Author: George Malik

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS TO HOLD 2024 DEVELOPMENT CAMP AT LITTLE CAESARS ARENA JULY 1-5

  … Five-Day Camp Featuring Red Wings Prospects Returns to BELFOR Training Center …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today announced the schedule for their 2024 Development Camp, which returns to the BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena from July 1-5. The camp begins on Monday, July 1 and features on-ice skill development and off-ice workouts each day, ending with a three-on-three tournament on Friday, July 5.

The camp will be split into two teams – Team Howe and Team Lindsay – and will feature daily on-ice instruction and skill development from a team of coaches, led by the Red Wings player development staff. Attendees will also take part in NHL-level off-ice workouts and attend presentations designed to help players transition to professional hockey, while experiencing the state-of-the-art player amenities offered at Little Caesars Arena and receiving feedback from Red Wings coaches and management.

The Red Wings roster will be comprised primarily of players selected by Detroit over the last several NHL Drafts, as well as signed free agent prospects and undrafted free agent invitees from collegiate, junior or European leagues. The full roster for the 2024 Development Camp will be announced at a later date.

3-ON-3 TOURNAMENT TO BE STREAMED AT DETROITREDWINGS.COM

The three-on-three tournament will be streamed live on DetroitRedWings.com and on the Red Wings social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube) on Friday, July 5 starting at 8:30 a.m. The streams will feature exclusive interviews with Red Wings prospects and select members of the Red Wings front office staff – hosted by Red Wings radio voice Ken Kal and Red Wings TV’s Daniella Bruce. For in-depth coverage of Development Camp, visit www.DetroitRedWings.com/Prospects.

Good afternoon. I’m wanted to let you all know that we’re still at the $500 mark in terms of fundraising for me to rent a working vehicle (out of about $900-1,000 needed to actually rent a vehicle and pay the security deposit) for the purposes of attending the Red Wings’ summer development camp…

Which most likely starts tomorrow or Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.

Long story short, we’re facing a tremendous time crunch, so if you are able and/or willing to lend a hand, now’s the time to do it.

I haven’t missed a summer development camp since 2006, and I’d hate to miss this one, but it’s a very real possibility right now.

If you’re willing to help, here are the details: you can use Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”

As always, thank you for your readership and your time.

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted his list of potential unrestricted free agents for the Red Wings to target starting at 12 PM EDT tomorrow, and he includes one player that would be a dark-horse candidate, presuming that he would be willing to come to a rebuilding team:

Jonathan Marchessault, Vegas, RW/LW, 33 ($5 million): He’s an original Golden Knight, the franchise’s all-time leader in goals and points and the 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy winner. He’s coming off his most productive season (42 goals, 69 points in 82 games). Vegas has virtually no cap space, however. Yzerman, as Tampa Bay’s GM, traded for him in 2014 before he left as a free agent in 2016.

Continued; Again, I don’t know whether Marchessault would be willing to “step down” from a contender like the Golden Knights to a team in the middle of a rebuild, but he’s fast, he scores goals, and I’m sure that there will be 31 teams hot on his tail if he has to leave Las Vegas.

Update: The Athletic’s Max Bultman suggests that the Red Wings need a top-six winger as well:

Detroit hasn’t given up on trying to keep Patrick Kane, but whether it’s him or someone else, the Red Wings have a hole for a scoring forward high in the lineup. Kane was a big source of offense last season, so there is real incentive for Detroit to figure something out with the future Hall of Famer. If not him, perhaps Jonathan Marchessault or Steven Stamkos (if either make it to market) would be fits for a team that came close last season to snapping an eight-year playoff drought.  — Max Bultman

The Hockey News’s Jacob Stoller posted an article which discusses three possible destinations for Steven Stamkos, who’s going to test the free agent marketplace on Monday, and he includes the Red Wings in his list, alongside the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators.

I don’t really see Stamkos-to-Detroit happening, but stranger things have happened…

Coming off a collapse that saw Detroit lose its playoff spot and miss the post-season for an eighth straight year, GM Steve Yzerman ought to be feeling the pressure.

While the Red Wings have a decent core in Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, they still look like a mushy-middle team, even with a few tweaks here or there.

They need someone like Stamkos. And for a player who might be signing his last contract, depending on the term, the fit outside of hockey may be one of the most important things as well. Detroit is just four hours away from Stamkos’ off-season home in Toronto.

Detroit recently cleared up cap space when they traded Jake Walman to San Jose, leaving them with roughly $31.87 million in salary cap space — though the impending extensions to Raymond and Seider will shrink that figure. 

Continued; I would imagine that Steve Yzerman is always feeling pressure to some extent, but we’re working on his timeline to slowly build a playoff contender, not the other way around…

And if the Wings attempt to re-sign Patrick Kane, Shayne Gostisbehere and/or David Perron, I’m not certain that there would be salary cap room left to snag Stamkos on a cap-friendly deal. He’s also 34 as of July 1st, so there aren’t any 35-plus contract bonuses that could be squeezed in to reduce his cap hit.

From what the “insiders” are saying, I think that Carolina, Nashville or other places are much more likely landing spots for Stamkos, but again, one never knows, regardless of his relationship with Yzerman.

The Hockey Writers’ Tony Wolak posted a very comprehensive article setting out free agency targets for the Red Wings starting tomorrow at 12 PM EDT, and I honestly think that this part of his article is the most intriguing:

The Red Wings plan to deploy a checking line once again in 2024-25. Before doing so, they’ll need to sign a forward to skate alongside Andrew Copp and Michael Rasmussen. Their best options are:

William Carrier

Christian Fischer

Jack Roslovic

Yakov Trenin

Tyler Johnson

Carrier fits this role perfectly. He plays a chippy style and has a non-stop motor. He also won a Stanley Cup playing a shutdown role for the Vegas Golden Knights. 

In addition, Carrier can produce offensively as well. He ranked eighth among forwards with at least 200 minutes played in both HDCF/60 and iHDCF/60 at five on five. His 64.94% high-danger chance share at five on five ranked third in the league, too. Clearly, Carrier is not a one-trick pony.

Carrier will have lots of suitors, though. If he prices himself out of Detroit’s range, then the Red Wings should re-sign Christian Fischer to fill this role. He’s an outstanding organizational fit and had great chemistry with Copp and Rasmussen last year.

Jack Roslovic and Tyler Johnson are versatile options, having the ability to play both center and wing, plus contribute to the penalty kill. Roslovic’s speed would add an intriguing element to the checking line as well.

And finally, there’s Yakov Trenin, who would add some jam to the shutdown line. Think Klim Kostin, but more offense to his game. He hits everything that moves and is a relentless forechecker.

Wolak continues (really good stuff here); we forget that the Red Wings need to fill out their roster “down the lineup,” and Steve Yzerman said yesterday that he’s not willing to open up a top-9 spot for a prospect just to make room for the kids.

In my opinion, the Wings need as much speed and snarl as possible, and those “down the lineup” signings are always important in that regard.

The NHL’s 32 teams must submit contractual qualifying offers to their restricted free agents by 5 PM today in order to retain those players’ rights.

The players have every right to reject those QO’s and negotiate a higher salary, but no QO equals unrestricted free agency looming tomorrow at 12 PM EDT.

According to PuckPedia, which is going to be there for us after CapFriendly shuts down (and we should all thank the late Matthew Wuest for giving up CapFriendly), Detroit has 13 roster players signed, and approximately $31.87 million in salary cap space as of today.

The Wings’ restricted free agents include Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Joe Veleno and Jonatan Berggren…

And if I were to play devil’s advocate, I’d suggest that the Wings may very well let Veleno and/or Berggren walk. Veleno’s $825,000 salary is far from a millstone, and the same is true for Berggren’s $925,000, two-way deal…

But Veleno’s 24, and Berggren 23, and we heard rumblings that Berggren would be traded this past season.

At this point, with Marco Kasper, Nate Danielson, Carter Mazur and Elmer Soderblom knocking on the door, would you try to re-sign and/or trade Veleno and “Jonny Burgers,” or would you let them walk?

The Athletic’s Thomas Drance and Harman Dayal posted an article which discusses a slate of 10 “value buy” free agents, and they include Red Wings forward David Perron on their list…

Second-line winger

Name Brand Target (projected contract): Tyler Toffoli (3 years, $6.1 million)
Value Buy Target (projected contract): David Perron (1 year, $2.4 million)

Tyler Toffoli is one of the smartest offensive wingers in the sport.

What he might lack in foot speed, Toffoli makes up for with clever finishing, sneaky passing ability and a still extant ability to win battles and help his team control play five-on-five. He’s also a genuine power-play weapon, adept at the net front and has a long history of solid playoff performances, even if it didn’t go well for him in the postseason as a rental player with the Winnipeg Jets this spring.

In terms of production, Toffoli is a high-end second-line rate scorer five-on-five. And although he’s getting into his mid-30s now, is still a solid bet, even on a high value unrestricted free agent contract, to add punch to a good team’s top six.

David Perron is four years older and is unlikely to command as significant a contract or nearly as much term as Toffoli will. Where Toffoli is a high-end second-line rate scorer, Perron is a more standard second-line point producer, although he absolutely can still produce offense at a legitimate top-six level.

Like Toffoli, Perron’s foot speed has diminished with age. Perron, however, is still an absolute beast beneath the hashmarks and plays a small area game down low as well as anyone in the league.

Because of the 35-plus contract rules, the market may hesitate to give Perron the sort of term he probably should warrant coming off a near 50-point season with the Detroit Red Wings. What rival suitors may see as a concern, a discerning buyer should view as an opportunity. Perron still has the intelligence and heavy game to help good teams win games in a second-line role.

Continued, with Shayne Gostisbehere used as a “Name Brand Target”; I get the feeling that Perron might actually test the market. There has been chatter about a hometown reunion with the Canadiens, joining Craig Berube in Toronto, and several other suggestions that Perron might get a bigger payday somewhere other than Detroit.

It’s just a gut feeling, but, combined with the increase in penalties last season due to his declining foot speed (he had 55 minutes in penalties last year, which is about average, but he also took whole lot more obstruction and stick fouls), his increasing age has me wondering whether the Red Wings will be willing to give Perron the kind of dollars and term that a 17-goal, 47-point season might command during the “Free Agent Frenzy” (TM and Copyright TSN).

I hope he stays. He’s vocal and positive on the bench and in the room, he provides a wee bit of snarl and “piss and vinegar,” and he can still score (albeit a bit streakily). But Perron might be looking at his last career payday at 36 years of age, and I don’t know whether that payday will come in Detroit.

This is a neat little clip, provided by Red Wings Prospects on Twitter/X (a must-follow, really). The HockeyAllsvenskan, the Swedish pro league where Michael Brandsegg-Nygard played last season, posted a 1-and-a-half-minute-long video which highlights Brandsegg-Nygard’s shot and scoring abilities:

😤 @DetroitRedWings https://t.co/xgiPVM6eNG pic.twitter.com/NQJeV1Zkpj

— HockeyAllsvenskan (@hockeyallsvensk) June 30, 2024

Nice shot, young man.

Of Red Wings-related note on the last morning of June:

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted both a video of Red Wings assistant GM/director of amateur scouting Kris Draper speaking with the media, and she posted a subscriber-only article about the Wings‘ second–day-of-the-draft picks. Here’s a particularly good anecdote:

[Charlie] Forslund was the guy Draper ended up seeing on a fluke. He wanted to scout Dominik Badinka (who ended up being drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes at No. 34) when Andersson, the team’s director of European scouting, intervened.

“I was in Sweden, I was supposed to see Badinka play, and he ended up being a healthy scratch,” Draper said. “I was literally getting on the train to Gothenburg to go watch him play and I got the call from Håkan that, ‘Badinka is not playing; we’d like you to go see Charlie Forslund.’

“I don’t even know where I went. It might have been his hometown of Falun. It was deep in Sweden.”

Forslund played at the lower level, but he stood out for his good size (6-3, 212 pounds): “He can skate and he can really shoot the puck,” Draper said. “He scored a couple goals that game. We did a lot of background checking and you sit there, this could potentially be somebody that could be really good for us down the road.”

St. James continues (paywall);

Of late-night Red Wings-related note:

First, EP Rinkside’s fine David St-Louis and Mitch Brown issued 2024 NHL Draft grades for the NHL’s 32 teams, and, as has been the trend on Saturday, the Red Wings earned a “B-“:

Detroit Red Wings

Picks: Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (No. 15 overall), Max Plante (47), Ondřej Becher (80), Landon Miller (126), John Whipple (144), Charlie Forslund (176), Austin Baker (203), Fisher Scott (208)

Brandsegg-Nygård is a perfectly reasonable pick at 15th overall. He has the forechecking, physicality, shot, and speed to become a top-nine, puck-winning forward. It’s more the lack of variety in their prospect pool that concerns us.

Still, the Red Wings took some real swings in the draft. Plante has top-six potential because of his high-end playmaking, but the rest of his game must develop. Though Becher’s a double re-entry, he’s dynamic. If the skating improves, watch out. Foslund and Baker could both checking line forwards, too.

So while the Wings kept adding to the strengths of their strength, it’s tough to find too much fault in their work.

Grade: B-

The gentlemen continue;

And the Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari engaged in a thought experiment, attempting to discern the Red Wings’ tendencies and picks for this year’s draft. He actually went 2-for-8, which is impressive, landing on 15th overall pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and defenseman John Whipple, the Wings’ 144th overall pick, to the exact number at which Whipple was picked.

I like what Ferrari says about Brandsegg-Nygard, because the Red Wings definitely have a first-round “type of player” that they select, but it’s incorrect to suggest that the Wings draft the same player from a similar archetype: