Three Red Wings beat writers posted articles regarding new Red Wings forward James van Riemsdyk’s press conference from yesterday morning, and we’ll begin with MLive’s Ansar Khan:
Van Riemsdyk, 36, looks forward to being reunited in a way with Patrick Kane. They were the top two picks in the 2007 draft, Kane to Chicago and van Riemsdyk to Philadelphia.
“He’s one of my really good buddies and we’ve been kind of through this whole journey over the years together in a lot of ways through some different USA Hockey things and with training or bouncing ideas off each other,” van Riemsdyk said. “I think there was one game last year at Columbus where we had a couple of points … I think he said something to me on one of the faceoffs like, ‘We still got it.’ Just the love that he has for the game, it’s fun to kind of be around and be in kind of his orbit for some of that.”
Van Riemsdyk has multiple ties with the Red Wings. He was skating with Justin Holl Tuesday in Minnesota when he accepted their offer. He also knows Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat and some others.
van Riemsdyk also confirmed to the Free Press’s Helene St. James that he’s almost found himself in Detroit multiple times over the past couple of years…
“It’s funny, back a few years ago, it seemed it was a team that was interested in bringing me aboard,” van Riemsdyk said. “Going through the free agency process, when they started to show some interest, it seemed like a good fit, especially with the trajectory of where the team is trying to go. They’re trying to make a push, trying to make the playoffs next year, so that’s exciting for me. And then all the history of being an Original Six place is super exciting, too. Having the experience of being through a bunch of different things over the course of my career, hopefully it can be a help.”
van Riemsyk was at his home in Minnesota when he made his decision where to sign. The first person to find out was Wings defenseman Justin Holl: The two are part of a group of players who skate together in that area during the offseason. In addition to Holl and Kane, van Riemsdyk also knows fellow Americans Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat, which helped sway van Riemsdyk’s thinking.
“That was appealing, too, having that comfortably with a lot of guys,” he said.
The appeal to the Wings is adding a forward with size (6 feet 3, 209 pounds) and experience (327 goals, 338 assists in 1,082 games) who early on in his career figured out the benefit of being willing to go to net to score. (Watching Tomas Holmstrom excel at that back in the day helped.)
“When you come into the league, I feel like there’s a lot of guys that are very talented, but being able to channel that in a way where you can carve out a niche or a role for yourself, is so important,” van Riemsdyk said. “I was lucky — my first couple of years in Philly, I had Chris Pronger, who was on the team at that point, and Joe Mullen. The hours I spent on the ice before and after practice with those guys, working on tipping pucks, working on little plays around the net, timing, positioning — it helped steer me in a good direction.”
van Riemsdyk also made certain to mention that he’s a player who likes to go to the front of the opposition’s net, as he told Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:
“Yeah, I think just the nuance and timing and things like that that go to it,” van Riemsdyk said. “You don’t just want to be anchored at the net and let the other guys kind of play on the cycle. Then you’re not being an out for them, or an option for them. So it’s trying to balance some of those things out.
“I feel like the more I’ve done it, the more natural it seems to become. And like I mentioned before, especially down the stretch and into the playoffs, it seems like that’s where you need to go to have the success and score the goals. So I think that’s ultimately why it’s for me, just an attractive place to be on the ice.”
