Of note from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff this morning:
- Duff spoke with J.T. Compher and Moritz Seider regarding former Red Wings forward Patrick Kane’s return to the Chicago Blackhawks. Seider’s comments are particularly noteworthy:
“I think it’s really cool for me personally to see him back in his original colors,” Detroit defenseman Moritz Seider said. “Of course we’re going to miss him, but obviously we’ve got great additions. We have a really good team. But yeah, with one eye, I’m excited, obviously watching the Blackhawks and Patrick Kane.”
Seider also thinks that the amount of time it took Kane to make a decision on the direction for his hockey future is an indication of how much the Red Wings came to carry a place close to his heart.
“I think he took a lot of time thinking about coming back here, and it just shows how much this organization means to him, how much the locker room means to him,” Seider said.
At the same time, Seider acknowledged that in his two-year pact with an AAV of $8.8 million, Kane got a Godfather-type deal from the Blackhawks. An offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I can’t really blame the guy,” Seider said. “It’s an unreal contract he got offered, and I’m really happy for him.”
There’s no way that the Red Wings would have been able to drop that kind of money on Kane, so he took the best offer he could get…
2. Duff also took note of several training camp lines which appear to portend regular season line combinations:
Looking at the lines the Wings have been experimenting with during training camp scrimmages, some appear like they could be permanent fits.
Newcomer Keegan Kolesar is slotting in alongside JT Compher and Michael Rasmussen. That would appear to be an ideal fourth line.
Andrew Copp skates between Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond. He’s a likely placeholder for the injured Dylan Larkin on what would be Detroit’s top forward unit.
Another intriguing trio sees Marco Kasper at center with sophomore Emmitt Finnie and UFA addition Viktor Arvidsson on the wings. McLellan was Arvidsson’s coach in Los Angeles. He drew on his memory bank to find a potential fit for the gritty Swede.
“Well, that line, when we sat and talked about it, we were wondering, ‘Okay, where are we going to play Arvy?’ And I thought back to his best days in LA with us. Who did he play with? Well, he played with Trevor Moore and Phil Danault. Trevor Moore was quick. He has a tenacity to him, and he could turn pucks over [much like] Emmitt Finnie. Phil Danault scored 27 goals that year, and we want Kasp to produce more, but Kasp is pretty responsible. He plays two ways, and then Arvi fits the group.”
