Author: George Malik

The Free Press’s Helene St. James, Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and The Athletic’s Max Bultman have all weighed in on the Red Wings’ potential free agency options. This afternoon, MLive’s Ansar Khan rounds out the chorus with an assessment of his own as to what the Wings should do, as well as a long list of players that the Wings might want to target come July 1st at 12 PM EDT.

What should the Wings do with their $12 million in cap space? Khan believes that signing players to short-term deals is the answer:

The Red Wings won’t be in the hunt for the elite players and probably not the next level of talent either, given their reluctance to dole out longer-term deals and their rebuilding status.

There are many lower-cost alternatives. It might take a few days after free agency opens to get those players, after they’ve explored options and concluded they won’t get the term they were seeking.

General manager Steve Yzerman will look to plug some holes.

Veteran winger Thomas Vanek has been informed he won’t be re-signed. Defenseman/winger Luke Witkowski could still be a low-cost option on a one-year deal for later in the summer. Yzerman has said he’d welcome back defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who is contemplating one more season or retirement.

The Red Wings also are in the market for an experienced goaltender to split the net with prospect Filip Larsson in Grand Rapids. They made a qualifying offer to Patrik Rybar but don’t expect him to return.

The Red Wings will have more money to spend next summer when several contracts are off the books (Mike Green, Jonathan Ericsson, Trevor Daley and possibly Jimmy Howard). But some of their young restricted free agents will be due for new deals (Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Bertuzzi) as well.

Khan continues at length, and his list of players that could be possible targets is interesting, but I would barf in my mouth and barf in the toilet of the Wings ever signed someone like Corey Perry to a contract.

Among MLive’s Ansar Khan’s notes from today’s Red and White game:

Moritz Seider showed off the skating ability that was one of the reasons the Red Wings took the 6-4, 207-pound defenseman sixth overall this year.

“He can skate, he’s got some poise, he’s got good sense, he was really impressive today and throughout the week,” Horcoff said.

Seider will train in his hometown of Mannheim, Germany, before returning for prospects tournament and training camp in Traverse City. The Red Wings will then decide where he should play in 2019-20.

“We have to figure out what’s best for myself,” Seider said. “Maybe it’s in the AHL with Grand Rapids but maybe also CHL (OHL Owen Sound owns his rights). But why stay in Mannheim? I think it’s one of the best organizations in Europe. We won a championship last season. We have to figure it out where I can get the most ice time.”

Khan continues at length, addressing a wide variety of topics.

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday re-signed right wing Dominik Shine to a one-year contract.

In his second full professional season with the Griffins in 2018-19, Shine tied for the team lead with 72 games played while tallying 11 points (6-5—11) and 53 penalty minutes. The 26-year-old skated in all five Calder Cup Playoff contests, showing two points (1-1—2), a plus-one rating and two PIM.

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…