Author: George Malik

The Detroit Red Wings lost an incredibly frustrating 2-0 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.

Detroit will have no time to feel sorry for itself as the 3-2-and-1 Red Wings finish up their preseason with a home game against the hated Ottawa Senators on Friday night (7 PM on Bally Sports Detroit). Then, we’re presuming, the “B Team” will probably head to Toronto to battle the Maple Leafs again on Saturday (7 PM, no TV as of Friday morning).

For coach Craig Berube’s team, the game was a case of out-checking the Red Wings’ NHL squad until Nick Robertson scored an opportunistic power play goal 17:54 into the first period, out-checking the Red Wings into sleepy submission for another two periods, and affording Robertson the ability to charge through a tired Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry and take a pass from try-out Max Pacioretty to jab into the net behind Cam Talbot 14:34 into the 3rd period.

The Red Wings pulled Talbot twice in the final five minutes of the 3rd period, but a combination of good goaltending from Anthony Stolarz and a lack of “oomph” from the Wings meant that Detroit’s best achievement of their final couple minutes’ worth of play was to not surrender an empty-net goal.

For the Maple Leafs, all went well, as the Associated Press noted:

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the OHL, if you thought that the Red Wings had an “off night,” Red Wings prospect Landon Miller had a worse time.

Miller stopped 4 of 7 shots, getting pulled after only 11:50 played as his Soo Greyhounds lost 5-0 to the Windsor Spitfires in Windsor.

Miller has been pulled in both his starts, so he has an 11.31 GAA and a .647 save percentage after 32 minutes’ worth of action. Needless to say, the Soo are not a massive contender this season, but it really can always be worse.

Here’s hoping that Landon rebounds in short order. The Greyhounds, too.

The Detroit Red Wings dressed a mostly veteran roster opposite the Toronto Maple Leafs’ “B Team” for the start of a home-and-home series at Little Caesars Arena this evening.

Tonight, the Red Wings dropped a particularly frustrating 2-0 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Detroit’s PP went 0-for-4 and gave up a power play goal against, Nick Robertson scored 2 for Toronto, Anthony Stolarz was good in stopping 29 shots, and Max Talbot was fine in stopping 26 of 28…

But the Wings were out-skated, out-hustled, out-worked and out-played over the course of 60 minutes, and it’s incredibly frustrating to watch an “A Team” lose to a “B Team” by being frustrated and flat.

The Red Wings have an absolute gaggle of prospects playing in NCAA Division 1 hockey this upcoming season, but only three of them make the Hockey News’s Ryan Kennedy’s list of the “Top 100 NCAA Prospects to Watch in 2024-2025“:

21. Trey Augustine, G, Michigan State (DET): Top-end goaltender ran with the starter’s job as a freshman and won WJC gold with Team USA. Look for more elite play in his sophomore year.

57. Max Plante, LW, Minnesota-Duluth (DET): If your last name is Plante, you’re gonna play for Duluth. Max brings a nice offensive toolkit to the team after a successful NTDP career.

70. Brady Cleveland, D, Colorado College (DET): Coming over from Wisconsin, Cleveland brings size and physicality to the Tigers, who are really rounding into form.

Continued; I’d include Michigan State University captain Red Savage in there somewhere, but that’s just me.

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The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan focuses on Red Wings pro try-out Austin Watson in his Thursday afternoon notebook:

“You saw the core group of guys, the high-end talent, the young guys coming up,” said Watson, 32, an Ann Arbor native and 10-year NHL veteran. “You see this team just getting better and better. For me being able to bring that element of some physicality, jam, being hard to play against, sticking up for guys when that’s necessary, I thought that could be a good fit for both sides.”

Watson is with the Wings on a professional tryout this preseason. Be it in games, or practices, Watson has shown the ability to use his 6-foot-4, 238-pound frame, win battles and keep the opposition honest.

“We expect the hard from him,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “We expect him to win battles, wall battles. But one important viewing for us was he’s got to be able to help us five-on-five. Through two games so far, he’s done that well.”

Watson was a first-round pick (18th overall) in 2010 by Nashville. He’s played with Nashville, Ottawa and Tampa Bay, playing in 515 games with 118 points (60 goals) and 705 penalty minutes. It’s tough for any veteran player to agree to a tryout, but expected it this past summer.

“I didn’t expect to be on a PTO (professional tryout) last year,” said Watson, before earning a spot in Tampa. “I came off two years where I scored 10 and nine goals and fought a bunch (with Ottawa), so a little caught off-guard. This year, having only played (33) games, I kind of had an expectation that this might be the case and having gone through it before has made it a little bit easier. You just do what you can, and let the cards fall where they may.”

Continued (paywall)

Of Red Wings prospect-related note today:

In the KHL, Dmitri Buchelnikov had 2 assists, 5 shots, a takeaway and a penalty taken in 14:31 played as Vityaz Moscow Region won 7-2 over Kunlun Red Star;

In the SHL, Axel Sandin Pellikka had an assist, finishing at -1 with 3 shots in 22:19 played as Skelleftea AIK won 6-3 over Leksands IF. Fellow Red Wings prospect Anton Johansson finished with 2 shots and a penalty taken in 14:11 played for Leksand:

Axel Sandin-Pelikka keeps producing, with this beautiful (shorthanded) stretch pass #LGRW https://t.co/vcUWjIa50n

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) October 3, 2024

Datsyukian stuff from Sandin Pellikka pic.twitter.com/Unl5nd7o4J

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) October 3, 2024

And Noah Dower Nilsson finished even with 4 shots in 11:49 played as Frolunda HC won 2-1 over MoDo Hockey.

Tonight, Landon Miller will play in goal for the OHL’s Soo Greyounds.

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels appeared on Toronto’s TSN 1050 AM today, appearing on Jim Tatti’s show, “Yes Guy.” You can listen via the following Tweet or on SoundCloud. Daniels speaks for over 13 minutes, speaking at the 44-minute mark of the following Tweet.

Catch up on the latest episode of Yes Guy with @jimtatti HERE! 👇https://t.co/mEEuNbPjit

— TSN 1050 Toronto (@TSN1050Radio) October 3, 2024

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. NHL.com makes some “bold fantasy hockey predictions” for every team this upcoming season, and it would be nice to see the following happen:

Detroit Red Wings: Forward Patrick Kane, at 35 years old (turns 36 on Nov. 19) will lead the Red Wings in points with at least 85 and finish among the NHL’s top 25 in the category. – AD

2. And Daily Faceoff is back with another list, too, ranking the NHL’s 32 teams by “watchability,” per a panel that included Scott Maxwell, Colton Davies, Hunter Crowther, Mike Gould and Tyler Kuehl. I just scrolled down to the bottom of the list and was pleasantly surprised by how much I had to scroll back up:

14. Detroit Red Wings

Colton: 24th
Hunter: 18th
Mike: 32nd
Scott: 7th
Tyler: 3rd

Scott: I see Mike has carried over his Red Wings hatred into this season. While I can understand why this team was so split, I think people are confusing good and entertaining. Are the Red Wings a complete hockey team? Of course not. But they have a lot of skilled players and young talent, and they also have a horrible defense core and questionable goaltending. That feels like the perfect ingredients for an entertaining hockey game no matter who they play.

Colton: They are the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NHL.

Hunter: I think that’s the meanest thing I’ve ever read, and I just re-read Blood Meridian. 

Mike: The Red Wings irritate me to an extent I never previously thought possible. It is genuinely frustrating to watch them make one wrong decision after another, seemingly to no end. And that’s just off the ice. I simply do not enjoy watching them trip over themselves on a yearly basis. That likely won’t change until they thoroughly re-evaluate their organizational priorities.

Aww, that’s sweet.

As I’ve been saying for the past month, it’s not likely that the Red Wings will really sort out their goaltending situation until the first 10-15 games of the regular season have passed.

Ville Husso had a particularly good start in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Cam Talbot’s got the net tonight against the Leafs, and Alex Lyon will help Detroit host the Senators tomorrow.

From there, we don’t really know who’s going to be the starter, back-up or #3 goaltender, and, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes, things aren’t likely to change soon:

Husso was the big question mark coming into training camp because he had not been healthy enough to play a full game since last December. But he has stayed healthy in training camp, and drew strong reviews from Lalonde when he stopped 43 of 44 shots to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 Tuesday.

“It wasn’t even the 97% (save percentage),” Lalonde said. “It was the way he looked. He looked sharp. He looked composed, he was seeing pucks. (His) puck handles were great. That’s when a goalie looks comfortable in his net. Obviously a good step forward for him.”

In two games, Husso has stopped  57 of 61 shots for a .951 save percentage.

…

Lyon is right there with Husso with a .943 save percentage (stopping 33 of 35.). Talbot’s save percentage is .900, but Lalonde has given positive feedback on him as well. GM Steve Yzerman would not have signed him to a two-year contract if he didn’t believe he could be a significant factor.

“He’s played very well. His two looks so far,” Lalonde said. “He’ll get 60 minutes tonight, which I think is important for him. But he’s shown extremely well. ”

Keeping three goalies is never ideal because goalies feel like they don’t get enough practice time. But the Red Wings did it last season to their advantage.

 “Again, I love a goalie by committee,” Lalonde said. “Obviously, I was fortunate enough to coach one of the greatest goalies will go down in history in (Andrei) Vasilevskiy, but not everyone has that luxury. Again, if it’s goalie by committee and they’re all playing at a high level and helping us win, we’ll go goalie by committee. Unfortunately, in the last couple years we’ve had to ride out some goalies when we knew we were probably over playing them and it probably hit a wall there. So I like the three. I like the vision with the three.”

Continued; the three-headed goaltending monster lives!