Month: September 2024

Non-sequitur: Matt Vernon’s pro career is underway

Things you don’t expect to read, per the ECHL:

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Icemen, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres and the American Hockey League’s Rochester Americans, announced that the team has agreed to terms with goaltender Matt Vernon for the 2024-25 season.  

Vernon, 26, returns for a second season with the Icemen after orchestrating an outstanding rookie campaign last year. Vernon earned ECHL All-Rookie Team and All-ECHL Second Team honors after setting an Icemen team record for wins in a season with 25, while posting a 2.67 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. In addition, he was named ECHL Goaltender of the Month for February and was named ECHL Goaltender of the Week for the week of Nov. 20-26.

Prior to his professional career, Vernon played at Colorado College, totaling 19 wins, with five shutouts, a 3.02 goals-against average and .901 save percentage. The Calgary, Alberta resident also played two seasons with the North American Hockey League’s Aberdeen Wings where he compiled 57 wins, including a 40-win season with seven shutouts during the 2018-19 season.

Vernon is the son of Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Mike Vernon, who won a Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989 and with the Detroit Red Wings in 1997. 

I was unaware that Vernon’s son was trying to make a pro career work. I hope he does well!

Cossa, Augustine make Daily Faceoff’s ‘Top 25 NHL-affiliated goaltending prospects’ list

Yesterday, Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis named five Red Wings prospects to his “Top 75 NHL-affiliated skater prospects“; today, he issues a “Top 25 NHL-affiliated goaltending prospects” list, and both Sebastian Cossa and Trey Augustine crack Ellis’ list:

6. Sebastian Cossa, 21 (Detroit Red Wings)

2023-24 rank: 5th (-1)

The 2022-23 season was all about getting comfortable against pro competition – he mainly played in the ECHL with Toledo, but was one of the best goalies in the league. This past year was about taking a bigger step forward against tougher competition, and Cossa looked great with Grand Rapids. He’s set to return there for another year, where he’ll look to challenge for the AHL’s top goaltender award, and I wouldn’t bet against him. He’s huge at 6-foot-6 and moves incredibly well for his size while showing all the signs of being a future No. 1 NHL goaltender. I hope we see him get his first crack at an NHL game this year, too.

7. Trey Augustine, 19 (Detroit Red Wings)

2023-24 rank: New

Two Red Wings goalies in the top 10? You love to see it if you’re a fan of the red and white. Augustine had a near-perfect record in his draft year, capped off with a great showing at the U-18 World Championship. He then won gold at the 2024 World Junior and took home the Big Ten championship while earning tournament MVP honors. Add in a few really good appearances at the World Championship and Augustine is truly on the top of his game. He doesn’t have Cossa’s size – Augustine is just 6-foot-1 – but he’s got a winning pedigree, a great glove hand, and an outstanding foundation to build around. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up being better than Cossa.

Continued; we’ll just have to wait and see as to how Cossa and Augustine develop.

Tweet of note: Take Brogan Rafferty and Mackenzi Vazquez Out to the Ballgame

This is cute. Grand Rapids Griffins defenseman Brogan Rafferty and Grand Rapids Rise setter Mackenzi Vazquez threw out “first pitches” at a West Michigan Whitecaps game recently, and the Griffins posted a very amusing behind-the-scenes clip from the event:

Tweet of note: Red Wings hype their ‘opening week’

In the “Free Advertising” department…

Tweet of note: A bit about Sandin Pellika’s injury status from IceHockeyGifs & Norran

Of prospect-related note via Twitter:

IceHockeyGifs and Norran’s Robin Lindgren have a report on the status of Axel Sandin Pellikka, who re-aggravated a summertime injury in his last Champions Hockey League game:

Roughly translated: Raymond’s Swedish agent, Peter Werner, speaks with Hockeysverige.se

Red Wings restricted free agent Lucas Raymond is represented in the U.S. by CAA’s J.P. Barry, but in Sweden, Peter Werner works with Raymond.

Werner spoke with Hockeysverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist regarding Raymond’s situation. Here’s a rough translation of Ronnqvist’s article:

The Agent: “Hopefully it will be ready before camp”

Lucas Raymond and the Detroit Red Wings have yet to agree on a new contract. Next week, the NHL team’s training camp begins.

“We believe and hope, of course, that it will be ready before camp. That is the goal,” says Peter Werner to Hockeysverige.se.

We are writing on September 10th and still one of our strongest stars in the NHL, Lucas Raymond, has yet to sign a new contract with Detroit.

Lucas Raymond has played out his rookie contract with Detroit, and is a so-called restricted free agent. That means that Detroit still owns his rights, but they still have to agree on an extension.

The negotiations have dragged on and now there is just under a month until Detroit meets Ottawa in the season opener.

Detroit has also not agreed on a new contract with German star defender Moritz Seider. Raymond and Seider have been training together with Swedish skills coach Andreas Larsson in Germany while waiting for their new agreements, says hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin.

“That’s the goal”

Peter Werner is Lucas Raymond’s agent.

“We are in the process of negotiating, but have not quite reached the goal. We believe and hope, of course, that it will be ready before camp. That is the objective.”

“In the meantime, as he has always done, Lucas focuses on figuring out to get better.”

Lucas Raymond is currently training in Germany.

“Yes, that’s right. He has trained with (Moritz) Seider there. They are in a somewhat similar position. The same team, and none of their contracts are finished.”

“I can imagine that in terms of hockey it’s nice to be with someone who’s in a similar position.”

Is the goal for Lucas Raymond to play in Detroit next season?

“Oh yes, without a doubt, but with a reasonable agreement.”

On Monday, the hockey world (and the Red Wings’ captain) mourned the Gaudreau brothers

I don’t like reporting this, but NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti attended the Gaudreau brothers’ funeral on Monday, and so did the Red Wings’ captain:

St. Mary Magdalen’s was filled with family, friends and mourners from around the hockey world, including NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players’ Association executive director Marty Walsh. The Blue Jackets had a contingent of 60 players and staff, headed by general manager Don Waddell and coach Dean Evason.

The Flames were represented by president of hockey operations Don Maloney, general manager Craig Conroy and players Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman and Rasmus Andersson. Former Flames GM Brad Treliving (now GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs) and former Flames president of hockey operations Brian Burke (now executive director of the Professional Women’s Hockey League Players’ Association) also were attendance along with Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, who coached Johnny with Dubuque in the United States Hockey League, Philadelphia Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones and Flyers coach John Tortorella.

The mourners also included Johnny’s former Flames teammates Matthew Tkachuk (now with the Florida Panthers), Sam Bennett (Panthers), TJ Brodie (Chicago Blackhawks), Jacob Markstrom (New Jersey Devils) and Chris Tanev (Maple Leafs) and former Blue Jackets teammate Patrik Laine (Montreal Canadiens). Laine was joined by Canadiens president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton, coach Martin St. Louis, Canadiens players Cole Caufield, Cayden Primeau and Mike Matheson, Seth Jones and Connor Murphy of the Blackhawks and Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings.

“It just shows the true honor and respect that everybody gave them,” said Caufield, who announced last week he is changing his number to 13 to honor Johnny Gaudreau. “Just can’t imagine what they’re going through. Just the amount of people that are here today and yesterday, just anything we can do to help.”

Continued; the North American hockey world may consist of a couple thousand professional players in the U.S. and Canada, but it’s a tight fraternity.

At this point, all we can do is hope that the Gaudreau family knows that the entire hockey world is ready to support them when they’re ready for us to do so.

A bit of talk about Raymond and Seider

This morning, NHL Rumors’ Mark Easson quotes a Daily Faceoff podcast for a bit of talk regarding Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider:

Daily Faceoff: Frank Seravalli and Jason Gregor talking about two of the Detroit Red Wings RFAs – defenseman Moritz Seider and forward Lucas Raymond. The Edmonton Oilers are looking at Justin Schultz, and Mark Giordano still looking to play.

** NHLRumors.com transcriptions

Gregor: “What about Seider and Raymond?

Seravalli: “I wonder if the, well, so Detroit has been grinding for a while on these deals, I want, and, and Steve Yzerman is the ultimate grinder. I wonder if they’re, this (Seth) Jarvis deal being his second contract, is this, open up potential different options or things, ways to think about trying to handle these cap hits? Because Jarvis just did it, and Seider and Raymond now have something to think about.

Detroit has other business that they’d like to get to. They ultimately like to sign another defenseman and another forward. You know, closer to the league min (salary) world, but they can’t do that until they get these two deals done and know exactly what they have left over, if anything.

So I think time is of the essence, not just from a training camp perspective, 13 days from now, but also from hey, there’s other teams, other guys around the league, that are waiting for answers from players, vets that they’d like to sign that can’t, you can’t do it.

Continued; I’d be surprised if the Wings sign “another defenseman and another forward,” but that’s just me. That other forward is probably Jonatan Berggren.

Anyway, here’s the clip:

A mushy rebuild?

Let’s all be surprised that The Athletic’s Corey Pronman is not impressed with the state of the Red Wings’ rebuild. This morning, Pronman ranks the Wings 12th out of 16 non-playoff teams:

12. Detroit Red Wings

Detroit has a quality NHL team. The Red Wings were top 10 in the league in goals last season. They also have a solid farm system with some excellent high picks on the way who will be pushing for NHL time soon. So why 12th? If this was about becoming a playoff team, I could rank Detroit higher, but I’m looking at the path to winning it all, and other than Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider, I don’t see the true premium pieces in this organization to carry them the distance.

Continued (paywall); I’m not going to disagree that there’s a lack of superstar power in the Wings’ prospect brigade, but I’m pretty lost as to why Pronman discounts Lucas Raymond as merely a good foot soldier on a team that’s hopes to merely compete for a playoff spot on a regular basis.

Just as was the case with The Athletic’s Harman Dayal’s assertion that the Red Wings are destined to inhabit the NHL’s “mushy middle,” it’s going to take the Red Wings proving their critics wrong on the ice–and finding some surprise performances from their prospect pool–in order to take the next step.

More about Anton Johansson

On Monday, DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills profiled defenseman Anton Johansson, and this morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses a two-goal performance from the two-way defenseman over the course of the SHL preseason:

It’s Anton Johansson and he’s doing his utmost to also get noticed. Saturday, in Swedish Hockey League preseason action, Johansson was scoring twice, pacing his club Leksand IF to a 6-3 victory over Valerenga.

“In the second and third period, we may not reach the level we want to be at, but we still maintain a good level and win the match,” Anton Johansson told Leksand’s website. “I think we take steps every day and every match. It looks good. We are ready for next week when we will face two SHL teams.”

Fellow Leksand defenseman Fred Nilsson left no doubt as to who was the best player on the ice in the club’s Saturday victory.

“Anton (Johansson),” Nilsson said. “He still scores two goals. Anton reduces (the Leksand deficit) to 1-2 in the first period and then scores a power play goal in the middle of the second.”

Johansson, 20, certainly appreciates putting two goals in the net. However, the player chosen 105th overall by Detroit in the 2022 NHL entry draft knows what he needs to improve in order to be taking further forward steps in his game.

“I think the defensive part,” Johansson said. “I did a good job in the playoffs. I’m gonna still work on that and try to keep up my offense.”

Continued; here are Johansson’s preseason markers, per Red Wings Prospects on Twitter:

Continue reading More about Anton Johansson