Month: December 2024

A bit of praise for ASP ahead of the World Juniors

Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino offers a list of 3 players to watch on every team participating in the World Junior Championship, which begins on Thursday, and one Red Wings prospect (of the 4 prospects participating in the tournament) makes Cosentino’s list:

Axel Sandin-Pellikka, D
Club team: Skelleftea AIK (SHL)
NHL Draft: First round, 17th overall (2023) by Detroit Red Wings

Sandin-Pellikka has been riding a steep developmental curve since his draft year. An excellent skater with high-end offensive instincts, he should be the centrepiece of Sweden’s first power-play unit. Named the top defenceman in this event last year with a six-point performance, he should be able to perform at that level again, based on his SHL numbers this season, which have him at just under a point per game pace. Sandin-Pellikka is also a capable defender and an excellent puck mover. Fun player to watch.

Continued

Convenient forgetfulness accomplishes nothing

Daily Faceoff’s staff issues “Christmas presents” for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and I audibly said, “Bitch and moan!” when I read Hunter Crowther’s take on the Red Wings’ requirement in the “Lump of Coal” department:

Detroit Red Wings: The neuralyzer from Men in Black

Do you remember the neuralyzer? The device from the Men in Black film series that would erase the memory of anyone it was used on? If there was a way to use it to forget Steve Yzerman’s time as general manager of the Red Wings, it would do Hockeytown a lot of good. There’s another universe where Yzerman — who captained the Red Wings to three Stanley Cup championships and is one of the greatest players in hockey history — never leaves the Lightning and earns another two rings. Instead, he rejoined the Red Wings as general manager in 2019, and his ‘Yzerplan’ has yet to yield a coherent roster, much less a playoff appearance. Seventh in the Atlantic Division going into the Christmas break, the 13-16-4 Wings don’t look like they’ll break their cold snap this season. Perhaps it’s best if Yzerman, Detroit and the rest of the hockey universe just pretends this never happened. -Hunter

Boo hoo. Yzerman didn’t drive the team into the ground. Ken Holland and the horrific drafting of Tyler Wright did, and Yzerman has been slowly and methodically–arguably too slowly and too methodically–rebuilding the team after having to tear down the remnants of the late Holland regime.

It’s taken a lot longer than Wings fans have hoped to turn the team around, and Yzerman’s had more misses than hits in terms of free agents–which isn’t acceptable, of course, but is understandable–and the Red Wings’ “incoherence” has as much to do with the present players under-performing and the coaching staff not doing its job as it does with the GM’s player personnel decisions.

Blaming one person for the mess the Red Wings find themselves in is short-sighted, and bashing the so-called “Yzerplan” alone is taking the easy way out.

The Red Wings can’t simply undo what’s happened to the team and hope for the best. They’ve got to deal with the reality of their situation and adjust as necessary.

Any other suggestion is just clickbait at this point, and there is a shit ton of clickbait out there right now, in written, audio and visual forms.

Anyway, long story long, I really despise the concept of denial. When shit hits the fan, you curse, complain, and then you grab a mop and get to work. Reality is not always pleasant, but it’s usually the best thing to deal with.

Trey Augustine, from A to X

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, FloHockey’s Chris Peters posted an article which describes Team USA goaltender and Red Wings prospect Trey Augustine as the “x-factor” for the Americans’ World Junior Championship team:

At last year’s World Juniors, he made four starts and won each of them, while competing for reps with Jacob Fowler. When it came to the final two games of the tournament, Augustine got the nod and delivered exceptional performances, including 19 saves in a tight 3-2 win over Finland in the semis and 24 saves in a 6-2 win in the gold-medal game.

What is scarier for opposing teams is that Augustine is playing some of the best hockey of his career this year.

After an exceptional freshman season at Michigan State, helping the Spartans win the Big Ten tournament and reestablish itself as an elite program, Augustine has been even better as a sophomore.

In 14 games with the Spartans this season, he has won 11 games, posted two shutouts and owns a sparkling .930 save percentage. Michigan State has been among the top teams in college hockey this season and looks like a legitimate threat to compete for the national title.

Augustine has not allowed more than three goals in any game this season and has faced his fair share of shots. In the biggest games of the Spartans season so far, against Boston College and Minnesota, Augustine went 2-1-1.

He is as dialed in as we’ve seen him, which is an especially high bar to clear considering Augustine’s mental preparation and on-ice demeanor have become hallmarks of his game.

Continued; great stuff from Peters as usual.

A different kind of one-line team

Among Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen’s post-game notes is the following observation regarding the Wings’ best line of late:

As the Detroit Red Wings seem to be bottoming out, the line of Joe Veleno, Marco Kasper and Jonatan Berggren is discovering they can play well together.

The trio has Detroit’s only goal over the past two games, and the line generated three shots on goal in the 4-0 loss to St. Louis. Even with the Monday shutout, Veleno has three goals in four games. The line was not on the ice for any goals-against.

“We talk about getting out-competed a little in Montreal, those guys did not,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “Joe Veleno, Marco Kasper, Berggren, that was an excellent line. It was an excellent line with our underlying numbers, it was an excellent line with them scoring. They worked. I think Joe has done that the last couple games and I think he’s been rewarded for it with some offense.”

Continued; Kasper, Berggren and Veleno have played with confidence, poise and even physicality over the course of the past three games.

While it’s no surprise that Kasper’s led the way in terms of work ethic, Berggren’s pluck and Veleno’s physicality have surprised in a very positive way.

Red Wings accept, empathize with fans’ discontent

The Red Wings dropped a 4-0 decision to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, dropping their 3rd straight game, and, given that the Red Wings have lost 8 of their past 12 games, it was not surprising that the Wings were booed off the ice at Little Caesars Arena.

MLive’s Ansar Khan has posted a subscriber-only article which discusses Dylan Larkin, J.T. Compher and coach Derek Lalonde’s reactions to their fans’ frustration, as well as their suggestions for improving their team’s 13-17-and-4 record

“They’re frustrated, we’re frustrated,” Larkin said. “When you play at home on a big night like tonight with the holiday coming up, it’s usually a great crowd, and we didn’t give them any reason to cheer and have a good night. So, you feel it, we feel it. It’s just a disappointing effort and disappointing game for playing on home ice before a holiday.”

They’ll have a three-day Christmas break to stew over it before hosting Toronto on Friday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Detroit).

Speculation about coach Derek Lalonde’s job security is sure to increase.

“It seemed like (fans) are just as frustrated as this group,” Lalonde said. “It’s the frustration because this group’s showing (positive signs) at times. We’re not a perfect team by any means, but we’ve shown that we can play at a pretty good level, and it wasn’t enough tonight.”

…

“When you show up to play, you got to show up to play, and we just don’t have enough guys doing that right now, myself included,” Larkin said. “You got to be committed to compete, and we’re just not doing that. We’re very disconnected, the forwards from the D, wingers from centerman. It’s just all over. A lot of skating, a lot of hard work, but we’re not getting anything accomplished. And I never really think our work ethic is poor. We have a bunch of guys that work hard. It’s just we’re working hard and not accomplishing anything.”

Continued; the Free Press’s Helene St. James also posted an overnight recap of Monday night’s game which discusses the Wings’ reactions to the fans’ booing:

Continue reading Red Wings accept, empathize with fans’ discontent

Red Wings-Blues wrap-up: Booed into the holiday break, Wings still believe they can issue a positive response

The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 4-0 decision to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, wrapping up the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule with 3 consecutive losses.

Everyone who is a Red Wings partisan in any way, shape or form is feeling gloomy right now. Detroit’s won something like 3 of their last 13 games, per one Mickey Redmond, and things are bad right now. Really, really bad.

And there should be questions about the player personnel and coaching staff right now, as managed by GM SY and the management team (and ownership, honestly, at this point).

But I’m gonna go through this one like a regular recap, because that’s what we try to do here at TMR–we try to at least keep things sane when it’s all going to shit. And we’re going to let the players and coaches speak for themselves, for good or for ill.

So, let’s begin.

The Blues’ media didn’t offer a whole lot of quotes about St. Louis’ victory, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Matthew DeFranks offered this take on tonight’s affair…

Continue reading Red Wings-Blues wrap-up: Booed into the holiday break, Wings still believe they can issue a positive response

Press release: Wings assign Lagesson, Wallinder to Grand Rapids for Christmas break

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS ASSIGN WILLIAM LAGESSON AND WILLIAM WALLINDER TO GRAND RAPIDS

  … Lagesson Has Skated in 102 NHL Games with Oilers, Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Ducks and Red Wings; Wallinder Has Played in 85 AHL Games with Griffins Since 2022-23 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today assigned defensemen William Lagesson and William Wallinder to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Continue reading Press release: Wings assign Lagesson, Wallinder to Grand Rapids for Christmas break

Tweets of note: the Captain ain’t happy, either

Per DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce and Carley Johnston, and 97.1 the Ticket’s Mike Stone:

Red Wings-Blues quick take: Blues beat Wings 4-0, stretching Detroit’s losing streak to 3 games

The Detroit Red Wings hosted the St. Louis Blues to wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule on Monday night, with the Red Wings hoping to snap a two-game losing streak and a situation where the Wings had won 3 of their past 11 games. The Blues had lost 3 straight and 5 of 6, so Detroit’s opponent was in a desperate position as well.

On Monday night, Detroit just looked like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the peanut butter or jelly. From Dylan Holloway’s first goal at 16:14 of the 1st period to Holloway’s hat-trick empty-netter at 15:54 of the 3rd, the Blues out-worked, out-hit, out-skilled and generally dominated every Red Wings line that wasn’t the Veleno-Kasper-Berggren line, even the Seiders, Larkins and Raymonds had off nights, Cam Talbot was just OK, and Detroit dropped its third straight game in disappointing and deflating fashion.

The Wings will have to do some soul searching over the Christmas break, because they host Toronto, Washington and Pittsburgh on the 27th, 29th and 31st, respectively, and then head to Columbus on the 2nd and Winnipeg on the 4th of January, so the schedule affords Detroit no “off nights.”

I do not want to guess as to whether the Red Wings will have their current personnel or coaching staff at Friday’s morning skate before the Leaf game, but I would like to suggest that if Chris Kreider is sitting in New York, he’s exactly the kind of player that the Red Wings need–a tough, net-front goal-scorer.

I doubt such a trade would happen, but it’s a nice thought to take us out into the Christmas break, a very necessary 3 days off for both the Red Wings and their fan base.

Continue reading Red Wings-Blues quick take: Blues beat Wings 4-0, stretching Detroit’s losing streak to 3 games

Edvinsson placed on IR retroactive to December 18th

To make the William Wallinder recall, the Red Wings had to do this: