Month: September 2023

Here’s an FYI in the alumni department: the Chicago Blackhawks announced late Thursday night that they’ll be retiring Chris Chelios’s #7, and the former Red Wings defenseman found out about the news at a Pearl Jam concert.

The press release for the event reads like only a Blackhawks press release could:

In front of a sold-out crowd of over 20,000 people at the United Center tonight, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder surprised his friend, and Chicago Blackhawks legend, Chris Chelios by announcing the team will have his No. 7 retired in an on-ice ceremony on Sunday, February 25 when the Blackhawks host the Detroit Red Wings. Chelios was brought on stage for the surprise moment to kick off the celebration.

Chelios—who was born and raised in Chicago—currently serves as Team Ambassador within the organization and will be the ninth Blackhawks player to have his number retired in franchise history joining: Glenn Hall (#1), Pierre Pilote (#3), Keith Magnusson (#3), Bobby Hull (#9), Denis Savard (#18), Stan Mikita (#21), Tony Esposito (#31) and Marian Hossa (#81). Fans wishing to attend this special event can visit Blackhawks.com/Tickets for tickets to the game.

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis posted a list of his 5 best candidates who should rebound from “sophomore slumps,” and Lucas Raymond made Ellis’ list:

Lucas Raymond, RW, 21 (Detroit Red Wings)

2022-23 stats: 74GP/17G/28A/45P

Raymond had the best season of anyone on this list, scoring 17 goals and 45 points in 74 games. But after scoring 23 goals and 57 points in 82 outings as a rookie, expectations were definitely higher. Raymond exceeded expectations as a rookie, going from a middle-six contributor with SHL Frolunda in 2020-21, but his early career play with the Red Wings made him appear like the real deal. He’s only 21, so there’s little reason to be concerned about the fall in production, but breaking the 60-point barrier would go a long way in helping the fanbase’s confidence. It’s worth noting he was Sweden’s best player at the World Championship, and it’s not uncommon to a see a player coming off a difficult season shine at the tournament before bouncing back in a big way the following year.

Continued; I expect Raymond to take a step forward this season, even if he’s playing on the Wings’ second line.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Art Regner has penned a profile of fan favorite Tomas Holmstrom as part of his “How Swede It Is” series of articles this morning:

Tomas Holmstrom never thought much about playing in the NHL.

“I was playing in the league under the Swedish Elite League and in 1992-93, I got the chance to move up to a better team in the Elite League in Sweden,” Holmstrom said. “There was a scout for Washington that saw me play with that team and told me that I was going to be drafted. I thought I was going to be a Washington Capital, but it ended up that the Detroit Red Wings took me in the 10th round (257th overall – 1994 NHL Entry Draft). My goal at that time was to first play in the Swedish Elite League and maybe even break into the Swedish national team before I would get the chance to go to the NHL.

“Until they drafted me, I had no idea that the Red Wings were interested in me. I didn’t know that much about the team except for a few of the players like Steve Yzerman, Dino Ciccarelli and Keith Primeau; who was a tough boy. I knew that they were a good hockey club and one of the Original Six teams. I didn’t know much more than that.”

Unbeknownst to Holmstrom, Detroit’s European scout Hakan Andersson was aware of him and though he liked certain aspects of his game, he wasn’t sure if Holmstrom’s build would hold to the rugged NHL style of play.

“He was actually at a camp when he was 17 years old for the Under-18 team. He may have turned 18, I don’t know,” Andersson said. “He was there at a camp, he was small, but he was tenacious and he kept going to the net and he battled. But he was about 5-foot-10, 165 pounds. Then a couple years later, I stumble across a friend of mine who was a coach up north, had him on his team, and I said, ‘Oh, I know that little shrimp.’ He said, ‘No, no, no, no. This kid is 6-feet, 190 pounds.’ This was two, three years later. So, I said, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ So that’s how I stumbled on him.”

Continued

Sportsnet’s Michael Amato posted a list of his top 250 fantasy hockey players. Here’s what he had to say about the Red Wings who made his list:

44. Dylan Larkin, DET, C: Larkin is as reliable as it gets. He’s essentially a point per game player you can count on for about 250 shots. He’ll come with upside this season as well, as perhaps the arrival of Alex DeBrincat can push Larkin closer to the 90-point threshold.

67. Alex DeBrincat, DET, RW: DeBrincat never looked quite comfortable in Ottawa and that, combined with a lower shooting percentage than his career average, resulted in a down year. There’s a good chance he and Larkin will be paired together in Detroit and that might be able to get DeBrincat back into 40-goal territory.

76. Moritz Seider, DET, D: Both Seider’s points and shots totals dropped in his sophomore season, but his hits and blocks took a nice jump. There will be more competition for Seider this season when it comes to power-play time, with Jeff Petry and Shayne Gostisbehere now in town.

186. Lucas Raymond, DET, LW: Raymond’s points and shots totals dropped significantly in his sophomore season, but he couldn’t be in a better spot to get back on track. He’ll likely be playing with Larkin and DeBrincat, and that combination should help Raymond boost his numbers back to what they looked like when he was a rookie.

222. Ville Husso, DET, G: Similar to most goalies on rebuilding teams, Husso’s value probably hinges on how much the Wings have improved. His numbers fell last year because the team in front of him wasn’t great, and that has to change to make Husso more than a spot starter off waivers.

228. David Perron, DET, LW: Even though it was a disappointing season for Perron from an offensive standpoint, he still put up 56 points. If that’s his floor with around 200 shots and 100 hits, he will still have some value.

Continued

Briefly: ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski spoke with Red Wings NHLPA Rookie Showcase participant Sebastian Cossa…Regarding the challenges inherent in stopping Connor Bedard’s slinky wrist shot:

Connor Bedard circled the ice, waiting for his cue from a hockey card photographer for Upper Deck. He skated purposefully towards an empty net and unleashed a shot.

OK, not a shot, but the shot. That quick, powerful release that’s his calling card as an NHL prospect. That skillful snipe that made him the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, and has positioned Bedard as the league’s latest franchise savior.

The puck rocketed off his blade and landed snugly under the crossbar. How many goals will the 18-year-old score just like that? How many goalies will be left wondering how to stop Bedard?

“Just get in front of it. Somehow,” said Sebastian Cossa, a goalie prospect for the Detroit Red Wings who attended the NHLPA Rookie Showcase in Arlington on Tuesday.

“He’s definitely got a good shot,” Cossa continued. “I played against him in junior and the world juniors. His pull-and-push is obviously pretty special. It’s not really knowing what to expect. You just got to really be on angle and take away the net from him. He’s a special player.”

Bedard was the talk of the rookie showcase.

Continued (paywall); a tidbit is better than nothing.

The Hockey News’s Jason Chen posted a fantasy hockey preview for the Detroit Red Wings this morning, and he offers some…interesting…theories:

Breakout Star

It’s hard to pick one with so many players and moving parts to the roster. But if Lucas Raymond stays with Larkin and DeBrincat plays on the opposite wing, Raymond’s being set up for a potential 30-goal season. However, Larkin and DeBrincat take a lot of shots, and you wonder if there’s enough for Raymond. Maybe it doesn’t matter because Raymond will rack up the assists instead, and he certainly has been particularly effective on the power play with 27 assists over the past two seasons. Breakout campaigns depend heavily on a player’s minutes and usage, and no other prospect is assured of top-six minutes.

Regression Candidate

I just don’t see Daniel Sprong as a reliable scorer. His 26-goal pace was really surprising and his Individual Point Percentage skewed very high for the second straight season. IPP is the percentage of goals for that player’s team while that player is on the ice that the player earned a point on, with the league average hovering around 70 percent. Sprong was at 80 percent, according to naturalstattrick.com, which hinted he was among the league’s elite in driving play and generating offense, and he is obviously not that kind of player.

It’s not unheard of for a player to move around a little bit before figuring it out – former Kraken teammate Jared McCann also suddenly scored at a much higher pace last season – but it always raises a few eyebrows when it happens out of the blue.

Sprong has averaged just 12 minutes per game in his career, by the way, and he faces a lot of competition for a top-six role. This was a low-risk signing by the Wings on a one-year deal, but it just begs the question of what exactly is the Yzerplan in its current iteration because it all feels like a shotgun approach. As far as high-upside options go, there are surer bets than Sprong.

Continued

The Grand Rapids Griffins issued the following press release this morning:

GAME TIME CHANGED FOR NOV. 11 AGAINST TORONTO 

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The American Hockey League on Thursday announced that the start time for the Grand Rapids Griffins’ home game against the Toronto Marlies on Saturday, Nov. 11 has been changed from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The Griffins will begin the 2023-24 season at Van Andel Arena on Oct. 13 against the Colorado Eagles. Fans can secure their full-season, select-season  or group ticket packages by calling (616) 774-4585 ext. 2 or visit griffinshockey.com for more information. Single-game tickets for the Griffins’ 2023-24 season will go on sale to the public on Sept. 15 through griffinshockey.com/tickets. Be sure to sign up to receive the Griffins Nation newsletters to be the first to know when tickets go on sale.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the Red Wings’ defensive depth this morning, wondering aloud how the competition for spots on the Wings’ blueline this fall will turn out:

General manager Steve Yzerman added three veterans during the offseason in Jeff Petry, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Justin Holl. Gone from last season’s roster are Filip Hronek, Jordan Oesterle, Robert Hagg and Gustav Lindström. Returning defensemen include Moritz Seider, Jake Walman, Ben Chiarot, and Olli Määttä. Health is unpredictable, of course, but on the face of it, that is a better starting corps than the Wings have had in years.

Seider, Petry and Holl shoot right, so the Wings will have the luxury of forming three pairs consisting of right-shots and left-shots. With Seider, Walman, Petry and Gotisbehere, the Wings can also have at least one defender on each pairing who can make things happen offensively. And Määttä showed renewed signs of that side of his game last season, too.

With the exception of three games in mid-February when Walman was out of the lineup, he and Seider formed a successful partnership the second half of the season. They read off one another well, allowing each to take an active role with the puck, without compromising integrity in their own zone. Seider had a minus-13 rating when he gained Walman as a partner, then posted a plus-two in the time they played together. The logical starting point is to have those together again.

From there, it gets interesting. Chiarot, Seider’s partner the first half, had an ugly plus-minus at season’s end, bottoming out at minus-31. But he’s 6 feet 3 and 232 pounds and plays as heavy as he is. He’s got an edge to him — when Ryan Reaves was taking all manner of liberties with the Wings during a game at Minnesota in December last year, it was Chiarot who dropped his gloves to send a message on behalf of his team.

Continued (paywall)

From NHL.com’s Christopher Detwiler:

Stanley got to spend his long weekend on the lake with some old friends.

While Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alec Martinez was celebrating the third Stanley Cup championship of his career on his boat in Michigan on Wednesday, he ran into former Detroit Red Wings forward Kris Draper, who won the Cup four times himself.

Before winning the Cup with the Golden Knights this past season, Martinez won the Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014. Draper won all four of his Stanley Cups with the Red Wings (1997, 1998, 2002, 2008).

The two met up on Martinez’s boat for a photo with their old friend Stanley.

That’s someone who’s worth keeping in touch with.

It's pretty cool when you are a 3x time #stanleycup champion and your party gets crashed by a 3x time #stanleycup champion @nhl@GoldenKnights @DetroitRedWings @HockeyHallFame pic.twitter.com/BCUl6cuH2D

— Philip Pritchard (@keeperofthecup) September 6, 2023

MLive’s Patrick Nothaft posted an article discussing the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman at the West Michigan Sports Commission’s luncheon in Grand Rapids today:

Steve Yzerman captained the Detroit Red Wings to three Stanley Cup championships during his 22-year NHL playing career, but hockey’s top prize has eluded the Hall of Fame player during his 18 years as an executive.

And that’s something the Red Wings’ fifth-year general manager hopes to change in a city that he helped turn into “Hockeytown.”

Yzerman served as the keynote speaker of the West Michigan Sports Commission’s 16th Annual Luncheon Wednesday at the J.W. Marriott in Grand Rapids, where he discussed his goal of winning a Stanley Cup as a general manager, some of his unforgettable on-ice accomplishments and a couple former teammates who he hopes to see in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“Truthfully, for me, it would be a greater accomplishment than doing it as a player,” Yzerman said of building a Stanley Cup-winning team. “To be in this position and kind of direct the team or guide an organization can be an incredible opportunity and something I wasn’t about to pass on.”

Continued; if you missed the video post, you can watch his full speech here via WZZM 13: