Month: September 2024

Prospect round-up: ASP misses Skelleftea’s CHL loss vs. Sheffield; Forslund moves up to Mora’s 2nd line

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the Champions Hockey League, neither Michael Brandsegg-Nygard nor Axel Sandin Pellikka (injury) took part in Skelleftea AIK’s 3-2 loss to the Sheffield Steelers;

And in the Swedish J20 league, Charlie Forslund played on the second line, a promotion from the fourth line, but he registered no points in Mora IK’s 4-1 win over Almtuna.

Tweets of note: Compliments and Walleye baby news

Of Red Wings and Toledo Walleye-related note today:

  1. Let the compliments flow!

2. Congratulations to Brandon Hawkins and family!

Reminder: Detroit plays Dallas in the second Prospect Games affair at 2:30 PM EDT

Per the Red Wings on Twitter:

The game will only stream on DetroitRedWings.com and the Wings’ app. No YouTube or Facebook today.

Tweet of note: the Plymouth gang

Per WXYZ’s Brad Galli:

Jakub Rychlovsky nailed the ‘first impression’

Red Wings free agent signing Jakub Rychlovsky scored a pretty rebound goal in the Wings prospects’ 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars yesterday…

And this morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff takes note of Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson’s remarks regarding a player he’s likely to be coaching in West Michigan this fall:

“Yeah, I love his skill,” said Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson, who was handling the Detroit bench. “I love his energy.”

In fact, there really wasn’t an uneventful Rychlovsky shift during the game. The puck just seems to find this guy and then he makes something positive happen once in possession of it. Rychlovsky was skating on left wing on the top line alongside first-round picks Nate Danielson (2023) and Brandsegg-Nygard (2024).

Rychlovsky, 23, was the leading goal scorer in Czech Extraliga last with with 26 tallies for Liberec. The Red Wings knew they were acquiring a guy who could put the biscuit in the basket when they were signing him as a free agent.

What they are discovering in this rookie camp is that his package contains so much more in terms of ingredients.

“One thing that probably went a little unnoticed that we saw is that compete level playing through bodies,” Watson said. “He’s not scared of the physicality. He got through hands. He stole a lot of pucks and he created a lot of turnovers for us.

“You can see he’s got that hunting mentality. He wants the puck, he’s willing to go and get it back. He’s not scared of that work and that compete level. So I liked his game a lot and I’m looking forward to see his development here again.”

Continued; it was just one game of the Red Wings’ two-game Prospect Games slate, so it’s hard to declare Rychlovsky the second coming of the Great European Free Agent Signing just yet…

But first impressions matter, and Rychlovsky appears to have both the scoring skills and a surprising level of North American-level “compete” in him as well.

HSJ in the morning: examining the state of the Wings’ defense

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses a main topic for the Red Wings heading into training camp–regardless of whether Jonatan Berggren, Lucas Raymond or Moritz Seider attend this upcoming weekend’s four-day slate of practices and a Red vs. White Game in Traverse City:

Teams generally carry seven defensemen, leaving one in reserve. Last year the Wings barely needed that one: [Moritz] Seider and Shayne Gostisbehere (who left in the summer for the Carolina Hurricanes) each topped 80 games while [Ben] Chiarot, [Jeff] Petry and [Olli] Määttä topped 70. Only Jake Walman (since traded to the San Jose Sharks) had injuries that left him at 63 games. [Justin] Holl, not favored by the coaching staff, appeared in 38 games, and [Simon] Edvinsson spent most of the season in the minors, appearing in 16 NHL games.

Chiarot has paired with Seider on and off the past two seasons, and projects to do so again. [Erik] Gustafsson, a veteran of seven teams with 455 games on his résumé, is likely to get a look on the second pairing. If the Wings wanted a right-handed shot with the left-shooting Swede, the options are Holl or Petry.

Holl will be interesting to watch. Yzerman can’t have anticipated that Holl, signed last summer to a three-year deal worth $3.4 million annually, would spend the majority of the season as a healthy scratch. Higher-ups in the organization weren’t happy about it. While Holl has deficiencies, the 32-year-old plays to his 6-foot-3 frame and posted a respectable plus-8 rating last season. Petry has played in 937 games, but he’ll be 37 in December and isn’t the player he was in his prime.

Määttä, 30, is as serviceable as they come — just goes and plays a consistently simple game, night after night.

Edvinsson is a rangy 6-6 left-handed shot who down the road may develop into partnering with Seider. For now, expectations need to be held in check for a 21-year-old with 25 NHL games under his belt, and starting Edvinsson in the third pairing makes sense, depending how he fares during the preseason.

So where does that leave Johansson? With a great deal to accomplish during exhibition season, when he’ll get plenty of looks in many situations.

Continued (paywall); as far as anyone can tell, the Red Wings will carry eight defensemen, Johansson included, and it’s hard to imagine that Johansson will battle his way past the Red Wings’ current logjam of veteran defensemen out of training camp…

But injuries always strike, and if the Red Wings afford Johansson the chance to “steal a job” on the blueline, he may very well do just that.

Two things: Quotes and observations

Of Red Wings-related note after Detroit’s prospects 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars at the Prospect Games on Saturday:

  1. DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills offered a series of quotes from coach Dan Watson regarding his charges’ performances:

Watson on Brandsegg-Nygard’s passing skills and overall game: “It’s a double threat. He can shoot it and make plays. He made a couple of nice seam plays over to (Nate) Danielson on the power play and couple of nice slip passes on breakouts to support coming through. He’s a smart player who can make those plays. He’s got a good, all-around game and isn’t afraid to use his body.”

Watson on what he hopes to see from Danielson this weekend: “With Nate, a leadership role No. 1. He’s been in this tournament before, so he’s done a really good job so far of keeping the guys in check off the ice.”

Watson on Doucet: “Tonight was a good first impression. Again, what he put in the summertime I think he’s in better shape. We know he can score and know he’s got that energy. Now it’s being consistent with it, and we saw that consistency.”

Watson on Rychlovsky: “I love his skill and his energy. One thing that probably went a little unnoticed was that compete level, playing through bodies. He’s not scared of the physicality.”

2. And the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood made a half-dozen observations, and his fifth one focuses on Rychlovsky:

Rychlovsky Flaunts Deceptive Playmaking, Competitive Drive

The Dallas defense took its eyes off Rychlovsky for less than a second midway through the first period, but that’s all the time he needed. Setting himself up in open ice to the left of Dallas’ goal, Rychlovsky received the puck and stickhandled right up to the net, lacing right through the opponents in front of him. The only thing that stopped him from scoring was a misplaced shot, but the overall effort and vision that went into the goal was downright impressive.

Rychlovksy’s playmaking stood out, but so did his competitive drive. He used his body to make life difficult for the Stars’ prospects, and he put himself right into the mix during puck battles.

“You can see he’s got that hunting mentality,” Watson said. “He wants the puck. He’s willing to go and get it back. He’s not scared of that work and that compete level.”

Much like Brandsegg-Nygard, Rychlovsky is still adjusting to smaller ice. His rebound goal on the power play was a great reward for the way he played all game, and he could be a really intriguing player this season.

Brandsegg-Nygard’s got a ‘long bomb’

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reports that Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson was suitably impressed by Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s North American debut, in which he posted an assist in the Red Wings prospects’ 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars:

“He’s a big body, plays heavy,” Red Wings coach Dan Watson said.

Brandsegg-Nygard, who played for his native Norway in last spring at the World Championships, has more poise than you would expect for a teenager. He has no panic in his approach.

“I thought he had a good game,” Red Wings coach Dan Watson said. “I thought he madeon some really smart plays, especially that one in a third. Good patience coming out of our zone. Made a cross ice pass tape to tape to someone in stride. He’s physical in the right spots.”

Watson had a instant recommendation for Brandsegg-Nygard, based on the idea that he needs to take advantage of his best skill.

“One thing I’d like to see him do is get open, try to get some more opportunities to shoot the puck,” Watson said. “He has an absolute bomb and we have to do a good job or a better job of trying to find him some more opportunities to shoot that puck.”

It’s hard not to notice that Brandsegg-Nygard can be a long-range bomber.

“The first thing that pops in that shot,” teammate Amadeus Lombardi said, “especially off the left side, his one-timer side.”

Continued

Prospect Games ‘player takes’: Red Wings take Game 1 by a 5-1 tally

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects took a 5-1 decision from the Dallas Stars in the opening game of the teams’ two-game Prospect Games at Centre ICE Arena in Traverse City.

The Red Wings’ prospects rallied from a 1-0 3rd period deficit thanks to goals from Charlie Paquette and Gabriel Seger 2 minutes and 8 seconds apart, early in the 3rd; Jakub Rychlovsky slithered a slick pass from Shai Buium home for a power play marker at 7:20 of the 3rd; Alexandre Doucet chipped in an Amadeus Lombardi pass at 14:46, and Lombardi found Doucet again for an empty-netter at 16:14.

Goaltender Carter Gylander was challenged more over the first 20 minutes than the final 40, but his 17-save performance was a stout one, and the Wings peppered Benjamin Kraws with 37 shots.

The teams will square off again tomorrow at 2:30 PM EDT; the game will be streamed on DetroitRedWings.com and only DetroitRedWings.com.

Continue reading Prospect Games ‘player takes’: Red Wings take Game 1 by a 5-1 tally