Month: July 2024

Cam Talbot expects to rise to the occasion

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses Red Wings free agent signing Cam Talbot this morning, noting that the 37-year-old goaltender still believes that he can lead a team to playoff success:

“There were some other teams in the mix that maybe weren’t as close to making the playoffs,” Talbot said earlier this month. “I’m at the stage of my career where I’m not ready to just mail it in yet. I don’t want to give up starts. I still want to compete for starts and I still want to compete for the playoffs and I still want to win a Stanley Cup. I’ve never done that yet.”

Talbot is a veteran of 486 NHL games, spread across stints with the New York Rangers (2013-15), Edmonton Oilers (2015-19), Philadelphia Flyers (2019), Calgary Flames (2019-20), Minnesota Wild (2020-22), Ottawa Senators (2022-23) and Los Angeles Kings (2023-24). He has a 2.63 goals-against average and .914 save percentage in his career, solid numbers for a goalie who went undrafted. That’s one thing he has in common with Alex Lyon, whose rise from No. 3 to No. 1 last season gives him an edge going into 2024-25 — not that Talbot isn’t coming in with an eye to do what he did last fall, which was to end up starting 52 games. The Kings had Pheonix Copley (Michigan Tech) and David Rittich under contract when they signed Talbot; the Wings have Alex Lyon and Ville Husso under contract. So Talbot knows what it will be like come training camp.

“It was kind of the same situation I’m coming into now,” he said. “They had a guy there that had played a bunch the year before. Then they signed myself and David Rittich and it was a healthy competition to start the season. I thought I started the season really strong. Got the All-Star nod at the beginning of January. Had a little dip as did the rest of the team midway through January to beginning of February, but I think I finished strong again. Overall I’d say my season went as well as I expected it to go. I just wanted to go in there after a down year in Ottawa and prove I could still be the guy and I thought I was able to do that. Internal competition always makes everybody better, so I think that bringing in the guys that they brought in just drives everybody that much more and that’s a good thing for everybody.”

Continued (paywall, plus video from Talbot’s media availability);

Talbot has definitely “been around” as a journeyman goaltender, but his past season with Los Angeles was good enough that his 27-20-and-6 record, 2.50 goals-against average and .193 save percentage were being talked about as a dark-horse Vezina candidate at mid-season.

Talbot has been somewhat inconsistent in terms of his year-to-year stats, but during his better-years, the well-traveled goalie posts a save percentage at or above .910. If the 6’4,” 196-pound Talbot can reach that kind of save percentage, nobody’s going to be complaining about how old he is, or whether he’s able to perform at a level that can lead Detroit to a playoff berth.

Here’s hoping.

Video: Red Wings Alums take part in ‘Pucks for Autism’ charity game in South Bend, Indiana

The Red Wings Alumni were in South Bend, Indiana on Saturday night to participate in a game to benefit Pucks for Autism and Camp Milhouse, a camp for special-needs kids. South Bend’s WNDU 16 shares a video of tonight’s festivities:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=c657LXEnF4c%3Fsi%3Ddi4uIX21W07tWPtt

Ben Chiarot’s ‘Scotland’s Yard Road Hockey Classic’ took place today in Kitchener, Ontario

Per the CTV News’s Hannah Schmidt, Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot and his wife, Jacqueline, established the “Scotland’s Yard Road Hockey Classic” in 2021 to benefit the Grand River Hospital Foundation in Kitchener. The annual event was held today:

Excitement and energy filled the air Saturday as the third annual Scotland’s Yard Road Hockey Classic made its much anticipated return to Kitchener.

This year’s event promised to be a star-studded spectacle, drawing players from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and National Hockey League (NHL) as well as Olympic athletes.

The tournament allowed players of all ages to hit the pavement alongside top-tier talent like the Detroit Red Wing’s Ben Chiarot, Tanner Pearson from the Montreal Canadiens, former Florida Panther and Boston Bruin Gregory Campbell, New Jersey Devil Nathan Bastian, the Winnipeg Jets’ Logan Stanley, former Winnipeg Jet Bryan Little, Professional Women’s Hockey League player Loren Gabel, former Nashville Predator Nick Spaling and former Nashville Predator and New York Ranger Kevin Klein.

“We were told that there’s over 200 families right now currently going through a cancer journey and then traveling back and forth to get treatment,” said attendee Brian Santos.

…

As of 1:30 p.m. Saturday, more than $200,000 dollars had been raised for the hospital.

“Every little bit helps. They’re raising money for such a good cause,” Stanley said.

“We’re trying to raise $50 million in ten years, so the more people that know about it, the more people to consider it, the better it is,” Santos said.

Continued with video; there’s also an online auction which has a signed Steve Yzerman jersey, Ben Chiarot stick, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider-signed items, and more (including a Ray Bourque-signed jersey).

The auction ends tomorrow night at 6 PM, and the prices are quite reasonable.

‘Take meme out’

This is a “beef post,” because I have some issues with these kinds of popular Tweets/X posts:

Honestly, I don’t get it. You’ve got four of the best young defensemen in the NHL and four of the best young forwards in the NHL, and you want me to bag on “the other guys.”

On the blueline, Jake Sanderson’s a speedy puck-handler who runs Ottawa’s power play, Owen Power is, for lack of a better term, developing into a very powerful all-round defenseman, Noah Dobson is becoming an incredibly versatile contributor for the Islanders’ blueline, and Moritz Seider’s the charismatic all-round defender that Red Wings fans love because he can blow up players with big hits, block shots, rifle shots through goaltenders and make seeing-eye passes, all while displaying remarkable durability and poise.

In the case of the forwards, you’ve got a true “power center” in Quinton Byfield, a late-developer who’s become a gritty sniper in Lafreniere, perhaps one of the best play-makers in the world in Tim Stuetzle, and I’m biased about Lucas Raymond’s tremendous multi-tool arsenal of shooting, passing, skating and even forechecking skills. Raymond’s not as big as Byfield, as net-front-driving as Lafreniere, or as intuitive a playmaker as Stuetzle, but I’d rather have Raymond over all of ’em.

But that’s just my opinion, man, and I’m not about to bag on some of the best young players in the world because they’re not on “my team.”

The “start-bench-cut” memes and “one has to go” posts get a lot of engagement on Twitter/X because people love to argue with each other, but I believe that it’s a bad strategy to diminish what the NHL and its partners like Sportsnet should be selling 100% of to their fan bases and casual fans alike.

These are great young players. Don’t meme ’em to death.

A little gab about the Red Wings’ to-do list: Re-signing Berggren, Raymond and Seider

The Red Wings’ management has three final tasks to complete over the course of the summer–presuming that the team doesn’t buy anyone out this upcoming week (thanks to Joe Veleno filing for arbitration and coming to a 2-year, $4.55 million contract agreement with the team on Friday), or make a trade for that shut-down, right-side defenseman that the team needs to spell Moritz Seider.

Now taking advantage of the team’s salary cap space to do one or the other of those optional tasks (buying somebody out or making a trade for a shut-down d-man) would be ideal, but it’s not necessary, nor is it likely that the team’s going to really address its overloaded but slightly undermanned defense.

Right now, it’s about re-signing the team’s three restricted free agents in Jonatan Berggren, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, and utilizing most of the team’s $17.648 million in cap space (per PuckPedia) in order to ensure that Raymond and Seider are locked up long-term.

Continue reading A little gab about the Red Wings’ to-do list: Re-signing Berggren, Raymond and Seider

Friedman: Daniel Sprong signs with Vancouver for 1 year, $975,000

Well, I guess Daniel Sprong wanted to take his talents across the continent…

Another discounted deal for Sprong, with the “prove it” element remaining in his contract. I don’t think that he was staying in Detroit if the Wings paid him twice that amount for twice as many years.

Credit to Rick Dhaliwal for first reporting this possibility yesterday.

Press release: Red Wings officially re-sign Joe Veleno to 2-year contract

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS RE-SIGN JOE VELENO TO TWO-YEAR CONTRACT

  … 2018 First-Round Pick Has Played in 232 Games with Detroit …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today re-signed center Joe Veleno to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $2.275 million.

Veleno, 24, skated in 80 games with the Red Wings during the 2023-24 season and set career highs in goals (12), assists (16), points (28), power play goals (3), shots (86) and shooting percentage (14.0). The 6-foot-1, 201-pound forward spent the entire 2022-23 campaign in Detroit, recording 20 points (9-11-20) and 30 penalty minutes in 81 games. Selected by the Red Wings in the first round (30th overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Veleno has totaled 64 points (30-34-64) and 81 penalty minutes in 232 NHL games since 2020-21. He also collected 36 points (18-18-36) and 26 penalty minutes in 69 games with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins from 2019-22. Additionally, Veleno began the 2020-21 season with the Malmo Redhawks in the Swedish Hockey League, notching 20 points (11-9-20) and 20 penalty minutes in 46 games before returning to North America following the conclusion of the SHL season.

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings officially re-sign Joe Veleno to 2-year contract

Tweets of note: it’s Pavel Datsyuk’s birthday!

The Red Wings have wished Pavel Datsyuk a happy birthday, and they’ve shared a highlight clip of Datsyuk goals as well:

Czarnik heads to Switzerland

Unrestricted free agent center Austin Czarnik, who’s played for the Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins for the past two seasons, is heading to Switzerland. He’s going to play for SC Bern of the National Liga.

The 31-year-old was a reliable call-up and scorer in Grand Rapids despite his 5’9,” 170-pound size, but the 31-year-old’s probably going to make more money in Switzerland than he would have in the AHL.

Red Wings Alums to play in South Bend, Indiana tonight

South Bend, Indiana TV station ABC 57’s Tim Mosier reports that the Red Wings’ Alumni will be playing in South Bend tonight:

As part of the annual charity hockey tournament put on by Pucks for Autism, former Detroit Red Wings players will be playing a game at Notre Dame’s Compton Family Ice Arena Saturday night, with proceeds from the event going to the local Camp Millhouse.

The puck is set to drop on Saturday, July 20 at 6:30 p.m. with doors opening at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets are $10 online and can also be purchased at the door.