Month: August 2024

Updated at 5:04 PM: Earlier today, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde took part in a “Street Hockey in the D” event sponsored by the Red Wings organization in Detroit, and both the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of Lalonde’s remarks at said event.

This afternoon, the Free Press’s Helene St. James and MLive’s Ansar Khan share their commentary on Lalonde’s remarks. St. James took note of Lalonde’s take on both Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider’s expected roles increasing this upcoming season…

“I’ve talked with them two to three times during the summer and we don’t even talk about the contract,” Lalonde said. “That’s between Steve and them. With us, it’s just the same message as with the other guys — we want to progress, we want to keep moving, keep building this. Obviously those two guys are a big part of it.”

Raymond came in last season about a dozen pounds heavier and it showed in his play, as he went on to lead the Wings with 72 points in 82 games.

“He found something in his offseason last year, he came back and he just looked like a different athlete,” Lalonde said. “A little of that was just him maturing — he’s still a very young player and naturally his body matured a little bit. But just keep building on what he did last year.”

Lalonde’s message to Seider was also to keep building. Seider is entering his fourth season and Raymond his third, and given their importance, each is a prime candidate to join the rotation of alternate captains after David Perron’s departure in free agency.

“Those two, the role they’ll play on our team, I think it will be a little increased role with our leadership, too,” Lalonde said. “That’s something we talked about with those two over the summer.”

As did Khan, who noted that Lalonde didn’t want to discuss the contractual negotiations with Raymond and Seider per se:

Continue reading A bit more from coach Lalonde regarding Raymond and Seider’s roles this upcoming season

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde attended the Detroit Red Wings’ “Street Hockey in the D” event this morning, and the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton asked coach Lalonde about the Red Wings’ need to re-sign Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider before training camp begins…

When asked whether he could provide an update on the situation, Lalonde said, “Not a whole lot…This is exactly why we have the GM layer, the agent layer…I’ve talked to them two, three times throughout the summer, and we don’t even talk about the contract. That’s between Steve and them, Steve and the agent. With us, it’s just the same message for all the guys: We wanna progress, we wanna keep building this, we want a little bit more from last year. Obviously those two guys are a big part of it.”

While not quite the revelation Red Wings fans were likely hoping for, it was nonetheless another reassurance that Detroit is in no serious jeopardy of losing Raymond or Seider’s services this summer.  While many fans are no doubt eager to see that set in stone (or ink, as the case may be), Lalonde himself said, “I’m not worried.  It’s all part of it.  I have a little experience with this with past RFAs, so it’s all part of the process” in response to being asked directly over whether their contract status was causing him any stress.

Lalonde went on to note that not only is he fully counting on Raymond and Seider for next season but also he expects their roles to continue to grow, specifically by becoming a greater part of Detroit’s leadership team.

“I think those two and the role they’ll play on our team, I think it’ll be a little increased with our leadership too,” Lalonde said.  “It’s something we talked about with those two.  [I’m] very comfortable with where the situation is exactly.  I sound like a broken record, but this is why coaches coach, managers manage, it’s why players have agents—to avoid the layer of what’s going on with the contract.”  With David Perron (who wore an “A” as alternate captain) off to Ottawa, perhaps one or both of Raymond and Seider could wind up wearing a letter in 2024-25.

And coach Lalonde emphasized improving the team’s defensive numbers while speaking with Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:

Continue reading Coach Lalonde addresses several topics during Red Wings’ ‘Street Hockey in the D’ event

The Hockey News is focusing on the 2024 Winter Olympics this week, and THN’s Jason Duench suggests that Team USA should pick Dylan Larkin as their next team captain:

United States: Dylan Larkin, C, Detroit Red Wings

While it’s worth mentioning American legend Patrick Kane, who is third all-time in NHL points for American-born players, the USA is deep at forward and Kane’s dazzling resume may be passed over completely when he turns 37 in 2026. Besides, Kane has only ever worn an ‘A’ in the NHL.

That’s why the sensical choice is Larkin, who will be 29 and captain of five years for the Detroit Red Wings. He hasn’t been named to the Four Nations roster, but he’s consistently been one of the NHL’s most effective two-way pivots and if he can get Motor City back into playoff contention in the next two seasons, he’ll make an even better case for Team USA general manager Bill Guerin to give him the nod.

Other candidates: Brady Tkachuk, LW, Ottawa Senators; Jaccob Slavin, D, Carolina Hurricanes; Adam Fox, D, New York Rangers; Auston Matthews, C, Toronto Maple Leafs; Charlie McAvoy, D, Boston Bruins

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses the positive intangibles that Patrick Kane brings to the Red Wings in terms of team “swagger,” suggesting that Kane’s influence upon the Wings might be similar to “Pudge” Rodriguez’s influence upon the Detroit Tigers:

Top MLB players began following Rodriguez to Detroit. That, coupled with a strong influx of homegrown talent, propeled the Tigers back to prominence.

Certainly, the Red Wings were further along the rebuilding curve upon Kane’s arrival last November. Definitely, that was playing a role in his decision to re-up with the club.

“My heart was set on being back with Detroit,” Kane said. “I feel like it was, it was a good fit for me, but I also feel like it was a good fit for the team and I feel like I fit in well with the lineup and with the players and the guys. So I was looking forward to just kind of building on what we went through last year.”

Already, Kane’s decision is having positive ramifications on the roster. Forward Vladimir Tarasenko, the club’s biggest offseason addition, was admitting that Kane’s presence was helping to convince him that Detroit was the place for him.

“I talked to Kaner,” Tarasenko said. “There is a lot of guys who used to play in St. Louis, a lot of familiar faces. They all say only good things about Detroit, the city and the team. That’s why we decided to come.”

Continued; I concur with Duff. The Red Wings aren’t exactly a free agent destination yet, but Kane’s definitely helping the Wings slowly but surely attract free agents like Tarasenko and Gustafsson.

I’m not feeling particularly well today, so I’m going with a news round-up post as opposed to a bunch of entries. My apologies if this is inconvenient:

1. Earlier this morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of five impressive statistical performances by the Red Wings team and their players, and, in this case, five statistical performances that fans may not know of:

Bob Probert’s Red Wings PIM Mark:

Bob Probert’s legacy in Hockeytown is timeless. His fights are the stuff of legend. As his 1987-88 Red Wings season also should be. During the 1987-88 season, Probert wound up one goal shy of 30 and two PIM shy of 400. He would serve the equivalent of 6.63 games in penalty minutes and still find enough ice to to score 29 goals.

It was good enough to earn Probert a place in the NHL All-Star Game that season. And, a look of puzzlement from Joe Kocur, his Bruise Brothers teammate.

Kocur would never let Probert forget that all he had to do was hack some opponent in the last game of the season to get to the 400-minute plateau.

2. Shifting focus toward the Red Wings’ future, DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted an article about Red Wings prospect Max Plante, who was raised by former NHL’er Derek Plante in a “hockey family”:

Continue reading Wednesday round-up: Probert’s PIM’s, Max Plante’s learning curve, a ‘Street Hockey in the D’ event and ‘would’ve should’ve’ trade talk

From “Big Head Hockey”:

Everyone with 200+ blocks and 200+ hits in a season in the last decade:

— Moritz Seider (this season)

There's not many people who plays Seider's style of game anymore. pic.twitter.com/masVXOnB7B

— Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) August 6, 2024

NHL.com’s Stan Fischler posted an article in which he lists his “best captains” from both the Original Six era and the present-day NHL, and he includes Red Wings captain and coach Sid “Bootnose” Abel:

Sid Abel, Detroit Red Wings: Abel was the center and architect of the famed and feared “Production Line” with Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay. His superior leadership qualities enabled him to blend their varied talents into one of the NHL’s most heralded lines. Despite the loss of Gordie Howe to injury, Abel rallied the Red Wings to a 4-3 double-overtime win against the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the 1950 Stanley Cup Final and eight consecutive wins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 1952 championship. Although slowing down somewhat, Abel took his skills to Chicago, where he became player-coach in 1952-53 and helped the previously forlorn Black Hawks to a rare postseason berth.

Continued; I will never understand why legendary Red Wings coach and GM Jack Adams sent so many of his star players away after winning Stanley Cups, but that’s what he did…

Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard conducted a behind-the-paywall interview with Norran’s Mille Dybro, and Hockeysverige.se provides us a peek behind said paywall as Brandsegg-Nygard prepares to embark upon a month-long schedule of training camp and exhibition games with his SHL team, Skelleftea AIK:

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard believes he’ll play SHL games with Skelleftea AIK

Skelleftea AIK or the Detroit Red Wings? It’s a question for which there is no answer for Michael Brandsegg-Nygard so far. But now the Norwegian prospect says he believes he’ll play in the SHL.

“I think I will play here,” he says to Norran.

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard made history at the NHL Draft in June by becoming the first Norwegian to ever be selected in the first round. That’s when the Detroit Red Wings picked the Oslo native as the 15th overall player.

The Red Wings signed the forward to a three-year rookie contract shortly thereafter. Thusly, they gained power over the player. This means that Skelleftea AIK, who recruited the 18-year-old from Mora IK, is politely forced to wait for an announcement as to what applies.

“I don’t think that the contract makes that much of a difference for us, but I both believe and hope that he will play for us next season. These are the indications that we’ve also received,” said general manager Erik Forssell to Norran earlier this summer.

Brandsegg-Nygard goes to Detroit

When Skelleftea stepped onto the ice today for their first practice of the season, Brandsegg-Nygard was there. Afterward, he told Norran that he will go to Detroit [for training camp] and will thus miss some games, but that, like Forssell, he’s focused on returning to Vasterbotten for the SHL season with the reigning SHL champions.

“I’m going over for camp, but I think I’ll play here. I want to battle for SHL gold.”

Brandsegg-Nygard posted 18 points (8 goals plus 10 assists) in 46 games for the HockeyAllsvenskan with Mora last year. He followed that up with a fine playoff slate where he accounted for 10 points (4 goals plus 6 assists) in 12 games. The Norwegian also managed to make his World Championship debut and had 5 points (3 goals plus 2 assists) in 7 World Championship games at the tournament in the Czech Republic.

The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood posted a list of 6 Red Wings players who may hit scoring and games-played milestones over the next season, as well as a milestone that coach Derek Lalonde may hit:

Patrick Kane: 1,300 Points Detroit’s biggest individual milestone could be that of winger Patrick Kane, who is 16 points away from his 1,300th point. Most of those came earlier in his career with Chicago, including the 106 he scored in 2015-16 that made him the first American-born player to win the Hart and Art Ross trophies. 

In a similar theme of American history, Kane is in reach of Brett Hull’s 1,391 points that hold the record for most by an American. Kane is currently third, behind Mike Modano’s 1,374. All three played for Detroit at some time in their career.

Alex DeBrincat: 500 Points If Alex DeBrincat keeps playing next to Kane of all linemates, getting 60 points next season to reach the 500 mark should be possible. In 413 games played together with Chicago and Detroit, DeBrincat has recorded 345 points. Kane has notched 472.

No matter his linemates, DeBrincat is really close to the accomplishment. A lot of players have gotten there — 549 and counting, with more than a dozen players besides DeBrincat in striking distance. Considering he’s only 26, it feels as though this is only a temporary stop on the way to greater milestones in the future.

Dylan Larkin: 300 Assists Dylan Larkin is just six assists away from his 300th, a testament to his playmaking over the years. His 294 rank 15th in Red Wings history, though a similar campaign to last season’s could see him jump to 12th, passing Igor Larionov (308), Red Kelly (310) and Brendan Shanahan (324).

In terms of franchise scoring leaders, Larkin’s 506 career points rank 14th. He could pass Tomas Holmstrom (530), John Ogrodnick (546) and Reed Larson (570) depending on how successful his season is.

Continued; I always cross my fingers and pray for good injury juju when I read these articles…

Updated at 1:45 PM: Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton discusses the declining revenues which appear to be dooming Diamond Sports, which is Bally Sports’ parent company, and Diamond also happens to be going through bankruptcy despite having reached a carriage agreement with XFinity/Comcast recently.

There’s been a long-term discussion as to what’s going to come next for the Red Wings, Tigers and Pistons’ broadcasts, especially as Diamond pays tens of millions of dollars for the privilege of broadcasting the three sports, at the cost of a big carriage fee for every customer of the cable or satellite system that carries Bally (regardless of whether the individual subscriber watches Bally networks or not)…

And I really wonder whether it’s possible that the long-time rumors that the Ilitches might start their own sports network to carry their teams on cable TV and/or online might come to fruition. That buzz has quietly served as an undercurrent to the various guises of PASS/Bally over the past 25 years, and the emphasis was always that, should the Ilitches be able to absorb the start-up costs of establishing a broadcast network, they’d reap the profits thereof.

Nowadays, the profits are smaller due to legions of “cord-cutters,” but if the Ilitches could start up a streaming service for the Wings, Tigers and Pistons, they’d still turn a profit broadcasting their own teams. With more and more teams inking streaming deals or broadcast TV deals that don’t emphasize turning a profit for the respective teams, I wonder whether we’ll see some sort of “Ilitch Sports + Entertainment Network” down the line.

2. Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman/Kukla’s Korner posted this trade scenario from Heavy.com’s Cole Shelton, and I’m sorry to admit as much, but I didn’t post it because I couldn’t possibly believe that it would happen:

Continue reading Two things: Pondering an Ilitch Sports + Entertainment network, and ‘just saying no’ to a trade scenario