writers regarding a “burning question” which each NHL team faces going into training camp, and Max Bultman weighed in with the following:

Detroit Red Wings

Exactly how much better are they? The Red Wings should be improved next season after adding a premium goal scorer in Alex DeBrincat, another strong two-way center in J.T. Compher, defensemen Jeff Petry, Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Holl, and rounding out their depth on the wings and in goal. The question is: How much better? Those are some big adds, but the Red Wings also subtracted Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek and Jakub Vrana late last season. Is the sum total of those moves enough to push the Red Wings into serious wild-card contention in a loaded Eastern Conference? And what kind of steps will key returners Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider take? Training camp will give us our first look at just how much better than last season the Red Wings actually might be. — Max Bultman

Continued (paywall); I’m curious to see what the revamped Red Wings look like through training camp and the exhibition season as well. The team turned over nearly half its roster, and Tyler Bertuzzi was a big driver of play. I don’t know who’s going to step up to fill his role.

Everybody’s got a podcast these days. I’m surprised that Aunt Annie doesn’t have one, honestly.

Living with an aunt means that I hear an earful of my own, “You should start a podcast” nags, too, but the hockey world seems so very jam-packed with podcasts that I’ve held off, because I’m not certain that there’s really anything else left to say.

With that out of the way, I may have a person lined up who is interested in doing a podcast with me, and if we’re doing one here on TMR, it’s going to have to be different.

So the questions here are obvious: what are you looking for that you can’t yet find in the other Red Wings podcasts?

What slides through the cracks, and what do you want to hear a different take on? What can we do to stand out, and what can we do to be outstanding?

This is all theoretical right now, but I’m very serious about establishing a podcast once training camp is over, and I need your input to make it worth your time.

That’s not easy in a crowded marketplace of Red Wings blogs and podcasts, but I believe that we can accomplish it together.

Post a comment below, send me a Tweet or an email (at rtxg@yahoo.com) and let me know what you think.

We’re all aware of the fact that the Red Wings acquired Alex DeBrincat in no small part because he wanted to “come home,” and today, a comment came out from Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stuetzle, appearing on the 32 Thoughts podcast, that stirred the drink.

If you’re into drumming up drama. Per the Score’s Sean O’Leary:

Ottawa Senators superstar Tim Stutzle made his stance on Alex DeBrincat’s desire to leave Canada’s capital crystal clear in a recent appearance on Sportsnet’s “32 Thoughts” podcast.

“If he doesn’t want to be there, I don’t want to make him have to be there,” Stutzle said. “You know, like, that’s fine to us. I think the whole group, we’ve been saying it, we want him to stay. We want him to be part of this group and he’s a great guy, great player.

“If you don’t want to be there, then good luck on your way.”

DeBrincat entered the offseason as a restricted free agent but was reportedly unwilling to sign an extension with the Senators. He was ultimately traded to the Detroit Red Wings and signed a four-year, $31.5-million contract.

Continued; getting a German “Good Luck With That” is not exactly being told off, but as the Red Wings and Senators’ fan bases do not like each other very much right now, this is being played up significantly.

Let’s wait until the teams meet, and see what happens then.

According to MLive’s Ansar Khan, former Red Wings prospect Chase Pearson has signed with a Slovakian Extraliga team:

Chase Pearson, a one-time fourth-line center prospect for the Detroit Red Wings, will continue his career in Slovakia following five seasons with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Pearson, 26, signed a one-year contract with HK Dukla Michalovce of the Slovak Extraliga.

The 6-2, 200-poiund forward appeared in 47 games last season with the Griffins (four goals, 10 assists). Overall, he played in 194 games in Grand Rapids (29 goals, 49 assists, minus-33).

Pearson played three games with the Red Wings in 2021-22 (no points).

For two weeks and two days, the rental car would cost $1,434.00.

There was no discernible difference between a compact car and an SUV given the demand for vehicles at present.

We’re going to need some assistance bridging this gap.

If you can lend a hand with our overall expenses, we have an old-fashioned GoFundMe here https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-george-annie-attend-prospect-tournament, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”

Gang, we’ve got a big, fat complication in terms of the Traverse City trip. My 2006 Chrysler Pacifica has been deemed unsafe to drive long distances (any distance, really) by our mechanic in town. Norm says that the sub-frame is rusted out, and that we cannot drive the car to Traverse City.

Renting a car for the approximate two-week trip would cost us around $1,500 from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which is our local rental place. We’ll try to see whether we can get discounts due to Aunt Annie’s AARP status and our status as customers of Norm’s Total Automotive, but we don’t have the money budgeted for this expense, so I don’t know what to do.

If you have any recommendations, I could use them.

If you can lend a hand with our overall expenses, we have an old-fashioned GoFundMe here https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-george-annie-attend-prospect-tournament, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”

As we near the departure date for the prospect tournament and training camp, today is a particularly nerve-wracking, because I’m going to receive the estimate as to how much it will cost to repair.

That repair bill might cut into the hotel money, and we haven’t been able to raise the full $2,925 in the GoFundMe yet–we’re about $300 short today–so we’ll be going up uncertain whether we can cover our costs without exhausting what little discretionary income we might have.

Our fundraising drive has been absolutely blessed by a couple of high-profile donors and some real die-hard fans, but I get the feeling that some of you are holding off for one reason or another. So we’re crossing our fingers that, once I produce some product, those of you who remain on the fence might find value in what you’re reading.

However, we’re at where we’re at in terms of overall fundraising and trying to break even somehow, and the grind of doing this has not been pleasant. In an era where every cause has a GoFundMe, and it’s not really hockey season yet, I suppose that it shouldn’t be that surprising that we’ve struggled thus far, but it is discouraging.

That being said, optimism must prevail to get us up to Traverse City, so:

If you can lend a hand with our overall expenses, we have an old-fashioned GoFundMe here https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-george-annie-attend-prospect-tournament, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Kal confirms that the Wings will be streaming their three prospect tournament games:

Red Wings Prospects Tournament in TC starts next Thursday September 14th. Detroit vs Dallas. Watch all the action streaming on Detroit Red Wings social media channels.

— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) September 8, 2023

The Score’s Josh Gold-Smith offers a list of 5 offseason moves which served as “head-scratchers” this morning, and Gold-Smith is not a fan of the Wings’ signing of J.T. Compher:

Steve Yzerman is not the same GM with the Detroit Red Wings that he was with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The first major hint came in July of last year when he signed overachieving Michigan-born free-agent forward Andrew Copp to a five-year deal at $5.625 million annually.

Copp found his game as a multi-positional offensive contributor over parts of two seasons – his final ones with the Winnipeg Jets – before they traded him to the New York Rangers at the 2021-22 deadline. He posted over a point per game with the Blueshirts down the stretch of that regular season and then had a great postseason, too. But after cashing in with the Wings, the local boy collected only nine goals and 33 assists while posting subpar underlying numbers over 82 games last season.

Fast-forward to July 1, 2023. Yzerman signed eight players that day, but he gave the most money and longest term (five years, $25.5 million) to J.T. Compher, a similarly versatile but limited forward. Compher came off a career year offensively, having produced 52 points in 82 games with the Colorado Avalanche. He’s a fairly dependable second-line center and proved he can play on the top line when necessary.

But the Red Wings now pay their middle-six pivots, Compher and Copp, more than $5 million each for five and four more seasons, respectively. Yzerman traded for and extended Alex DeBrincat eight days later, but handing out significant term and money to middle-of-the-lineup players like Compher could haunt the GM if Detroit eventually develops into a contender.

Continued; I’m of the opinion that Yzerman overpaid a bit for both Copp and Compher, but I don’t believe that either move will “haunt” the Red Wings.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills reviews Lucas Raymond’s 2022-2023 season this morning, noting that Raymond expects more from himself going forward:

“Experience is something you can only get by time,” Raymond said in his end-of-season media session. “I grew a lot (in 2022-23). You learn about yourself more and more, what you need to do to be prepared, what your body responds to, etc. It felt good. You try to find these things that help you get better and that only comes with time.”

Selected fourth overall by Detroit in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Raymond recorded 57 points (23-34—57) in 82 games in 2021-22 and followed that up with 45 points (17-28—45) in 74 games last season.

“I felt like my play was pretty consistent,” Raymond said about his second full NHL campaign. “But production could come in bunches sometimes. Of course I wanna be a consistent player. That’s something you wanna be. It’s just about figuring out what you need to do to be that and continue to grow.”

 After finishing as one of only three NHL rookies to play all 82 games two seasons ago, Raymond missed eight contests in 2022-23 because of a lower-body injury he sustained in mid-February.

The 5-foot-11, 176-pound forward said that playing though his “first injury in the NHL” was a learning experience.

“Obviously you’re eager to get back on the ice and help the guys, especially the position we were in,” Raymond said. “At the same time, it’s part of it – to learn how to overcome it. You’ll never feel 100 percent, so it’s just about doing what you can to try to play as good as possible every night.”

Continued