Author: George Malik

From the University of Minnesota-Duluth:

For a second time this season, University of Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey freshman forward Max Plante has been named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s Rookie of the Week after his three point performance against Colorado College.

The native of Hermantown, Minn., Plante had an assist in Friday night’s setback to the Tigers before scoring the Bulldogs opening goal on the power play and added an assist in UMD’s 4-1 win Saturday night. Plante, who was +1 on the weekend with four shots, has notched a point in his last six games for the Bulldogs. Over that span, Plante compiled five goals and four assists for nine points, and three of those games have been multiple point efforts. Plante has also scored at least a goal in five of his last six skates.

UMD has now had seven NCHC Player’s of the Week this season, including four Rookie of the Week honors, which includes goaltender Klayton Knapp, who picked up the award just last week.

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, KamloopsBlazers.com’s Colton Davies wrote an article about Red Wings prospect and Kamloops Blazers forward Emmitt Finnie:

Kamloops Blazers forward Emmitt Finnie is off to a phenomenal start this season, racking up 23 goals and showing no signs of slowing down.

It wasn’t always an easy path for Finnie, though. The Detroit Red Wings prospect was selected in the fourth round of the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft and made his WHL debut the following season. During the 2021-22 campaign, Finnie appeared in 48 games, not scoring a single goal. He would go on to score his first WHL goal in 2022-23, the same season that he would go on a 15-game point streak that saw him tally eight goals and 14 assists in that frame.

One Red Wings scout told me, “Finnie is a player who is always in the right place at the right time.” That’s a big reason why the Lethbridge, Alberta product has been able to develop into the player he is today.

When asked about his impressive performance this season, Finnie emphasized the work he put in during the offseason. “Coming into the season, I wanted to score more, so that was obviously a big focus. I’ve been shooting a lot of pucks and just trying to score as much as possible,” he explained.

Finnie also reflected on his brief stint with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL last season, an experience he described as invaluable. “That’s one of the best leagues in the world. Just being able to see where I need to get my game was a huge experience for me. I’m looking forward to getting back there and hopefully sticking in that league,” he said.

When asked about feedback from the Detroit Red Wings organization, Finnie said they’ve emphasized the importance of becoming bigger, stronger, and faster. “Playing in those AHL games, you see the size and speed of the league. I’ve been focused on getting my game there and being as big and fast as I can,” he noted.

Continued

The 21-21-and-4 Detroit Red Wings have lost 2 straight and 3 of their past 4 games heading into Tuesday night’s game against the 21-20-and-6 Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/NBC Sports Philadelphia/Sportsnet One/97.1 FM).

Philadelphia is obviously one of the opponents Detroit needs to leapfrog in order to earn a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference standings, and it’s going to be tough to slow the Flyers’ momentum. They’ve gone 4-0-and-1 in their past 5 games, most recently winning a 3-1 decision over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

The AP’s game preview gives us “just the statistical facts“…

From the Red Wings:

#OTD in 2015: Henrik Zetterberg picks up three assists to give him 7 points in 2 games as the #RedWings beat the Wild 5-4 in a shootout. pic.twitter.com/dhVDtfqyX5

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 20, 2025

Both Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen and the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton took note of this Tweet from FanDuel SportsNet Detroit:

Razor is on the rise, after a multi-goal week. 👏

This leaderboard of franchise greats is our Red Wings Moment of the Week.#LGRW | @ThinkFordFirst pic.twitter.com/QF4EiJvCAg

— FanDuel Sports Network Detroit (@FanDuelSN_DET) January 20, 2025

Per Allen:

Since Todd McLellan took over as Detroit’s coach, the team is 8-4. Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond both have registered in 10 of the 12 games. Larkin has eight goals and eight assists for 16 points, while Raymond’s total is six goals, 11 assists for 17 points. Patrick Kane has at least one point in nine of 12 games under McLellan. He boasts six goals and 10 assists for 16 points. The Red Wings play in Philadelphia Tuesday.

And, per Stockton:

Through 46 games this season, the young Swede has 19 goals and 31 assists.  Raymond won’t turn 23 until March 28th, so he has plenty of time to score the three goals necessary to surpass Dionne.  Creeping ahead of Howe would be a tall order but not entirely outside the realm of possibility, while present Detroit GM Steve Yzerman can sleepy soundly in the comfort that his 164 goals before age 23 will hold firm.

On some level, it’s a rather arbitrary milestone, but the underlying truth is clear and obvious: Raymond has been highly prolific from the moment he arrived in Detroit.  The organization needed him and [Moritz Seider] to contribute immediately in a fashion without precedent for the team in the 21st century.

And against the back drop, both players have thrived from the moment of their arrival.  As Larkin said back before the season began, as a young and blossoming star, “You slowly become looked at as a leader on the team and a part of the core.  I’ve noticed them be more vocal. Lucas at the end of last season—the way he played, the way he took over, started to dominate shifts, periods, and games. Mo with how he sacrifices the body, he’s always there for us. Those guys have continued to grow. I think they have more growth in them, but that’s any young 20-something in the NHL. We expect a lot out of them, and they’ve always answered, so I’m excited for them this season.”

I can’t emphasize enough that Seider had 5 shots, 11 shot attempts, 6 hits, a takeaway and 2 blocked shots in 22:36 played last night. The Red Wings’ #23 and #53 are playing their hearts out.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an off-day notebook which discusses the Red Wings’ struggles of late in terms of defensive play:

It’s on the defensive end that, possibly, bad habits from early in the season are beginning to resurface. McLellan, who took over Dec. 26 and the Wings immediately went 7-2-0 afterward, wants to stomp out those habits before they hurt the Wings again.

“We’re aware of that certainly, and it’s not unexpected,” McLellan said Sunday, after a sloppy first period led to the loss. “It’s hard to change habits. We’ve worked real hard on the mindset and we’ll need to keep doing that.”

What’s making it difficult for McLellan and his staff is the lack of practice time during this compact, busy schedule.

The Wings didn’t practice Monday, flying to the finale of this road trip Tuesday in Philadelphia (7 p.m., FSN/97.1). They won’t skate Wednesday either. With games basically every other day until early February, it’s going to be difficult to squeeze in full-tilt, quality practices.

“We haven’t had a lot of practice time because we’ve been on the road and playing nearly every other night, but that’s not going to change,” McLellan said. “Our learning will have to come from video and applying it in the game. We’ll keep on them and pushing them and we’re not going to accept slippage. It may occur but we’re not going to accept it.”

Turnovers or missed assignments were the cause for three first-period Dallas goals. The 3-0 deficit was too much for the Wings to overcome.

“What we gave up were some real egregious errors by individuals again, and the whole group pays the price for them,” McLellan said. “We’re a good team but we’re not a great one yet, and great ones can overcome stuff. Good ones struggle with it.”

Continued

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MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Red Wings coach Todd McLellan’s comments made after the Red Wings’ 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars:

“Right now, I think we’re a reactive team when a couple of weeks ago we were proactive,” McLellan told FanDuel Sports Network following Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Stars. “We were getting after it and now we’re waiting to see what happens and reacting to it. We’ve got to fix that, and we will.”

The Red Wings (21-21-4) wrap up a challenging four-game trip Tuesday in Philadelphia (21-20-6), where they are 2-18-2 in their past 22 (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network).

“We obviously don’t feel good about ourselves right now, but we got a chance to play in Philly,” McLellan said. “Obviously, the team hasn’t played really well there lately, so we got an opportunity to break that streak and come home at .500 in a real tough trip.”

The Red Wings have scored only one goal in each of the past two games, but on Sunday, McLellan was more concerned about the other side of the puck. Two bad periods cost them – they allowed three goals in a span of 3:42 early in the second period at Tampa Bay and three goals in 8:52 in the first period at Dallas.

“The start that we had tonight, it’s hard because the team plays the price for a few individual errors,” McLellan said. “It reminds me a little bit of the San Jose game (6-3 loss Jan. 14). We start that way and put ourselves in a hole. We’re not a four-goal team. We talk about playing to three and if we would have kept it at that level maybe we had a chance, but I look at it more from the defensive side of it, the disastrous mistakes we made that ended up in the back of our net.”

The Red Wings are 8-4-0 since McLellan took over. The power play, despite going 1 for 9 over the weekend, has been potent, converting at nearly 42 percent during this stretch (18 for 43). The penalty killing continues to struggle (16 for 25, 64 percent).

Continued (paywall)

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills asked Red Wings players and coach to weigh in on their Stadium Series jerseys, which they will wear when the Red Wings take on the Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium on March 1st:

“I think it gets a little bit more real when those jerseys do come out,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan recently told DetroitRedWings.com. “I know some of our guys were modeling. There’s a little buzz about it, a little excitement. Some of the helmets have been lying around. That just means it’s getting closer.

“It’s a real honor to play in those games. It’s special, different and unique. So many others participate in it. Family members come in and are a part of it, they get to skate on the ice. It’s such a welcome break, yet it’s a competitive night during the season. Teams that get to play in those games are really fortunate.”

Dylan Larkin was one of the players who modeled the Red Wings’ uniforms, and the captain had nothing but good things to say about Detroit’s new look.

“I think the jersey is beautiful,” Larkin said. “It’s classic. [The front crest with the ‘Detroit’ script wordmark] and the helmet are really cool. They did a great job designing them, and I’m just really excited to play at the Horseshoe in front of that many fans. It’s going to be a special night.”

Designed by Fanatics with input and alignment from both teams and the NHL, the uniforms highlight the cultural and historical identities of both Midwest cities. The automotive industry and rich hockey culture of Detroit drove the design of the Red Wings’ sweaters.

More information about the creativity that went into the Stadium Series jerseys is available here. Stadium Series jerseys will be available for purchase at the Red Wings Team Store, with select Stadium Series merchandise becoming available as early as February.

“They look good,” Andrew Copp said. “I think the game is going to be really exciting…Just a storied venue. You only get a couple of these outdoor games in your career, so you’ve got to enjoy it.”

Continued;

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton took note of comments made by Red Wings coach Todd McLellan and goaltender Alex Lyon after last night’s 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars:

The Red Wings outshot their hosts 34–25 for the evening, but as McLellan pointed out, those shots on net failed to encapsulate the scope of Detroit’s defensive calamities.

“From my perspective or from our perspective [as a coaching staff], we looked at it from the defensive side and what we gave up, and some real egregious errors by individuals again, and the whole group pays the price for them,” McLellan said after the game. “I think the first goal is real preventable…We’re a good hockey club. We’re not a great one yet, and great ones can overcome that stuff.”

When asked about the challenge of preventing the frustration they’d just warded off at the start of the month to creep back in, goaltender Alex Lyon said, “It’s hard.  On a road trip, you’re playing good teams every night, so you just can’t take anything for granted.  You got another team that plays extremely hard here in two days, so we gotta hit reset quick.”

On the same subject, McLellan said simply, “We’re not gonna accept slippage.”

Continued; if you missed it in the wrap-up, here’s the post-game comment clip: