Month: July 2024

The NHL Network posted Tony Luftman and Stu Grimson’s discussion of Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko’s presence on the Red Wings,’ well, wings over the course of a 3-minute “offseason outlook” for Detroit:

Of Red Wings-related note this evening: 97. the Ticket (no author credited) discusses Patrick Kane’s status as something of a pitch-man for the benefits of playing for the Red Wings:

When the Red Wings reached out to Vladimir Tarasenko in free agency, his wife reached out to the girlfriend of Patrick Kane. Longtime rivals in the West, Tarasenko and Kane had become friends the year prior when they overlapped on the Rangers. They are both fathers. And they were both seeking stability for their families this summer after recently bouncing between teams for the first time in their decorated careers.

Kane raved about his first season playing for the Red Wings, an Original Six club that does right by its players. He and his girlfriend raved about living in Metro Detroit with their three-year-old son. It was what Tarasenko needed to hear to sign a two-year, $9.5 million with the Wings.

“We relayed the message that it was similar to New York in a way, kind of like the Greenwich, Conn. area,” Kane said after returning to the Red Wings on a one-year deal. “The suburbs in Detroit are unbelievable. I lived there when I was 14, but when I came back, I didn’t realize how nice they are and what a great spot it is to live and raise a family and have a lot of options, whether it’s playing hockey or the schools at your disposal.”

Tarasenko has three sons, one of whom lived with him to play youth hockey in Ottawa last season during Tarasenko’s stint with the Senators. Kane first moved to Detroit to join the Triple-A club Honeybaked and said “there’s so many good organizations for youth hockey in Detroit that you really can’t go wrong … It was a great decision for me, so hopefully his kids feel the same way and have the same success story.”

“I know Detroit has some of the best youth hockey programs in the States, which is nice,” said Tarasenko.

Kane also noted the comfort of playing and practicing at Little Caesars Arena, the world-class building that the Red Wings call home. These endorsements mean something coming from one of the most respected players in the NHL.

“I really like how the rink is set up with the practice rink and the game rink all in one venue. And I think the organization treats you first-class,” said Kane. “There’s really a lot of good things going if you’re a free agent or a player and you want to come to the Red Wings, there’s a lot of positives.”

Continued; the Metro Detroit area is a fantastic place to live. We have many, many NHL alumni who’ve come to Detroit for a season or two and chosen to make their homes here. It’s the heart of it all, Detroit itself, that has the bad reputation.

This morning, 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield discusses free agent signing Vladimir Tarasenko’s “fit” with the Red Wings (after Tarasenko spoke with the media yesterday afternoon), noting that Tarasenko grew up a fan of the Russian 5:

“No offense to other teams,” he said, “but growing up in Russia, a lot of people followed Detroit because of the Russian Five. When I had my first PlayStation, I was playing for Detroit with my friends. This was a team, in my neighborhood, that we grew up talking about. It’s pretty exciting to join the team and wear the jersey and try to help the team win.”

Tarasenko was a tot when the Russian Five took the NHL by storm. He’s 32 now and closer to the end of his career than the start. He just captured his second Cup and is closing in on 300 goals; he still wants more of both. The latter should come easily to him in his first season with the Red Wings, who gave Tarasenko a two-year, $9.5 million deal that lends his life some stability after he played for four teams the past two seasons. The former is no sure thing these days in Detroit.

The Red Wings are still playing the long game under Steve Yzerman, adding vets to the roster while waiting for a core on the come. They’re trying to get better without going for broke, an especially difficult task in the deep and talented Atlantic Division. The Wings came closer to the playoffs last season than they have in eight years with 91 points, and it will likely take more than that next season to end the drought.

“I feel like last year was very close, and I’m not a person who just comes in and hangs out and enjoys my time and doesn’t try to win,” Tarasenko said. “I really like winning. We just won the second Cup, but I will do everything I can to help the organization take the next step, help the guys with my experience and just do my best to be able to make the playoffs. That’s the reason I came, because I like the way the team played and I believe this team can make the playoffs and do some special things.”

Continued

The Grand Rapids Griffins have been posting “2023-2024 Player in Review” articles regarding the players who took part in the Griffins’ 23-24 season, and today, Andrew Streitel discusses Simon Edvinsson’s performance:

Defenseman Simon Edvinsson skated in his second season with the Griffins and logged a career-high 30 points (8-22—30), 51 penalty minutes and a plus-five rating in 54 regular-season games. He then posted two points (0-2—2) and six penalty minutes in six postseason outings. For his efforts, the 21-year-old was named to the 2023-24 AHL Top Prospects Team, becoming the first Griffin to be honored on the list that began in the 2022-23 campaign. 

Edvinsson also suited up for a career-best 16 games with the Detroit Red Wings and notched two points (1-1—2), four penalty minutes and an even plus-minus rating. 

Regular Season Stat Line

54 GP, 8 goals, 22 assists, 30 points, +5 rating, 51 PIM with GRG
16 GP, 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points, +0 rating, 4 PIM with DET

Postseason Stat Line

6 GP, 0 goals, 2 assists, 2 points, -1 rating, 6 PIM with GRG

Contract Status 

Under contract with Detroit through 2025-26 season

Continued; it’s highly probable that Edvinsson’s AHL career has ended.

Yesterday afternoon, Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko spoke about potentially playing on the same line as members of the Red Wings, and this morning (to his credit), The Athletic’s Max Bultman attempts to project the Red Wings’ entire 2024-2025 opening-night roster.

Bultman discusses what the Wings’ top two lines might look like, whether we’ll see Nate Danielson, Marco Kasper or Carter Mazur in the lineup, how Erik Gustafsson will fit in, and how the goaltending situation will get sorted out:

The Red Wings made sure not to leave a spot open that would have defaulted to one of the rookies, but that doesn’t mean one can’t surprise in training camp and win a job (although Simon Edvinsson’s performance from last preseason, which still ended in an assignment to Grand Rapids, poses some real questions over just how high a bar they’ll have to clear).

To me, Mazur is the one to watch, as the oldest of the bunch and with a fearless game that looks naturally suited to succeed on this type of third line. He’ll need to gain some muscle this summer, which is really the last remaining question for him, but if he can then it’s not hard to picture him slotting in next to Rasmussen and Copp — and bringing a nice scoring threat — with Fischer dropping down to the fourth line.

In the scenario where a surprise rookie makes the team, one of Veleno and Berggren could find themselves on the outside looking in when everyone is healthy. Veleno’s game is more tailored to a classic bottom-six feel, and a line with him, Fischer and Motte would have legit tough-matchup potential, while Berggren has more natural scoring and power-play utility.

Historically, the Red Wings coaches have trusted Veleno more, but Detroit does have a lot of goals to make up for, and Berggren has the most obvious special teams fit on the power play. If both are playing well, perhaps Detroit has enough penalty killers to bump Motte out on occasion, though the reliability he should bring — especially in difficult assignments — should not be underestimated.

Bultman continues at length (paywall). It’s always a fun experiment to try to sort out the Red Wings’ personnel machinations in July, but come September, injuries and preseason performances always yield surprises in terms of the composition and order of the team’s roster.

Ultimately, the Red Wings are approximately as “deep” as they were last season, though they could use an upgrade on their “right D” (and is Aaron Ekblad “that guy?”), so we should witness some really excellent battles for roster spots on the big club–and some good battles in Grand Rapids as well.

What does your Red Wings roster projection look like?

Update: Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen weighs in on the Wings’ third and fourth lines:

The vast majority of the Red Wings’ media corps posted articles regarding Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane’s press conferences on Monday afternoon, well…on Monday afternoon.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James joins the fray this morning with an article which notes that Patrick Kane played a part in recruiting Tarasenko to come to Detroit:

“I talked to a lot of guys who used to play there, who are playing there right now,” Tarasenko said Monday. “Lot of family guys. They are all happy there. I like the way the team played last year and we decided with the family, this is the best decision for us moving forward. We are really excited about it. It’s a new chapter for us and we can’t wait to get to Detroit and get settled and start training camp. Lately I talk to Kaner. I talk to him. There’s a lot of guys that used to play in St. Louis, so familiar faces. They all say only good things about Detroit, the city and the team and that’s why we decide to come.”

Kane – who didn’t appear upset at all about having to wait a few minutes for his Zoom call – explained that his life partner, Amanda, was the one who fielded the first call from the Tarasenko camp – and then he got a call from general manager Steve Yzerman, who needed to add an offensive player after losing several goal scorers in free agency.

Tarasenko is a former 40-goal scorer and two-time Stanley Cup champion.

“His wife reached out to Amanda and said that Detroit seemed interested,” Kane said. “You get excited about that. Steve called me as well, just asking about him as a player.  I think he is going to be so good for the group. He’s a proven winner. The way he plays, how hard he plays – I think a lot of players in general, not just young guys, will see how hard he works and how much effort he gives every shift, and that’s why he has a couple Stanley Cups to his name, too. So adding that winning presence is going to be huge for the group.”

St. James continues (paywall), and MLive’s Ansar Khan specifically addresses Kane’s decision to re-sign with Detroit:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses Christian Fischer’s press conference with the media on Monday, with Duff discussing the expectations for Fischer’s offensive output:

During the 2022-23 season, his last with the Arizona Coyotes, Fischer was accounting for 13 goals and 27 points. He was good for career highs in goals (15) and points (33) during the 2017-18 season with the Coyotes. He would pot 11 goals during the 2018-19 campaign.

Then again, in between those good years, he only scored five goals in 2021-22, three in 2020-21 and six in 2019-20. But in each of those three years of downturn, circumstances were limiting him to less than 60 games. In three of the past four seasons in which he suited up for at least 70 games, Fischer did score more than 10 goals.

He thinks he’s capable of getting to those kinds of totals again this season.

“Oviously that’s not not my biggest concern,” Fischer, a bottom-six role-playing forward, said of driving the offense. “That’s never going to be how I’m really measured in performance. But with that being said, I definitely have way higher expectations for myself. I’ve done it before. That year previous to coming here I had 13 goals. I’ve been right around that mark and 30 to 40 points. That’s kind of my bread and butter.”

Duff continues, and while it would be nice if Fischer added more offense to the Red Wings’ attack, his main goal is deterring opponents from scoring goals against the Wings.

Of brief Red Wings-related note this evening: On the NHL Tonight this evening, the NHL Network’s Tony Luftman and Stu Grimson weighed in as to the Red Wings’ season outlook for 2024-2025, at least based upon the Red Wings’ early free agency moves–mostly discussing the Wings’ retention of Patrick Kane and addition of Vladimir Tarasenko.

I can’t embed the video as NHL.com’s videos no longer embed, but you can watch their 3:21 worth of comments here.

Red Wings legend Marty Pavelich passed away in Texas at the age of 96 last month, due to complications from ALS. Today, the Sault Star’s Gordon Anderson shares stories about the hard-working Pavelich via his nephew, Burnie Thorpe:

Pavelich won four Stanley Cups between 1950 and 1955. Pavelich was drafted by Detroit at 15 and debuted with the Wings in 1947. He played junior hockey for the Galt Red Wings.

“He was not the most talented player, but you weren’t going to outwork him,” Thorpe said. “He knew what his job was, and he did it. The Wings decided they wanted to have a checking line so that is what they assigned, and he said “OK, if this is what keeps me here this is what I am going to do.” “The glass was always half full approach is what he did.”

The checking forward scored 93 goals and added 159 assists in 633 regular-season games with Detroit. He also added 13 goals and 19 assists in 91 playoff games.

Thorpe said his uncle’s best friend was Wings forward and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Ted Lindsay.

“My uncle said, ‘if in your lifetime you have one good friend you will have succeeded,’” Thorpe said. “And in his life that guy was Ted Lindsay. They were very close and very tight.”

Continued

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills puts something of a bow on the Red Wings’ 2024 Summer Development Camp with an article discussing the final conclusions made by Red Wings assistant director of player development Dan Cleary, GM Steve Yzerman, and some of the Wings’ player participants as well:

“It’s always beneficial, especially to bring in the new draft picks, being able to get these kids over,” Cleary said. “It’s awesome, for me personally and for everyone involved, just to get to know each other.”

Development Camp is a beneficial experience for Detroit’s newest draft picks and younger prospects, who get to train at a state-of-the-art NHL facility and see what life is like as a professional hockey player. The players also learn how to take care of themselves off the ice.

“Things have evolved and changed so much, from nutrition to the skills and skating instructors, the performance science part of sports,” Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman said. “The kids have so much more information and education available to them. We’re hoping they soak it in.”

…

“I thought Nate Danielson was great every day,” Cleary said. “Came in, terrific shape. I know we speak a lot about Nate, but he talks the talk and he walks it. He does everything right and he really showed the way in his testing, preparations and professionalism. The way he handles himself, his maturity and the way he talks (to the media). He’s a really great young kid.”

But Cleary made it clear that Development Camp isn’t about judging the Red Wings prospects. It’s about helping build a foundation for their professional careers.

“At the end of the day, you tell them to take it serious,” Cleary said. “Train serious. These kids are young, I get it. Once they leave here, don’t forget about everything we just worked on. The idea would be for them to take one or two things and hopefully, it sticks with them.”

Continued