Author: George Malik

The “Cam & Strick” podcast will have an interesting guest tomorrow:

Jimmy Howard is unanimous with Wings hockey, and he’s got the stories to back it up 🐙🧱 pic.twitter.com/0GG7volft0

— The Cam & Strick Podcast (@CamandStrick) August 5, 2024

Former Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser had to retire due to back issues, and today, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan reports that DeKeyser has been forced to sue the insurance company that’s handling disability payments regarding his career-ending injury:

Former Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser is suing HCC Life Insurance Company for $680,000 over disability payments.

The 15-page lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, accuses “a breach of the terms of a professional hockey player’s occupation-specific and sport disability insurance contract.”

“The purpose of this case is to compel Defendant HCC Life Insurance Company to provide certain long-term disability benefits in the amounts and at the coverage levels promised, as well as for an accounting, and an award of attorney fees and costs incurred as a consequence of Defendant’s failure to do so,” the lawsuit said.

DeKeyser, 34, from Macomb Township, joined the Wings in 2013 and played through the 2021-22 season.

Continued

Per an email from the Detroit Red Wings:

The biggest drop of the summer is about to happen and you know what that means… single-game tickets are about to go on sale!

Break out the calendars and get ready to score the best seats against your favorite opponents starting on Monday, August 12 at 10 a.m. EST!

A communication will be sent out with a ticket link prior to the start of the sale. Thank you as always and LET’S GO RED WINGS!

Of brief Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. We’ll all nod along to SI’s Jon Alfano’s list of “One move every Atlantic Division team must make,” even though he gives the Red Wings two to-do list items…

Detroit Red Wings: Detroit has two massive restricted free agents to sign in leading scorer Lucas Raymond and top defenseman Moritz Seider, and with $17.6 million in remaining cap space (according to PuckPedia), they should be able to get it done. The goalie trio of Ville Husso, Alex Lyon and free agent pickup Cam Talbot is also cause for concern, but that issue probably requires an internal solution.

2. Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon does not have much faith in the Red Wings improving this upcoming season. He suggests that fans should “sell” in terms of buying or not believing that the NHL’s rebuilding teams will improve in 2024-2025:

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted an article in which Christian Fischer discusses the reasons why he re-signed with the Red Wings after briefly testing the unrestricted free agent marketplace.

Fischer explains his self-belief and his hopes that the Red Wings make the playoffs this upcoming season:

“I pride myself a lot with how I’ve gotten to where I am, how I got into this league and how I’ve sustained my career,” Fischer said. “A big emphasis is just playing the right way. I probably do it as a service to myself and I’m sure my agent would agree. Point total, that’s obviously a huge thing in contract stuff, but I pride myself on being a really good teammate, always showing up and working my ass off.”

That attitude is a big reason why the Red Wings re-signed Fischer, according to Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman.

“He’s a very popular player on our team,” Yzerman said about Fischer. “He’s very versatile on the ice. His character, personality and the role he’s going to play on our team are the biggest factors in bringing him back.”

As outgoing as he is competitive, Fischer helped Detroit finish last season with its most wins (41) and points (91) since 2015-16. He said the Red Wings are more determined than ever to improve this season after just missing out on the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“I don’t think anyone was too happy with how things shook out (last season),” Fischer said. “As athletes and hockey players, every returning guy probably has a little bit more motivation this summer to take that next step. Whatever it may be, just to improve your game. It doesn’t get any closer than coming down to a tiebreaker.”

Continued; Fischer is far from a superstar player, but good foot soldiers are incredibly important to teams, too. Fischer fills an enthusiastic grinder’s spot while giving his best effort 100% of the time, and that level of commitment is necessary in order to build a winning team.

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the Red Wings’ decision to allow Axel Sandin Pellikka to develop at home in Sweden this upcoming season.

There’s a certain percentage of the fan base that’s pretty miffed that ASP will be spending another season with Skelleftea AIK, but the 19-year-old defenseman told Khan that he’s looking forward to spending one final season in the SHL…

“It’s nice to be home another year,” Sandin Pellikka said last month at Red Wings development camp. “I know the coaches well. I know my teammates well. We have a good team. We’re going to go for the gold next year (at the World Juniors) So, stay home and develop for another year.”

And Red Wings assistant director of player development Daniel Cleary explained why the team believes that Sandin Pellikka will benefit from playing with Skelleftea this upcoming season instead of attempting to break into the Grand Rapids Griffins’ stacked defense:

“Axel is probably one of Sweden’s most important players on defense,” Danny Cleary, Red Wings assistant director of player development, said. “It’s hard for a defenseman to play (in Grand Rapids). He’s going to play quite a bit in Skelleftea, they’re going to have a good team, he’s going to run the power play. He’s going to play quite a bit with the puck.

“Axel is a very smart player. He moves well. We just don’t see the harm in it (staying in Sweden). No sense rushing him. We got a pretty good D in Grand Rapids. Got a couple D graduating, but we have some good players still down there. Not to say Axe couldn’t come over and play in Grand Rapids, no problem, but Skelleftea is a real good development place, it’s a good league, it’s a good city, well run. Axe will be back in Ottawa at the World Juniors again (this year). He’s a really talented player.”

Continued (paywall); Sandin Pellikka will be developing under the watchful eyes of director of player development Niklas Kronwall, Vice-President of hockey operations Nicklas Lidstrom, and even Henrik Zetterberg, who works with the Red Wings from time to time in an informal capacity.

ASP really will run Skelleftea’s power play, he’s going to be playing for another season against men, and he’ll work on filling out that 5’11,” 185-pound frame. At this point, the pluses of spending one more season in Sweden out-weigh the pluses of ASP playing in North America. Sometimes the best road to the NHL isn’t a direct one.

The fact that ASP can develop alongside Michael Brandsegg-Nygard is just the cherry on top of the cake.

Alex Wood on YouTube posted a 36-minute clip which illustrates the 3-plus goal comebacks in which the Red Wings managed to earn a tie or an overtime loss.

It’s a follow-up to a video in which Wood posted the Red Wings’ wins in which they trailed by 3 or more goals.

The Kronen Zeitung out of Austria is usually paywalled, but MSN Start posted an article about Marco Kasper that snuck past the paywall. The article’s author, Marcel Santer, reports that Kasper has gained two kilograms’ worth of muscle mass–and that he’s going to participate in Olympic qualifying play for Austria at the end of this month.

Here’s a rough translation of the German-language article:

Two kilos more! Kasper works hard for his NHL Dream

Marco Kasper played in one NHL game for the Detroit Red Wings in April of 2023, but he spent the past season with the Grand Rapids Griffins farm team. In order to be able to show off in Detroit’s training cam pin September, the 20-year-old is training hard–and has already gained two kilos of muscle. Before that, however, he will take part in Olympic qualifying with Austria.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted an article which discusses the potential performances of three Red Wings who’ve scored 30-plus goals in the past. Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Vladimir Tarasenko have all exceeded the 30-goal mark in past campaigns, but none of the trio scored 30 this past season.

As such, Duff wonders aloud whether any or all of the veterans will hit 30+ this upcoming season, noting that Kane’s hip resurfacing surgery and Tarasenko’s status as a 32-year-old may diminish their chances of scoring as they once did:

Both captain Dylan Larkin (33 goals) and winger Lucas Raymond (31) topped the 30-goal plateau last season. Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko are the others to go over 30 goals during an NHL season. All of them have achieved this milestone several times.

The thing is, for all of them, it’s been a minute or so since it happened. That being the case, are the Red Wings putting too much hope into past performances?

Is it wise, or even likely for that matter, to be expecting Kane, DeBrincat and Tarasenko to return to what they once were in terms of goal scoring? And if they fail to bring that type of output back to the future, how might it impact the chances of the Red Wings ending their eight-season playoff drought?

Continued; I hate to count anybody out in terms of return-to-form performances. Is it possible that Kane and DeBrincat and Tarasenko all hit 30 goals, or score more than that?

Probably not, but explaining all the reasons why somebody won’t be able to do something makes me cringe a bit.

FloHockey.tv’s Chris Peters and the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton attended the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI last week.

Both Peters and Stockton offered post-event notebooks regarding the performances of the Team USA players (in Peters’ case) and Red Wings prospects (in Stockton’s case) who participated in the event.

Peters’ first notebook article focused on the forwards which Team USA Blue and Team USA White employed, including Red Wings 2024 draft pick Max Plante…

Max Plante, LW (DET): I thought Plante had a great camp and put himself on the map as a potential option. He was given looks with some of USA’s most skilled players on the power play, putting him in the bumper position. Plante was a natural and was able to facilitate from the middle of the ice. On top of that, I think Plante was moving with quickness and showed his smarts with the puck on his stick. He looks like he has a chance to be a secondary scoring and power-play option for USA at the World Juniors provided he keeps this going in the first half of the season at Minnesota Duluth.

Peters’ second notebook article focused on Team USA White and Team USA Blue’s defensemen and goaltenders, including Red Wings 2024 draft pick D John Whipple, and 2023 draft pick and goaltender Trey Augustine…