Author: George Malik

According to Hockey Sense/Daily Faceoff’s Chris Peters, Red Savage escaped supplementary discipline for his hit on Finland’s Joakim Kemell during the U.S.-Finland exhibition game:

Via USA coach Nate Leaman: Ty Smilanic (FLA) is officially ruled out tonight, status for the rest of the tournament will be better known tomorrow. No supplemental discipline for Red Savage (DET) after his ejection for elbowing in pre-tournament game.— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) December 26, 2021

Leaman also said the U.S. will go with 13 forwards and 7 defensemen in the opener. They did run 12 and eight at times last tournament, but felt 13-7 is a better balance for this group.— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) December 26, 2021

FYI:

NHL/NHLPA working on COVID roster protection, including: Optional use of taxi-squad through All-Star; emergency call-ups as long as player is making no more than $1M; and freedom to add a goalie if a club has less than 2 healthy due to the virus.— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 26, 2021

There are some rules on who is eligible for a taxi squad, including clearing of waivers and time spent on an NHL roster.— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 26, 2021

The NHL has temporarily reintroduced the Taxi Squad system between today and the All-Star break.

Attached are some of the important rules that we have been made aware of so far. pic.twitter.com/TQ4LoycY36— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) December 26, 2021

Per the Red Wings, there are eight Wings prospects participating in the World Junior Championship this year in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta…

Good luck to our eight #RedWings prospects competing in the 2022 #WorldJuniors!#LGRW pic.twitter.com/MUHymp25g8

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 26, 2021

And, as MLive’s Tyler Kuehl notes, all four games today–Finland vs. Germany at 2 PM EST, Russia vs. Sweden at 4:30 PM EST, USA vs. Slovakia at 7 PM EST, and Canada vs. Czechia at 9:30 PM EST will all include Red Wings prospects.

The games will air on the NHL Network in the U.S., TSN in Canada, and…alternate services online.

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The American Hockey League on Sunday announced that the Grand Rapids Griffins’ away game scheduled for Monday, Dec. 27 against the Cleveland Monsters has been postponed due to league COVID-19 protocols affecting the Monsters. A make-up date has not yet been determined.

The Griffins will return to action this Friday, Dec. 31 when they host the Milwaukee Admirals at 6 p.m. for the 24th Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration.

Get healthy, Cleveland.

I know this news from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen will disappoint some Wings fans, but it’s what I expected given that Team Canada tends to defer its netminding decisions toward the oldest players on the team–and Dylan Garand is the oldest Team Canada netminder at 19:

Coach Dave Cameron chose Dylan Garand over Detroit Red Wings prospect Sebastian Cossa for Canada’s opening  game against the Czechs at the World Junior Championships (7 p.m., NHL Network).

TSN’s Mark Masters wrote New York Rangers’ prospect Garand  “has a real chance to run with the job.” 

“Generally, guys don’t get benched for [good] play,” Cameron said. “He’s got the net and he’s going to want to keep it.”

It’s disappointing for Red Wings fans wanting to watch the 6-foot-7 Sebastian Cossa in net for Canada. He was the 15th overall pick in last summer’s draft. Garand was a fourth rounder in 2020.

Defenseman Donovan Sebrango, a Red Wings’ prospect, will play for Canada against the Czechs. Red Wings prospect goalie Jan Bednar may play for the Czechs. They plan to rotate goalies.

Continued; Cossa will still serve as Canada’s back-up, and he’ll gain experience and knowledge while getting in a couple of games on back-to-backs during the “round robin” portion of the tournament.

The Hockey News’s Rachel Doerrie and Tony Ferrari picked a World Junior Championship-participating player who belongs to each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams who are worth watching, and their pick for the Red Wings is a good one:

Detroit Red Wings – D Simon Edvinsson: While Canadian netminder Sebastian Cossa easily fits the bill for this exercise, it will be the Red Wings’ top pick last summer that fans should be watching. He has been absolutely delightful at the SHL level this season and his game has begun to round out the way everyone in the prospect world had hoped. Whether it’s defensively or offensively, Edvinsson will very likely be the Swedes’ best blueliner.

Continued; at the present moment, Cossa will probably back up Canadian starting goaltender Dylan Garand, so Edvinsson should be the Wings’ resident minute-munching defenseman at the WJC.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a primer of sorts, explaining where things stand for the Red Wings amidst an NHL “pause“:

The Detroit Red Wings come out of the Christmas break with the NHL still sorting through the mess created by the pandemic.

Teams can return to practice — and COVID-19 testing — at 2 p.m. local time Sunday. The Wings have been shut down since Dec. 19, when a rising number of team personnel testing positive made fielding a competitive lineup unsustainable.

The league-wide holiday break began Dec. 22, two days ahead of schedule. At that time, 50 games had been postponed. Monday’s games — including the Wings playing at the New York Rangers — also have been postponed, bringing the total games needing rescheduling to 64.

In addition to Monday’s game, the Wings had two other games postponed: At home Dec. 20 against the Colorado Avalanche, and Dec. 23 at the Minnesota Wild. Their next scheduled game is Wednesday at the New York Islanders — but that could change. The NHL is expected to provide an update on its return-to-play plans by the end of Sunday.

Continued

Red Wings prospect Simon Edvinsson spoke with Aftonbladet’s Simon Holm earlier today regarding Sweden’s World Junior Championship team’s Christmas celebrations at their hotel in Red Deer, Alberta. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirms: It’s Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Enjoy the day— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 25, 2021

So the Red Wings have Christmas wishes for you…

From our family to yours — Merry Christmas, #RedWings fans! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/T7n20Cvy4o— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 25, 2021

And in the “my favorite present as a kid” category, Mitchell Stephens is a little too excited about “toiletries and underwear” for his own good:

??? pic.twitter.com/o4W5B9gBce— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 25, 2021

Merry Christmas, gang.

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe has posted a Christmas Day column which discusses the Toledo Walleye’s Winterfest activities at Fifth Third Field in Toledo:

From remembering legends of the past to honoring its outdoor roots, Winterfest has become a tremendous celebration of Toledo hockey.

The 18-day event centered around an outdoor rink constructed on the Mud Hens’ baseball diamond continues this week. A Toledo Hockey Hall of Fame ceremony will be held on Wednesday and an alumni game pitting former Detroit Red Wings greats against Toledo’s legends will be held on Thursday.

Mickey Redmond, the beloved Red Wings television color commentator who also played for Detroit for six seasons, will play in the alumni game at 6:30 Thursday night.

“I’m looking forward to being in the great hockey town of Toledo and seeing all the Winterfest activities. It doesn’t get any better than that,” Redmond said.

The Walleye were the first ECHL organization to ever hold an outdoor game in 2014-15 and seven years later enthusiasm for the sequel has only grown. The Walleye will once again play two outdoor games. Toledo hosts Kalamazoo on Sunday and will take on Indy on Dec. 31 — the first New Year’s Eve game in the organization’s history.

“During the recruiting process, Winterfest was a selling point to potential players,” Walleye coach Dan Watson said. “As a staff, we are excited and we’re looking forward to playing at Fifth Third Field.”

Continued