Month: October 2023

Something tired, something old…

Defector.com’s Lauren Thiesen posted an NHL preview this morning, and…

Sigh. I am trying very hard to make sure that I share a broad spectrum of articles with you. I am trying very hard to take those authors seriously whether I agree with their points or not, because the whole point of sharing this stuff with you is giving you the widest range of perspectives possible while focusing on professional writers’ takes (while injecting a little of my own opinion into the mix).

But I’ve got to give some eye-roll to this NHL preview by Defector.com’s Lauren Thiesen, because the premise is getting to be old and tired:

Detroit Red Wings

What’s Old: Patience with the Yzerplan is running out. The former Red Wings captain, returning home after a job well done in the Tampa front office, entered with probably more goodwill than any GM hire in NHL history. That was in 2019, and the Wings still don’t feel like a playoff-caliber team. A bunch of signings last year went nowhere and led to a mini-tear-down where they bailed on key defenseman Filip Hronek and once-valuable scorer Tyler Bertuzzi for more draft picks. And as the Wings finished seventh in their division, with only six more points than the previous year, there were not many bright spots. The goaltending was bad. The scoring wasn’t there. And most worrying of all, the sophomore campaigns for winger Lucas Raymond and D-man Moritz Seider were fairly underwhelming. (I think Seider still has the juice when he’s got the right partner.) This was a team that once owned a luxury hotel in the playoffs, but if they can’t take a major step forward, this will be their eighth straight year in a bedbug-infested basement.

What’s New: Once again, the Wings were active in the offseason, but not necessarily productive enough to make up the four spots in the wild card race they’d need to jump. The most intriguing of their new guys is 25-year-old local boy Alex DeBrincat, who’s a year removed from a 40-goal season in Chicago as a favored son of Patrick Kane. In Kane’s role this year will be Dylan Larkin, another local boy, who just signed an extension to avoid leaving the only team (and state) he’s ever known. Larkin is charming and slick, as good a face as you can have for a franchise this woeful, but he’s also a bit miscast as the top center who’s supposed to carry the team. He’s more like the play-maker who’d make the best guy better, if there was one.

Continued; I will grant you that many Wings fans had hoped that the “Yzerplan” would be a quick fix, but Steve Yzerman was very blunt with fans from the start–stating that the rebuild would be a long, deliberate process, and that the process would involve painful years of rebuilding.

He was blunt about this. And no, we Wings partisans didn’t realize how much was left to tear down before Yzerman began to rebuild. But the Red Wings are not stuck in a “bedbug-infested basement” as they patiently and deliberately rebuild, last year’s regular season did not suck from stem to stern, and Dylan Larkin is a point-per-game player in the NHL, which is not your everyday occurrence.

Bashing the Wings and bashing Steve Yzerman are very much in vogue right now. But the characterizations are just getting to be more inaccurate.

I guess I just disagree vehemently with Ms. Thiesen here–don’t get me wrong, she poured a lot into her NHL preview, which is incredibly deep–but sometimes you just sort of snap, and this is my breaking point as far as these suggestions that what the Wings are doing is plain old dumb.

Lalonde ‘on the hot seat?’ I doubt it

Daily Faceoff’s Naftali Clinton reports that Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss a surprising topic in today’s podcast:

Tyler Yaremchuk: You think Derek Lalonde could be the first coach to lose his job?

Frank Seravalli: So I actually took that out of the final cut but I do think that Steve Yzerman for one is feeling a little bit of heat. This is year five of the Yzerplan, they need to take a step forward. I also think that he was pretty unhappy how last season played out and the comments Lalonde made when he was on TV for Sportsnet during the playoffs that the Lightning had to come out and refute.

I think he was probably not thrilled to be in that situation, not to make too big a deal out of that but its pretty rare to see second-year coaches end up getting the gas pipe. So I doubt that it happens, I wasn’t bold enough to put that in. But what’s really interesting about this is this year on the coaching front is that I don’t think there are many guys who enter the year on the hot seat, that it was kind of hard to pinpoint one in particular.

Continued; I do not think that Derek Lalonde is “on the hot seat.” I know that Steve Yzerman may have been frustrated by some of Lalonde’s remarks on Sportsnet, but that’s not grounds for dismissal.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=r88hdx9Jthw%3Fsi%3D9nQMhmH2mg1l8RWn

Khan’s notebook: Building a DeBrincat-Larkin line

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a notebook article in which he discussed the Red Wings’ attempts to build a functional line consisting of Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin and David Perron:

“It’s definitely not a finished product,” Lalonde said Tuesday. “You can see in their exhibitions a lot of positives. Both dynamic players, but probably a little too much time in their own zone, which is self-inflicted, too. I think they have a feel of wanting to be together. I think they’re getting some chemistry.

“Not married to it, but we want it to work because we think it’s two extremely special players that we think can work, and we’re still trying to figure out that wing for them.”

Perron practiced on that line the past couple of days, after Lucas Raymond spent most of camp and the exhibition season there. Perron provides a different dimension with his heavier game and net-front presence.

“Anytime you play with DP, he’s in the battle,” Larkin said. “Obviously, he’s played for a lot of years. He would be the first to admit he probably doesn’t skate the best, but he makes up for it in his play along the boards. He’s one of the best players I’ve played with at winning battles, finding plays from scrum pucks or when he’s getting pressure on the boards.

“I really found that last year playing the bumper on the power play and he was on the half-wall. He always sucked two guys in and found me in the middle and I could make plays from there. I enjoy playing with him. we had success last year. I like playing with Razor, playing with (Michael Rasmusen). It’s good to have a lot of options.”

Continued; I think Perron may be their forechecker…

Shapiro speaks with Alex Lyon about his status as the Wings’ #3 goaltender

Sean Shapiro spoke with Red Wings goaltender Alex Lyon about his status as the team’s de-facto third goaltender recently:

“I was super fortunate basically through the lifespan of my career when the third goalie became more important,” Lyon said. “The importance of that position is high in NHL organizations and I found out that I’ve carved out a career from being able to succeed when put in difficult situations, I take pride in that.”

Lyon was the No. 3 goalie for the Florida Panthers last season, spent most of the season in the AHL, and was called upon to rescue Florida’s season when Sergei Bobrovsky struggled.

Lyon started the Panthers final eight regular season games, went 6-1-1 and posted a .943 save percentage to help Florida scrap and claw into the playoffs. While he ceded the net back to Bobrovsky in the first round against the Boston Bruins, the Panthers run the Stanley Cup final was impossible without Lyon’s regular season contribution.

Several teams took note of it when Lyon was an unrestricted free agent this summer, and he picked Detroit, even with the Red Wings signing Reimer, because Steve Yzerman was willing to offer a multi-year, one-way deal worth $900,000 per season.

“It’s security at the end of the day, a one-year deal actually has it’s benefits, but it also has it’s cons,” Lyon said. “Given the season I had last year, I thought it was time to capitalize and maximize my situation. That’s how I looked at the business of this.”

Continued (paywall)

Three things: Rankings, predictions, et. al.

Of brief Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

  1. Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell posted a set of “power rankings” which list the Red Wings among the NHL’s “longshots” to make the playoffs, and here’s what Maxwell had to say about the Wings:

Detroit Red Wings: The Red Wings kept themselves in the playoff conversation for most of last season, and they added enough guys that they’ll continue to look competent. Will Alex DeBrincat be the kind of gamebreaking talent the Wings need to take that next step, or will they just float in mediocrity for most of the season?

2. USA Today’s Mike Brehm also promises to know the “order of finish” for each team in the NHL’s four respective divisions, including the Atlantic Division, Detroit’s home:

The Detroit Red Wings were aggressive again this offseason, as were the Ottawa Senators, and both will get more points. But the division is ultracompetitive and someone has to finish in sixth and seventh. Detroit gets the edge because it acquired the Senators’ Alex DeBrincat and Ottawa is missing injured Josh Norris and unsigned Shane Pinto.

3. And Sean Shapiro offers “32 Boring Predictions” on EP Rinkside:

Detroit Red Wings – Simon Edvinsson will become an NHL regular lineup player at the trade deadline. At some point something is going to give with the Red Wings and one of their top prospects. At some point, either by injury or Steve Yzerman finding a trade for one his surplus of veteran defenders, Edvinsson will be a regular in Detroit. 

Update: We’ll make it “four things” via The Fourth Period’s Tab Bamford’s set of power rankings:

20. Detroit Red Wings

I like the addition of Alex DeBrincat and Jeff Petry should help their blueline. I just wonder about the rest of their summer additions making them good enough to really push for a playoff berth in a loaded Eastern Conference.

Tweets from Tuesday’s practice: It’s a special (teams) day

The Detroit Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center on Tuesday to prepare for Thursday’s road game against the New Jersey Devils (7:30 PM EDT start on ESPN+/hulu), and MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that the Wings’ lines remain the same as they were during Monday’s practice: