Author: George Malik

The Athletic’s Craig Custance authored a fine interview with Ted Lindsay this morning. Among the stories Lindsay shared with Custance is the tale of Lindsay’s contentious founding of a players’ association:

Aside from being one of the best left wingers to ever play the game, Lindsay put all his personal success and comfort on the line by organizing the first NHL players’ association in 1957, along with Bill Gadsby, Doug Harvey, Fern Flaman, Gus Mortson and Jim Thomson. He did it because he saw young players shipped out on a moment’s notice. He saw injured players discarded. He observed a former Maple Leafs star selling broken sticks for a quarter, in an attempt to squeeze out extra money. So he organized. And those efforts had massive repercussions.

From a pure hockey standpoint, it likely cost the Red Wings a few more Stanley Cups, because Lindsay was banished to the Blackhawks in a trade with fellow Hall of Famer Glenn Hall — an attempt by team management to cut off any union talk by removing Lindsay from the equation in Detroit.

From a personal standpoint, it cost Lindsay a relationship with Red Wings general manager Jack Adams and, on some level, Gordie Howe, whose support for the association efforts wasn’t on Lindsay’s level.

“Jack Adams was my Godfather,” said Lindsay’s son Blake Lindsay. “They still said, ‘Get rid of him. Chop the head of the snake off.’ Dad was the organizer. (Red Wings owner James) Norris had all the arenas, and Chicago back then was the worst team in the league. They sent dad there.”

Custance continues (paywall)…

NHL.com’s Dave Hogg offers a profile of Red Wings first-round draft pick Joe Veleno this evening, noting that the 30th overall pick received “exceptional” status in the QMJHL:

Veleno first made news in 2015 when he was the first player from Quebec to receive exceptional-player status from Hockey Canada. That allowed him to be drafted into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at age 15, one year younger than usual. Saint John selected him with the No. 1 pick of the 2015 QMJHL draft.

He never had a season to match some of the other players who received exceptional-player status, among them Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid, Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad and Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares, all of whom entered the Ontario Hockey League at age 15 and were the No. 1 picks in their respective NHL draft years.

But Veleno took a major jump forward last season. Veleno had 31 points (six goals, 27 assists) in his first 31 games last season, but with Saint John struggling he was traded to Drummondville on Dec. 8. He had 48 points (16 goals, 33 assists) in 33 games after the trade, and 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 10 playoff games to help Drummondville reach the second round.

His 79 points (22 goals, 57 assists) in 64 regular-season games were almost as many as he had in his first two QMJHL seasons (83).

“At Saint John things weren’t working out as well and I got the opportunity to be dealt to Drummondville, a contending team with some really good players, and I kind of found my game after that,” he said.

Hogg continues…

We’ll call this midsummer essay from WXYZ’s Brad Galli a bit of a lark. Galli wonders aloud whether the presence of a gaggle of Red Wings at the annual Cleary-Horcoff Invitational might mean a tug or two at Erik Karlsson’s free agent goose. Might they flock together in the future?

I don’t see it happening, but there are worse ways to spend 30 seconds fantasizing about hockey lineups in the middle of July.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji spoke with Dylan Larkin at the Larkin Hockey School in Waterford today, and Larkin spoke with Wakiji regarding a number of topics, including the drafting of Filip Zadina:

“Got the chance to skate with Filip Zadina last week when he was in town and a couple of the other young guys,” Larkin said Thursday during the Larkin Hockey School at Lakeland Ice Arena in Waterford. “Looked really skilled and he’s a great kid and seems really excited to be here. We talked a little bit and I told him there’s a couple teams that went over him that he’s happy that he’s here with us and I’m happy he’s here with us.”

It has only been four years since Larkin was the Wings’ first-round pick, 15th overall, in the 2014 draft.

Larkin was asked if he offered Zadina any advice.

“I just said, ‘Hey, man, there’s opportunity, we need a player like you and hopefully I get to play with you and work as hard as possible when you go home. Enjoy summer but when you come to camp, there’s a spot there and take everything as seriously as you can,'” Larkin said.

From the Grand Rapids Griffins:

24th ANNUAL GRIFFINS YOUTH FOUNDATION GOLF CLASSIC MOVED TO OCT. 1

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday announced that the 24th annual Griffins Youth Foundation Golf Classic presented by Meijer has been moved to Monday, Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. at Egypt Valley Country Club.

The date change was made to allow Griffins players to participate as a whole in the outing for the first time ever, joined by coaches and support staff, and to serve as a lead-in to the 2018-19 regular season.

Continue reading Grand Rapids Griffins’ Youth Foundation Golf Classic rescheduled for October 1st

MLive’s Scott DeCamp offers details regarding the Red Wings’ annual Street Hockey Summer Tour, which will take place at local Meijer locations in July and August:

Each stop on tour will feature two sessions: One for ages 7-9 and one for ages 10-12. The 7-9 age group will start at 10 a.m. at each stop, and the 10-12 age group will begin at 1 p.m.

Parents/guardians must register their children online in advance of each tour stop at www.detroitredwings.com/streethockey.

Here is the Red Wings Street Hockey Summer Tour schedule and the respective Meijer locations:

• July 16 in Muskegon: 700 W. Norton Ave.
• July 18 in Grand Rapids: 315 Wilson Ave. NW
• July 20 in Battle Creek: 2191 Columbia Ave.
• July 24 in Novi: 49900 Grand River Ave.
• July 26 in Warren: 25225 Schoenherr Rd.
• July 31 in Chesterfield: 27255 23 Mile Rd.
• Aug. 6 in Monroe: 1700 N. Telegraph Rd.
• Aug. 8 in Detroit: 1301 W. Eight Mile Rd.

Each participant will receive a free T-shirt, along with merchandise and prizes, courtesy of Meijer and the Red Wings. Additionally, there will be water and snack breaks for the participants during each clinic.

Registrations are on a first-come, first-served basis, and each stop on the tour is limited to 120 children (60 participants from ages 7-9; 60 participants from ages 10-12).

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill was on the NHL Tonight last night, and he addressed the Wings’ coaching and personnel moves over the course of a 9-minute phone interview:

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. The Grand Rapids Griffins posted a video profiling defenseman Trevor Hamilton:

Regula described himself as a two-way defenseman. He produced seven goals and 18 assists in 67 games in his first OHL season.

“I think I can contribute offensively, but I really pride myself on my defense,” the right-shooting Regula said. “I got a good stick and good gaps. I think I got a lot to work on. I think I’m kind of a project for the Wings. I need to get my footwork going and I got to get a lot stronger, better endurance, all these things are what it takes to move to the next level.”

A pro career became a realistic goal for him following his lone season with the USHL Chicago Steel that was capped by a Clark Cup championship in 2016-17.

In London, he was paired with Evan Bouchard, a player the Red Wings might have selected at No. 6 if Filip Zadina weren’t available. Bouchard went 10^th overall to the Edmonton Oilers.

“Every single night we were facing the other team’s top line and that’s something that helped me a lot,” Regula said.

Khan continues…

3. On Twitter:

Tag that friend you’re always waiting on…. #LGRW @meijer pic.twitter.com/04txtzZzGx

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 13, 2018

The Joy of Six (Seasons) ?? pic.twitter.com/wHwEbv3MBB

— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) July 12, 2018

According to the Grand Rapids Press’s Scott DeCamp, Red Wings forward Luke Witkowski will be taking part in a youth hockey camp next week in Holland, MI:

Witkowski will be among current and former pro hockey players who will be working the Great Lakes Hockey Camp July 16-20 at Griff’s IceHouse West in Holland.

Former Grand Rapids Griffins player Jared Nightingale, who played at Michigan State, will be the host of the camp.

The camp is for boys and girls ages 7-17. It will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

The camp will include two on-ice sessions with off-ice games and training, as well as video and discussion each day.

Cost is $480 per camper. The goalie fee is $100. To reserve a spot, go to the Great Lakes Hockey website at https://www.glakeshockey.com/holland. If you have questions, email glakeshockey@gmail.com.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner provides a profile of Red Wings prospect Lane Zablocki this morning, discussing Zablocki’s “numbers” from his 2017-18 season. Zablocki, who was traded twice during the 2017-18 season, needs to “find a home” to truly establish himself as a gritty forward with some offensive pop:

Quotable: “One of the pleasant surprises for me was I actually didn’t know before he came in how versatile he is as a forward. To give you an example, we started him on his strong side wing. We learned quickly he can play his off-side wing as well, more of a shooting winger, but in the playoffs when we had a few injuries at the center position he actually played center for us and did that very well. He’s strong in the face-off circle, he’s strong physically generally, which helps him be good down low and he’s very competitive, he’s really hard to play against. We were able to manufacture a center we didn’t know we had.

So that’s a real positive as a coach when you have a player you can move around at all three positions (who) can play anywhere on the ice and can have an impact offensively and defensively. It’s a real opportunity for him to grow (next season) and to demonstrate to Detroit what he can do, not just what he can do now, but what he could become, which is obviously such an important part of the evaluation from the pro team – ‘what will this player be in a few years?’ So with that speed and physicality that he brings, the versatility at all three positions and he’s also really good around the net and that’s obviously a big part of Detroit’s success in the past with people like (Tomas) Holmstrom as an example.

And with a person like Lane potentially a candidate for that type of role, whether it be junior, American League or NHL, I think that’s really exciting for Detroit.” – Dan Price, Victoria Royals head coach

Regner continues at length…