Morning mishmash: Criticizing the Wings’ talent base, bashing Lidstrom and World Junior Championship previews

Good morning. I’m a bit tired and grumpy this Christmas day morning, so I’m going to post this morning’s Red Wings-related articles in digest form:

1. MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a critique of the Red Wings last night, concluding that a coaching change would not help the Wings turn around their season as much as an influx of talent might change Detroit’s equation:

Aside from Dylan Larkin, Michael Rasmussen, Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno, this team consists almost entirely of players drafted under Yzerman or acquired by him through free agency or trade.

They have fared well at the top of the draft with Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson, while Marco Kasper and prospects Sebastian Cossa, Nate Danielson, Axel Sandin Pellikka and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard offer hope.

They have yet to land an impactful player after the first round, however.

Yzerman’s trades have been a mixed bag. Picks acquired for Anthony Mantha, Filip Hronek and Tyler Bertuzzi eventually landed them Cossa, Sandin Pellikka and Alex DeBrincat, who might not return to his 40-goal form but has provided some much-needed offense.

Sending Jake Walman to San Jose to clear cap space – and needing to attach a second-round pick – has backfired. Walman has a career-high 25 points (five goals, 20 assists), tied for 12th among NHL defensemen.

The Red Wings haven’t gotten enough production from many of Yzerman’s free-agent signings – including Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher and especially Vladimir Tarasenko and Erik Gustafsson.

Whether Yzerman changes coaches midseason or after the season won’t matter until the talent level is upgraded.

The Red Wings do have mid-round picks in the prospect pool now, but few of them are NHL-ready.

2. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted an article about an article that I honestly chose to ignore:

Former NHL defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky was offering a holiday message to Detroit Red Wings legend Nicklas Lidstrom and it wasn’t Merry Christmas.

Visnovsky is of the opinion that Lidstrom stole his Norris Trophy. In an interview with the Slovak version of NHL.com, Visnovsky is insisting he should have won the award as the NHL’s best defenseman in 2010-11. That was the season in which Lidstrom was winning his seventh Norris Trophy.

During the 2010-11 campaign, Visnovsky was leading all NHL rearguards with 68 points. He would score 18 goals and finish with a plus-18 rating.

By contrast. Lidstrom would finish the season with 16-50-66 totals and a minus-two rating.

“Yes. I won it comfortably by six points over Nicklas Lidstrom, who already had six awards and was just finishing his career,” Visnovsky said. “I was +18, he was -2, but I still didn’t even make it into the top three.”

Meh. Sour grapes are sour grapes. The article was originally posted on Expressen, and I figured that it wasn’t necessary to share, but I guess we’re sharing it after all.

3. Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discusses the Red Wings’ World Junior Championship participants this morning…

One of Canada’s favorite holiday traditions is watching the World Junior Championship on television and Bob McKenzie’s take on the WJC is always a respected element of that coverage.

On TSN’s World Juniors Preview show,  McKenzie spotlighted four players to watch at this year’s event, and two of those players are Red Wings draft picks.

Merry Christmas, Red Wings fans! That’s probably a gift this fan base needs, given how poorly the Detroit team is performing.

USA goalie Trey Augustine (No. 41, 2023), and Swedish defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka (No. 17, 2023) are Red Wings draft picks, joining Washington Capitals pick Ryan Leonard (No. 8, 2023) and San Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Halttunnen (No. 23, 2023). Leonard is expected to be a top American scorer, and Halttunnen is a Finland impact forward.

#WorldJuniors Preview Show – @TSNBobMcKenzie spotlights four players to watch for at the World Juniors: https://t.co/RsUf4WHUR5 pic.twitter.com/2EV102xkcF

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) December 25, 2024

4. And we head back to MLive, where Khan discusses the Wings’ four World Junior Championship participants:

Max Plante, USA: The Red Wings described this left wing as a competitive playmaker with good hockey sense after selecting him 47th overall in the second round of the 2024 draft. Plante, 18, was a late addition to Team USA after being limited to five games (two goals, four assists) in his freshman season at Minnesota-Duluth due to a hand injury.

Plante (5-11, 180) played two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program, where he collected 11 goals and 53 points in 57 games.

…

Jesse Kiiskinen, Finland: A 19-year-old right wing who’s having a strong season for HPK in SM-liiga, with eight goals and 22 points in 26 games, the most points for any player under 20 in Finland’s top men’s league. He’s an alternate captain for the World Junior squad.

McKeen’s Hockey described Kiiskinen (6-0, 192) as a skilled forward with strong offensive instincts and creativity: “His vision and puck-handling ability enable him to generate scoring opportunities and make plays in tight spaces. While his defensive game and consistency need refinement.”

The Red Wings acquired Kiiskinen and a second-round pick (No. 53) from Nashville for defense prospect Andrew Gibson. They needed the pick as a sweetener so San Jose would take Jake Walman.