Month: February 2025

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the Red Wings’ goaltending in terms of earning victories in the “race to three goals” over the course of Detroit’s 6-game winning streak:

“I’ve said it probably for the last six games — you don’t go on a winning streak without outstanding goaltending,” [Red Wings coach Todd] McLellan told FanDuel Sports Network after a 3-2 overtime victory at Vancouver Sunday. “We’ve been lucky enough to get it from two goaltenders, which is a real good thing.”

Cam Talbot is 9-1-0 in his past 10 starts, posting a 2.46 goals-against average and .915 save percentage. Alex Lyon is 5-1-1 over his past nine appearances, with a 2.03 GAA and .926 save percentage.

“In my opinion, you need to have two (good goalies) in the NHL to win,” McLellan told media after a 3-1 win at Calgary Saturday. “You can’t just ride one guy anymore. The game is too intense. There’s volume shooting, so the numbers are going up in the 30s and 40s. The travel, as you can see what we’re going through, is too hard on a single goaltender.

“To have both of them playing the way they are is a good sign but often that’s a reflection of the group around them, too, doing some of the things they need to, whether they’re sacrificing around the net or blocked shots or whatever it might be. It’s usually a group effort. Every now and then the goalie just completely steals you one, but I like the way the group is committing to each other.”

Continued

Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco suggests that the Red Wings should “become buyers” as far as trade acquisitions are concerned:

Detroit’s offense has improved quite a bit under McLellan, so I look at the defense as a point of concern. Especially in light of the Jeff Petry injury, the Red Wings could use some help on the back end; an addition back there may help contribute to the offense, as well. Aside from Simon Edvinsson (20) and Moritz Seider (32), no Detroit defenseman has reached the 20 point plateau this season.

As Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin wrote about a few weeks back, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen could make sense for the Red Wings. The 30 year old does have two years remaining on his contract at an AAV of $5.1 million, so the Red Wings would have to be prepared to absorb a non-rental; I also have no indication that the Flyers would entertain retaining salary on Ristolainen, either. Ristolainen isn’t exactly an offensive dynamo – though he has gotten power play time as of late – so I’m not sure if he is exactly what the Red Wings need, but his uptick in defensive play would help them on that end of the ice. His recent injury will also surely play a factor.

Up front, the proof is in the pudding: the Red Wings need an offensive jolt. Beyond Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, Patrick Kane and Lucas Raymond, there are no Detroit forwards who are on pace to crack 40 points. In a league that is as offensive as ever, that is something that absolutely needs to be addressed if Yzerman hopes his group can be competitive in the playoff race until the end of the regular season. The power play has drastically improved since McLellan arrived, but the 5-on-5 scoring needs work.

I do think an addition down the middle of the ice would be optimal for the Red Wings. Larkin aside, there is not a lot of offense coming from that area of the ice. Problem is, most of the league is looking for a center help, and most of the pickings are slim.

Does Brock Nelson make sense? Perhaps, but as a rental and the top trade target on Frank Seravalli’s board, I don’t think he fits the portfolio for what the Red Wings are looking for. Buffalo Sabres pivot Dylan Cozens would make a lot of sense with significant term left on his deal, but it still sounds like GM Kevyn Adams is reluctant to move on from the workhorse from Whitehorse. 

The next few weeks will determine if the Red Wings can keep pace in the ever crowded Eastern Conference playoff race, but Yzerman would be best served looking to bring in reinforcements should he actually have playoff aspirations for his group.

Continued; meh. The Red Wings aren’t going to spend assets for rental players, and teams like the Flyers and Islanders are still within Wild Card rival territory, so I don’t see them doing business with the Red Wings unless Detroit is willing to add a premium prospect to the mix.

I hope that Yzerman is conservative as we head toward March 7th.

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The 27-23-and-5 Detroit Red Wings will attempt to earn their 7th straight win when they face the 23-28-and-3 Seattle Kraken this evening (10 PM EDT on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/KHN/KONG/97.1 FM).

Seattle sits 10 points behind the Calgary Flames for the 2nd Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, and they’ve lost 3 of their past 4 games and 4 of 6, including a 3-2 loss to the aforementioned Flames on Sunday night.

SeattleKraken.com’s Bob Condor reports that the Kraken believe that they can build upon the their play over the second half of Sunday’s game against Calgary.

Condor also hints at a pair of goal reviews which helped determine the course of Sunday’s game:

Continue reading Red Wings-Kraken preview: Seattle hopes to rebound from loss(es) while Detroit aims for 7th straight win

Bleacher Report’s Lyle Richardson suggests that 5 NHL teams “need a front office overhaul,” including the Red Wings, and as you know by now, I disagree with this theory:

DETROIT RED WINGS: Steve Yzerman was one of the greatest players in Detroit Red Wings history, leading them to three Stanley Cups in one of the most successful eras in franchise history. As general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, he laid the foundation for their back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021.

Yzerman missed those Stanley Cup parades in Tampa Bay, returning to Detroit to become the Red Wings’ GM in 2019. The Wings were at their nadir after missing the playoffs for three straight years and were rebuilding in earnest when he took over.

During his introductory press conference, Yzerman forewarned Red Wings fans there was a lot of work to do, telling them it would take time to turn this team into a Cup contender again. The denizens of Hockeytown bought in, remaining patient with the rebuilding process.

The Wings came tantalizingly close to reaching the playoffs in 2023-24, prompting anticipation they were poised for their long-awaited breakout campaign. This season, they’re jockeying with several teams for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

However, Max Bultman of The Athletic conducted a poll last August showing Red Wings fans were losing faith in their front office. Confidence in their roster building, salary-cap management, drafting, trading, free-agent signings and vision for the future was down compared to the previous season.

Yzerman will remain a beloved figure among Red Wings fans and in Detroit’s sports history. Nevertheless, another missed postseason will make it nine straight, far exceeding the previous franchise-worst of seven in the 1970s. That could prompt ownership to consider front-office changes, beginning with the general manager.

Continued; again, Yzerman and the Wings’ management team do not have a perfect record in terms of their free agency decisions, and every Red Wings fan feels that it’s been far too long since the team made the playoff cut…

But we all know that as long as Mrs. Ilitch and Chris Ilitch are in charge of the team, Steve Yzerman can consider himself the Red Wings’ GM for as long as he wants to work in that role.

So you look at the good and the bad of Yzerman’s tenure with the Red Wings, you assess whether his belief that the Red Wings are in the middle of a 10-to-12-year rebuild is correct (and it is), and here we are, halfway through the rebuild.

That’s just where we are, and it makes us all frustrated, from GM SY on down, but we have every right as the paying public to expect more, and we’re seeing that “more” through coach Todd McLellan.

For now, the Red Wings are still in their rebuilding phase, and it may take a little while longer before we can count upon the team to make the playoffs on a regular basis. But between the draft picks, the few free agency hits and the new coach, there is finally promise in the team as far as its performance is concerned, and that’s progress enough for me, especially from a GM-for-life.

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranks the Detroit Red Wings as the 5th-best group of prospects in the NHL, despite his suggestion that the Red Wings have no “true star forward prospect.” Wheeler lists his top 15 Red Wings prospects and he goes in-depth in discussing each player this morning:

The Red Wings have a pretty unique pool in that the pools that typically rank in this range have a true star forward prospect; they have several very good ones but none that project to play on a first line. Instead, their star prospects are on defense and in net, with one of the top D prospects in the sport and two of the top goalie prospects in the sport supporting strong depth up front.

Axel Sandin Pellikka’s emergence as a potential top offensive defenseman moved the Red Wings from more of a top-10 pool to No. 5 for me.

2024 prospect pool rank: No. 2 (change: -3)

1. Axel Sandin Pellikka, RHD, 19 (Skellefteå AIK)

Sandin Pellikka has had a brilliant run in the SHL the last two seasons, producing at near-historic rates as a teenager in both, winning an SHL title, winning back-to-back directorate awards as the top defenseman at the World Juniors (he was Sweden’s youngest defenseman the first time he did, too) and emerging this season to play 20 minutes per game and become one of the league’s most productive defensemen regardless of age.

Sandin Pellikka is an individually talented, competitive 5-foot-11 defenseman with natural scoring instincts and the tools to execute. He’s got really good edges and mobility and has shown improved speed in straight lines to pull away from chasers (with more room for growth there still). He walks the line to get shots through at a high level, wants the puck in the offensive zone and has the skill and shot to make things happen when teammates find him off the point or as the trailer off the rush (which he often activates into). He keeps his head up in the neutral and defensive zones and is a confident puck carrier on exits and entries. Though he’s not big, he’s athletic and he plays hard and physical and engages in battles in the defensive zone with some sneaky strength. He’s got a good stick. He does a good job maintaining gaps and matching opposing forwards step for step skating backward and times his close-outs and pinches effectively. He can really shoot it with a pinpoint accurate shot, a wrister that comes off hard and an eagerness to put pucks on net from the point. He’s got comfortable handles. He walks the line looking for his shot and chances to take space off it to attack into better spots, but he’ll find open teammates cross-ice through seams as well and is seeing the ice better and better. There are times when he can wait too long to make his decisions and I wouldn’t call him super creative or a highlight reel type, but he’s very talented, he makes good choices more often than he’s careless and he has progressed really rapidly.

He projects as a high-end offensive defenseman and defensively capable second-pairing one at five-on-five. When he’s on, he can control the game in all three zones and really drive shot creation.

Continued (paywall)

The Free Press’s Helene St. James examines some of the reasons why the Red Wings have gone 14-4-and-1 under coach Todd McLellan:

“I’ve been trying to tell them, focus one day at a time, but they know where we are and they know what they’ve done to climb back in,” coach Todd McLellan said. “But by no means are we going to walk into the locker room tomorrow and say, ‘look where we are and what we’ve done.’ We’re going to focus on rest, we’re going to focus on getting better and prepare to play against Seattle, and we’re not looking any further than that.”

McLellan was speaking shortly after the Wings rallied Sunday to defeat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 in overtime, banking a pair of points for a third straight time on this trip, which concludes Tuesday against the Kraken.

The Wings (27-21-5) have banked 29 points in 19 games (14-4-1) since McLellan’s arrival, one below the 30 in 34 games they had when general manager Steve Yzerman made the coaching change on Dec. 26.

“I think we did a good job of taking it a day at a time,” Patrick Kane said. “Even looking back at that Toronto game (on Dec 27), down 5-0, we score two in the third. Take the positives from that game, all of a sudden you’re building. We won seven in a row at one point. We’re at six now. We’re stringing them together and you need to have those types of streaks. Still, can’t look too far ahead, just take it a day at a time and keep building.”

Continued; the Red Wings most likely expect to win 8 straight before the Four Nations break, with tonight’s game against Seattle and Saturday’s game against Tampa Bay left to go. That’s very different from the level of expectations before December 26th.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that one Nicklas Lidstrom believes that Dominik Hasek is the best goaltender he ever played in front of:

Detroit Red Wings seven-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom was the greatest defenseman of his generation. If you are ready to debate that statement, you are what we like to call wrong.

Maybe you can debate the greatest goaltender of Lidstrom’s NHL generation. Some might vote for Patrick Roy. Others will lean toward Martin Brodeur.

Lidstrom has his choice in this debate and it’s none of the above.

His ballot is cast towards his old Red Wings teammate Dominik Hasek.

“Yes. Dom is the best goalie I’ve ever been on a team with,” Lidstrom told Czech website isport.cz. “I have to say, he had an incredible competitive spirit. And he had a unique style. All he cared about was stopping the puck. He subordinated everything to that.”

Continued; in terms of one game’s worth of play, I’d pick Hasek over Roy and Brodeur. Hasek never had the durability of the Canadian goaltenders, but for one game, or a playoff series, nobody dominated like the Dominator.

From Sportsnet:

What a turnaround in Hockeytown 🐙 pic.twitter.com/2W8Ck9k1aJ

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 3, 2025