Of brief Red Wings-related note on the last evening of July:
- According to NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman, Red Wings prospect Jesse Kiiskinien did not play during for Finland on Wednesday at the World Junior Summer Showcase, and that’s…okay. We’re not going to know much in terms of what ails a young player during a Summer Showcase game, but, at this point, it’s far better to hear that the HPK Hameenlinna forward did not wear the captain’s “C” for Finland due to a minor injury than hear that he tweaked something major on July 31st.
2. Earlier today, the WHL Tweeted out a set of five Red Wings prospects with WHL ties. They actually missed one, and the WHL’s website included him in their webpage about the Wings’ WHL alumni:
Cross Hanas: Left Winger Cross Hanas built up his foundation in his second season in the AHL. The Dallas, Texas product tallied eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in 58 games while tying his single-game high with two assists against the Cleveland Monsters on March 27. Hanas, who turned 22 in January, is coming off a prolific WHL career that saw him put up 58 goals and 103 assists for 161 points and a +56 rating in 196 games over four seasons with the Portland Winterhawks. Hanas wore the ‘A’ for the perennially dangerous Hawks and was named a U.S. Division First-Team All-Star in 2022. He scored nine times and dished eight assists for 17 points in 30 games in his rookie AHL season after being drafted in the second round, 55th overall, of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
This is a pivotal season for Hanas in the AHL with Grand Rapids. The Griffins forward is 22 now, and the 6’1,” 181-pound winger hasn’t posted more than 17 points over the course of two AHL seasons played now.
He was an assist machine in the WHL, but the Red Wings have a constellation’s worth of young forwards who grind well and have possessed some offensive chops in the past, and Hanas needs to at least find some scoring form to remain relevant as a Wings prospect over the course of the 2024-2025 campaign.
3. Finally, Sportsnet’s Emily Sadler posted a list of 13 active NHL players who are “Hall of Fame locks,” and we’re riding on the coattails of this one:
Patrick Kane | Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings
His longtime captain, Jonathan Toews, is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, too, no doubt, but as noted in the introduction Toews isn’t on this list because he’s not technically an active NHLer right now.
While you won’t see Kane’s name topping any of the Blackhawk’s all-time statistical leaderboards — Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull pretty much have those Original Six franchise records on lockdown — there is no doubt his decade-plus run of success with the club changed the league’s landscape. The decorated goal-scorer propelled Chicago to three Stanley Cups within a six-year time frame, also adding a Conn Smythe, Hart Trophy, and Ted Lindsay Award to his resume in the process. He became the first American-born player to lead the league in scoring in 2015-16 and currently sits second in assists (813) and third in points on the all-time U.S. player leaderboard.
We can dream on riding those “coattails” to some all-time scoring numbers registered by Kane while wearing the Winged Wheel, can’t we?
