ESPN’s Rachel Doerrie posted an Insider-only column which discusses her “standout prospects” from the preliminary round of the World Junior Championship, and Axel Sandin Pellikka makes her list:

Axel Sandin-Pellikka

The Swedish defenseman has been a shining light on an impressive Swedish team through the round-robin. An opening day hat trick certainly put the tournament on notice that the Swedish captain came to avenge last year’s silver medal finish.

The Detroit Red Wings first-rounder has been outstanding for Sweden, playing major minutes, averaging two points and 6.25 shots per game through the round-robin. A driving force for Sweden from the blue line, Sandin-Pellikka is leading the way for the tournament’s best defenseman award heading into the medal round, and will be a key piece if Sweden are to medal.

Not only is Sandin-Pellikka leading the tournament in points, but he’s also leading in goals and is a plus-7 through the round-robin. He’s impacting the game offensively and defensively, driving play and tilting the ice in Sweden’s favor whenever he’s on.

The smooth-skating offensive dynamo looks every bit the part of a future power-play quarterback in Detroit.

Continued (paywall); Sandin Pellikka took a hooking penalty which led to a penalty shot for the Czechs last night, so he’s going to have to “clamp down” (no pun intended) on his discipline in tomorrow’s Quarterfinal vs. Latvia (12 PM EST start on the NHL Network/TSN).

Update: FloHockey’s Chris Peters also weighed in on Sandin Pellikka’s play:

Axel Sandin-Pellikka, D, Sweden (DET)

Last year’s defenseman of the tournament looks like he wants to defend the title. The Swedish blueliner is in his third World Junior Championship and is tied for the tournament lead in scoring with eight points. He had a hat trick in Sweden’s opener against Slovakia and has poured an astonishing 25 shots on goal in this tournament. He’s Sweden’s captain and their most experienced player and has looked every bit of it. His skill, his decision-making and his ability to play at both ends has really shone in this tournament.

Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider penned a blog entry for NHL.com/de, and he shared his take on the Red Wings’ coaching change and the Wings’ first two games under Todd McLellan:

Seider’s Blog: We didn’t expect a coaching change

Detroit’s German defenseman writes exclusively about his turbulent Christmas days and his surprising personality

Moritz Seider, the German defenseman of the Detroit Red Wings, will share his views of things for this season with fans in an exclusive monthly blog on NHL.com/de.

In the December issue: new momentum needed with new coach

At Christmas I was in a new situation, because I was alone with my girlfriend for the first time in a while. We drove up north to Lake Michigan and found a nice little hotel in Bay Harbour. We comfortably spent three days off there. We had also thought about a trip to New York before, but we were happy in the end that we didn’t choose the hustle and bustle there. We were right on the lake, and everything was snowy and we had a small fireplace in the room. It was super relaxing, we could let ourselves relax a little away from hockey and recharge our batteries.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Moritz Seider shares Christmas and coaching change thoughts with NHL.com/de

NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman posted a story about Red Wings prospect Trey Augustine’s 38-save performance in Team USA’s 4-1 win over Canada last night at the World Junior Championship in Ottawa:

The victory allowed the U.S. to clinch the top spot in Group A and advance to a quarterfinal game against Switzerland on Thursday (2:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5).

“Made the timely saves the guys needed, and they obviously helped me out too,” Augustine said. “I just thought it was a good team win.”

It was a good team win because Augustine was able to move past the struggles he had in his first two games. He allowed four goals on 22 shots in a 10-4 win against Germany in the tournament opener Dec. 26, and four goals on 44 shots in a 4-3 overtime loss to Finland on Sunday.

He had allowed seven goals in four games to help the U.S. win the gold medal at the 2024 WJC.

“He was dynamic tonight,” U.S. coach David Carle said. “The one (goal) they get on him, it’s a wide open net at the end of a [penalty kill] where he’s been pretty good on it. He was lights out. Really happy for him and proud of his effort, his ability to respond from the first two games because he’s his own hardest critic. For him to bounce back like that was big time.”

Continued

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a list of the top 25 players of the 2000’s (thus far), and he includes two career-long Red Wings on his list:

7. Pavel Datsyuk: Listen, there’s only one guy on this list whose name became an adjective this century and that is the sublime Detroit Red Wings centre who could steal the puck from an opponent in the Wings zone, head up ice, then juke around a defender with a “Datsykian” maneuver to bring everybody in Joe Louis Arena out of their seats. If we could quantify the amount of times an NHLer made other guys from the world’s best league just shake their heads, Datsyuk and Connor McDavid are probably the co-winners. Datsyuk won the Selke Trophy three straight years, from 2008 through 2010, then finished third in voting for each of the next three years. He also collected four consecutive Lady Byngs from 2006 to 2009. In four seasons from 2005-06 to 2008-09, Datsyuk recorded more points (368) than everybody except Sidney Crosby (397), Alex Ovechkin (420) and Joe Thornton (421). Basically, that means he was, for an extended period, simultaneously the best defensive forward in hockey and one of the absolute best offensive players. He was a rookie on the loaded Wings team that claimed the 2002 Cup and driving force on the one that won again in 2008 and lost the 2009 final to Pittsburgh.

…

4. Nick Lidstrom: Like Brodeur, Lidstrom did not win any individual hardware in the 1990s. Then he made it rain in the 2000s. The gifted defenceman won six Norris Trophies in a seven-year period, beginning in 2001. He then claimed a seventh at age 40 in 2011 after his second-last NHL campaign. Only Bobby Orr’s eight Norris wins exceed Lidstrom’s career total. In 2002, Lidstrom became the first European to win the Conn Smythe. Six years later, after Detroit’s second championship this century, in 2008, he became the first European captain on a Cup-winning club. From 1999-2000 through his final year, 2011-12, no defenceman put up more points than Lidstrom’s 719 in the regular season and 106 in the playoffs. Only his countryman, Victor Hedman, has more playoff points from the blueline this century (117).

Continued; I’ve never seen a more-skilled player than Datsyuk, and I’ve never seen a better defenseman than Nicklas Lidstrom.

Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka spoke with Hockeynews.se about his customized hockey stick, but the video is entirely in Swedish, so…enjoy?

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a recap of the Red Wings’ 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins last night:

The Red Wings (15-18-4) have done the job offensively (eight goals for) defensively (four goals against) and by winning the special teams battle (3-1).

“I think we’re just playing a good brand of hockey,” [Alex] Lyon said. “I don’t know if it’s any one specific thing, but we just kind of got it to go in the right direction. Todd [McLellan] really stressed the start, and then after the second, he kind of challenged us again to have another good start in the third. And I think we responded both times, so we just can’t sit back too much. I think that’s the one trap that we could fall in.”

McLellan is pleased the team’s defensive performance since its 5-2 loss to Toronto on Friday.

“I think the penalty kill, although we gave one up tonight – we’re not ever going to be perfect — has certainly eliminated some of the volume of chances against at least in the nine periods that we’ve been here,” McLellan said. “We still have work to do in the D-zone. We can get wandering around and a little bit loose. But some of the back-checking principles, some of the sort-out stuff we’re starting to see happen more regularly and I think the players value that. Odds are we’ll have a day where we give it all back and we just have to start over. That’s just how it goes. Florida Panthers did that last year all the time. You’d have a good run and you give it back all at once. You got to start again. Never perfect.”

2. The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton also posted his recap…

Continue reading Morning news: two recaps, a Berggren profile and a bit about coach McLellan’s adjustment period

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

At the World Junior Championship in Ottawa, the final games of “round robin” play took place, and here’s what happened:

Jesse Kiiskinen scored a goal on 4 shots, finishing at +1 in 14:16 played as Finland defeated Latvia 4-0, setting up a playoff quarterfinal match-up with Slovakia at 5 PM EST on Thursday:

Elsewhere in Ottawa, Axel Sandin Pellikka had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots in 22:32 played as Sweden won 4-2 over Czechia, setting up a playoff quarterfinal match-up with Latvia at 12 PM EST on Thursday.

Captain Pellikka had this to say to IIHF.com’s Lukas Aykroyd, about a game in which Swedish forward Herman Traff scored 2 birthday goals:

“We played like we want to play,” said Sandin Pellikka. “We held our structure, played quick from the back end, and got some shots on net. It was a good second period.”

Finally, the Americans were out-gunned but not out-manned as goaltender Trey Augustine stopped 38 of 39 shots, and Max Plante finished even with 1 shot in 8:39 played, as Team USA beat the host Canadians by a 4-1 score. The Americans will play Switzerland in Thursday’s playoff quarterfinal at 2:30 PM EST.

Augustine spoke with NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale after earning player-of-the-game honors:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Kiiskinen 1G, Sandin Pellikka 1A, Augustine 38 saves at World Junior Championship

The Grand Rapids Griffins scored 5 consecutive goals en route to a 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Monsters on Tuesday night. Here’s the Grand Rapids Griffins’ recap:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — In their 27th Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration on Tuesday, the Grand Rapids Griffins used a four-goal first period to defeat the Cleveland Monsters 5-1 at Van Andel Arena. The four goals in the first frame by Grand Rapids tied a period-high this season.  

Four Griffins tallied two-point games, including Alex Doucet (1-1—2), Tim Gettinger (0-2—2), Antti Tuomisto (1-1—2) and Austin Watson (0-2—2). Eemil Viro collected his first goal of the year and secured the Griffins’ third power-play goal in the last two outings. Dominik Shine increased his point streak to four (3-1—4) and Elmer Soderblom earned a three-game point streak with an assist (1-2—3). Goaltender Jack Campbell manned the crease for Grand Rapids and saved 20 shots in his second win of the year (2-2-0), while sporting a .924 save percentage and a 2.02 goals-against average. 

The Griffins took an early lead when William Lagesson found paydirt with a shot atop the left circle just 3:41 into the first period. Grand Rapids quickly followed with its second goal of the frame at 5:51. A pass off the boards from Soderblom found Shine and he sniped it home with a turnaround shot. Viro tacked on to the lead, scoring on a power play with 11:52 left in the period. The Griffins capped off their four-goal frame when Tuomisto found the back of the net at 15:30. Ondrej Becher skated behind the net and dished the puck to Tuomisto on top of the right circle before he cashed in. Going back to their 5-1 win at Cleveland on Saturday, the Griffins outscored the Monsters 7-0 over the last two periods. 

The Monsters attempted to shorten the lead 10:51 into the second, but Campbell turned away the breakaway chance to keep Cleveland scoreless. With 5:03 remaining in the frame, Doucet increased the Griffins’ lead to five when his shot sailed into the net over the glove of Zach Sawchenko. 

Grand Rapids’ defense held strong in the final period, but the Monsters broke up the shutout with 1:36 remaining when Luca Del Bel Belluz scored a power-play goal. However, the Griffins still skated away with a 5-1 win. 

The Griffins also posted a photo gallery, a highlight clip and a post-game interview clip:

The Detroit Red Wings ground out a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, wrapping up 2024 with a two-game winning streak.

Now they head to Columbus on Thursday and face the mighty Winnipeg Jets on Saturday to open the New Year.

The Red Wings were able to celebrate earning coach Todd McLellan his 600th NHL coaching win, they surrendered 1-0 (Jonatan Berggren) and 2-1 (Patrick Kane) leads before J.T. Compher’s power-play marker at 14:26 of the 3rd helped the Red Wings avoid overtime, and Dylan Larkin’s first-in-16-games empty-netter sealed the win for both McLellan and Alex Lyon, who made 23 saves on the night.

On the Penguins’ side of the ice, the resurgent Pens were a bit pissed off about not taking advantage of the Wings, but coach Mike Sullivan told Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski that he was satisfied with the team’s overall game:

Continue reading Red Wings-Penguins wrap-up: Fast-starting Wings earn McLellan’s 600th win, but coach defers credit