Month: July 2024

Turning Steve Yzerman into a pinata isn’t beneficial to Wings hockey discussion

The Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons suggests that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman isn’t getting the job done in Detroit:

Not long after he won an Olympic gold medal in Sochi as architect of the most dominant any Canadian hockey team has been at a modern Winter Games, Steve Yzerman and his Tampa Bay Lightning played for the Stanley Cup for the first time.

Stevie Y seemed on top of the world then — the great player turned great hockey executive. He had done the pressure-filled thankless work to bring Team Canada to gold and put together the best team in the NHL.

That was then. Now we wonder: Where did that Steve Yzerman go? How did he lose his way after returning home to run the Detroit Red Wings, the only NHL team he ever played for?

This is five seasons now of Yzerman in Detroit and nothing much to show for it. The Wings missed the playoffs the three years before he was named general manager and other fancy titles, and have missed the playoffs five straight years under his direction. They have one great draft pick — defenceman Moritz Seider — who was selected just days after Yzerman was hired in 2019, which meant he really had little to do with the pick.

Since then, they’ve added Lucas Raymond with the fourth pick overall, Simon Edvinsson with a sixth pick, Marco Kasper with an eighth pick and Nate Danielson at ninth in the draft.

Chopped liver, I guess..

This year in free agency, Yzerman added some unusual choices such as goalie Jack Campbell, diminishing forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenceman Erik Gustafsson, who has played for seven teams the past five seasons.

The Red Wings might be the 12th best team in the Eastern Conference this season. Might be. It’s a long road back for what used to be the brightest operator in hockey. He used to be Steve Yzerman.

Continued; that’s a pretty flerbing lame critique if you ask me.

The rebuild in Detroit clearly hasn’t gone along as planned, but that’s not a surprise. Yzerman had to tear down what Ken Holland had built (or not built) before working on rebuilding the team, and the Red Wings’ management team is just getting to a point where they’ve developed a pool of prospects that should start to vie for NHL jobs over the next couple of seasons–a pool of prospects that many analysts say is one of the best in the NHL.

After a middling free agency performance, sure, this is the perfect time for the Steve Simmonses and Mike Valentis of the world to bag on Yzerman for having “lost his golden touch.” But the reality is that he’s a human being and a general manager who makes mistakes like everyone else.

Continue reading Turning Steve Yzerman into a pinata isn’t beneficial to Wings hockey discussion

HSJ in the morning: Examining the Wings’ altered roster

This morning, the Free Press’s Helene St. James takes note of the fact that the Red Wings’ free agency moves have altered the look of the team’s roster at forward, on defense and in goal:

The priority here was keeping Patrick Kane, and now the Wings should have the benefit of Kane coming to camp and being with them the entire season, instead of making a December debut, as he did last season. He’s a game-changer, a sublime talent who makes everyone around him better.

There was also interest in keeping David Perron, but the Wings weren’t about to come anywhere close to the $8 million (over two seasons) the 36-year-old got from the Ottawa Senators. Daniel Sprong wasn’t a fit to bring back, once he sat on the sidelines late in the season.

To buffer some of the offense lost in those two (a combined 35 goals), Yzerman signed Vladimir Tarasenko for $9.5 million over two seasons. Tarasenko, 32, was the only headliner left after the opening day of free agency. He fleshes out the top six — literally, at 6 feet 1 and 219 pounds — and gives the Wings a top-notch shooter with six seasons with at least 30 goals.

In order to fit Tarasenko under the salary cap, Yzerman traded Robby Fabbri and his $4 million cap hit to the Anaheim Ducks. The Wings have about $20 million left in salary cap space, and that should be just enough to sign restricted free agents Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Joe Veleno and Jonatan Berggren.

Christian Fischer was re-signed in free agency, and Michigan alumnus Tyler Motte (St. Clair), a veteran of 400 NHL games, was added for depth at the center position.

Continued (paywall) with takes on the changes on defenes and in goal;

St. James doesn’t necessarily pass judgment upon the team’s roster moves as much as she summarizes the changes made, and she affords the reader the ability to render a verdict on their own.

Duff: Are the Red Wings seeking out players with Michigan ties, or is it the other way around?

This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff attempts to disrupt the myth that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman has a Michigan-born player bias:

“We don’t care where the players are from,” Yzerman said. He only cares that the players are good.

“That they’re from the area is nice, but most importantly, we’re trying to build a good team on the ice,” Yzerman said.

Beyond this quartet of ex-Wolverines [J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp, Dylan Larkin and Tyler Motte),  the Red Wings were also signing UFA forward Sheldon Dries, who’s from the Detroit suburb of Macomb. Then there are holders such as defenseman Jeff Petry (Ann Arbor) and winger Alex DeBrincat (Farmington).

Yzerman is quick to point out that the reason he brought these players into the fold was entirely about their hockey skills. It has nothing to do with what it says on their birth certificates.

Still, even if it wasn’t foremost in his mind as he was adding these players, Yzerman does recognize that by onboarding so many locals, it certainly is proving beneficial to the marketing of the club.

“I think it’s good,” Yzerman acknowledged. “I think it’s good for our market.”

Continued; I don’t think that Yzerman is seeking out Michigan-connected players, but I do believe that players with Michigan ties are beginning to seek out the Red Wings in free agency, just as Toronto-born players tend to accumulate on the Maple Leafs.

It’s not that Steve Yzerman is a “Michigan Man” as much as Michiganders want to play for the home team.

Via KK: David Perron says adieu to Detroit, bonjour to Ottawa

Via Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner and Abel to Yzerman, former Red Wings forward David Perron bid adieu to the Red Wings’ fan base, and hello to the Ottawa Senators:

A bit about Jack Campbell’s likely Griffins-bound trajectory

The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau examined the six players who were bought out by their rights-holders during the June buy-out period. Proteau notes that now-Red Wings-signed goaltender Jack Campbell, a Port Huron, MI native, is probably headed to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins:

3. Jack Campbell, G, Detroit Red Wings: Noted good guy Campbell has had a rough go of it in recent years, and following the 2023-24 campaign, the 32-year-old goaltender had the final three seasons (and $15 million) of his contract bought out by Edmonton. Campbell has latched on with the Red Wings on a $775,000, one-year contract.

Campbell is currently fourth on Detroit’s netminding depth chart behind veterans Ville Husso, Alex Lyon and new Wing Cam Talbot, so unless there are significant injuries and/or underwhelming performances by the three goalies ahead of him, Campbell is likely to be an American League player, the same way he was an AHLer for most of 2023-24. He may get perhaps one final opportunity to prove himself an NHLer, but that opportunity won’t come soon.

Continued; at this point, it does indeed look like, should Campbell want to earn a spot in the Red Wings’ crease, he’s going to have to beat out at least one of Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon and/or Ville Husso.

Right now, Campbell’s slated to help mentor Sebastian Cossa (and push Cossa for starts) in Grand Rapids, while it appears that Carter Gylander will turn pro while working with the Griffins-contracted Jan Bednar on the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye.

Long story long, the Wings didn’t file for salary arbitration with Jonatan Berggren

I’ll admit that, the day after the Red Wings’ summer development camp ended, I was hoping that I could get a break. I assumed that the NHL would release its list of restricted free agent players with whom NHL teams had filed for club-elected salary arbitration hearings at or around 5 PM.

Yesterday, the NHLPA posted their list of restricted free agent players who chose to take their clubs to arbitration (including Red Wings forward Joe Veleno) at 4:55 PM, in alphabetical order, no less.

Today, it’s 8:30 PM, and I’ve been on Twitter/X all day, and nothing..

Until I grumbled about the NHL’s tardiness, and the Boston Herald’s Stephen Conroy, who informed us all that Jeremy Swayman will not be taken to arbitration by his team…

And after I growled aloud in Tweet form…

Continue reading Long story long, the Wings didn’t file for salary arbitration with Jonatan Berggren

Tweet of predictive note: Sticking with the ‘Priority?’

The Red Wings posted a Tweet of Vladimir Tarasenko changing colors from Florida Panthers red, white, gold and blue to Detroit’s red and white, and I noticed a detail that (I hope) is worth mentioning: just as was the case for the Red Wings’ 2024 draft picks, the “PRIORITY” sponsorship remains on the right side of the chest/shoulder.

It appears that the Wings won’t ditch the waste company whose appearance on the Winged Wheels’ jersey coincided with Detroit’s late-season slide.

One way or another, we’re going to have to be like Oscar the Grouch, and learn to love jerseys/sweaters with a little bit of garbage on them.

Talking about Jakub Rychlovsky

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a fine Red Wings Summer Development Camp notebook yesterday, and this afternoon, the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton shares a similarly superb set of assessments of 8 of the Red Wings’ 40 participants in their Summer Development Camp:

Jakub Rychlovsky: After Detroit’s relatively quiet July 1, I wonder whether Rychlovsky (whom Detroit signed in June after a standout season with with Bílí Tygři Liberec in the Czech Extraliga) might be a player who could compete for an opening night NHL roster spot.  With Tyler Motte and Vladimir Tarasenko now rounding out the forward group, I no longer expect that to be the case, and it is probably for the best for a player who has yet to play a competitive game on North American ice.

“He’s been here for about a week, just getting to know everybody,” said Cleary of Rychlovsky. “I really like him…Quite, strong little guy. I was friends with someone who was coaching him in Czech [sic], so he kinda reached out…Watching him skate, handle the puck, move it, he’s a driven young kid, so we’ll see how it goes. Going from the Czech league to let’s just say Grand Rapids is a bit of an adjustment.”

He is a good skater with a frame built to protect the puck, and I thought he showed a real offensive maturity in the three-on-three sessions.  A tournament like that is bound to produce a lot of odd-man rushes, and I was impressed with the poise and patience Rychlovsky to manipulate those to his advantage.  I did notice him struggling a bit with picking up pucks along the wall during drills that required that, which he will need to sharpen to maximize his effectiveness at the NHL level, but that shouldn’t be a problem with time.

One point of curiosity for me is how often Rychlovsky seemed comfortable holding up play and looking to preserve possession rather than keep attacking.  Of course, that’s a tactic we see all the time in three-on-three in the NHL, but not so often at five-a-side. I’ll be curious to see whether that is an area that requires adjustment in adapting to North America or whether he’ll find a way to make it work.

Stockton continues; Rychlovsky is still used to the more soccer-like pace of play on European rinks, where the 100-foot-width allows players to loop back and re-set their rushes until they find a prime opportunity to penetrate their opponents’ defenses.

That’s something he’s going to have to learn to minimize as he adapts to the 85-foot-rink and the more north-south, attack-attack style of the North American pro game.

Right now, the 5’10,” 181-pound Rychlovsky probably isn’t going to make the Red Wings’ roster out of training camp, and he may very well need to be patient as he rides the bus over the course of a full AHL season.

What I’ve seen of him definitely indicates that he has NHL skill levels and really good puck-handling and deception, but as a small guy who’s used to having much more time and space to create offense, he’s going to have to simplify his game to thrive here. That’s a normal hurdle for European players trying to become North American pros–as is enduring those long bus rides and the number of back-to-back games that AHL teams play.

Hopefully, he’ll adapt.

Tweet of note: Fit and finish

WXYZ’s Brad Galli posted a comment from Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s press conference this past week which rings true: however you feel about the Red Wings’ free agency performance and/or the net loss of goals for, it does appear that the team’s going to have a better roster balance this upcoming season:

THN’s Eargood: Negating the need for dramatic comebacks and last-second wins may allow the Wings to overcome lost offense

The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood wrote an incredibly thorough article in which he discusses the Red Wings’ hopes for more goals from Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, and whoever plays with Patrick Kane in order to offset the offense lost through free agency.

Eargood believes that two factors will play into the Red Wings’ success or failure in terms of overcoming their net offensive deficit:

How successful Detroit can be depends on a lot of factors — health, chemistry, even luck in DeBrincat’s case. But ultimately, the Red Wings’ roster construction leaves them sparse options but to lean extensively on Raymond, DeBrincat and Kane to give them more scoring oomph.

“If Lucas Raymond continues on the same trajectory that he finished the season on, he’s a legit impact player,” Yzerman said. “We’ll have Patrick Kane for an entire season. … We’re shaped a little bit differently, and hopefully we can build off the momentum — all of our guys — that they created throughout the season.”

There’s another way that Detroit can get better: team defense. The Red Wings can lower the number of goals they need to score to be competitive by shoring up defensively. As ole Benjamin Franklin once said, a penny saved is a penny earned, and for a guy whose face is plastered on the $100 bill that’s sage advice. By saving more goals, Detroit can lower the scoring cost to earn a win.

“We got some incredibly timely goals from players to win some of these games very dramatically,” Yzerman said. “Maybe it won’t be as dramatic next year, and maybe that’s not a bad thing. Maybe we’ll win some games with lower scoring and not have these wild comebacks, and we also might not have some of these wild losses where we were leading, too.”

Continued at length (it’s a good read); the necessity of dramatic comebacks and overcoming multi-goal deficits in the 2nd and 3rd periods made for entertaining hockey this past season, but it also gave both the Red Wings and their fans panic attacks and probably a couple of cardiac emergencies.

If the Red Wings are able to cut down on their goals against, be a little less leaky on the PK and generally play more consistent hockey from the start of games to their conclusions, a less dramatic Wings team may emerge, and that won’t just calm the fan base’s nerves–it will make winning with a slightly less potent offense much more likely.