Month: August 2024

I was talking to Aunt Annie about the utter terror that is trying to raise $5,000 in just over two weeks to ensure that AA and I get up to Traverse City for the prospect tournament and Red Wings’ main camp recently. Aunt Annie plainly said, “Your readers get a lot of stuff for free. They should be able to put a little in the till.”

That’s where we are right now. We’ve got to raise another $200 just to afford the server fees due in 4 days, and then we’re at $10 in terms of actual fundraising for Traverse City.

I don’t know how we’re going to get up there without your support, and, for one reason or another, I appear to be “getting the clicks” to reestablish myself as a mid-range Red Wings blog, but we’re not getting the fundraising results to even dream of heading Up North on September 12th.

TSN’s Julia Tocheri discusses the career of Red Wings alumnus Dominik Hasek, whose career took a winding path toward superstardom:

From the Red Wings’ press release regarding their promotional schedule:

NHL Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium on March 1

The Red Wings will face Columbus at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio as part of the NHL’s 2025 Stadium Series. Red Wings fans can purchase tickets starting on September 18 to sit in the Wings’ fan section at the neutral-site game at “The Shoe.” To learn more about the game and purchase tickets, click here.

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

On your mark, get set… PROMO SCHEDULE!

An all-new Zamboni Gravy Boat, bobbleheads, theme nights & more! Score tickets now to your favorite nights of the season!

💻 » https://t.co/wyI3pAPYzJ
🎟️ » https://t.co/GRQY5lu77I pic.twitter.com/ZIlEIsbSel

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 26, 2024

RED WINGS ANNOUNCE PROMOTIONAL CALENDAR AND FAN GIVEAWAYS FOR 2024-25 SEASON 

• Bobblehead Nights feature Red Wings Captain Dylan Larkin, Mickey Redmond and Patrick Kane
• Pavel Datsyuk Hockey Hall of Fame Night to be celebrated at Little Caesars Arena on Nov. 21 
• Fan-favorite Theme Nights return, including Thanksgiving Eve and New Year’s Eve, Star Wars Night, Tigers Night 
• Hockeytown Throwback Nights return to celebrate historic eras of Red Wings hockey, with Stick Case giveaways featuring Chris Osgood, Steve Yzerman and Pavel Datsyuk            

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today announced the promotional calendar and fan giveaway items for the highly anticipated 2024-25 season at Little Caesars Arena. With single-game tickets and 10-Game Plans currently available, Red Wings fans are encouraged to visit DetroitRedWings.com/Tickets to secure their tickets now.

The Red Wings will open the season at Little Caesars Arena against Pittsburgh on Thursday, Oct. 10. Detroit will host 22 weekend home games this season, including five on Friday nights, 10 games on Saturdays and seven contests on Sundays. Additional marquee matchups include the annual Thanksgiving Eve game Nov. 27 vs. Calgary, New Year’s Eve vs. Pittsburgh, Tigers Night April 4 vs. Carolina and Fan Appreciation Night April 14 vs. Dallas.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the respective opportunities for Nate Danielson, Marco Kasper and Carter Mazur to make the Red Wings’ 2024-2025 season roster:

Danielson, who turns 20 on Sept. 27, had an impressive camp last fall, but ultimately general manager Steve Yzerman sent him back to juniors. Danielson turned pro in the spring, and got into two playoff games with the Grand Rapids Griffins. He plays a poised, smart game. He’s a center, but could start out in the NHL playing on the wing, à la Dylan Larkin. It’s a little less responsibility, a little easier transition for a young player.

Kasper, 20, already has a full season with the Griffins on his resume, with 35 points in 71 games in 2023-24, followed by seven points in nine playoff games. He spent the two seasons prior in the Swedish Hockey League, before joining the Wings in the spring of 2023 for what ultimately ended up being only one game because he was sidelined by a lower-body injury. He held his own in that appearance, which is why it was all the more disappointing to see an uninspired performance in last year’s camp/preseason. Kasper, likewise a center, has an edge to his game that bodes well for adding toughness and skill to the Wings’ lineup.

Mazur, 22, suffered a lower-body injury during the prospects tournament last year and missed all exhibition season, finally joining the Griffins at the end of October. He recorded 37 points in 60 games, and really shone in the playoffs, when he delivered eight points in nine games. A right-shot winger, he has an edge to his game, too.

Continued (paywall); I would still be surprised if the Red Wings chose to begin their season with Danielson, Kasper or Mazur playing in a limited role in Detroit over playing a more regularly in Grand Rapids.

Anything is possible, of course, but if the Red Wings suffer an injury, somebody like Sheldon Dries, Joe Snively or Tim Gettinger might be more realistic “bottom six” players to take temporary roles with the Red Wings.

It’s not that the coaching staff doesn’t trust “the kids” per se; it’s just more important for the Red Wings’ top prospects to develop into NHL-ready players when they do arrive in Detroit.

The NHL has been showing truncated, intermission and commercial-free summaries of their “10 Best Games of the 2023-2024 Regular Season,” and on Sunday afternoon and evening, they aired the Red Wings’ 5-4 OT win over Montreal on April 15th…

As well as the Red Wings’ rally for an OT win in Patrick Kane’s return to Chicago on the night of Chris Chelios’ #7 jersey number retirement on February 25th:

Jake Walman’s “Griddy” in the OT win over Vancouver back on February 10th made the Top 10 as well:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that former Red Wing Slava Kozlov gave an interview to Sport-Express in Russia regarding the passing of Sergei Mnatsakanov, and Duff provides excerpts from the original Russian-language interview:

Mnatsakanov, formerly the Red Wings team masseir, died last week in Florida of cancer. He was 71. Mnatasakanov was left paralyzed below the waist and with debilitating brain injuries when he was a passenger with Red Wings players Vladimir Konstantinov and Slava Fetisov in a July 13, 1997 limousine accident.

“We saw each other after the accident, in Florida, until I returned to Russia,” said Kozlov, today serving as an assitant coach with Dynamo Moscow of the KHL.

“He was very good-natured,” Kozlov said of Mnatsakanov. “Everyone on the team loved him. He spoke little, his English was not very good. But he treated everyone with respect, gave everyone his time and attention.He was very much appreciated in Detroit.”

According to Kozlov, the Ilitch family, owners of the Red Wings, would continue to pay Mnatasakanov his salary throughout his life. He also was recalling how Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman kept a 24/7 vigil at the hospital bedsides of Mnatsakanov and Konstantinov following the accident.

Konstantinov was also left with debilitating brain injuries, ending his all-star career just days after winning the Stanley Cup.

“(He) talked to them the whole time they were in a coma,” Kozlov said. “It was the off-season, and his big family was waiting for him in Buffalo. But Scotty flew out as soon as he heard about what had happened.”

Continued; when the accident happened, outside of Detroit, the story was about Vladimir Konstantinov suffering his life-altering injuries in the limousine crash…

But in Detroit, it was always, “Vladdie and Sergei,” from the news coverage to the “Believe” patches that said VK for Vladimir Konstantinov and SM for Sergei Mnatsakanov.

It was always about both of them. And now that one has passed away, it’s terribly sad, because Sergei Mnatsakanov mattered to Red Wings fans.

Today, the CHL’s website’s Matt Tidcombe offers a survey of the four Canadian Hockey League-playing and alumni players who’ve been drafted by the Red Wings over the course of the past two seasons.

You’re probably familiar with Portland Winterhawks and Brandon Wheat Kings alumnus Nate Danielson, who’s going to turn pro with the Griffins this upcoming season, but you may not be as familiar with the other three players listed in Tidcombe’s article:

Ondrej Becher (F) — Prince George Cougars
Acquired: 2024 NHL Draft (80th overall)
CHL career stats: 121G | 48G | 86A | 134PTS
Signed: No

Third time was the charm for Becher as he finally heard his name called at the NHL Draft after a breakout campaign with the Cougars. The Czech forward finished 13th in WHL scoring with 96 points in just 58 games while his 32 goals were the fourth among Prince George skaters. He won 51.9 per cent of his faceoffs while his four shorthanded goals were tied for fourth most in the WHL. His 1.66 point-per-game average was ninth best while he collected a bronze medal at the 2024 World Juniors. Becher, the 16th overall pick in the 2022 CHL Import Draft, tied for the Cougars postseason scoring lead with 19 points.

…

Emmitt Finnie (F) — Kamloops Blazers
Acquired: 2023 NHL Draft (201st overall)
CHL career stats: 174G | 28G | 72A | 100PTS
Signed: Yes

Finnie established career highs across the board in 2023-24 with 19 goals, 40 assists and 59 points as he led the Blazers in scoring. The 19-year-old won 55 per cent of his draws while he made his professional debut with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins as he appeared in three regular season contests.

Landon Miller (G) — Soo Greyhounds
2024 NHL Draft: 2024 NHL Draft (126th overall)
CHL career stats: 35GP | 17-7-0 | 3.15 GAA | .880 save percentage
Signed: No

Miller’s first season in the OHL saw him impress between the Greyhounds pipes as he collected 17 wins. He posted the first two shutouts of his career while in his lone postseason appearance, he collected the win in relief in a come-from-behind victory against Guelph. With Jakub Vondras (CAR) having signed in Europe, the Soo net should be Miller’s in 2024-25.

Continued; so:

1. Becher may or may not play in the WHL this upcoming season because he’s 20, and CHL teams can only play 3 “overagers.” It’s somewhat uncertain at this point as to whether the late-bloomer will remain with Prince George, whether he’s going to be traded to another WHL team, or whether he’ll end up in Toledo or Grand Rapids;
2. The Red Wings are really high on Finnie’s potential as a two-way forward (as Tidcombe notes, he’s already signed to an NHL contract), but even though he played in a couple of games for the Griffins, he’s headed back to Kamloops for the upcoming season;
3. And Miller’s save percentage was not sterling this past season, but the Red Wings took a flyer on him because they like his size and raw ability. He will be the Soo’s starter this year, and he’s going to have an opportunity to turn some heads as a result.

I was going to sit on this one until the SHL regular season begins–because I’m nervous for the young man–but the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood noted that Noah Dower Nilsson is back in preseason SHL action after undergoing surgery on both shoulders last season, so:

Dower Nilsson’s comeback started off slow Friday against Leksands IF. He didn’t record a point in a 5-3 Frölunda win, evidently getting used to live games after such a long time off. Saturday against Farjestad, Dower Nilsson factored more into the offense. Down 5-2, his blocked shot wound up finding teammate Hannes Hellberg to cut down the deficit in the third period. Frölunda lost 6-3.

This season, Dower Nilsson hopes to bounce back from such an injury-riddled campaign as last season. He didn’t start his season until December after the Red Wings recommended both he and his brother Liam Dower Nilsson (a 2021 fifth round Detroit pick) get surgery to repair torn labrums over the 2023 summer. When he came back, Noah Dower Nilsson only played a handful of games before tearing his labrum again, this time on his right shoulder. After trying to rehab the injury and salvage the season, he ended up in surgery yet again back in February.

Noah also apparently suffered an undisclosed injury in the one game where Frolunda lent the sniping forward to IF Bjorkloven of the HockeyAllsvenskan (the Swedish second division), where brother and play-maker Liam Dower Nilsson plays. They started the game on the same line, but Noah didn’t finish the game (I’m fairly certain he got a concussion, but I can’t confirm that). Off to surgery he went.

The stress of such bad injury luck forced him to take a step back and stay patient during his recovery process.

“You get drafted and want to play hockey and show more of me for the team, for the (draft) choice,” Dower Nilsson told The Hockey News back in May. “So it was tough, but the important thing is to be patient and staying in the right mindset.”

Continued; there’s a lot on the line for both Liam and Noah this upcoming season. If I’m correct, this is the last year that the Red Wings have Noah’s rights, so he’s got to play very well in the HockeyAllsvenskan and earn a contract, while Noah wants to break into Frolunda’s men’s team lineup full-time and become a regular player.

That’s not going to be easy for either player, and I hope that both Liam and Noah have good seasons ahead.

The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau examines “Top Issues” which face the Detroit Red Wings this afternoon, and the only one that hasn’t been over-talked by Red Wings fans (no offense, fellow partisans) is #2:

2. Can they stop the skids, play with more consistency and move the needle enough into a playoff spot?

Consistency was a gigantic issue for the Red Wings in 2023-24, and the fact they missed out on a Stanley Cup playoff berth by just one point in the Atlantic Division has to haunt Yzerman and the team.

The problem for Detroit – and fellow Atlantic teams in Ottawa and Buffalo – is that the division is arguably the strongest in the NHL. And the teams that finished ahead of the Wings – Florida, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Boston – all are almost assuredly going to be playoff teams again this coming year. That means Detroit is either going to have to squeeze out a Metropolitan Division team from a post-season spot, or miss the playoffs altogether for the ninth straight season. 

For a team that once was the gold standard for the NHL, that would be especially devastating. But unless Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde can get his team winning on a more regular basis, that potential ending is very real.

Continued; the Red Wings are probably going to battle for another Wild Card spot, which is fine at this point in the organization’s growth among the “Division From Hell” (as Dylan Larkin calls it), but it will depend on “everybody rowing the boat in the same direction all year long.”

If there’s anything desperately needed from the Wings that isn’t goaltending or re-signing Raymond and Seider, it’s consistency in all aspects of the team’s game, from defense to offense to special teams.

The Wings can’t push that Miraculous Comeback Button so very regularly while facing a multi-goal deficit in the 3rd period this year, because it will yield similar results to last season, which was almost heartbreaking for a fan base that wants so badly to finally see playoff hockey again.

It’s gonna come down to everybody rowing the boat and everybody rowing in the same direction” to get ‘er done, and that’s about building cohesion and consistency over the course of training camp and the exhibition season, before rolling into the regular season with some momentum for the first 10-15 games.