Month: September 2023

Khan’s mailbag: Done with free agent signings?

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a notebook feature earlier this afternoon, and he addressed a question as to whether the Red Wings are done signing free agents for the summer/fall:

Q: Though it’s likely that Yzerman is done making moves, could we see a possible reunion with current UFA Tomas Tatar? If seems doubtful that the Devils are going to end up with the cap space to sign him and with a 20-goal season last year, he would complement any team’s second or third lines. – Tyler

A: They have one available roster spot and the cap space, so it can’t be ruled out. But if Yzerman acquires another player, he might prefer someone who can play center and wing. Assuming they keep Michael Rasmussen on the wing, their four centers are Dylan Larkin, Andrew Copp, J.T. Compher and Joe Veleno. If one is injured, they would need to either move Rasmussen back to center or bring up Austin Czarnik from Grand Rapids, unless Marco Kasper appears NHL-ready at that time and they’re comfortable playing him at center at a young age.

I think they’re comfortable with the number of top-three line wingers they have in Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond, David Perron, Robby Fabbri, Daniel Sprong, Jonatan Berggren and Klim Kostin, with Elmer Soderblom waiting in the wings in Grand Rapids.

Continued; I don’t expect the Wings to sign anyone else, but a pro try-out or two might be in the offing.

Prospect round-up: Axel Sandin Pellikka’s season gets underway in the Champions Hockey League

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the Champions Hockey League, Axel Sandin Pellikka had 6 shots and 4 blocks in 15:43 played, finishing even in Skelleftea AIK’s 4-0 win over the Red Bull Salzburg.

Mills’ Friday Notebook: Recapping the Grand Rapids Griffins’ Youth Foundation Golf Classic

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills covered the Grand Rapids Griffins’ annual summer golf tournament to raise funds for the Griffins’ Youth Foundation in a Friday notebook article:

Several Grand Rapids Griffins players and alumni joined fans and sponsors to support a good cause by participating in the 29th annual Griffins Youth Foundation (GYF) Golf Classic, presented by Meijer, on Aug. 21 at the American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven, Mich.

The golf classic is the primary fundraiser for the GYF, which promotes academic excellence, community involvement and healthy lifestyles among the youth of West Michigan through hockey and ice-related sports. In addition, greens fees support Folds of Honor, a nationally recognized non-profit organization that provides scholarships to the families of fallen and disabled service members as well as first responders.

Longtime Griffins radio announcer Bob Kaser, who also serves as event director and president of the GYF, said the scramble golf tournament shines a light on an important mission.

“Anytime you can go out on the course is a lot of fun, especially when you’re doing it for charity and a great cause like our youth foundation,” Kaser told DetroitRedWings.com. “We continue to grow the program.”

Continued

Late night video link: Moritz Seider speaks with RNF.de

Strange things one finds in the middle of the night: RNF.de, a network/website from the Rhein-Neckar region of Germany, posted a 33-minute podcast interview with Moritz Seider in video form. “Menschen aus der Kurpfalz,” or “People from the province,” is the name of the podcast.

The video is in German, but it promises to discuss Seider’s journey (thanks to his parents) from Zell to Mannheim to play hockey for the Adler Mannheim’s developmental system, his time spent in the DEL, his decision to play in Sweden for Rogle during the pandemic, his time spent with Detroit, and his familial and personal ties to Mannheim.

Give it a glance if you wish!

MLive’s Khan updates player addresses, addresses Filip Zadina’s missteps, new start in San Jose

This Thursday night, MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a primer as to where the 12 players who left the Detroit Red Wings wound up earning contracts (or pro try-outs) this offseason, and Khan also engaged in an interesting exercise:

Khan spoke with San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, discussing Filip Zadina’s missteps in Detroit, and his potential with his new team, the San Jose Sharks.

Regarding last season, and the Red Wings coaching staff’s decision to place Zadina away from his favorite shooter’s spot on the right wing faceoff circle:

“He did not have a good training camp and pre-season. He was actually a healthy scratch [for the first two games of the year]. He just quickly fell out of favor with a new coach, and he never really recovered. [Then] he got injured, I think in November, blocking a shot, got hit by a shot and broke his leg,” Khan said, also noting that Zadina got behind free agent Wings forwards Kubalik, David Perron, and Andrew Copp on the depth chart. “They had more options on the power play, and it was simply a matter of Zadina just dropping down the pecking order.”

Zadina himself noted that he suffered an appendicitis at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, which put him behind the eight-ball in his summer training.

Anyway, Zadina did not look comfortable in the high slot on the power play, a high-traffic area which requires quick, accurate passing and shooting decisions. Khan agreed.

So of course, the obvious answer for the San Jose Sharks is to reinstate Zadina on the right flank of the power play. He was an above-average scoring threat from there from 2019 to 2022, ringing up 2.11 Power Play Goals Per 60, good for 57th among all NHL forwards (of 178 qualified, 300-plus PP minutes). That’s not too bad for a youngster.

Ansar’s not so certain about that:

“Their whole thing with him the last couple of years was they didn’t want him to be as much on the perimeter. And just to be like a one-trick pony. Where all he could do was fire off shots, one-timers from the flank,” Khan said. “They wanted him to be a little bit more at the net, and be more on the inside, and kind of expand his repertoire a little bit. I think that’s why they moved him. They wanted to get him closer to the net. Try to find different ways to score, whether that’s garbage goals around the net and things like that.”

Khan and Peng continue, and it’s an intriguing discussion!