Month: July 2024

The Athletic has doled out free agency grades for every NHL team, and here’s what they have to say about the Red Wings’ moves, or the lack thereof:

Detroit Red Wings: C

The Red Wings’ free agency was perfectly average — largely geared toward replacing departing players like Shayne Gostisbehere, David Perron and Robby Fabbri, with a potential upgrade in goal in Cam Talbot. They did well to keep all of their free-agent contracts to two years or fewer, maintaining long-term flexibility, and while there’s no truly open spot in the lineup, there is at least a path to playing time for their top prospects at some point this season. The issue is they didn’t really get clearly better in any area except goaltending. Vladimir Tarasenko should be better than any one departing forward, but Detroit is losing a lot of offense up front and may score less this season. They’ll certainly hope to defend a bit better as a team, but as of now, it looks like much of that charge will fall on the shoulders of young defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who looked good at the end of last season but may still experience some ups and downs. Taken all together, Detroit looks similarly positioned to last season, with the hope that better goaltending can make up for lost scoring. — Max Bultman

Continued (paywall); meh. I respect the hell out of Max, and this upcoming season will definitely require some sort of upgrade on defense at some point…

But adding Tarasenko to the mix, Gustafsson on the back end, and, assuming he’s the starter, Talbot in goal, plus keeping Fischer and adding Motte as checking-line forwards, and, quite frankly, subtracting the penalties Perron took due to his rapidly-slowing gait and Gostisbehere’s terrifying defensive lapses = an ever-so-slightly better team, at least in my eyes.

We have yet to see whether the Red Wings make another summertime addition, but even going into camp as-is, I believe that the Wings did the best they could during a free agency period where, as Steve Yzerman said, the middle-ground free agents received remarkably high compensation and term in terms of their contracts.

Sometimes you don’t get everything you want. My hope is that, at least by next season’s trade deadline, the Wings get what they need.

The Red Wings posted a Tweet this morning in which this year’s second round draft pick, Max Plante, was “Mic’ed Up” for the Red Wings’ 3-on-3 tournament:

Max Plante on the mic! 🎤 pic.twitter.com/UH5fSOdNPp

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 6, 2024

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reports that Red Wings prospect Red Savage will be staying at Michigan State University for his senior year in no small part due to an analysis of the Wings’ depth chart, and a recommendation from the Wings themselves that the gritty center continue to develop at the NCAA Division 1 level before turning pro:

“It’s really not all sunshine and roses when it comes to professional hockey,” Savage said. “I want to set myself up to be the best hockey player that I can be and the best person on and off the ice. I think a college degree is a really good thing to have in my back pocket. They agreed that one more year of college would be beneficial for both for me and the Wings.”

Savage, 21, is not an “A” level prospect. Drafted 114th overall in 2021, he has played three years of college hockey, starting with two years at Miami before entering the transfer portal to jump to Michigan State. He put up 10 goals and had 27 points this past season.

The scouting analysis on Savage is that he’s a smart, two-way center, who can forecheck effectively, kill penalties and make the right play at the right time. He can be a bottom six forward that coaches will trust when the game is on the line. He’s also a natural leader, one of the key reasons why the Spartans wanted him.

“I had that option to go play professional but both me and the Wings decided that it would be a better opportunity for me to go back to school and hopefully play for a really good team again this year and make more strides toward becoming a professional hockey player,” Savage said.

Continued (subscriber-only)

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the Red Wings’ 2024 Summer Development Camp as a whole this morning, and she reveals an interesting fact about 2024 1st round draft pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard:

“I learned his nickname is Taxi,” [Red Wings assistant director of player development Dan] Cleary said. “I thought that was a unique story.”

From what Cleary was told, Brandsegg-Nygård’s father’s family ran a taxi company back in Norway and his dad, Kjell Richard Nygård — who played in Norway’s top league and on the national team — would be dropped off at practices so often in a taxi that his teammates started calling him just that.

“When they saw his son, they said, ‘Little City Cab, Little Taxi,” Cleary said. “So I asked him, ‘Can I call you Taxi?’ He said, ‘Sure.’ So that’s going to be his nickname.”

Brandsegg-Nygård isn’t an economy-size taxi, though: At 18 years old, he’s already 6 foot 1 and 207 pounds.

“He’s going from Allsvenskan to the SHL, that’s a jump for sure,” Cleary said. “But with his size and his weight, he’ll be able to handle himself and protect himself in the corners, hang on to the puck a little better. I think the transition will be easier with him having a frame to him.”

Continued (paywall); Brandsegg-Nygard looked pretty big and strong during development camp, but he’s probably got another 5-10 pounds of muscle to add to his frame.

As St. James notes, MBN will need to acclimate to playing at the SHL level with Skelleftea AIK (Axel Sandin Pellikka’s team) as well, but it’s hard to imagine that he’s going to do anything less than excel.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff engages in a little speculation this morning, suggesting that the Red Wings’ elusive free agent target who went unsigned must have been the one and only Steven Stamkos:

“We had some interest in one that we thought might be a fit,” Yzerman admitted. “You know these things got to happen really quickly. And we decided very quickly that it’s going to be really some major surgery here to try and get it done and and we didn’t want to waste everybody’s time in really getting there.”

Naturally, Yzerman wasn’t about to go all in and put all his cards on the table. He wasn’t going to reveal the name of the player the made a bid to sign as a UFA.

However, doing the math, and knowing that it was one of the players who signed quickly, a very likely educated guess would be that it was Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos.

Look at the players who were moving to new teams the earliest. Among that Stamkos is the one who would make the most sense to be of interest to the Red Wings. He would’ve fit into their need for a top-six forward who could provide scoring. He would also be a presence on the power play.

Duff continues, and…In free agency, even if you pursue a grade-A player, there might not be a fit for the player himself, so I understand why the Red Wings “pivoted” away from Stamkos, who was rumored to be headed to Nashville a couple of days before free agency began.

This year’s free agency period was nuts–and a good example of the fact that there’s some collusion going on between GM’s, agents and players prior to noon on July 1st–with over a billion dollars spent and 100+ players signed for the first time.

The Red Wings seemed to get who they could while they could, and, ultimately, the wait for Vladimir Tarasenko paid off (we think).

Of Red Wings video-related note this evening:

1. CBS Detroit’s Rachel Hopmayer discusses the Red Wings’ decision to include three female coaches at the team’s Summer Development Camp:

2. And Grand Rapids’ WZZM 13 filed a Griffins-centric wrap-up of today’s 3-on-3 tournament at the Summer Development Camp, interview with Griffins coach Dan Watson included:

The Red Wings’ social media admins gave Red Wings summer development campers their camp pictures…On a DVD…In 2024:

Got 'em! pic.twitter.com/u1ztDoQP9e

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 5, 2024

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills offers one more examination of the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman as he spoke with the media yesterday afternoon:

“I think we’re in with that group of teams that has a chance to compete for the playoffs,” Yzerman said at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday. “If we stay healthy, if our goaltending is good and players outplay your expectations, we might get in. Or you might just miss by a point on the last game of the season. That’s the fine line of it all. I look at the roster today and compare it to last year’s group; it’s a little bit different. It might be a little bit better fit as far as roles for players where they sit on the roster today.”

Detroit made several key moves on the eve of free agency on Sunday, re-signing Patrick Kane to a one-year deal and extending qualifying offers to restricted free agents Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno.

“We will get contracts done with them,” Yzerman said about the club’s four restricted free agents. “It’s just a question of when and what term we do on all of them.”

…

Detroit finished with 91 points last season, an 11-point improvement from the 2022-23 campaign. To take another step forward this season, Yzerman said internal improvement will be key.

“We expect a little more out of Lucas Raymond,” Yzerman said. “Alex DeBrincat, his shooting percentage for his career was down a little bit last year. The great scoring chances that he had, hit the bar and went out. We think that’ll contribute a little more.”

Yzerman said he is confident in his long-term vision for the Red Wings, who he knows will face higher expectations this season.

“Ultimately we’re still trying to put together that core of young guys who are going to be together and start to creep into the playoffs, hang around in the playoffs then eventually win,” Yzerman said. “That is the long-term plan. We’ll stick with that. We try to surround these young players with good people and better hockey players to help them become better players and slowly inch forward.”

Continued

Per the NHLPA, Red Wings forward Joe Veleno is among the 14 players who have chosen to take their teams to salary arbitration; Jonatan Berggren did not choose to do so.

The Red Wings can choose to take Berggren to arbitration if they file by tomorrow at 5 PM EDT.

Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider are too young in terms of their age and experience to have arbitration rights.

TORONTO (July 5, 2024) The National Hockey League Players’ Association announced that 14 players have elected salary arbitration: 

Jake Christiansen (Columbus Blue Jackets) 

Connor Dewar (Toronto Maple Leafs) 

Jack Drury (Carolina Hurricanes) 

Ty Emberson (San Jose Sharks) 

Jet Greaves (Columbus Blue Jackets) 

Ryan Lindgren (New York Rangers) 

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Buffalo Sabres) 

Beck Malenstyn (Buffalo Sabres) 

Kirill Marchenko (Columbus Blue Jackets) 

J.J. Moser (Tampa Bay Lightning) 

Martin Necas (Carolina Hurricanes) 

Spencer Stastney (Nashville Predators) 

Joe Veleno (Detroit Red Wings) 

Oliver Wahlstrom (New York Islanders) 

The deadline for the second club-elected salary arbitration notification is July 6 at 5 p.m. ET. Salary arbitration hearings will be held from July 20 to Aug. 4.   

1. If things go to arbitration, which is usually unlikely, Detroit gets to decide whether it’s a 1-year or 2-year deal that’s awarded;
2. The Wings now have a second buy-out window opening up.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a meaty notebook article discussing the Red Wings’ stand-out summer development campers, and he begins by stating that turning-pro center/winger Nate Danielson impressed, as he should have done:

Nate Danielson, Detroit’s 2023 first-round pick, grabbed attention from the very beginning and held it all the way through Friday’s three-on-three tournament.

Coming off a big second half in the WHL with Portland, Danielson set an early tone at the camp. He “tested probably No. 1,” Red Wings assistant director of player development Dan Cleary said earlier in the week, and added on Friday that Danielson, “showed the way” to newer prospects with his professionalism and maturity. It also didn’t hurt that he scored a pair of goals — plus a shootout game-winner — in the scrimmage tournament.

While the Red Wings view the camp more for teaching than evaluation, Danielson looked like the team’s best prospect at the event, showing off his high-end skating, comfort with the puck, and displaying his finishing touch as well. His first goal in the tournament came just 11 seconds into his first game, wasting no time.

“I thought Nate Danielson was great every day,” Cleary said.

It’s exactly what the Red Wings would have wanted to see from Danielson as he gets set to turn pro this season. While a preseason push for the Detroit roster can’t be ruled out, he’s most likely ticketed for a big role with AHL Grand Rapids first. No matter where he starts the season, though, Danielson’s showing at camp was just the latest in an encouraging trajectory from Danielson.

Continued (paywall)