Month: October 2023

The Detroit Red Wings will play their sixth preseason game tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins (7 PM EDT start on Sportsnet Pittsburgh, 97.1 FM). Here is tonight’s Penguins roster…

See you tonight, @DetroitRedWings. pic.twitter.com/iEGBN0QB2s

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 4, 2023

And it appears that the Red Wings may stream the game on DetroitRedWings.com:

🐙 vs. 🐧

📺: https://t.co/jLX5LxapNh
📻: @971theticketxyt pic.twitter.com/BW7kexoWlk

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 4, 2023

Okay, I posted my Tweetcap of the Red Wings’ 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday evening, and the other media folks posted recaps sans quotes, including MLive’s Ansar Khan, the Free Press’s Kirkland Crawford (photo gallery attached) and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan (photo gallery attached).

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills also added a few comments from coach Derek Lalonde and forward Joe Veleno…

Lalonde on dressing more inexperienced players Tuesday night: “It’s good. It’s opportunities for some of our inexperienced guys in a tougher situation, no different than what we faced at home with the some of the lines we faced. Some of our younger d-men had some experience against some of these top-caliber-type forwards.”

Lalonde on Veleno: “I love the finish on both those plays. That’s a very good sign and good game from Joe. Had some looks and a big impact on the game, which was great.”

Veleno on his two-goal performance: “I felt good tonight. I think our line was clicking. We had some good chances and good o-zone time. We showed some flashes. Now we just got to keep going and be consistent here all throughout camp.”

Veleno on the pushback from Detroit’s younger players: “I thought we did a pretty good job of fighting back. They had pretty much their full lineup, a couple players missing.”

And Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff pondered the timing of goaltending try-out Andrew Hutchinson’s inclusion on the Red Wings’ training camp roster:

The Detroit Red Wings kicked off a busy stretch of 3 preseason games to be played over the course of 3 nights tonight in Chicago, where they lost a 4-2 decision to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago opened the scoring only 2:09 into the 1st period, scoring the 1-0 goal via one Corey Perry:

Husso can't stop the rebound as Danielson has to try and make up for McIsaac's booble, and Perry scores the 1-0 goal.

Bad set of turnovers by McIsaac.

1-0 Chicago @ 2:09.

— George Malik (@georgemalik) October 4, 2023

That was a really rough shift for McIsaac, who is playing alongside William Wallinder tonight.

McIsaac made a couple of turnovers and chased the puck to the blueline, where the Hawks chipped the puck at the net and mashed at it till it went in.

— George Malik (@georgemalik) October 4, 2023

̶c̶o̶r̶e̶y̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶r̶y̶ more like scorey perry 😌 pic.twitter.com/HCcZwYFiJL

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 4, 2023

The Hawks rushed out to a 6-2 shot advantage before Detroit was able to push back some 10:00 into the 1st, narrowing the shot deficit to 7-5…

But William Wallinder took a holding penalty at 10:03, and Chicago headed to the power play.

Detroit killed the penalty.

As the game continued, the Red Wings were icing the following lines:

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Thompson posted an article which discusses comparisons and contrasts between the rebuilding Red Wings and the rebuilding Blackhawks. It’s at least interesting pregame reading:

Last season Detroit finished 12 games out of wild-card contention; the Hawks, 36. Both franchises consider themselves in the midst of a rebuild, although at different points in the spectrum.

The Hawks are early enough in their makeover that fans can fill their heads with the illusions that optimism and high draft picks bring.

The Wings once harbored similar hopes, but they haven’t cracked the playoffs since 2017. General manager Steve Yzerman’s rebuild keeps rebuilding.

In a poetic twist, one player symbolizes where the Hawks and Wings are on their respective roads to contention: Alex DeBrincat.

For the Hawks, trading DeBrincat, who wasn’t scheduled to play Tuesday, to Ottawa in July 2022 cemented the notion the teardown wasn’t just talk (or temporary).

For the Wings, trading to acquire DeBrincat from Ottawa on July 9 (for a package that includes Dominik Kubalik and a 2024 conditional first-round draft pick), is an acknowledgment they need to go big to get over the hump.

“We did trade a first-round pick, which I am loathe to trade first-round picks, particularly at the start of the season because you don’t know what pick you’re trading, but we did that to acquire Alex DeBrincat, who’s a young player, so he fits into the timeline of our team,” Yzerman said, according to mlive.com. “But we’re still in a phase of acquiring talent and letting them develop.”

Continued; there is of course one big difference between Detroit and Chicago, and his name is Connor Bedard.

In a subscriber-only article, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen lists 5 reasons why the Red Wings might make the playoffs this upcoming season. I’m going with #3 and #4:

3.  Red Wings Will Score More Goals: Coach Derek Lalonde’s group isn’t going to suddenly become a top 10 scoring team. But if Alex DeBrincat nets 35+ plus, Daniel Sprong adds 20, Lucas Raymond scores 25 and Robby Fabbri stays healthy maybe the Red Wings could go from 24th in scoring last season to middle of the pack this season. Surely, Andrew Copp will score more than nine goals.

4.  Sharper Goalie Numbers: Thanks to the addition of James Reimer and Alex Lyon, the Red Wings are deeper at goalie than a year ago. The Red Wings only won 34.6% of their backup goalie starts last season and had an ugly team save percentage of .894. They may decide to keep three goalies this to start the season. They could win more than they lose when they play the backup goalie this season. With an improved defensive group as well, the Red Wings hope, maybe expect, to have a save percentage above .900. If Ville Husso plays like he did in the first half of last season, Detroit owns a shot at the playoffs.

Continued (paywall); I don’t know whether the Red Wings will make the playoffs or not. I have a feeling that it’s a long shot at best. But I hope they are at least playoff-relevant for the vast majority of this upcoming season.

Of Red Wings prospect-related note today in Europe:

In the SHL, Anton Johansson’s Leksands IF won 4-1 over Theodor Niederbach’s MoDo Hockey.

Johansson finished even with 2 shots in 14:25 played for Leksand; Niederbach finished at -2 with 1 shot, 1 blocked shot and a penalty taken in 16:28;

And in the DEL, Kevin Bicker finished with a shot on goal and a penalty in 8:19 played as the Frankfurt Lowen won 5-3 over the Schwenniger Wild Wings.

Earlier…Last Thursday…

In the SHL, Johansson finished even in 12:42 played as Leksands IF lost 5-0 to Farjestads BK;

Theodor Niederbach had an assist, finishing even with 2 shots on goal in 14:27 played as MoDo Hockey won 4-3 in overtime over Malmo;

Axel Sandin Pellikka had an assist, finishing even in 14:33 as Skelleftea AIK won 3-1 over HV71.

Aftonbladet reported that Nicklas Lidstrom and Niklas Kronwall attended the game. From IceHockeyGifs on Twitter:

Among the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton’s game-day notes:

After the non-game group practiced this afternoon, Joe Veleno gave a reflective interview on his path toward personal growth and the threshold between being an up-and-comer and an established pro in the modern NHL.

When asked where he’d like to grow his own game heading into his third full season of pro hockey, Veleno responded, “It’s being in better spots on the ice, being in better positions in the offensive zone, getting to those hard areas, getting a couple of those extra goals in front of the net.  And obviously, you don’t want to cheat the game…I definitely want to be on the right side of the puck and strong defensively.  Being good defensively that’ll transition to more touches with the puck offensively.”  

It’s a similar message to one David Perron offered earlier in camp as advice for young players—that despite how it might sometimes seem, defensive solidity will feed the attacking game young players so often want to play.

While he wants to improve his productivity, Veleno is adamant that taking the next step for his game is less about lighting up the score sheet and instead more based on earning a greater role through 200-foot reliability.

“I had 20 points last year and would like to increase that total for sure,” Veleno said.  “I definitely want to stick to my game and stick to the strengths of my game.  I gotta take care of my own end first, being responsible defensively and kind of gaining that trust to be on the ice a lot more.  And if I’m on the ice a lot more, I’ll get more chances.”

Continued; Veleno’s 23 and he’s on a 1-year, $850,000 deal. He’s in his “prove it” year, no doubt. With younger players with more offensive upside knocking on the door, Veleno needs to prove that he’s worth an NHL spot.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted two articles which further discuss Red Wings pro try-out Michael Hutchinson. We start with Kulfan…

Hutchinson, 33, has played 153 NHL games for five teams, but he found landing an NHL contract difficult this past summer coming off a poor season in Columbus (2-6-3, 4.29 goals-against average, .875 save percentage).

Hutchinson wasn’t sure what the future was going to hold as the summer wore on. There weren’t any contracts and the goaltending market was tight.

“I wasn’t even sure if I was going to take a PTO or anything,” Hutchinson said. “I got a call (from the Wings) the Monday before (training) camp. I was getting the itch to go on the ice, so I figured why not come here? I have an opportunity to get some exhibition game minutes in and I enjoy playing hockey. This offseason didn’t go quite the way we planned it, but you have to keep moving forward.”

After some good work in training camp and in 30 minutes of action Sunday against Chicago, Hutchinson has at least put himself in position to possibly earn a contract with the Wings to play in Grand Rapids.

Much will depend on whether the Wings decide to keep three goalies (Ville Husso, James Reimer, Alex Lyon) on the NHL roster, or risk putting Lyon on waivers and possibly losing him to another team if they decide to send Lyon to Grand Rapids.

And we continue with Mills:

“He stops pucks,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said about Hutchinson. “He obviously wasn’t with us coming into camp when we put together our plan. And now, he’s into his second action again tonight, which is good. Another opportunity on the road against a little deeper Chicago lineup than we saw the other night.”

Hutchinson said he was golfing in Winnipeg when he received the invitation to report to Traverse City, Mich., for Red Wings Training Camp.    

“Got the phone call Monday (Sept. 18) and had to fly out on Tuesday (Sept. 19),” Hutchinson said. “It was a little bit of a scramble getting home. I had some plans that weekend I had to cancel with my wife, but I thought it would be a fun opportunity.”

While this offseason “didn’t go quite the way” Hutchinson and his agent, Robert Hooper, envisioned, the 6-foot-3, 201-pound goaltender said he must “keep moving forward.”

“I just wanted to get back out on the ice and skating,” Hutchinson said. “You don’t really look at things too much because so much is out of my control. All I can control is how I show up every day, my attitude, work ethic and how I can perform on the ice.”

Red Wings forwards Joe Veleno and Andrew Sprong spoke to the media today at Little Caesars Arena, as did goaltender Michael Hutchinson…

And coach Lalonde spoke with the media as well:

NHL.com’s fantasy hockey staff posted a “bold prediction” for every NHL team, and this one certainly fits the descriptor:

Detroit Red Wings: Wing Daniel Sprong will take on the biggest role of his NHL career and lead the Red Wings in goals with at least 35, more than Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat.

Continued; I don’t see it happening, but what do I know?