The IIHF’s website asked Andrew Podnieks to compile an article consisting of “stats for an off-day,” and he offered this regarding Red Wings prospect and Team Sweden captain Axel Sandin Pellikka:

Swedish defender and top Detroit prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka is from a small town in Sweden called Gallivare. It is 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle and is situated at a latitude of 67 degrees. To put that into perspective, Iqaluit in Canada’s Far North is less than 64 degrees! Anyone who says Sandin Pellikka has ice in his veins is perhaps more correct than he knows.

For what it’s worth, here’s tomorrow’s Quarterfinal schedule:

Germany vs. Kazakhstan 11 AM EST;

Sweden vs. Latvia, 12 PM EST on the NHL Network and TSN

USA vs. Switzerland 2:30 PM on the NHL Network and TSN

Finland vs. Slovakia 5 PM on the NHL Network and TSN

Czechia vs. Canada 7:30 PM on the NHL Network and TSN1

The Detroit Red Wings will attempt to build upon their 2-game winning streak (including last night’s 4-2 victory over Pittsburgh) when they play the Columbus Blue Jackets tomorrow night (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/FanDuel SportsNet Ohio/97.1 FM), but Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reports that the Wings won’t have an easy task:

Coach Todd McLellan’s squad is on the road Thursday in Columbus for a 7 p.m. game (FanDuel Sports Network) against the improved Blue Jackets. The Columbus squad, with Don Waddell as GM, is 12-4-3 at home. The Blue Jackets (16-16-6) are only two points out of a playoff spot.

Columbus is coming off a 3-2 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, and they’ve won 3 of their past 4 games, and are 4-1-and-1 in their past 6 games.

Coach McLellan gave the Red Wings’ players a New Year’s present–a 2 PM practice, as MLive’s Ansar Khan reported:

#RedWings practice before visiting Columbus tomorrow (7, ⁦@FanDuelSN_DET⁩)
Veleno-Larkin-Raymond
DeBrincat-Copp-Kane
Berggren-Compher-Tarasenko
Rasmussen-Kasper-Motte/Fischer
Chiarot-Seider
Edvinsson-Petry
Gustafsson-Holl/Johansson
Lyon/Talbot pic.twitter.com/bMR3GzzIf6

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 1, 2025

New year, same lines at today’s practice:
Veleno-Larkin-Raymond
DeBrincat-Copp-Kane
Berggren-Compher-Tarasenko
Rasmussen-Kasper-Motte/Fischer

Chiarot-Seider
Edvinsson-Petry
Johansson/Gustafsson-Holl pic.twitter.com/oWXapd3Ydl

— Sam Stockton (@_samstockton) January 1, 2025

On a line rush, Tarasenko was way offside. A surprised McLellan blows his whistle. “Vladdy, you’re offside.’ They do it again. Attention to detail. #RedWings

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 1, 2025

A smaller small area game than they’ve played before. #RedWings pic.twitter.com/ya8FeTyWJt

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 1, 2025

As previously noted, Red Wings prospect and Team USA goaltender Trey Augustine stopped 38 of 39 shots against as Team USA won a 4-1 decision over Canada last night at the World Junior Championship in Ottawa, but Augustine deferred most of the credit for his win to his teammates and goalie coach.

Today, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen wonders aloud whether the Michigan State University sophomore might sign with the Red Wings at the end of his college season:

The Red Wings drafted Augustine in the second round in the 2023 draft, and they view him among their top prospects. He hasn’t given any indication of when he will turn professional, but it is plausible that he would sign with Detroit after his college season.

With the NHL now moving toward a more even split of goalie starts, the Red Wings could be thinking of a future with both Sebastian Cossa and Augustine both on their roster.

This is Cossa’s third professional season, and South Lyon native Augustine likely will follow a similar plan. The Red Wings also have former Colgate goalie Carter Gylander in their minor league system. They also like his potential.

I’m going to politely disagree with Mr. Allen here. With Sebastian Cossa, Carter Gylander, Gage Alexander and Griffins-contracted goaltender Jan Bednar in the system, Jack Campbell and Ville Husso serving as Cossa’s back-ups in GR, Cam Talbot on a 2-year contract and Alex Lyon presumably looking to stay in Detroit…

That’s a lot of goalies, and I feel that the Wings are going to have to sort out their prospect pipeline before handing the reins over to Cossa and Augustine in Grand Rapids on a full-time basis.

ESPN’s Rachel Doerrie posted an Insider-only column which discusses her “standout prospects” from the preliminary round of the World Junior Championship, and Axel Sandin Pellikka makes her list:

Axel Sandin-Pellikka

The Swedish defenseman has been a shining light on an impressive Swedish team through the round-robin. An opening day hat trick certainly put the tournament on notice that the Swedish captain came to avenge last year’s silver medal finish.

The Detroit Red Wings first-rounder has been outstanding for Sweden, playing major minutes, averaging two points and 6.25 shots per game through the round-robin. A driving force for Sweden from the blue line, Sandin-Pellikka is leading the way for the tournament’s best defenseman award heading into the medal round, and will be a key piece if Sweden are to medal.

Not only is Sandin-Pellikka leading the tournament in points, but he’s also leading in goals and is a plus-7 through the round-robin. He’s impacting the game offensively and defensively, driving play and tilting the ice in Sweden’s favor whenever he’s on.

The smooth-skating offensive dynamo looks every bit the part of a future power-play quarterback in Detroit.

Continued (paywall); Sandin Pellikka took a hooking penalty which led to a penalty shot for the Czechs last night, so he’s going to have to “clamp down” (no pun intended) on his discipline in tomorrow’s Quarterfinal vs. Latvia (12 PM EST start on the NHL Network/TSN).

Update: FloHockey’s Chris Peters also weighed in on Sandin Pellikka’s play:

Axel Sandin-Pellikka, D, Sweden (DET)

Last year’s defenseman of the tournament looks like he wants to defend the title. The Swedish blueliner is in his third World Junior Championship and is tied for the tournament lead in scoring with eight points. He had a hat trick in Sweden’s opener against Slovakia and has poured an astonishing 25 shots on goal in this tournament. He’s Sweden’s captain and their most experienced player and has looked every bit of it. His skill, his decision-making and his ability to play at both ends has really shone in this tournament.

Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider penned a blog entry for NHL.com/de, and he shared his take on the Red Wings’ coaching change and the Wings’ first two games under Todd McLellan:

Seider’s Blog: We didn’t expect a coaching change

Detroit’s German defenseman writes exclusively about his turbulent Christmas days and his surprising personality

Moritz Seider, the German defenseman of the Detroit Red Wings, will share his views of things for this season with fans in an exclusive monthly blog on NHL.com/de.

In the December issue: new momentum needed with new coach

At Christmas I was in a new situation, because I was alone with my girlfriend for the first time in a while. We drove up north to Lake Michigan and found a nice little hotel in Bay Harbour. We comfortably spent three days off there. We had also thought about a trip to New York before, but we were happy in the end that we didn’t choose the hustle and bustle there. We were right on the lake, and everything was snowy and we had a small fireplace in the room. It was super relaxing, we could let ourselves relax a little away from hockey and recharge our batteries.

NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman posted a story about Red Wings prospect Trey Augustine’s 38-save performance in Team USA’s 4-1 win over Canada last night at the World Junior Championship in Ottawa:

The victory allowed the U.S. to clinch the top spot in Group A and advance to a quarterfinal game against Switzerland on Thursday (2:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5).

“Made the timely saves the guys needed, and they obviously helped me out too,” Augustine said. “I just thought it was a good team win.”

It was a good team win because Augustine was able to move past the struggles he had in his first two games. He allowed four goals on 22 shots in a 10-4 win against Germany in the tournament opener Dec. 26, and four goals on 44 shots in a 4-3 overtime loss to Finland on Sunday.

He had allowed seven goals in four games to help the U.S. win the gold medal at the 2024 WJC.

“He was dynamic tonight,” U.S. coach David Carle said. “The one (goal) they get on him, it’s a wide open net at the end of a [penalty kill] where he’s been pretty good on it. He was lights out. Really happy for him and proud of his effort, his ability to respond from the first two games because he’s his own hardest critic. For him to bounce back like that was big time.”

Continued

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a list of the top 25 players of the 2000’s (thus far), and he includes two career-long Red Wings on his list:

7. Pavel Datsyuk: Listen, there’s only one guy on this list whose name became an adjective this century and that is the sublime Detroit Red Wings centre who could steal the puck from an opponent in the Wings zone, head up ice, then juke around a defender with a “Datsykian” maneuver to bring everybody in Joe Louis Arena out of their seats. If we could quantify the amount of times an NHLer made other guys from the world’s best league just shake their heads, Datsyuk and Connor McDavid are probably the co-winners. Datsyuk won the Selke Trophy three straight years, from 2008 through 2010, then finished third in voting for each of the next three years. He also collected four consecutive Lady Byngs from 2006 to 2009. In four seasons from 2005-06 to 2008-09, Datsyuk recorded more points (368) than everybody except Sidney Crosby (397), Alex Ovechkin (420) and Joe Thornton (421). Basically, that means he was, for an extended period, simultaneously the best defensive forward in hockey and one of the absolute best offensive players. He was a rookie on the loaded Wings team that claimed the 2002 Cup and driving force on the one that won again in 2008 and lost the 2009 final to Pittsburgh.

…

4. Nick Lidstrom: Like Brodeur, Lidstrom did not win any individual hardware in the 1990s. Then he made it rain in the 2000s. The gifted defenceman won six Norris Trophies in a seven-year period, beginning in 2001. He then claimed a seventh at age 40 in 2011 after his second-last NHL campaign. Only Bobby Orr’s eight Norris wins exceed Lidstrom’s career total. In 2002, Lidstrom became the first European to win the Conn Smythe. Six years later, after Detroit’s second championship this century, in 2008, he became the first European captain on a Cup-winning club. From 1999-2000 through his final year, 2011-12, no defenceman put up more points than Lidstrom’s 719 in the regular season and 106 in the playoffs. Only his countryman, Victor Hedman, has more playoff points from the blueline this century (117).

Continued; I’ve never seen a more-skilled player than Datsyuk, and I’ve never seen a better defenseman than Nicklas Lidstrom.

Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka spoke with Hockeynews.se about his customized hockey stick, but the video is entirely in Swedish, so…enjoy?

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a recap of the Red Wings’ 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins last night:

The Red Wings (15-18-4) have done the job offensively (eight goals for) defensively (four goals against) and by winning the special teams battle (3-1).

“I think we’re just playing a good brand of hockey,” [Alex] Lyon said. “I don’t know if it’s any one specific thing, but we just kind of got it to go in the right direction. Todd [McLellan] really stressed the start, and then after the second, he kind of challenged us again to have another good start in the third. And I think we responded both times, so we just can’t sit back too much. I think that’s the one trap that we could fall in.”

McLellan is pleased the team’s defensive performance since its 5-2 loss to Toronto on Friday.

“I think the penalty kill, although we gave one up tonight – we’re not ever going to be perfect — has certainly eliminated some of the volume of chances against at least in the nine periods that we’ve been here,” McLellan said. “We still have work to do in the D-zone. We can get wandering around and a little bit loose. But some of the back-checking principles, some of the sort-out stuff we’re starting to see happen more regularly and I think the players value that. Odds are we’ll have a day where we give it all back and we just have to start over. That’s just how it goes. Florida Panthers did that last year all the time. You’d have a good run and you give it back all at once. You got to start again. Never perfect.”

2. The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton also posted his recap…

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

At the World Junior Championship in Ottawa, the final games of “round robin” play took place, and here’s what happened:

Jesse Kiiskinen scored a goal on 4 shots, finishing at +1 in 14:16 played as Finland defeated Latvia 4-0, setting up a playoff quarterfinal match-up with Slovakia at 5 PM EST on Thursday:

Elsewhere in Ottawa, Axel Sandin Pellikka had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots in 22:32 played as Sweden won 4-2 over Czechia, setting up a playoff quarterfinal match-up with Latvia at 12 PM EST on Thursday.

Captain Pellikka had this to say to IIHF.com’s Lukas Aykroyd, about a game in which Swedish forward Herman Traff scored 2 birthday goals:

“We played like we want to play,” said Sandin Pellikka. “We held our structure, played quick from the back end, and got some shots on net. It was a good second period.”

Finally, the Americans were out-gunned but not out-manned as goaltender Trey Augustine stopped 38 of 39 shots, and Max Plante finished even with 1 shot in 8:39 played, as Team USA beat the host Canadians by a 4-1 score. The Americans will play Switzerland in Thursday’s playoff quarterfinal at 2:30 PM EST.

Augustine spoke with NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale after earning player-of-the-game honors: