Month: July 2024

Three things: No news too small

There are times that you forget that no bit of news is “too small” during the summertime for Red Wings fans.

So:

  1. I had seen the Tweet that Red Wings prospect and Grand Rapids Griffins forward Elmer Soderblom hit a hole-in-one the other day, but I passed on it. The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood did not:

Soderblom’s had a rough couple of seasons in Grand Rapids, battling an assortment of injuries, but he just turned 23, he posted 29 points in 61 games last season, and his size remains an intriguing intangible that he needs to utilize more regularly if he is to reestablish himself as a Red Wings prospect;

2. And, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes, you ought to keep your eye on the EliteProspects “transfers” page on the homepage, because you’ll see some familiar faces changing places all summer long:

Oscar Plandowski, a 2021 unsigned Detroit draft pick (155th), will play hockey at the University of New Brunswick next season. The school has won the past two Canadian university national titles. Also, former Red Wings player Tomas Jurco is switching teams in the KHL. He left Avangard Omsk as a free agent to sign with Kunlun Red Stars. He had 16 points in 21 games last season for Omsk.

It’s good to see Plandowski further his career and academic aspirations. His mom, Jill Plandowski, is a premier power skating coach;

I’m kind of cringe-y about players who are still choosing to take the money they can make in the KHL, but I guess it’s their choice. Grand Rapids Griffins alumnus Danny O’Reagan signed with the Kunlun Red Star today as well;

3. Finally, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen followed up Bob Duff’s current “All-Michigan Team” with an all-time All-Michigan Red Wings Team, and I’m going to spotlight one of my favorite short-time Wings from Allen’s subscriber-only article in former Wing and former Wings director of pro scouting Mark Howe:

Mark Howe (Detroit, 1992-95): Gordie Howe’s son didn’t play for Detroit until the final three seasons of his career. But he was a Hall of Famer, and fans knew of his ability long before he played here. He played for the Detroit Junior Red Wings and was always around the rink when Howe played here.

At the now-defunct Olympia, Mark played floor hockey outside the Red Wings dressing room while waiting for his father to sign autographs after games.

Mark Howe felt like a Red Wings hometown hero even before he actually played here. After retiring as a player, he worked for many years as a Detroit professional scout.

I’d argue that Mark Howe, who played his best NHL years as a Philadelphia Flyer (as such, he lives in the Philadelphia area), may have been one of the more underrated NHL’ers of all time. His smooth-skating style and puck-handling were just so damn elegant that, even in his later years, you could see that Howe was something special in his own right.

Update: Make that four things: According to Hockey-News.info, Red Wings prospect Marco Kasper has taken an invite from HC Innsbruck to attend the team’s training camp, which begins on August 7th. Kasper’s father, Peter, was asked if he’d allow his son to participate, and Marco is apparently going to sign some autographs and take some fan photos after practice.

Update #2: Also:

Sunday morning round-up: on Raymond and Seider, an All-Michigan Team and big Erik Gustafsson

Of brief Red Wings-related note early this Sunday morning:

  1. We both know that GM Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings’ management team want to get restricted free agents Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider re-signed to significant contracts by the start of training camp this September, if not the start of the 2024-2025 regular season in early October at the latest.

I really enjoyed an article written by the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood on Saturday night. Eargood accurately estimates the start of training camp (Thursday, September 19th is probably the date), he explains how restricted free agents can hold out until 5 PM on December 1st as a final re-sign or sit-out-the-season deadline, and then he discusses the status of Detroit’s other restricted free agent, Jonatan Berggren:

As of publication, a Sept. 19 [training camp] start date leaves 54 days for the Red Wings to sign their restricted free agents. Again, that’s a whole lot of time left to get a deal done, and general manager Steve Yzerman will probably use a lot of it given he isn’t someone who negotiates with unnecessary urgency.

Training camp isn’t a hard deadline for the RFAs to sign. If there are any players who can join the team late and still be effective, its No. 1 defenseman Seider and last season’s leading scorer Raymond are probably among them. But in all likelihood, Detroit and the RFAs don’t want to tempt fate and see what that could look like.

We also know that Steve Yzerman isn’t constrained by human concepts like space and time (kidding!)…

Continue reading Sunday morning round-up: on Raymond and Seider, an All-Michigan Team and big Erik Gustafsson

Meet the Johanssons

Here’s your fun fact(s) of the day on a late-July Saturday (no, I don’t think that this will be a daily thing, but let’s try it out for sh*ts and giggles’ sake):

Red Wings prospect Anton Johansson plays a stay-at-home, defensively responsible game as a shut-down defenseman, but he’s not alone in his family at pursuing his craft.

This morning, HockeySverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist notes that all three Johansson brothers have been drafted by NHL teams, and that all three play defense.

Victor, 18, was drafted 120th overall by Toronto in this past June’s NHL draft, and he’s playing for Leksands IF’s J20 team as an 18-year-old.

Anton, 20, was drafted 105th overall by the Red Wings in 2022, and he just played in his first full season for Leksands IF of the SHL, posting 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points in 46 games (and 4 points in 7 playoff games).

Anton also played at the World Junior Championship, going scoreless in 7 games played, and he played in 14 games overall for the Swedish Under-20 team last season.

The Red Wings have a wealth of defensemen in their developmental system (mostly Swedish ones, too), but I’m fairly certain that Anton will be signed to a contract in the next year or two, having watched Anton play. He’s a right-shooting defender who stands at 6’4″ and 195 pounds, and he’s still growing into his big body, but he’s got a bit of an edge to him.

Sweden’s defender Anton Johansson and USA’s defender Lane Hutson clash during the final ice hockey match between USA and Sweden of the IIHF World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden on January 5, 2024. (Photo by Adam Ihse/TT / various sources / AFP) / Sweden OUT (Photo by ADAM IHSE/TT/TT News Agency/TT NYHETSBYRÅN/AFP via Getty Images)

Older brother Simon, 25, was drafted 148th overall by the Minnesota Wild back in 2018. He plays for the AHL’s Iowa Wild. He’s played two seasons in North America after maturing in Djurgardens IF’s system. He’s probably the most offensively talented of the three Johansson brothers, having posted 21 points in 71 games for Iowa last season.

Both Victor and Anton have to deal with the slings and arrows of trash talk sometimes, because their dad is Thomas Johansson, a former professional hockey player who is now the GM of Leksands IF. He’s going into his seventh season as the SHL team’s general manager…And dad was a defenseman, too, playing for Stockholm-based Djurgardens IF for most of his playing career.

If Andrew Copp’s become Detroit’s shut-down center, that’s okay

Red Wings center Andrew Copp hasn’t produced a ton of offense over his two-season tenure with the team, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that Copp wants to tap into his offensive game this upcoming season, but Copp understands that he’s probably going to be playing on a “third line” with Michael Rasmussen and Christian Fischer, yielding more of a shut-down role:

“Role wise it kind of changed from last year being a little more offensive to this year kind of playing against the other team’s top line in a checking capacity,” Copp said. “There’s more to my game offensively but that wasn’t really asked of me. You kinda just gotta do what’s asked of you. It felt like I did a decent job, especially down the stretch.”

As much as he downplays his offensive contribution, Copp did score 13 goals last season. That was his third-highest output as an NHLer. And he did so while seeing very minimal power-play time.

“It’s really tough to produce five-on-five in this league,” Copp said. “Power play is a huge part of producing.”

Between them, Copp (13), Rasmussen (13) and Fischer (five) would combine for 31 goals. The Red Wings will again be seeking that type of scoring depth from their bottom-six forwards.

“It felt like, especially when Me, Ras and Fish were going, I thought we were producing and we were playing against the other team’s top line through a lot of the games that we won down the stretch,” Copp said.

Continued;

If Copp works best as a 3rd line center, that’s where the Red Wings should play him. I was initially expecting more offense from him given his salary, but I’m comfortable with the concept that Rasmussen, Copp and Fischer can be used as a shut-down line, with Copp teaming up with J.T. Compher as a fine penalty-killing unit.

Going into his third season in Detroit, Copp may not have fulfilled the expectations of Wings fans thus far, but as long as he’s maximizing his impact with the team, I’m comfortable with the Wings spending $5.25 million on a checking-line center.

Sometimes you get what you get from a player offensively. Copp’s going to be around for a couple more seasons at least given the size of his contract, so let’s see him play well and worry about the here and now.

After all, as my Aunt Annie and the great comedian Carol Burnett say, “Should’ves and could’ves are words we don’t use; they only depress us, and give us the blues.”

More about the ‘Yoopers United’ vs. Red Wings Alumni game on September 17th

As previously noted, on September 17th, the “Yoopers United” hockey team (with Slap Shot’s Steve Carlson in tow) will battle the Red Wings Alumni in order to raise funds for the United Way of Marquette County.

On Friday, the team’s liason, Nick Boyle, spoke with UPMatters.com’s Jake Durant about the upcoming event:

Tickets for the Yoopers United vs. Detroit Red Wings Alumni game are on sale right now. You can get those online or at the NMU Ticket Office. Boyle says grab them now while you still can.

“I can tell people is that we’re going to get a fantastic roster that’s coming up,” said Boyle. “I know it’s hard waiting for find out what’s going on. Some people are waiting to buy tickets. Please don’t because when the roster is announced, it’s going to be incredible.”

While the final rosters are not yet finalized, Boyle did give us a sneak peak of what to expect.

“We’re going to have at least six players coming up that are directly involved with the Red Wings from Traverse City. So, we know we’re getting big name talent from that. Also, we’ve got guys returning from the Red Wings as well that everybody loves up here. Obviously where Mickey Redmond, Joey Costa, when he was up last year, said he wasn’t going to miss this one. So, we can almost assume that he’s going to be here. Then, Randy McKay, everybody loves Randy and he’s already confirmed that he’s going to be coming down as well. We know for a fact that we’re getting a fantastic team. So, I really can’t stress enough to people, come on out, support the United Way, get your tickets early so you don’t miss out.”

Ottawa Senators assistant coach Bob Jones passes away due to ALS

A year ago in early August, I attended the “All in 4 ALS” charity game in Windsor, Ontario as a media guest of the Windsor Spitfires. It was a charity game held for Ottawa Senators assistant coach Bob Jones, who had been diagnosed with ALS a in January of 2023.

The game raised over $200,000 for charity, and Wings assistant coach Bob Boughner, then-Sens coach D.J. Smith and Red Wings coaches Derek Lalonde and Jay Varady brought in members of the Senators, Red Wings (including Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat) and other players with Windsor Spitfires and Soo Greyhounds ties for what was essentially a gigantic party for Jones. From Brady Tkachuk to

I spoke with coach Lalonde after the game, but most of the players and coaches were far too busy holding the most raucous party for Jones after the game to speak, and that was OK: I understood that Mr. Jones faced a long fight, and it wasn’t my place to stick my nose in the party looking for quotes.

It turns out that Mr. Jones’ fight was a short one:

The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch and the Hockey News’s Steve Warne penned obituaries today, and…

I didn’t know Bob Jones personally, but through the game last summer, I saw how very much he was loved by his friends in hockey and in life. There were at least forty players and a cast of what seemed like dozens of coaches, family and friends who showed up at the All in 4 ALS game, and Jones was feted like a hero.

He deserved the praise. And now he’s gone, and even though I didn’t know the man, I feel like I lost a friend given the amount of love I witnessed him receive. The man know how to throw a party, too.

ALS is a mean son of a bitch. And it needs to be erased.

Eargood on the three-headed goalie monster

The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood suggests that the Red Wings’ potentially continuing their three-goaltender rotation might harm the progression of Detroit’s prospect pool.

Assuming they get defenseman Moritz Seider and forwards Lucas Raymond and Jonatan Berggren under contract, the Red Wings are set to start their offseason with all 23 roster spots claimed by returners, free agent adds, or prospects who are now waiver eligible. Right now, defensemen Albert Johansson and Justin Holl are projected to fill the two healthy scratch spots available to skaters, and if it isn’t them then some defenseman they displace will be in those shoes. When it comes to forward, whether a rookie or an established vet, there just isn’t a roster spot to bring them on right now with Lyon, Husso and Talbot all on the NHL roster.

This presents a challenge for both the short – and long-term futures. With roster space so tight, rookies such as forwards Marco Kasper, Carter Mazur and Nate Danielson will find it exceedingly difficult to make the roster. Unless something gives in net — a trade, a waiver assignment or even LTIR — then they’re going to have to play so well that they force Detroit to move someone. That’s a far different task compared to simply making it onto the roster. It’s also one that gives Yzerman all the incentive to let those three overripen in the AHL, no matter the impact that has on their NHL timelines.

This complicated nature was entirely avoidable had Detroit gone with two goaltenders, but it felt that solid goaltending through three contributors gave it a better chance of winning games next season. Goaltending is one of the key areas Yzerman feels can dictate whether this Red Wings team can be a playoff chaser like last season, alongside some players exceeding their current expectations.

Continued; I’m just not worried about the three-goaltender situation, mostly because I don’t believe that it’s important to carry a young player on the 23-man roster unless that player can crack the 18 skaters playing on a given night.

To me, given that Ville Husso may or may not be ready to go (as Eargood notes), that Lyon was shaky down the stretch and that Talbot is a known but somewhat unknown entity behind the Red Wings’ defense, sometimes you’ve got to hedge your bets…

And as long as the Wings sort out their three-goaltender system on the ice, I want to see the Wings’ top prospects playing, wherever that might be, and not sitting, regardless of where that might be.

Brady Cleveland emphasizes the positive after a tough freshman season

Red Wings 2023 draft pick Brady Cleveland is a big (6’5,” 220 pounds), tough stay-at-home defenseman, but the Wisconsin native only managed to earn 18 games played at the University of Wisconsin this past season, so the sophomore transferred to Colorado College for the 2024-2025 season.

At the Wings’ Summer Development Camp, Cleveland discussed his status with Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:

“Everything happens for a reason,” Cleveland said. “It’s not always going to be a smooth journey. I understood that. So I am going to take the lessons I’ve learned so far and move forward with them and try to be a better hockey player.”

Cleveland kept the Red Wings informed throughout the transfer process. Because Cleveland was a second round pick in 2023, the Red Wings have a vested interest in his playing time. They viewed him as a project player, someone who would need time to grow into his body and refine his abilities.

To his credit, Cleveland didn’t view his season at Wisconsin as a lost development season.

“I think I got a lot stronger this season,” Cleveland said. “Just conditioning on the ice. The practices are tough at Wisconsin and I think that helped me. We had a really good team at Wisconsin and just going against those guys every day made me a better player even if I wasn’t playing in every single game. I appreciate that. And off the ice,  I learned a lot about myself and how much I am willing to overcome. And learning to play the game, for the love of the game. Digging deep to find that. And I think I found that.”

Continued; sometimes you have to make hard choices in terms of your playing time, and it will be interesting to see how Cleveland fits into the Colorado College Tigers’ blueline this upcoming season. He’s got a ton of raw potential, but he desperately needs playing time to sort out his game.

Roughly translated: Mats Zuccarello has words of wisdom for Stian Stolberg and Red Wings’ Michael Brandsegg-Nygard

NRK.no posted an article which discusses Anaheim Ducks prospect Stian Solberg, who was drafted in the first round of last month’s NHL Draft alongside fellow Norwegian Michael Brandsegg-Nygard.

Solberg and Brandsegg-Nygard are best friends who idolize Mats Zuccarello of Minnesota…and Zuccarello has some words of caution for both players:

The best Norwegian NHL player in history, Mats Zuccarello, plays for the Minnesota Wild, and he’s been playing at the highest level in ice hockey for over ten years. He has kept a close eye on the two 18-year-olds, and at the same time, he’s wary of what awaits them.

“I try to tell the boys that it’s one thing to be drafted and be in that circus, and it’s another thing to get into the league after the draft. They have to show that they want to do more than just being drafted. They have to think that they’re going to play, and become a star over there,” says Zuccarello, who adds:

“I think the boys understand this, and if not, I’ll tell them. Now they’ll play for two good teams in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), where there are good training days and culture. They will benefit greatly from that.”

Zuccarello knows the Swedish Eliteserien well. He played for two seasons with the Swedish team Modo, where he was named rookie of the year during his debut season.

In the following season, he became the most valuable player in the league, before being signed by the big team New York Rangers in 2010.

Even if Brandsegg-Nygard and Solberg have been drafted, they will probably play in Sweden for the entire upcoming season. There, they will acquire more experience before possible NHL games.