Month: January 2025

The Associated Press has posted a preview of Tuesday’s Red Wings-Senators game:

BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Red Wings are looking to extend a four-game win streak with a victory against the Ottawa Senators.

Detroit has a 17-18-4 record overall and a 3-7-1 record in Atlantic Division play. The Red Wings have a 3-6-2 record in games their opponents serve fewer penalty minutes.

Ottawa has a 5-2-0 record in Atlantic Division games and a 19-17-2 record overall. The Senators have gone 9-4-1 in games decided by a goal.

The teams meet Tuesday for the second time this season. The Senators won 2-1 in the last matchup. Joshua Norris led the Senators with two goals.

TOP PERFORMERS: Alex DeBrincat has 17 goals and 15 assists for the Red Wings. Patrick Kane has five goals and six assists over the past 10 games.

Tim Stutzle has 12 goals and 28 assists for the Senators. Shane Pinto has scored five goals with two assists over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Red Wings: 6-4-0, averaging 3.3 goals, 5.6 assists, 2.5 penalties and 5.2 penalty minutes while giving up 3.3 goals per game.

Senators: 6-4-0, averaging 2.5 goals, 3.8 assists, 3.2 penalties and 7.5 penalty minutes while giving up 2.4 goals per game.

The Athletic’s Chris Johnston posted a mailbag feature this morning, and Johnston makes what I know some of you think is a controversial suggestion:

Who comes to mind (beyond Alex Mogilny) as someone who should be in the Hall of Fame? — Mike C.

Beyond Mogilny, who absolutely, unequivocally should already be in the Hall, the guy that stands out to me is Henrik Zetterberg. At first glance, his counting stats probably won’t wow you, but adjusted for era he was basically an 80-point player across his career who gained entry to the Triple Gold Club and won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2008. Those are pretty strong credentials.

Continued; I know that some of you feel that Zetterberg is more a “Hall of Very Good” player, but I’m going to stick to my guns and suggest that he’s a Hall-of-Famer in the making. We’ll see what the next couple of years bring.

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the “nuts and bolts” behind the Red Wings‘ mid-season renaissance this morning:

The Detroit Red Wings’ power play has reached a higher level, and they’re no longer being outshot on a nightly basis.

Todd McLellan has tapped into the team’s offensive ability. That’s one reason the Red Wings are riding a season-long four-game winning streak and are 4-1-0 under their new coach.

“It’s not about me,” McLellan told FanDuel Sports Network following Saturday’s 4-2 win at league-leading Winnipeg. “We have jobs to do as a coaching staff and that’s to provide guidance and hold players accountable. And then we get out of the way. They play hockey. I tip my hat to the players for wanting to get better.”

The Red Wings are 8 for 16 on the power play in the past five games and suddenly rank third in the NHL (26.3 percent). They have not been outshot during that span, after being outshot in 24 of their first 34 games.

“We’re getting higher shot volume and just realizing what that creates,” Lucas Raymond told FanDuel. “Loose pucks off shots and getting the D and forwards to turn, I think that creates a lot. And to retrieve pucks and get it to the net.”

Said McLellan: “Obviously, you got to play percentages a little bit in the league and when you look at save percentage, one out of every 10 goes in, so when you’re giving up 40 (shots) a night you’re not giving yourselves a true opportunity to win.”

Continued (paywall)

Of Red Wings prospect-related note on Sunday:

In the KHL, Dmitri Buchelnikov had an assist and 3 shots on goal in 16:19 of ice time as Vityaz Moscow Region lost 5-2 to SKA St. Petersburg:

Dimitri Buchelnikov(2nd round’22)
1 Assist 3 SOG 16:19 TOI in a 5-2 Loss

SKA the far more talented team dominated most of the game. Buch had two really good scoring chances you can see below but it wasn’t his day. I thought he created quite a bit of offense. #LGRW #BuchSZN pic.twitter.com/Ln6YQwhZRv

— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) January 5, 2025

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Liam Dower Nilsson had a goal and an assist, finishing at +2 with 3 shots in 17:16 played as IF Bjorkloven won 4-2 over Ostersunds IK. Maximilian Kilpinen finished at -2 in 13:01 played for Ostersunds;

In the Swedish J20 league, Charlie Forslund was held off the scoresheet in Mora IK’s 5-2 win over HV71;

In the QMJHL, Rudy Guimond stopped 24 of 25 shots in the Moncton Wildcats’ 5-1 win over Halifax;

In the WHL, Emmitt Finnie had 2 assists, finishing at -1 with 2 shots and an 11-for-25 faceoff record in the Kamloops Blazers’ 5-2 loss to Spokane;

In the ECHL, Jan Bednar pitched a 28-save shutout as the Toledo Walleye won 3-0 over the Kalamazoo K-Wings;

In NCAA Hockey, Brennan Ali finished at -1 with 2 shots in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s 3-0 loss to Penn State;

And Kienan Draper finished even with 1 shot and an 8-and-6 faceoff record as the University of Michigan Wolverines won 3-2 in overtime over Ohio State.

At the World Junior Championship in Ottawa, Ontario:

Red Wings prospect Trey Augustine stopped 21 of 24 shots, and Max Plante had an assist, finishing at +1 with 1 shot in 10:45 played as Team USA won 4-3 in overtime over Finland to capture the gold medal. Augustine didn’t dominate, but he didn’t have to be anything other than really steady.

Jesse Kiiskinen scored a goal on 3 shots in 17:10 played, finishing even, and the Finns nearly won thanks to the remarkable 40-save performance of Petteri Rimpinen.

All Trey Augustine does at the #WorldJuniors is win.

He talked with @MikeKellyNHL following @usahockey's second consecutive gold medal! pic.twitter.com/JflM52iNBV

— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) January 6, 2025

Continue reading Augustine, Plante’s Americans take gold at the World Junior Championship; Sandin Pellikka’s Swedes lose bronze to Czechia in a shootout

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan focuses on three areas in which the Red Wings have improved over the course of Todd McLellan’s tenure with the team, from the crease on out…

You got the sense during the losing streak heading to the coaching change that the goaltending was teetering a bit. Both Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon were returning from injuries, and they looked rusty. They were facing a high volume of shots nightly, and the defense in front of them was leaky.

It all added up to difficult assignments in keeping the Wings close in games.

But the Wings have been a better team defensively under McLellan, they’ve reduced the shot volume dramatically, and Lyon and Talbot are back to grinding victories. Lyon’s victory on Saturday, over Winnipeg star Connor Hellebuyck (Commerce Township), was Lyon’s sixth win in his last seven decisions.

“If you look at save percentage, one (shot) out of every 10 goes in,” McLellan said. “When you’re giving up 40 (shots) a night, you’re not giving yourselves a true opportunity to win. We’ve asked the players to check a little harder, to close quicker, block more shots and play more calm when they’re in a panic mode — and they’ve done a good job.

“Alex, he’s done a real good job of managing the games. Getting us a whistle when we needed to, and slowing it down when we needed to. That’s real important, too.”

2. And Detroit Hockey Now’s Max Smith praises the Wings’ revamped defensive corps in “Two Truths and a Lie“:

Continue reading Afternoon news: Praise for the Wings’ goaltending and defensive corps

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton discusses the Red Wings’ 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets in his traditional morning-after-the-game notebook, and I completely agree with Sam regarding Moritz Seider’s play of late, especially in end-of-game situations:

I’m not sure there’s been any aspect of Detroit’s game I’ve enjoyed watching lately more than Moritz Seider‘s play in five-on-six situations.  The intensity with which he defended Alex Ovechkin to help close out McLellan’s first win with the Red Wings against the Capitals was mesmerizing.  

There’s not a moment in any game where Seider shows compunction about sacrificing his body in the name of team defense, but that dynamic is even more pronounced in end-of-game five-on-six scrambles.  Tying up sticks and asserting body position in front of the net, throwing a hit to knock the puck loose and get a clear, absorbing a hit to bleed away seconds along the way—Seider has become a weapon for Detroit to kill games.

Last night, it was Seider eliminating the threat of a loose puck just beyond the crease that won back possession for the Red Wings, eventually setting up Larkin’s empty-net goal that iced the game.   It’s a small part of Seider’s overall play, but it’s an area where games are quite literally won and lost and one where he has continued to add major value for his team.

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discusses the importance of the Red Wings’ four-game winning streak as restarting the team’s chase of a playoff spot:

Let’s make sure we’re clear: What the below .500 Red Wings have accomplished with their four-game winning streak doesn’t compare with the opportunity the Lions have today facing the Minnesota Vikings.

But the four wins under new coach Todd McLellan has set up a meaningful game against the Ottawa Senators at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday that didn’t seem possible on Dec. 25.

Merry Christmas Red Wings fans. Detroit is now two points behind the Ottawa Senators for the final wildcard spot. Before Derek Lalonde was fired and McLellan took over, fans were starting to look at who the Red Wings could draft with a top five pick.

The Red Wings are far from an elite team — and this modest winning streak could be followed by a losing skid. But Detroit’s hockey team has at least been entertaining for the past 10 days. Anyone who watched Detroit’s over Winnipeg probably has some hope.

Continued;

I’m going to be honest here, again: I don’t care whether the Red Wings make the playoff cut this season. At this point, the Wings would have to rattle off multiple winning streaks to perhaps earn nearly 2/3rds of the available points to wade into the muck that is the Eastern Conference standings and come out on top.

To me, this season is about Todd McLellan salvaging the Wings’ pride and ability to play meaningful, competitive hockey games. After the “new coach bump” wears off and the Wings begin to flatten out in terms of their play, I want to see them continue to work on mastering McLellan’s systems of play and re-master learning how to win on a consistent basis.

If that results in a battle for a playoff spot late in the regular season, that’s wonderful; if it doesn’t, that’s okay, too, because this season is now a learning process for each and every one of the Red Wings’ players.

Playoff relevance is a bonus right now. That kind of stuff will take care of itself if the Wings really buy in to McLellan’s lessons for the team.

Daily Faceoff translated an article in which Hockeysverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist spoke with Red Wings VP of hockey operations Nicklas Lidstrom regarding the progress made by Wings prospect and Leksands IF defenseman Anton Johansson:

Anton Johansson debuted in the SHL for Leksand during the 2021-22 season. In the summer of 2022, he was also drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round, 105th overall. Since then, he’s come a long way. Last season, he competed for Sweden in the World Juniors and left Gothenburg with a silver medal around his neck. This year, he’s taking a bigger role in the SHL and has seen his ice-time and responsibilities increase.

Although the Red Wings already have a lot of Swedish defensemen in their system, chances are there will be one more next year.

Legendary defenseman Nicklas Lidström is one of the people in the Red Wings organization keeping tabs of how the 20-year-old defenseman is progressing. He’s impressed with Johansson’s development.

“Anton has become more stable in his play,” Lidstrom said. “That comes with more experience and with the confidence from getting to play a bit more. I also think he’s very good with the puck, mobile, and good at getting his shots through, which we saw recently when he scored with a wrist shot.

“He’s also become more solid in his own zone, goes hard into the corners and tries to be physical. He’s progressing all the time and has a strong development curve.”

Through his first 24 games this season, Anton Johansson had scored three goals and added two helpers. Not a massive output, but the overall impression is that he’s slowly growing into his 6’4″ frame, and that his play is maturing along with that.

Continued

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond spoke with Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman after last night’s 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Here’s a rough translation of what Raymond had to say:

Detroit takes its fourth straight: “A good flow”

New York. The Detroit Red Wings are suddenly one of the NHL’s hottest teams. They earned their fourth straight win last night–by beating the league-leading Winnipeg Jets on an away game.

“We’ve entered a good flow,” scorer Lucas Raymond told Sportbladet after the 4-2 triumph.

Talk about the replacement in Detroit ten days ago.

The Red Wings lost their first game under Todd McLellan, but then they have just won and won–and thus crowned their resurrection with a scorching 4-2 victory over the top-of-the-standings Winnipeg Jets at the Canada Life Centre overnight.

“Yes, it was an important victory for us against one of the league’s best teams,” Lucas Raymond says as we reach him after the final whistle.

“We have come into a good flow as a team, and play good hockey that lasts for longer periods of time.”

Continue reading Roughly translated: Lucas Raymond weighs in on the Red Wings’ winning streak