Author: George Malik

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond spoke with NHLPA.com’s Chris Lomon regarding the Detroit Red Wings’ November visit to Stockholm, Sweden to play the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs:

From November 16 to 19, a set of regular-season games featuring four teams, including Raymond’s Red Wings, will take place in Stockholm. The Original Six club will be joined by the Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs for the games.

Raymond, who is originally from Gothenburg, approximately a five-hour drive southwest of Stockholm, is expecting a large contingent of family and friends to make their way to Sweden’s capital city to catch the games.

“I can’t wait. I was so excited when we heard the news that we would be playing here,” the left-winger told NHLPA.com from Gothenburg. “To be able to play for Detroit in Sweden will be an awesome experience. Circling back to friends and family, that’s what I am most excited for, to play in front of them. It’s going to be emotional for all of us.”

Raymond also spoke with Lomon regarding his junior campaign in the NHL:

“I want to take another step in my development. I had a good feeling coming into the offseason in knowing what I wanted to work on and how I wanted to be prepared to come into the new season. Now, summer is almost over, and every day, you are more and more excited about the thought of getting back on the ice with the guys and get that season started.”

Conversations he has had with teammates throughout the summer have given Raymond ample reason to be optimistic about the team’s fortunes in 2023-24.

“I think we’ve improved a lot in the offseason and you can see that everyone is excited about the season. When you get back on the ice, start talking to the guys, seeing that physical development in yourself, it makes you want to get things going again. You get some distance from the game and there comes that point where you want to get back at it. I’m sure all the guys feel that way too.”

Continued

Spending his offseason in his hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, Lucas Raymond is looking forward to playing in a @DetroitRedWings jersey in front of friends and family in Stockholm this November for the #NHLGlobalSeries: https://t.co/AEvG8NDS54 pic.twitter.com/2jKD29mCsa

— NHLPA (@NHLPA) July 28, 2023

Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson posted an article in which the Grand Rapids Griffins’ projected roster is analyzed to determine how many of its players will be draft picks from the Steve Yzerman-led regime:

Any Detroit Red Wings fan who wants to see what the team will look like when the rebuild is completed only needs to make the 157-mile drive to watch the Grand Rapids Griffins play this season.

Depending on who makes the Red Wings roster this season, it’s possible, on some nights, 55 percent (11 players) of the Griffins’ lineup could be Steve Yzerman draft picks.  That doesn’t include Yzerman undrafted prospect free agent signings, such as Wyatt Newpower, Alexandre Doucet and John Lethemon. It also doesn’t include prospect Jared McIsaac, 23, who was a Ken Holland draftee.

Since taking over as GM in 2019, Yzerman has participated in five drafts and selected seven first round picks. Two of the first round picks (Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond) are in Detroit, and three (Sebastian Cossa, Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper) could start in Grand Rapids. The 2023 first rounders (Nate Danielson and Axel Sandin Pellikka) will return to their teams from last season.

Continued

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills examines Olli Maatta’s successful 2022-2023 season with the Detroit Red Wings this morning, discussing the fact that Maatta “bet on himself” by signing a one-year contract, and won the bet in a big way:

That gamble paid off for the 28-year-old defenseman, who tallied 23 points (6-17-23) in 78 games with the Red Wings during the 2022-23 season, nearly doubling his combined point total (1-11-12 in 107 games) from 2020-22 as a member of the Los Angeles Kings.

Maatta’s impact both on and off the ice impressed Detroit’s brass enough to ink him to a two-year contract extension on Feb. 16.

“I put great value in really good, high-character people,” Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman said on March 3. “Olli is a real professional. He shows up every day. He’s there early, training, prepared before practice and the game, there after practice and the game. He’s been a good, solid and steady defenseman.”

Maatta began his debut season in Detroit by posting a four-game point streak from Oct. 14-21, becoming the first Red Wings blueliner to record a point in each of the first four or more games of a season since Brian Rafalski had nine (1-8-9) in seven contests in 2008-09.

According to Maatta, his training camp experience helped him burst out of the gate.

“You were at and outside the rink with the guys for seven days, which was awesome,” Maatta told Red Wings TV’s Daniella Bruce on Feb. 27.“We’re a new team with so many new guys, so you got to know everybody. I think that helped a lot. The coaching staff also put me in situations and helped me build confidence that way.”

Continued; Maatta is a very strong middle-pair defenseman, and while he’s never going to be an offensive superstar, an NHL team needs players who are willing to play in supporting roles in order to succeed, and Maatta has found his place in Detroit.

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

Hockey is coming… and single-game tickets go on sale in ONE WEEK! 🙌

Which games will you secure tickets to?!

🎟️: https://t.co/C3c7hZn1Ac pic.twitter.com/iNI5QZgYac

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 28, 2023

Here’s the text of an email they just sent out to their email subscribers:

The excellent Sean Shapiro is back with another selection of “Shap Shots” on his Substack, and he answers a reader question regarding the Red Wings’ hiring of Roope Koistinen as the Grand Rapids Griffins’ goaltending coach:

The Griffins named Roope Koistinen the new goalie coach. I’ve always wondered – does a goalie coach actually matter that much? If it does have a significant impact, doesn’t it seem like a fairly large gamble to put a coach with no AHL or NHL experience (playing or coaching) in place in a system that’s tasked with developing Cossa and now Trey Augustine? (From Aaron)

Yes, goalie coaches matter, a lot. I think it’s become even more important in the AHL, which is one of the most volatile leagues in the world for goalies. Having a strong goalie coach, a confidant, that can help with the ups-and-downs of the AHL can be the difference between a prospect making it or not.

So I understand your concern about Koistinen, he’s never coached in North America. But I really like the hire, and some people I’ve spoken to in both Finland and North America also keen on his work he’s done developing young goalies in Finland with both Karpat and the national team program.

Sebastian Cossa needs more of a tactician to work with in his next goalie coach. He needs someone who will help create some more calmness in his game, and remove some of the wasted movements/energy. That’s something that Finnish goalies tend to be very good at, so for Cossa in general, Koistinen could be an ideal fit, even without North American experience.

Continued (paywall); Sean offers a set of reader questions about topics all over the hockey map, he discusses how writing about soccer made him a better hockey writer, and he shares some of his goaltending superstitions. I really enjoy Sean’s work.

Anyway, my thoughts on the Koistinen hire:

1. Koistinen almost entirely worked with Karpat Oulu’s under-18 and under-20 teams as their goaltending coach, so he’s specialized in development. He’s only 30 years old, which is particularly young for a goaltending hire, but the Red Wings seem to want a younger coach that can relate to the players they’ll be working with (in this case, Alex Lyon, Sebastian Cossa and John Lethemon), as was the case with Brian Mahoney-Wilson.
2. The Wings then have an older coach, Phil Osaer, working as their roving goaltending development consultant, and he will be spending his time working with and checking in on all the Red Wings’ goaltending prospects, be they at the AHL, ECHL or other developmental levels. Trey Augustine is an interesting case (as is Carter Gylander) in that the Red Wings can’t technically work with their NCAA prospects on the ice at any time of year save development camp, but coach Osaer can still go over video with them and offer feedback and suggestions.
3. As far as Cossa is specifically concerned, Sean’s right in suggesting that Cossa needs to refine the technical details of his game. He’s still a remarkably talented, 6’6,” 229-pound goaltender, but the little holes in his blocker and five-hole, the fact that he can be “turned around” and struggle…Those are detail-oriented mistakes that need to be fixed through repetition and reinforcement.

Per Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

Wayne Maxner replaced one Detroit Red Wings legend and inadvertently wound up playing a role in the arrival of another.

Maxner, who died Thursday at the age of 80, was Detroit coach from 1980-82. His hiring came on Nov. 25. Maxner was given promotion from Detroit’s AHL farm club at the time, the Adirondack Red Wings, where he was serving as head coach.

Maxner was replacing Red Wings legend Ted Lindsay as coach in Detroit. Immediately, he was announcing plans to reunite what had previously been the club’s top line of Dale McCourt between John Ogrodnick and Mike Foligno.

Continued

WOOD TV8 in Grand Rapids reports that several current and former Grand Rapids Griffins will be raising money for the Cascade Township Firefighters (and more charities) via a charity hockey game this weekend:

It’s almost time for the puck to drop at the Patterson Ice Center for the annual Cascade Firefighters’ Association Charity Hockey game.

This is the third year of the charity game and organizers said they hope it’s the biggest year yet. The event starts Saturday with a parking lot party at 4 p.m. There will be games, a food truck and fire trucks.

The puck drops at 5:30 p.m. The two teams are made up of current and former professional hockey players.

This year, many Grand Rapids Griffins players are returning to the ice for the charity game, including Dominik Shine and Tyler Spezia. Another big name expected to play is Mitch Callahan, who won two Calder Cups with the Griffins and played for the Detroit Red Wings.

All proceeds for the game go to Riding for Ryan, an organization that provides free bike flags for kids, Brody’s Be Café, a coffee shop that employs people with intellectual struggles and special needs and the Cascade Firefighters’ Association.

Organizers expect hundreds of people at the game and said it connects the community.

“Everybody is together, and you see the kids’ faces light up when somebody scores a goal or it’s just a sense of togetherness and community with this hockey game,” Jon Snyder, firefighter and treasurer for the Cascade Firefighters’ Association, said.

My offerings for Thursday at the World Junior Summer Showcase were somewhat limited. I posted an “arrival, and here’s how it goes in terms of schedule/games” post, and interviews with Axel Sandin Pellikka and Anton Johansson of Sweden, as well as Trey Augustine of Team USA White.

My first-day takeaways, on a team-by-team basis, were fairly straightforward:

The Swedes ran an efficient practice, emphasizing economy of motion and no wasteful spending of time, with the name-and-number-less players engaging in some fairly competitive drills that covered the fundamentals of the game, with a lot of emphasis on dynamic plays and special teams.

The Finns seemed to engage in a little more of a casual approach, sort of a, “Welcome to the U.S., here are some basic drills to shake off the jet lag” before really getting into puck possession drills and working on sorting out defensive coverage, transitions and retrievals.

The Americans, under University of Denver coach David Carle, really took things to another level, for both Team USA White and Team USA Blue. Right off the bat, the teams were split into two units which engaged in “battle drills” off the bat, with stick and body checking fully engaged, and things got more complicated from there. The Americans really busted their humps from stem to stern of their 1-hour practices in a way that the elegantly efficient Swedes and slightly slow-starting Finns did not.

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton did a superb job of breaking down the practices which Team Sweden, Team Finland and Team USA (White and Blue) held today at the World Junior Summer Showcase, offering detailed notes and videos describing said happenings, and he focused in on Axel Sandin Pellikka’s play as well:

2023 Red Wings first rounder Axel Sandin Pellikka takes plenty of reps along the point during Sweden’s power play work, showing once again the skills that made him such a coveted prospect in the lead up to June’s draft.  

Two habits of his that jumped out at me this morning were the way he keeps his head up from the point and the way he always has the puck in a dual threat position.  Put those two skills together (and throw in some remarkable balance and edgework), and it’s not hard to see why he’s been so effective in that position throughout his amateur career.  

Sandin Pellikka also has a clear affinity for a dying art in the modern game: the old fashioned, non-one-timed slap shot.  He has an excellent shot fake in his bag, and it’s no empty threat; the Swedish blue liner has no compunction about firing a clapper on goal.  That tool further feeds the sense that he is just as comfortable beating you with his playmaking or his shooting from the point.  He can wind and fire, he can wind and slap pass, or he can wind, hold and survey his options.

Continued; give Sam a read as he really knows his stuff.

Red Wings prospect and 2023 draft pick Trey Augustine is all business: when myself, the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton and The Athletic’s Max Bultman spoke with the affable goaltender from South Lyon, Trey let us know that the Americans have one goal: to win the gold medal at the World Junior Championship.

That apparently starts now, because the Americans on Team White and Team Blue have been practicing full-out with battle drills and combative play from the first drop of the puck today at USA Hockey Arena.

Augustine also talks about preparing for his freshman season at Michigan State by spending the last month in East Lansing and how he’s incorporated what he learned at the Red Wings’ Summer Development Camp into his routines.