Author: George Malik

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRIFFINS SIGN BECHER, ALEXANDER REASSIGNED TO GRAND RAPIDS

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Detroit Red Wings on Saturday reassigned goaltender Gage Alexander to the Grand Rapids Griffins from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. In addition, the Griffins signed right wing Ondrej Becher(AWN-dray BEHK-uhr) to an amateur tryout.  

Last season, Alexander appeared in 19 outings with the Tulsa Oilers (ECHL) and showed a 5-8-1 record with one shutout to go along with a 3.76 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage. Alexander competed in 16 AHL games with the San Diego Gulls during the 2022-23 campaign and logged a 5-7-3 ledger with a 3.59 GAA and a .887 save percentage. Throughout his three-year pro career, the Okotoks, Alberta, native has a 11-19-4 mark with two shutouts to go along with a 3.67 GAA. Prior to turning pro, Alexander spent four seasons in the WHL from 2019-23 and totaled a 33-16-6 record with a 2.81 GAA and a .902 save percentage. Alexander was selected with the 148th overall pick by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

Becher, the 80th overall pick by the Red Wings in the most recent NHL Entry Draft, posted career-high numbers in goals (32), assists (64), points (96), and plus-minus rating (+38) in 58 games with the Prince George Cougars of the WHL last season. During the 2023-24 campaign, the 20-year-old ranked 13th in the WHL in points and ninth in assists. In two seasons in the WHL from 2022-24, Becher recorded 134 points (48-86—134) and a plus-69 rating in 121 appearances. He also suited up for his home country of Czechia at the 2024 World Junior Championship, showing 10 points (3-7—10) in seven outings en route to claiming a bronze medal. Becher competed for Team Czechia at the 2022 U18 World Junior Championship and registered two goals in six games. Prior to coming to North America in 2022, Becher spent parts of two seasons in the Czechia2 league, Czechia’s second tier of pro hockey, and contributed three points (2-1—3) in 19 outings. Becher spent his youth career split between HC Poruba and AZ Havirov in Czechia.

The Red Wings held their morning skate ahead of tonight’s rematch with the Buffalo Sabres (7 PM EDT start on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit/97.1 FM), and with Tyler Motte out, the only change in the Wings’ lineup will be Erik Gustafsson in for Justin Holl (per the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton).

The Sabres didn’t hold a morning skate after last night’s 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders, but Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will be tonight’s goaltender, and it sounds like the Sabres are going to make lineup changes as they hope to snap a 2-game losing streak.

After the morning skate, Alex DeBrincat and coach Derek Lalonde spoke with the media:

Updated at 11:04 AM: This one is going to be tricky. The Detroit Red Wings (4-5-and-1) will be taking on the Buffalo Sabres (4-6-and-2) this evening (7 PM EDT start on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit/97.1 FM), and both teams come into the game on losing streaks.

Detroit is 0-2-and-1 in its past three games; Buffalo has lost 2 in a row, most recently dropping a 4-3 decision to the New York Islanders last night.

The Red Wings will be revenge-minded after dropping a 5-3 decision to Buffalo last Saturday, but the Sabres are plain old pissed off after last night’s loss, as BuffaloSabres.com’s Jourdon LaBarber’s game preview suggests:

The Sabres opened the scoring with a power-play goal from Dylan Cozens and received a Gordie Howe hat trick from Jason Zucker (a goal, an assist, and a fight), but defensive miscues added up for the second loss in a row.

“I think we had too many mental mistakes,” Zucker said. “Gave them chances off of plays we shouldn’t have, forwards not covering for D. Too many little mental lapses. … Against a team like that that plays stingy defense with a big D corps, it’s hard to create offense. So, if you keep giving them two-goal leads, it’s going to be hard to come back.”

As far as tonight’s game is concerned, LaBarber, Buffalo Hockey Beat’s Bill Hoppe and WGR 550’s Paul Hamilton all suggest that there will be changes to the Sabres’ lineup from last night’s game, but they’re not going to hold a morning skate after traveling to Detroit overnight, so we can expect an Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in goal, and an update from coach Lindy ruff at 4:45 PM (per LaBarber).

There’s also this from Field Level Media’s game preview:

Following the Saturday contest, the Red Wings play six of their next seven games on the road. The Sabres will play four of the ensuing five games at home.

The Sabres’ PR department does a nice job of setting up tonight’s game via Tweet…

Tage Thompson is riding a six-game point streak (5+5) against Detroit and he has registered 18 points (8+10) in his last 10 games against the Red Wings. pic.twitter.com/RxC7C8Ria5

— Buffalo Sabres PR (@SabresPR) November 2, 2024

Ken Kal posted the game sheet on Twitter…

Good Morning fans! Here are tonight’s rosters to chew on. There will be scratches. Goes good with a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, Tater Tots, and a Genny Cream Ale. Catch the game at 6:45pm ⁦@971theticketxyt⁩ pic.twitter.com/ijSYTRXis5

— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) November 2, 2024

You can read the rest of the game notes here…

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins on Twitter:

UPDATE: The Red Wings reassigned goaltender Carter Gylander to the @ToledoWalleye from the Griffins. In addition, the Griffins released left wing Trenton Bliss from his professional tryout, returning him to the @ToledoWalleye #GoGRG

DETAILS >> https://t.co/yZSF5MYsZr pic.twitter.com/aKdwAF8u9Z

— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) November 2, 2024

Here’s the press release:

The Athletic asked its NHL beat writers to discuss the “biggest concern” facing each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams one month into the NHL season, and Max Bultman picked a familiar one for the Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings

A lack of offensive zone time: There are a lot of concerns accompanying Detroit’s 4-5-1 start, but this is the one that sums them all up best. Detroit just hasn’t spent enough time in its opponent’s end. According to data from NHL EDGE, the Red Wings have played just 37.3 percent of the time in the offensive zone, the lowest percentage in the league. That stat is likely a symptom of multiple issues, including getting hemmed into their own zone too often and flaws with the team’s forecheck, but it sums up Detroit’s offensive woes accurately. The Red Wings knew they lost a lot of offense this summer and that it would be hard to replace, but they’re not even really giving themselves a chance to do so. — Max Bultman

Continued; the Wings’ players discussed their desire to increase their offensive “pop” with both DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills and MLive’s Ansar Khan on Friday, so they’re at least aware of the problem.

From the Detroit Red Wings comes this 2-minute clip offering the Red Wings’ “Hardest-Working Plays of the Month” of October:

Shutouts, a shorty & more! 🚨

Check out our Hardest Working Plays of the Month, presented by @carhartt! ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/qYTiw9PAE9

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 1, 2024

According to DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills, the Red Wings’ leadership corps believes that the team needs to improve its self-confidence in order to succeed in November:

“It’s guys wanting the puck on their stick and feeling confident to make plays,” [Dylan] Larkin said after practice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center on Friday morning. “I think we have to build that. We have guys like myself that can do it and want the puck on their stick. It’s just confidence individually, as a team and when we walk into any building on any night, we have confidence that we’re going to win that game.”

Patrick Kane agreed “100 percent” with Larkin.

“I think we’ve had stretches and periods where we’ve played fearless, and took it to some of these teams,” Kane said. “That’s the way you got to play in this league. You can’t think about making a mistake. That mistake is probably going to happen. You got to play with some swagger and fearlessness. Try to take it to some of these teams, stay on the attack and stay aggressive. I think when we do that, we’ve shown we’re a pretty good team.”

Building confidence isn’t an overnight thing, hence why Larkin and Kane both pointed to the Red Wings’ ability to maintain possession in the offensive zone as a way of taking off some pressure defensively.

Per NHL EDGE, at even strength, Detroit is spending 44.2 percent of its time in the defensive zone compared to 37.3 percent in the offensive zone and 18.5 in the neutral zone this season.

“When we get into that O-zone, we have a lot of players that can make plays, create some time and space, and capitalize on those opportunities,” Kane said. “We’ve done it throughout the season, just not consistent enough. It’s something we’re talking about every day and trying to build on.”

Continued

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren today, addressing Berggren’s no-goals statistic after having played in ten games:

It’s 10 games into the regular-season schedule and Berggren still has a zero in the goals column. As a matter of fact, Berggren only has one point, an assist, so he wouldn’t mind getting all the offense up and going.

“But that’s hockey,” Berggren said. “Sometimes you play real bad and have three points that night, but then you play real good and the puck doesn’t want to go in.”

Berggren is confident things will break here soon. He’s had some prime goal-scoring opportunities and, most of all, he’s also been creating offensive chances for linemates. If that continues, Berggren is confident the offense will happen.

“As long as offense (opportunities) are there, I’m not worried,” he said. “It will (happen) sooner or later. It’ll come. But of course, everybody wants to score a couple already.”

Not being waiver eligible anymore Berggren, 24, made the opening night roster and is getting his first real full-time opportunity in the lineup. He’s been up and down the lineup, had a role on the power play, and played a season-high 15 minutes, 43 seconds in Wednesday’s loss to Winnipeg. Though the goals aren’t there, Berggren ranks well within the Wings’ lineup in many of the underlying metrics.

“That’s a positive,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “That’s him creating.”

Continued (paywall)

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde, forward Patrick Kane and defenseman Moritz Seider regarding the wide disparity in shots-for versus shots-against over the Red Wings’ first 10 games.

As Khan suggests, the Red Wings need to generate far more shots on opposing teams’ goaltenders while surrendering fewer shots against:

“I think we can get more pucks on net,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “I think the volume creates a trickle effect. We’ve had opportunities to get shots from the point, but I think sometimes it feels low percentage and so they pass up or they try to make a different play. But it’s usually the recovery of that shot that leads to that trickle effect. I’m talking about what we call the shot scramble, where you can get pucks to the net and then you have purpose in recovering it and it sets up a little bit more and it’s hard to defend.”

Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko are noticeably below their career shooting averages. Kane, who has one shot in the past three games, is averaging 1.6 for the season (3.29 career, 2.94 last season). Tarasenko is averaging 1.44 shots, about half his career average (3.02).

“It’s not spending as much time in our end,” Kane said. “Get to the net a little more, get some quicker decisions from the point, some shots through and hopefully get some traffic and shots that way. You’re not always thinking about shots, but sometimes when you can put more pucks to the net, you’ll give yourself a better chance to score. Even for myself, sometimes you come into the zone and you’re trying to look for the next-best play. Sometimes things open up a little more when you have that shoot-first mentality and you can see something after that.”

Continued

The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari included the Red Wings in a set of “Sour Rankings” which highlight the bottom ten teams in the NHL, and Ferrari expresses concern about the Wings’ very mediocre 4-5-and-1 start:

Detroit Red Wings, 4-5-1, 9 points, 450 P%

How are you still here as well, Detroit? The Red Wings were everyone’s sweetheart last season. A group of veterans were thrown together with some young players in an unconventional rebuild that had some ups and downs. But they managed to stay in the playoff race until virtually the very last second. 

This year, the team is struggling to look functional consistently.

The good news is Lucas Raymond looks like he’s a star. Moritz Seider continues to prove he’s a pillar to build around on the back end. Simon Edvinsson has been impressive in his first extended stint in the NHL. They’ve received good goaltending from Cam Talbot (.913 SP) and Alex Lyon (.916). 

The rest of the roster hasn’t pulled their weight, though. Even typically reliable veterans, such as Dylan Larkin and Patrick Kane, have been inconsistent. 

The Red Wings have a path to improvement, but they need to get their acts together quickly. 

Continued; it’s hard to argue with Ferrari, and coach Lalonde mentioned that Larkin is among the players who need to step up yesterday (though he has a lot of company at this point), so there’s that…

I’m not panicking over the Red Wings’ difficult start, but if they don’t get their acts together over the course of the next 13 November games, heads will have to roll, in terms of both player personnel and coaching staffs.