Of Red Wings-related note this morning:
- Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s defense of Ben Chiarot, who was -31 last season:
“He can put a lot of value in,” Lalonde said. “Beating the Ben Chiarot drum, he’s extremely valuable to us. Even last year, fielding some questions on some of his underlying numbers and plus/minus, we think he’s very valuable to us in a lot of ways.”
At 6-foot-3 and 232 pounds, Chiarot is capable of playing a heavy game and being a physical presence between the boards. That was an element that was in short supply with the Red Wings last season. Looking to some other numbers, those digits are telling a story of how Chiarot was delivering the goods in other areas of the game.
He was second among the club’s rearguards in hits (147) and blocked shots (163). Chiarot was parrying pucks at a team-high per-game rate of 6.24.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why people are getting away from that black and white plus/minus,” Lalonde said. “I still think there’s some value to it. But at the same time, there’s a reason that black and white plus/minus is getting faded out around the league. He was culpable for some of it but a lot of it was circumstantial.”
2. The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an article regarding Wings try-out goaltender Michael Hutchinson:
“We got the call on Monday, and I had to fly out on Tuesday,” Hutchinson said. “It was a little bit of a scramble. We had some plans we had to cancel, my wife and I. It was a scramble, but I thought it would be a fun opportunity.
“At the end of the day, it’s better to be skating than being at home and sitting on your butt. I’m just going to enjoy each moment.”
Hutchinson has appeared in 153 NHL games, posting a 2.93 goals-against average and .902 save percentage. He spent last season in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization, posting a 4.29 GAA and .902 save percentage in 16 games.
With eight exhibition games, the Wings have plenty of time to get looks at all of their goaltenders. Lalonde said during training camp in Traverse City the Wings will go into the season with Husso as No. 1, but beyond that, there’s competition.
“We had a vision of improving our goaltending depth and our guys in that two, three, four hole, if you will, have played very well,” Lalonde said. “You want to be careful how you judge them. We’ve had three home games. Teams that travel usually do not send very deep teams as far as as NHL roster. So they’ve played well, but they’ve all been put in pretty good situations so far.”
3. In the paid content category, Sean Shapiro discusses Nate Danielson’s strong preseason play on his Substack:
Perhaps the only positive of the loaded preseason schedule has been the opportunity for an extended look at Nate Danielson against semi-NHL competition.
Danielson was the Red Wings first-round pick back in June, going No. 9 overall. He played his fourth preseason game on Tuesday night, a 4-2 loss in Chicago, and statistically speaking Danielson has a goal and two assists in those showings.
Counting stats, however, aren’t going to show Danielson’s entire impact. At 19, his birthday was last week, Danielson already looks comfortable in all three zones amongst NHL competition. He skates well, takes smart routes throughout, and understands his role as a center to control the flow of his respective shift.
4. And The Athletic’s Max Bultman wonders aloud whether the Red Wings can emulate the Seattle Kraken this upcoming season:
Tuesday afternoon, one of those new additions shared an encouraging early impression through two weeks of training camp.
“It reminds me a lot of Seattle’s team last year,” Sprong said. “(With) depth on all four lines, and I think any four lines and our D’s can step up and make a difference every game.”
The logic behind the vision, and the comparison, is easy to see. Seattle was a 100-point team in the league last year despite not having a true superstar. It did have 2021 No. 2 pick Matty Beniers as a budding face of the franchise, but at 20, he was still just a 57-point player — not yet the force he is expected to soon become. It had Vince Dunn, a dynamic offensive defenseman and another breakout story of 2022-23, but also not the kind of can’t-find player headlining rosters in Colorado, New Jersey or Tampa Bay.
Instead, Seattle did it with Jared McCann turning in a 40-goal season after his two best prior seasons clocked in at 27 and 19. It had a cast of 20-goal wingers that included Sprong, Jordan Eberle, Jaden Schwartz and Oliver Bjorkstrand. It had a breakout in waiver find Eeli Tolvanen. And it had tested veterans like Yanni Gourde, Brandon Tanev and Alexander Wennberg chipping in supplemental offense while, as Yzerman alluded to when talking about his own team, making them harder to play against.
“I think it takes (some) pressure off the big boys,” Sprong said. “Knowing if they’re maybe off one night — that rarely happens — but there’s games where they’re not feeling it, you know you have your second, third, fourth line that can make a difference and bring offense and take over games as well. It makes it hard for matchups as well.”
