Month: January 2025

Moritz Seider, minute-muncher

I’ve tended to ignore the latest rounds of power rankings as they just aren’t relevant to the Red Wings’ status right now, but Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon’s latest ranking offers an item to note–Moritz Seider’s status as the Red Wings’ resident “minute-muncher”:

24. Detroit Red Wings (21-21-5): Moritz Seider has always been a big-minute guy for Detroit, but he’s jumped up to a whole other level this season, playing 25 minutes a night for the Wings. That’s basically four more minutes per game than anybody else on Detroit.

Continued; Seider’s pushed 27 or 28 minutes on occasion, and he’s done particularly well as his role has increased.

Allen: Mazur returns to Griffins

According to Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen, Red Wings prospect Carter Mazur will finally rejoin the Grand Rapids Griffins’ lineup as they battle the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg this morning:

Carter Mazur, considered one of Detroit’s better forward prospects, is expected to return to the Grand Rapids Griffins lineup tonight when they play a road game against the Manitoba Moose.

Michigan native Mazur, 22, has only played three games this season because of an upper body injury. He has missed 35 games. His last game was Oct. 18, also against Manitoba.

Coming into this season, Mazur looked like a player with a good chance to play in Detroit at some point this season. He boasts 21 regular-season goals, plus 24 assists in 69 games with the Griffins over parts of three season.

He played well last season with Marco Kasper, particularly in the playoffs with three goals and five assists for eight points in nine games. The always-scrappy Mazur also accumulated 18 penalty minutes.

Mazur netted 22 goals in 40 games for Denver in helping it win an NCAA title in 2022-23.

The only question about Mazur is whether he can stay healthy. The Red Wings like the fact the Mazur always is around the puck or the net. He has quality offensive instincts. Mazur always plays hard. Can his body hold up in the rougher NHL? He is listed at 6-foot, 188 pounds, which is below average for an NHL player.

Continued

Red Wings-Canadiens post-morning skate Tweets: Kane out, is day-to-day

The Detroit Red Wings held their morning skate ahead of tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/TSN5/RDS2/97.1 FM), and the news from the morning skate involved Cam Talbot starting opposite Samuel Montembeault in goal, and Patrick Kane being absent from the skate.

The Red Wings’ game against Montreal opens a 3-game home slate, with equally important games against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday and the Los Angeles Kings on Monday as Detroit tries to climb back into the Eastern Conference’s playoff picture…

After the morning skate, Red Wings coach Todd McLellan spoke with the media:

Continue reading Red Wings-Canadiens post-morning skate Tweets: Kane out, is day-to-day

Red Wings-Canadiens morning skate Tweets: Talbot starts vs. Montembeault; Kane absent; Petry, Motte skating

The Detroit Red Wings face a pivotal game against the Montreal Canadiens this evening (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/TSN5/RDS2/97.1 FM).

The Red Wings sit 5 points behind the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference standings, and while the Habs aren’t holding a morning skate, they may not need to do so given that they’re 7-2-and-1 over the course of their past 10 games.

The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena just before 10:30 AM for their morning skate, and MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that two injured players preceded the main group:

The team’s also going back to Cam Talbot after Alex Lyon’s two-game stint in goal:

Continue reading Red Wings-Canadiens morning skate Tweets: Talbot starts vs. Montembeault; Kane absent; Petry, Motte skating

Tryin’ to pay the bills

Aunt Annie and I are in need of your donations to pay the bills this month, and as you know by now, when I’m able, I provide good content. If you can help the cause of TMR, I would be very grateful:

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Should the Wings pursue Boeser?

Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon discusses 6 potential destinations for Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser, who may be on the trade block, and he includes the Red Wings on his list:

Detroit Red Wings: One of the league’s hottest teams of late are the Detroit Red Wings. Ever since Todd McLellan took over as head coach, the Wings have been flying and have themselves heavily back in the wild-card mix.

The key for them to get ultra-serious about the playoffs is to fix their offense. Detroit is tied with Ottawa for 23rd in the league in goals.

Boeser would be fourth in goals and fifth in points on the Red Wings right now, and adding a guy who can shoot it the way he can and have him team up with Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane would allow the Wings to roll out a pair of lines that can cause a lot of problems.

Detroit’s power play has carried them in a big way offensively, and they’ll have to get the five-on-five side of things figured out ASAP. Boeser is a great weapon on the power play, but he can get it done the rest of the time as well.

Continued; I’m interested in Boeser, but price is always the issue. I don’t know what he’d cost in compensation, and I can imagine that the Canucks might want a haul for him.

Red Wings-Canadiens game preview: it’s a consequential game tonight

The 21-21-and-5 Detroit Red Wings will play an important game against the 24-19-and-4 Montreal Canadiens this evening (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/TSN5/RDS2/97.1 FM), with the Red Wings sitting 5 points behind the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Canadiens come into tonight’s game “on a heater,” having won 2 straight, 4 of 5 and 7 of their past 10 games, while the Red Wings are on an 0-2-and-1 streak over their past 3 games.

Montreal most recently won a 3-2 decision over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday evening, and Field Level Media summarizes the state of the Canadiens thusly:

The Montreal Canadiens began to turn their season around with consecutive victories over Detroit last month. They’ll look to keep their hot streak going when they visit Detroit on Thursday night.

Montreal has a 13-3-1 record over its last 17 games with the wins over the Red Wings coming early in the streak. The Canadiens won at Detroit 4-3 on Dec. 20, then took the rematch the following night, 5-1.

The game on Thursday will be the third of four meetings between the Original Six opponents. Montreal has won its last two games following a 7-3 to Toronto. The Canadiens bounced back with a 5-4 overtime victory against the New York Islanders, then rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat Tampa Bay, 3-2, on Tuesday.

Continue reading Red Wings-Canadiens game preview: it’s a consequential game tonight

Morning news: On the ‘Bubble Team’ Wings, Raymond’s imminent milestone and Kiiskinen’s good luck charm

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

  1. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski posted an ESPN+ article which discusses the levels of playoff hope for the “NHL’s Bubble Watch” teams, and here’s what he has to say about the Red Wings, who “have work to do”:

Detroit Red Wings

Record: 21-21-5, 47 points
Playoff chances: 12.9%

GM Steve Yzerman fired head coach Derek Lalonde after three seasons and a 13-17-4 record. Enter Todd McLellan, trying to end an eight-season playoff drought in the Motor City. While nothing has shifted dramatically in their underlying numbers, the Wings went 6-3-1 in a 10-game stretch under McLellan to keep pace in the East.

To his credit, the veteran coach is doing what he can to get their attention, with post-game comments such as: “Say you’re at your desk but you’re not working, then you’re useless. It’s one thing being there, it’s the other thing getting the job done.”

Playoff quality goaltending rating: Fair. The Red Wings’ goaltending depth chart looked like an “American Idol” audition earlier this season, but Detroit has settled on Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon as their tandem. Stathletes has both netminders under water in goals saved above expected; Money Puck’s numbers indicate they’re both better than expected. One thing is clear: McLellan is very familiar with Talbot, having coached him in Edmonton and Los Angeles previously.

Continued (paywall);

2. The NHL is going to reveal its “Quarter-Century Team” for the Detroit Red Wings later today, and if this player is not on the “second team,” I would be surprised.

One Lucas Raymond is about to make some history, as the Hockey News’s Caleb Kerney notes:

Continue reading Morning news: On the ‘Bubble Team’ Wings, Raymond’s imminent milestone and Kiiskinen’s good luck charm

Duff on the Wings’ 5-on-5 scoring issues

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff follows the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan in discussing the Red Wings’ troubles scoring 5-on-5:

Detroit accounts for 30.53% of all goals while on the power play. The Red Wings are scoring just 58% of goals while 5-on-5.

Relying on the power play to carry the day so much is a recipe for disaster. Power-play units tend to run like the winter weather. They’re very up and down and can be prone to enduring lone cold spells.

Detroit was 17-for-34 (50%) while going 8-2 during Todd McLellan’s first 10 games as coach. Over the last three games, the Red Wings are 1-for-10 (10%) with the man advantage.

Even though it’s not showing through yet on a regular basis, Larkin beleives the club’s 5-on-5 game is trending in the right direction since McLellan took over as coach from Derek Lalonde late last month.

“It’s been better to be honest with you,” Larkin said. “We’ve had way more of a shot focus. Shoot it and get it back and play that way. Especially when things aren’t going our way Todd is very vocal about being direct. He says it all the time, so I think it’s been better that way. We haven’t been as much on the outside.”

Continued