Month: August 2024

Via A2Y: controversy will follow Datsyuk’s Hall of Fame induction due to Russia’s war with Ukraine

Via Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman: we had to know this was coming. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has filed an official protest regarding Pavel Datsyuk’s looming induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame this November, citing Datsyuk’s participation in a charity game to support soldiers who died in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

As you probably already know by now, former Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek has already protested the Hockey Hall of Fame’s decision to induct Datsyuk this year, and the Hockey News’s Jason Dunech has more about the situation:

Of particular concern to the nonprofit umbrella organization was a report of Datsyuk attending a February 2024 event honoring members of the Russian Armed Forces.

According to Russian media outlet ura.news, Datsyuk attended a hockey tournament dedicated to two Russian military members who died in combat in the conflict against Ukraine.

The UCC letter argues Datsyuk’s participation in the event “signifies his endorsement of Russia’s invasion, the terror Russia has brought to Ukrainian cities and towns and the systemic, brutal atrocities that Russia has committed against Ukrainian civilians.”

The letter concluded by saying the Hall of Fame’s planned induction of Datsyuk was “deeply offensive” and alleged it “would hand a propaganda victory to Russia.”

The UCC urged the Canadian government not to grant Datsyuk entry into the country in November to demonstrate Canada’s “commitment to justice and human rights.”

I’m not quite certain how to address this, because the controversy surrounding Datsyuk’s induction is going to continue as long as there is a war between Russia and Ukraine.

When Datsyuk attended the Red Wings’ Summer Development Camp, he chose not to take questions from the media regarding the conflict. I suppose you can take Datsyuk’s non-answer as a decision based on family reasons, given that the Russians are jailing people for all sorts of minor offenses against the Kremlin, or cowardly, depending upon your point of view.

There is no gray area as to whether Russia is the instigator of an unjust conflict against Ukraine, but whether its athletes need to speak out against said conflict to be assuaged of presumed guilt is another story.

We’ll see what happens between now and November, but I’m not expecting the Hockey Hall of Fame to change its mind on inducting Datsyuk.

Tweet of note: Brandsegg-Nygard strikes again (in the preseason)

Both Red Wings Prospects and IceHockeyG on Twitter posted a second preseason goal for Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. Emphasis on preseason, of course, but it’s a nice snap shot:

Brandsegg-Nygard also scored in Skelleftea AIK’s previous preseason game on August 16th.

The fundraising grind is underway

The annual Server Costs and Traverse City Trip fundraising drive is going. We’ve raised about $400 of the $857.33 needed to keep the website running (due by August 31st), and while the hotel/rental car fundraising is still fairly low, we’re slowly but surely working our way toward our $4,500-$5,000 goal.

I understand that it’s late summer, and that hockey news is at an ebb, but I’m still hoping to bring my 82-year-old Aunt Annie along for the trip, and that we can make the finances work. Aunt Annie is doing very well in terms of her recovery from double hip replacement surgery, but as her primary caregiver, we’re a package deal now.

We’ve made our hotel reservations, and we’re hoping to get up to TC to provide prospect tournament and training camp reports for you, but that’s up to you to make it happen.

We’re incredibly grateful for your support in any way, shape, or form, but if you can help us maintain this website for another year, and then get up the road to Traverse City, we will be equally grateful for your help.

If you’re willing to lend a hand, have an official GoFundMe fundraiser page at https://gofund.me/c08de120; we have a PayPal option at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport; there’s Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2; if you’re into the, “I don’t want to use any of those pages” option, here’s always the Giftly option by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com…

And in the banking options, you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check, or “Zelle” me via my email, rtxg@yahoo.com. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”

As always, thank you for your readership and your time.

Trey Augustine had an eventful 2023-2024 season

This morning, DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills looks back at Red Wings prospect and Michigan State University sophomore Trey Augustine’s remarks made during Detroit’s Summer Development Camp. As Mills notes, Augustine bounced around a little bit last season–in a good way:

Augustine impressed as the youngest starting netminder in NCAA Division 1 hockey during the 2023-24 season, posting a 23-9-2 record with a 2.96 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and three shutouts in 35 games.

“He just gives me a lot of confidence and I’m not even on his team,” Red Wings Assistant Director of Player Development Dan Cleary said about Augustine. “He’s got a great demeanor about him. Calm, cool demeanor but that competitive fire burns inside him.”

Helping the Spartans earn their first-ever BIG Ten title was an incredible experience for Augustine, who is returning to Michigan State’s campus with a greater understanding of what it takes to succeed at the collegiate level.

“It’s hard to win every night,” Augustine said. “You have to come into every game with the right mindset that no team is going to back down, especially since we had a good year. We’re going to be gunned for this upcoming year.”

Augustine said he also learned a lot playing with the U.S. men’s World [Championship] team.

“It was an unreal opportunity for me just to go over there and be with a lot of professional players,” Augustine said. “Just taking a lot of their advice, listening to them and enjoying the moment. Being around a team like that and seeing those individuals prepare on a daily basis, it’s really cool and special.”

Continued; Augustine’s pretty much maxed out height-wise at 6’1″ and 183 pounds, but he can get faster and better in terms of his mechanics, movement and ability to look through and around screens. He’s going to become a better goalie with more time played with the Spartans, and one day, it’s entirely probable that he and Sebastian Cossa will constitute the Red Wings’ starting tandem.

Tweet of note: More Buchelnikov things

Red Wings Prospects on Twitter got up very early to watch a KHL preseason game, and Dmitri Buchelnikov delivered for his new team, Vityaz Moscow Region:

I believe that Buchelnikov has a two-year contract with Vityaz, but the more we see him doing “Buchelnikov things” in the KHL’s month-long preseason, the more I think that the Red Wings want the 20-year-old (he turns 21 on September 6th) out of Russia and over here in North America ASAP.

Right now, the Red Wings can only really communicate with Buchelnikov using their European scouts as intermediaries, and as he begins his sophomore full season in the KHL, I’m certain that the Wings’ strength and conditioning coaches, trainers and nutritionist are all champing at the bit to bring him over and make sure he’s working both on and off the ice to develop his skills and develop that 5’10,” 170-pound frame into something that can endure the bump and grind of North American hockey.

He’s got hands for sure. Anybody who’s watched Red Wings Prospects‘ various clips of Buchelnikov on Twitter knows that the kid dekes and dangles like a professional already.

The problem is that we don’t know much after that, and as the Red Wings deal with something of a conflict-driven Iron Curtain, the team can’t apply its usual hands-on approach with the young man.

Here’s hoping that he thrives in Russia this season, and then gets the hell out of there.

Maximizing goaltenders’ playing time is definitely a ‘burning question’ with training camp less than a month away

The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood asks “Three Burning Questions” ahead of training camp, and while he duly notes that the restricted free agents are probably question #1, it’s his second query that I’m most interested in:

How will the Red Wings break up their goaltending starts in camp and preseason? During the regular season, Detroit’s coaching staff will have its hands full figuring out how to divvy up its expected three-goalie rotation. During training camp, the logistics get even tougher.

The Red Wings’ goaltending needs look something like this: They need to get Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon in full game shape, giving them enough reps in training camp and the preseason to also evaluate who among them should be the starter. Detroit also needs to get Ville Husso in the mix, getting a sense of his game readiness after coming back from two major lower body injuries last season.

Then there’s Sebastian Cossa, who’s probably going to get his only minutes against NHL competition this season in his preseason ice time. If he’s the Red Wings’ goaltender of the future, potentially playing for the big club as soon as next season, then getting a sense of where he’s at coming out of this offseason is imperative. 

Don’t forget about Jack Campbell, either, as Detroit’s fourth-string NHL option expected to stick in the AHL. He’ll need reps, too. And if the Red Wings can somehow make room for all five of those goalies to get adequate reps, they would do well to try out minor league prospects Carter Gylander and Gage Alexander in preseason games, too. Easy enough? This logistical problem reads like an SAT question. If it was one, you’d be wise to circle “C” and move along.

Last preseason, Detroit maximized its eight games by splitting the first five games between six goaltenders. Cossa got one period. Jan Bednar played half a game. Michael Hutchinson completed half of two games, James Reimer and Ville Husso each played two halves Lyon got one half and two thirds. In the final three games of the preseason, Detroit gave each of Lyon, Reimer and Husso a start.

A similar prescription could work out this preseason, but putting seven goaltenders in the mix might call for slightly different math. So too might new factors such as the conditioning needs of Husso and a more progressed timeline for Cossa. Dividing goaltending starts will be a major decision for the Red Wings’ coaching staff in September.

Continued; there’s also the question as to which players might end up signing Professional Try-Outs, which is always an x-factor.

I wouldn’t rule out an NHL veteran free agent signing a PTO, but other than affording a vet the time to play his way onto a two-way contract, the most important issue facing the Wings is definitely how to get all their goaltenders playing time over the course of Detroit’s 8 exhibition games.

From Talbot to Lyon to Husso, you want your NHL’ers to get as close to a whole game in as possible, if not more playing time;

Campbell and Cossa will earn limited time just because of the roster crunch, but the Wings will want glances at their respective progressions…

And while it looks like Carter Gylander and Gage Alexander are both headed to the ECHL to work in another three-headed goalie monster with Griffins-contracted Jan Bednar, one never knows what a good half-an-exhibition game might do for their respective causes.

It’s a bit of a mess, and coach Derek Lalonde, defensive coach Bob Boughner, goaltending coach Alex Westlund, goaltending development coach Phil Osaer and Griffins goaltending coach Roope Koistinen are going to be working overtime to attempt to sort out their goalies’ playing time–and, given the roster crunch, they’re going to be doing their best to maximize practice time for a total of 8 goaltenders, a potential invite to the prospect tournament not included.

The Wings could very realistically have 3 3-headed goalie monsters, and that’s a lot of goalies to work with.

Duff discusses the Griffins’ big summertime signings

As noted yesterday night, the Grand Rapids’ signing of 6’4″ forward Carson Bantle is the third signing of a very large winger by the Griffins to an AHL contract this summer.

The Griffins have already signed 6’4,” 214-pound Gabriel Seger and 6’3,” 217-pound Hunter Johannes to AHL contracts.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses the trio of signings, as well as Detroit-signed 6’8″ winger Elmer Soderblom, as a departure from the team’s previous tendency to sign under-sized but plucky scorers like Kyle Criscuolo (5’9,” 174), Tyler Spezia (5’10”) and current Griffins forward Dominik Shine (5’11,” 181 pounds).

Add in 6’6,” 218-pound Detroit-signed winger Tim Gettinger, and you’ve suddenly got a very big set of wingers to complement the Red Wings’ mid-sized and getting-bigger set of prospects:

Since late last season, Grand Rapids has been sizing up the club’s future. North Dakota left-winger Hunter Johannes (6-foot-3, 217 pounds) was added near the end of the 2023-24 AHL campaign. Over the summer, they were picking up free agent left-winger Gabriel Seger, a 6-foot-4, 213-pound Swede who was playing college hockey at Cornell.

This trio will be joining the likes of left-winger Elmer Soderblom (6-foot-8, 246 pounds) and left-winger Tim Gettinger (6-foot-6, 218 pounds). Both Soderblom and Gettinger are showing NHL playing experience on their respective resumes.

Since all three of the newcomers were inking AHL pacts, it’s entirely possible that none of Seger, Johannes or Bantle will ever be playing for the Red Wings. Still, that doesn’t mean they won’t be capable of making an impact on Detroit’s future.

There’s an old saying that you can’t coach size. What these big wingers could prove capable of doing is forming a protection racket to be providing insurance that liberties aren’t taken with top Red Wings prospects such as Nate Danielson, Marco Kasper and Carter Mazur. They can also provide time and space for diminutive Amadeus Lombardi (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) to be at his creative best.

Continued; my sense as to the Grand Rapids Griffins’ size and strength around the Wings’ prospects was pretty simple–it was, for lack of a better word, minimal…

And while the game has gotten less nasty over the past couple of years, the AHL is still one of those leagues where you need big players riding shotgun (and you still need to carry an enforcer like 6’3,” 225-pound defenseman Chaz Reddekopp).

The Red Wings’ front office has begun to embrace the benefits of surrounding their top prospects with bigger, grittier players.

While it’s not necessarily certain that all the Griffins’ large signings will end up in Grand Rapids–there is big, heavy competition for roster spots at the AHL level, too–whether they’re in GR or Toledo, more Red Wings prospects will have a bigger, better set of insulation around them.

Tuesday summary post: on Berggren, journeymen and big GR wingers

I haven’t been doing well over the last couple of days, so you’ll have to forgive me for posting a summary of the articles which came out over the last 12-16 hours or so.

On Monday, I had a massive anxiety attack, one that my three Klonopin didn’t knock down, so I spent a good chunk of the day in bed…And Tuesday, both Aunt Annie and I fell ill, and, given that it’s quiet, I decided to spend more time in bed.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but it is August 20th, and things are only going to get busier from here, so I figured that even though I’m fundraising, sometimes you’ve got to take a couple of 12-hour breaks.

Anyway, here’s what hit the internet today:

Continue reading Tuesday summary post: on Berggren, journeymen and big GR wingers

Press release: Grand Rapids Griffins sign LW Carson Bantle to two-year AHL contract

From the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRIFFINS SIGN CARSON BANTLE TO TWO-YEAR DEAL

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Tuesday signed left wing Carson Bantle to a two-year AHL contract.

Bantle was selected with the 142nd overall pick by the Arizona Coyotes in 2020 and concluded his collegiate career last season at the University of Wisconsin, showing career-high numbers in games played (39), goals (14), points (19), penalty minutes (45), and plus-minus rating (+7). During his time as a Badger from 2021-24, the Onalaska, Wisconsin, native produced 49 points (31-18—49) in 101 games. The 22-year-old began his college career at Michigan Tech University and was dubbed the 2020-21 WCHA Preseason Player of the Year as a freshman. During the COVID-affected season, Bantle registered three points (2-1—3) and 22 penalty minutes in 19 appearances at Michigan Tech.

Prior to joining the college ranks, Bantle spent two seasons in the USHL with the Madison Capitals from 2018-20 and totaled a combined 69 points (30-39—69) and 86 penalty minutes in 111 outings. The 6-foot-5, 207-pound forward had his best USHL campaign in 2019-20 when he paced Madison with 49 points (20-29—49) in 49 games. Bantle served two seasons at Shattuck-St. Mary’s from 2016-18, competing for its U14 and U16 AAA teams. At the U14 AAA level in 2016-17, Bantle amassed 42 points (19-23—42) in 56 games before he showed 28 points (12-16—28) in 52 games in 2017-18 at the U16 AAA division. Bantle has also competed at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and the 2018 U17 Five Nations Tournament for Team USA.