Author: George Malik

The Red Wings posted the following Tweet on Saturday morning…

An official @WesternMichU Graduate. ?‍?

Congrats, @DeKeyser5! pic.twitter.com/Wd2fGIIxMZ— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 29, 2019

And DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji spoke with DeKeyser about his decision to complete his college degree, a general studies major, after leaving Western Michigan University post-junior year:

It wasn’t like DeKeyser had to finish just a couple of classes either. He had some real work to do.

“I had about 35 credits or so. So I’ve been working on it for the last two years,” DeKeyser said. “I think I started in the middle of the summer in 2017 and I’ve taken just classes every semester since then. A few semesters I took two classes, but during the season I just did one class each semester.”

To complicate matters — in a very good way — DeKeyser’s wife, Melissa, gave birth to their first child, daughter McKinley Ann, at the end of February in 2018.

So that is why DeKeyser was doing so much schoolwork when the team was away.

“It was time-consuming but I did most of the work when we were on the road in the hotels and stuff,” DeKeyser said. “I tried to keep the family time the same way at home and then when we were gone I’d do most of the work. It worked out pretty good, I guess.”

Continued

The Free Press’s Helene St. James penned an article about Filip Zadina this afternoon, discussing the injured forward’s somewhat frustrating week at the Red Wings’ summer development camp. Zadina was able to skate a little bit despite nursing an injured hamstring, but he mostly participated in the off-ice activities over the past week’s worth of nutrition, physical training and recovery classes.

St. James took note of Zadina’s reflections upon his rookie pro season as the 19-year-old prepares to work on earning an NHL spot this fall:

Zadina ended his first year of pro hockey with 16 goals and 19 assists in 59 AHL games, plus three points in five playoff games.

He described 2018-19 as a “good season for me. I got to learn something and I hope and I believe (next season) will be way better.” 

He wants to prove the Wings chose well last summer, that he can live up to the identity he established with a blistering draft year stats line (44 goals, 38 assists for 82 points in 57 games with Halifax).

Zadina has met with new general manager Steve Yzerman, who “talked to me a couple times about what I have to do better, how to improve my game, improve myself as an athlete,” he said. 

“I’ll go to training camp to make the first team. I have to show them myself – I just want to be there as Filip Zadina. They drafted as a goal scorer and that’s what I have to focus on.  Now the exhibition, games, I know what they will be all about. So just go in there with my best and see what happens.”

St. James continues…

At the Red Wings’ summer development camp, Team Lindsay beat Team Howe 5-4 in a shootout to capture the Red vs. White game, and the Red Wings have already archived the game on YouTube:

Otto Kivenmaki scored the shootout winner, and there was one bit of bad news as Robert Mastrosimone broke his ankle blocking a shot. He’ll be out for 4-6 weeks.

The players were already packing up and heading out of the rink to catch their flights home, so we didn’t get many player interviews on the last day of camp, as is traditional.

However: Red Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff spoke at length with the media–after coaching Team Howe in the scrimmage–and Horcoff discussed the performances of about a dozen players, his impressions of the camp as a week’s worth of knowledge with which to enhance players’ personal development, his incredibly busy summer and more:

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner posted a “Red and White Authority” podcast this morning, and Gustav Lindstrom, Keith Petruzzelli and Jack Adams all appear on the podcast:

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects will wrap up their summer development camp with a scrimmage today. Red Wings broadcaster Ken Kal and DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner will provide the commentary as the Wings broadcast the game from Little Caesars Arena today at 12 PM, and the YouTube stream of said game will start at 11:30 AM:

Sportsnet’s Luke Fox posted a set of 12 notes this morning. Fox suggests that the Red Wings may be the logical landing spot for Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman and unrestricted free agent-to-be Jake Gardiner.

Fox notes that the rumor mill has been utterly silent regarding Gardner’s whereabouts, so he posits a couple of possible landing spots, including Florida, Minnesota, Vancouver and Detroit:

I submit the Red Wings. Steve Yzerman might want to make a statement with his new/old club, and Detroit has one defenceman signed beyond 2019-20, Danny DeKeyser.

The Wings traded Nick Jensen. Niklas Kronwall is a 38-year-old UFA. Jonathan Ericsson, Trevor Daley and Mike Green will all be 34 or older by mid-October.

Gardiner makes them younger, faster and more mobile.

Fox continues, and I’m sticking to my guns: the less the Wings do in free agency, the happier I will be, with “doing nothing but watching” being my happy place.

I do expect the Wings to make a UFA signing or two, but I don’t expect said signing(s) to be major ones.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji wrote a fine narrative recap chronicling the happenings during the Red Wings’ 3-on-3 tournament at the summer development camp, and this quip from Jack Adams was wisely-said:

“It’s just summer hockey, but at the same time we’ve got Steve Yzerman watching us, so we’re all trying to compete for a job at some point in the future,” Adams said. “We’re all trying to showcase our skills and our ability as people and hockey players, so we’re all buddies but at the same time we’re evaluated 24-7 so you have to have a chip on your shoulder and go to work every day.”

Wakiji continues at length…

The Toledo Walleye’s championship run ended a little short as they lost in the ECHL final to the Newfoundland Growlers, but the Walleye have impressed those in professional hockey circles as a winning machine over the past half-decade. The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe reports that the Walleye’s playoff success has turned out to be a good thing for player recruitment, as coach Dan Watson suggests:

“With the success we had … more names are coming across the desk,” Watson said.

Toledo also hosted the ECHL all-star game for the first time, giving the league’s top players an up-close look at how the franchise is operated and supported.

“Players in this league and their agents understand what Toledo is all about,” Watson said. “We have a really good organization and the city is behind us.”

The team sold-out 31 of its 36 home games at the Huntington Center. An average crowd of 7,783 attended the games at the downtown arena, which seats 7,431 for hockey games. The team also set a new single-game attendance record when a crowd of 8,397 filled the arena to beyond capacity on April 6.

“Players want to play in front of those atmospheres,” Watson said.

However, the third-year coach believes there will be significant roster turnover in the offseason due to a variety of reasons.

“For the most part, we will have a pretty new team. There are a lot of guys who will be moving on,” Watson said. “That’s just the nature of the beast [at the ECHL developmental level].”

Monroe continues, explaining the Walleye’s personnel situation…

On Day 4 of the Red Wings’ summer development camp, the Red Wings’ prospects spent their morning/early afternoon taking part in skating drills, and this evening, the players were able to stretch their competitive legs, taking part in a trio of 3-on-3 games.

Ahead of what will surely be a competitive Red and White Game on Saturday (12 PM start), the players engaged in what was sometimes wild and woolly hockey. Crazy things happened, like Filip Larsson getting lit up for 8 goals and QMJHL try-out Mathieu Bizier scoring a hat trick, and as someone who had to haul ass to a Filip Zadina interview between games, I didn’t get to see all of the consolation or championship games, though I sure tried to soak in as much as I could.

If you missed it, the Wings archived the game on YouTube, so you can watch the stream for yourself and make your own impressions:

Of Red Wings-related note on a balmy Friday evening:

1. MLive’s Ansar Khan penned an article regarding Filip Zadina’s comments made to the media corps this evening. As Khan notes, a hamstring injury sidelined the young Czech sniper for development camp, but Zadina’s going to put in extra effort to be ready come September:

Zadina said it’s not a long-term injury and that he feels good. He will return home to the Czech Republic for a short time and then come back to Detroit to train the rest of the summer with several other Red Wings at the Barwis Performance Center in Plymouth.

“I’ve been there last year for a week; it was great so hopefully it can just make me a better athlete,” Zadina said. “Then on the ice it’s up to me.

“I’m just trying to be patient and get healthy as soon as possible and then start again and just probably get stronger and quicker and be probably faster on the ice.”

Zadina had 16 goals and 35 points in 59 games for the Griffins and one goal and two assists in a nine-game stint with the Red Wings late in the season.

“Lots of new experiences during the season, ups and downs,” Zadina said. “I enjoyed the time in Detroit. I’ll take it as it was, and I think it was a good season for me. I got to learn something, and I hope, and I believe that next season will be way better.”

Khan continues, and he posted a video of Zadina’s remarks:

2. Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff also spoke with Wings free agent signings Ryan Kuffner and Taro Hirose, finding that Kuffner doesn’t view the development camp as repetitive…