Month: January 2025

A New Year’s Resolution for the Wings

I’ve tried to NOT pay attention to power rankings of late, because Wing-bashing is rampant around the internet at present, but we’ll make an exception for Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon, who offers this “New Year’s Resolution” for the Red Wings:

27. Detroit Red Wings (15-18-4) Figure out a way to play the smothering, two-way game the Wings used to feature when new coach Todd McLellan was an assistant in Detroit for three years coming out of the 2004-05 lockout. Granted, that’ll be a tough assignment with no Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg around.

Continued; in all honesty, the Red Wings are going to have to learn McLellan’s system to some extent–though he’s going to have to adapt it to the Wings’ roster, too.

He’s not a Babcock clone, however, so there’s a bit more offensive flow to the McLellan-Yawney regime systems, as we’ve seen thus far. It’s not going to be trap-trap-trap all the time.

Allen offers five facts about the Griffins

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen offers five facts of note regarding the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins:

1. Defenseman Antti Tuomisto: Don’t sleep on this Red Wings’ 6-foot-5 defenseman. He leads all Grand Rapids defensemen with 14 points, and he has 10 of those points in the last 11 games. He has taken a significant step in his development under coach Dan Watson.

2. Three Goalies in GR: Sebastian Cossa hasn’t played since Dec. 22. Ville Husso and Jack Campbell have been in the net for the last two wins against Cleveland. Cossa has played 58% (18 of 31).

The San Diego native ranks sixth in the AHL in minutes played (1,063:16), tied for seventh in games played (18), 10th in GAA (2.31), tied for fifth in wins (10), and ninth in save percentage (.919)

3. Soderblom Heating Up? The Red Wings would like more from the 6-foot-8 forward, and he currently owns a three-game points streak with a goal, two assists, eight shots on goal, a fighting major, nine penalty minutes and a plus-3 plus-minus.

Continued

Video: Chiarot, Seider and coach McLellan speak before Detroit faces Columbus

The Detroit Red Wings face the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight at Nationwide Arena (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/FanDuel SportsNet Columbus/97.1 FM), and the Red Wings will start Cam Talbot opposite Elvis Merzlikins in goal tonight, with the Blue Jackets going with an 11-forwards-and-7-defensemen lineup.

After the Wings’ morning skate, defensemen Ben Chiarot and Moritz Seider, as well as coach Todd McLellan, spoke with the media:

A bit of praise for the Griffins

The Grand Rapids Griffins earn praise from SI’s Jacob Punturi today, with Punturi discussing the successes of the Griffins and the Calgary Wranglers:

Grand Rapids Griffins: The Griffins are another top team yet again in the AHL. The leader of the Central Division, they have a 19-9-3 record. It’s a well balanced group, filled with veteran AHL’ers as well as some of the top young players in the Red Wings organization.

The bedrock of the Griffins this season is goaltender Sebastian Cossa. The 2021 first-round pick has been plying his trade in Grand Rapids waiting for a full-time chance with Detroit. Coming off a 40-start season last year, he’s stepped up his game again in his second full professional season. He has a record of 10-5-3 with a 2.31 goals against average and a save percentage of .919%.

The top of their scoring leaders is riddled with veteran professional players like Austin Watson, Joe Snively, and Dominik Shine. It’s significantly helped players like Nate Danielson find their way in the AHL.

Danielson is a player the Red Wings have extremely high hopes for, and he’s working through his first professional season in Grand Rapids. Through 31 games, he has three goals, but also has 16 assists for 19 points. The 20-year-old center is leading the team’s rookies in scoring, and he’s improving every week as the season progresses.

Red Wings-Blue Jackets morning skate Tweets: Talbot vs. Merzlikins in goal; Blue Jackets to go 11-and-7

The Detroit Red Wings face the Columbus Blue Jackets this evening (7 PM EST on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/FanDuel SportsNet Columbus/97.1 FM), and the Blue Jackets kicked off their morning skate at 10 AM:

The Hockey News’s Jason Newland posted the Blue Jackets’ lines:

Continue reading Red Wings-Blue Jackets morning skate Tweets: Talbot vs. Merzlikins in goal; Blue Jackets to go 11-and-7

A bit about Joe Veleno, first line forward

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton wrote a brief article about Joe Veleno’s status as skating on the Red Wings’ top line alongside Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond:

When asked after the Red Wings’ Sunday win over the Capitals what Veleno needs to provide offensively to remain on that line, McLellan said he would need more time to determine that, explaining, “I can’t fairly answer that question right now. I don’t know Joe well enough yet. I don’t know what’s in his toolbox. He seems to be a real honest player, he seems to have some pace to his game and some skill. His ability right now to go all over the lineup—down, up, penalty kill, hasn’t had any power play time—sometimes lines need balance too. And maybe he can provide that.”

When asked Monday about the same topic, Veleno himself spoke to the importance of keeping up his present form and habits.  “I think just continue what I’ve been doing: Using my speed, forechecking well, having good sticks on the forecheck, protect the puck down low, and obviously retrieve pucks for those guys,” the Quebecois forward said.  “They like to make plays, and they’re gonna find each other, but just try to be at the right spot, go to the net, use my speed, and try to complement those guys.”

He continued by saying that success for him would be “retrieving pucks, being hard on the forecheck, winning battles, and obviously I think plays will start to open up.  I think we’ve got a lot of speed on that line,…so could be dangerous.”

Tweet of note: It’s Quarterfinals day at the World Junior Championship

From TSN (and every game will air on the NHL Network in the U.S.):