Month: August 2024

The articles regarding Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s media availability yesterday continue today. Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discussed the depth provided by Jonatan Berggren, Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson this upcoming season…

Berggren is still an unsigned restricted free agent, but the Red Wings do seem to need him to replace some of goals lost through forwards David Perron, Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong leaving through free agency and trade. Berggren has 17 goals in 79 NHL games, and last season he tallied 24 goals and 56 points in 52 regular-season games for the Griffins. He managed five goals in nine AHL playoffs.

“He’s shown the ability to create offense,” Lalonde said. “When he’s been with us, he’s created offense. But again, we have a lot of guys with a similar DNA. We need him to be responsible.”

The reason why Berggren didn’t stick in Detroit is that coaches didn’t trust his play without the puck. Reducing goals against will be an emphasis in 2024-25.

“We’re gonna ask the whole team to be conscious of a two-way game, without taking away from some of his offense,” Lalonde said. “It’s a credit to him. He did a really good job in a really tough situation last year. I’ll never say anyone’s played themselves out of the American Hockey League. It’s just too good of a league. But he’s proven, or maybe more it’s he’s earned this opportunity… He’ll have to do it in camp but I believe in my conversations with him this summer.”

Edvinsson should play regularly this season. The Red Wings have nine defensemen, counting Johansson and Edvinsson. Presumably, William Lagesson goes to Grand Rapids if Johansson makes the roster.

“I like the depth. I think we got really fortunate last year in staying healthy on the back end,” Lalonde said. “But we’ll need that depth. I think all eight are very capable. I’m very excited about Simon. I think his play towards the end of last year was exciting. But I’m very excited about Albert, too. I was able to see him towards the end of the year and into the playoffs. I think he’s ready for the National Hockey League. He’ll have to show us that in camp. ”

As did the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton:

The Athletic’s Max Bultman attempts to discern the Red Wings’ 2027-2028 season lineup this morning, and here’s the introduction to his article:

Each year, when the dust starts to settle on the offseason and the summer months begin to drag, we take a look into the future and project what the Detroit Red Wings lineup will look like in three years.

The goal of the projections is not to be 100 percent correct three years out, but rather to highlight how the Red Wings’ ongoing rebuild is trending — and what it still lacks. In recent years, we’ve begun leaving blank spots in the lineup to highlight positions at which Detroit has no obvious long-term answer and will need to address.

With all that said, let’s dive into it.

Just a brief note here: Red Wings prospect and Innsbruck, Austria native Marco Kasper is training with the KAC Rotjacken of the Austrian league as the team hit the ice for the first time yesterday. There are a couple of interviews with Kasper in the local papers, but they’re paywalled.

Picture courtesy of EC KAC.

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde addressed a slate of topics while speaking to the media at the Wings’ “Summer Hockey in the D” event yesterday, and MLive’s Ansar Khan offers a few more quips from coach Lalonde this morning.

First, coach Lalonde addressed the fact that Nate Danielson, Marco Kasper and Carter Mazur will be pushing for spots on the Wings’ roster this fall…

“Very excited about some of our young guys in Grand Rapids that will be pushing,” Lalonde said. “You need that push from the bottom. I was able to see Grand Rapids a couple of times late in the year. [Jonatan] Berggren, Mazur, (Nate) Danielson, watching his playoff in junior, Marco was awesome in the playoffs. I think you need some of that competition and push from the young guys.”

They also need proven, experienced scorers like [Patrick] Kane and [Vladimir] Tarasenko.

“Pat had a lot of options; he had different options as far as term also,” Lalonde said. “In my conversations with him, his heart was here. It speaks volumes about Patrick and it also speaks about what we’re doing here the last couple of years. I think (Tarasenko) is a similar situation. … I think it’s exciting that they want to be part of it.”

The Atlantic Division remains the toughest in the NHL, featuring Stanley Cup champion Florida, playoff mainstays Boston, Toronto and Tampa Bay and clubs with a lot of young talent in Buffalo and Ottawa.

“These are different expectations, that’s a different challenge in itself,” Lalonde said. “I think there’s a lot of excitement for good reason going into this year, but it’s going to be on us and the group to narrow our focus on doing the right things, especially early, and we’d love to put ourselves in the same situation next year.”

Continued (paywall); the Red Wings definitely need to evolve into a team which can focus its attention upon winning a 60-minute game this upcoming season.

The Red Wings’ media corps attended a “Street Hockey in the D” event held by the team in order to speak with coach Derek Lalonde, who addressed a number of topics, including Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider’s contract negotiations, the roles which #23 and #53 will play this upcoming season, the team’s goals-against average and the goaltending situation.

This morning, the Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses coach Lalonde’s remarks on the Red Wings’ revised lineup, as well as his take on the Wings’ probability of starting the 2024-2025 season with a three-headed goalie monster:

“Of course I like it,” Lalonde said Wednesday. “We did a good job addressing some holes. It feels like guys may be slotted going into the year a little bit. I think we did a good job addressing some lost offense, which is very important.”

Signing forward Vladimir Tarasenko, a former 40-goal scorer, is expected to ameliorate the departures of David Perron (17 goals) and Daniel Sprong (18 goals). Signing defenseman Erik Gustafsson should lessen the blow of losing Shayne Gostisbehere (team-leading 29 power play points).

Tarasenko joins a forward corps that also features Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, J.T. Compher, Patrick Kane, Andrew Copp, Michael Rasmussen, Joe Veleno and Christian Fischer, another newcomer in Tyler Motte and, once they’re signed, Lucas Raymond and Jonatan Berggren, making for an even dozen. Prospects Carter Mazur, Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson could all push for a role, too.

On the back end, besides Gustafsson there’s Ben Chiarot, Olli Määttä, Jeff Petry, Justin Holl, and Simon Edvinsson; Seider (who also needs a new contract) and Albert Johansson, who has yet to play in the NHL but is out of waiver exemptions.

Lalonde described his possible line combinations as “fluid, especially early in camp. But it just feels like guys are slotted a bit more proper, and it will make more of an ideal top-six, bottom-six situation. But that will be fluid as the season starts.”

Coach Lalonde told St. James that the Red Wings simply need to advance this upcoming season:

“It’s just exciting,” Lalonde said. “All I’ve known here since I’ve come here is some progression. We’ve moved in the right direction from Year 1 to Year 2. And now we need to keep building. Expectations will change, which is all good. This is all part of the process. We just want a little bit more [from] everybody.”

Continued (paywall); the Red Wings did lose a ton of offense in Perron, Sprong and Gostisbehere, but Tarasenko and Gustafsson should at least dig into that lost offense, and yes, coach Lalonde is correct–the team’s got more of a real “top six” and “bottom six” up front, as well as a little more balance to its three defensive pairs.

It would be nice if the team could acquire a second-pair, shut-down defenseman by the time the season starts, but that’s more likely to happen toward the trade deadline…

And the goaltending situation isn’t going to sort itself out until it sorts itself out, whether that’s over the course of training camp and the exhibition season, or whether it takes until sometime during the regular season.

Yesterday, Hockeysverige.se reported that Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard still expects to end up playing for Skelleftea AIK of the SHL after participating in the Red Wings’ training camp this fall.

Today, Brandsegg-Nygard speaks with Hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin regarding a prank committed by his World Championship teammates on Team Norway this past spring (what follows is roughly translated from Swedish):

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard about Zuccarello and Thoresen’s practical joke

Don’t leave your hotel room unattended if you’re at the World Championship with Mats Zuccarello and Patrick Thoresen. That lesson was learned by new SHL duo Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Stian Solberg during the World Championship in the Czech Republic last spring.

“They didn’t say anything until we were at the airport on the way home,” says Brandsegg-Nygard about the practical joke he was subjected to by the two veterans.

During the hockey World Championship in the Czech Republic last spring, junior players Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Stian Solberg earned the opportunity to debut next to seasoned veterans like Mats Zuccarello and Patrick Thoresen. It was a big moment for the two 18-year-olds who grew up with the Norwegian stars as role models.

What did they learn about the two pros?

A lot. But, perhaps above all, despite their age, they still have the minds of children.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of a familiar thread for the Red Wings’ players and coach over the course of this summer’s media availabilities: every player and coach Lalonde has suggested that the team faces higher expectations in terms of performance going forward:

“I think there’s definitely expectations going into this season, so that’s always a good thing,” Detroit forward Patrick Kane said. “You want those expectations.”

After finishing the season with 91 points and missing out on postseason play via tiebreaker, the Red Wings have given cause for high hopes.

“I think you set expectations high after coming down to Game 82 (and) that (is when) you missed the playoffs,” Detroit GM Steve Yzerman said.

The Red Wings are ready to deal with the accompanying pressure that raised expectations do bring.

“I think that’s great for our group to have expectations like that to come in the next year to get back to that point,” Red Wings forward Christian Fischer said. “I’m honestly fully confident that we could get back there.

“You don’t want to set crazy expectations but I think everybody’s in the same boat. I think we kind of showed last year a big step in the progression of our team and setting the standard that we could be in the postseason, and that we expect to be in the postseason.

Continued; it’s a damn good thing that the Red Wings expect to make the playoffs this upcoming season. Detroit’s not going to finish first in the Atlantic Division, but as the team moves forward, it must attempt to exceed its standard of performance from this past campaign.

Joni “Bona” Hallikainen, a.k.a. “Bonhalik Customs,” is out with Ville Husso’s 2024-2025 season goalie mask, and it’s a great twist on a classic:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Joni "Bona" Hallikainen (@bonahallikainencustoms)

The Detroit Red Wings held a “Street Hockey in the D” event today, and the Red Wings’ media corps attended it in order to speak with Detroit coach Derek Lalonde.

Bally Sports Detroit’s Natalie Kerwin also took part in the event, and BSD posted a 2:30 highlight clip from the event during tonight’s Detroit Tigers game:

What do you do when it's summertime but you love hockey? You take it to the streets like the @DetroitRedWings did today. Natalie Kerwin brings us that story.#RepDetroit | @FiegerLaw@NatalieKerwin1 pic.twitter.com/udz8CBxUmO

— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) August 8, 2024

I can’t do more than link it, but CBS Detroit’s Rachel Hopmayer posted a 2:13 report about the event as well.

Red Wings alumnus Jimmy Howard appeared on the “Cam & Strick Podcast” early on Wednesday morning, and the “Cam & Strick” Twitter account revealed a bit of a typically Babcockian tale.

According to Howard, at the end of his rookie campaign, Babcock made sure to tell the media that he was going to vote for Tyler Myers as the Calder Trophy winner, instead of his own goaltender (thankfully, coaches don’t get a vote in the Calder Trophy rankings):

Mike Babcock “voted” against his own goalie to win rookie of the year 😳⬇️

🎧: https://t.co/usZ5iG0pKG
📺: https://t.co/V7FyiyM9ZM pic.twitter.com/cGs6Db9pXo

— The Cam & Strick Podcast (@CamandStrick) August 6, 2024

If you missed the podcast video/audio, Jimmy Howard appears at the 1 hour and 40 minute mark:

Update: The Detroit News reports that Howard also earns credit for one moment in a superb career more often than he feels is necessary: