Author: George Malik

iSport.cz’s Pavel Barta posted a behind-a-paywall article in which he interviewed now-Ottawa Senators forward Dominik Kubalik yesterday, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff translated the part of the article not stuck behind the paywall:

When the word came from Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman that he was being dealt to the Ottawa Senators, forward Donimik Kubalik didn’t exactly fall over from the shock of the news being delivered.

“Not that I was ready for the exchange, but I knew it could happen,” Kubalik told Czech website isport.blesk.cz. “Now I’m just looking ahead.”

The Red Wings were sending Kubalik, prospect defenseman Donovan Sebrango and a future first round draft pick to the Senators in order to acquire two-time 40-goal scorer Alex DeBrincat from the Senators.

…

As he was running his annual youth hockey camp back home in Czechia, Kubalik was still adorned in red gloves and red hockey pants adorned with the Red Wings logo.

“Nothing has arrived yet, I’m using old things,” Kubalik explained. “But we got the red gloves from Bauer years ago, so here I had the same color as I wore all last season.”

Continued; Kubalik’s from Plzen, so he’s going to be skating with HK Skoda Plzen shortly.

Via The Athletic’s Max Bultman on Twitter, KHL news source “Hockey News Hub” on Twitter did the hard part of translating an interview that Red Wings prospect and SKA St. Petersburg forward Dmitry Buchelnikov gave to Championat’s Anton Nekrasov:

#LGRW prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov tells Championat why he didn't attend the 2022 NHL Draft and communications with the Red Wings.
Source: https://t.co/0jRhHzB5VM pic.twitter.com/Kz74OOzgQJ

— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) July 23, 2023

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discusses how the Red Wings might reach a playoff-worthy level of goal-scoring this upcoming season, over the course of an interesting mid-summer exercise:

Everyone in the NHL, including the Detroit Red Wings, understand that being dominant in one area of hockey doesn’t guarantee success. The Buffalo Sabres finished third in goal scoring last season and missed the playoffs for the 12th consecutive season.

The Sabres were done in by inferior goaltending, inexperience and inconsistent defensive play. It doesn’t matter if you can score 3.57 goals per game if you’re giving up 3.62 goals per game.

But Buffalo’s 2023-24 woes don’t change the truth that team goal scoring is a predictor of season success. Defense and goaltending historically do win championships, but being one of the top 12 scoring teams gives you a high probability of making the playoffs.

One of GM Steve Yzerman’s offseason priorities was improving the team’s offense

In a recent subscription story, Detroit Hockey Now pointed out that 11 of the 12 highest scoring teams made the playoffs. Thirteen of the top 15 scoring teams (86.6%) qualified for the playoffs. Those top 15 scoring teams all scored 271 or more goals over 82 games.  That number will change this season, but it’s a good jumping off point to determine how much more productive the Red Wings need to be this season.

The Red Wings scored 237 goals last season. That means they need a 14.3% increase in scoring this season to get to 271.

Continued

Per the Grand Rapids Press’s Patrick Nothaft:

In a field of more than 1,000 players at the 2023 Beer City Open, only one competitor owns four NHL championship rings, and on Saturday, he’s tucked away in the northeast corner of Grand Rapids’ bustling Belknap Park pickleball complex.

Donning a backward Toronto Blue Jays hat and Vancouver Canucks athletic shorts, Kris Draper isn’t drawing attention to himself, but there’s a bit of a buzz building around Court 11, where the longtime Detroit Red Wing and his doubles partner, James Fernandez, are locked in an intense elimination match with Jayce Landheer, of Caledonia, and Jordan DeWeerd, of Hudsonville.

“C’mon, Kris!”

“Let’s go, Draper!”

The former Grind Line center, who’s now the Red Wings assistant general manager, has the support of a growing crowd, but he maintains a steady demeanor, hesitant to celebrate winning shots too vigorously or chirp at his opponents like he did during his 17-year playing career in Detroit.

“It’s funny. I’m the exact opposite on the pickleball court,” he said. “I kind of try to play low-key and all that, and a lot of the other guys are very vocal and cheering, so it’s kind of ironic how that happened.”

The fan support wasn’t enough, however, as the West Michigan natives defeated Draper and Fernandez by the slimmest of margins, 15-13, to advance in the men’s doubles consolation bracket at the 5.0 skill level, which is the tournament’s highest amateur offering.

Continued

The Free Press’s Helene St. James filed a morning column regarding the maturation of Marco Kasper. The tri-lingual prospect will “make the jump” to North American hockey after two seasons with Rogle BK in Sweden, where Kasper adjusted to playing professional hockey while juggling the demands of completing his high school education outside his native Austria:

Kasper stands to be in for a big change now that he is transitioning to play in North America. Not just the smaller ice surface, but daily practices, games three-to-four times a week, and a demanding travel schedule. Development camp at Little Caesars Arena in early July was a good primer for Kasper to learn how much of an impact nutrition and sleep can make — and to show how far he has come in the year since the Wings drafted him. In fact, there’s an argument for him to slow down a bit.

“He does too much, if that makes sense,” Wings director of player development Dan Cleary said. “He’s wanting more and more and more. It’s like, ‘Kasper, you might have to bring it back a little bit.’ There’s no issue with Kasper’s work ethic and determination. He’s got high character. He’s just a good person.”

Kasper’s drive — along with his skills, skating and hockey sense — are what led general manager Steve Yzerman to select Kasper at No. 8 a year ago. But as with 2021 top pick Simon Edvinsson, Yzerman isn’t going to hand Kasper an NHL job before he is ready. Trading for Alex DeBrincat and Klim Kostin and signing J.T. Compher, Daniel Sprong and Christian Fischer stocked the Wings with NHL forwards, and signaled that higher-ups anticipate Kasper starting with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

To Kasper’s advantage, he already is used to playing in a men’s league; before he was recalled to Detroit on March 30, Kasper played 52 games with Rögle BK in his third season in Sweden’s top men’s league, where he posted eight goals, 15 assists — and a team-high 72 penalty minutes.

It was evident in his one NHL game that Kasper isn’t one to shirk from physical confrontation.

“I’m trying not to back down at all and be where the goals are scored,” Kasper said. “There’s going to be scrums and I’m trying to be there and not back down and stand up for myself and my teammates.”

Continued; Kasper might be best-served adjusting to the North American grind by playing a season in Grand Rapids, but he’s very close to being NHL-ready. If there’s a significant injury that affords Kasper the opportunity to jump into the top six, he may steal a job. We’ll see where the pesky forward lines up come September.

The Hockey News’s Jacob Stoller penned a list of six particularly underappreciated NHL players this afternoon, and he suggests that Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman has at least entered the chat in the “underrated” category:

Jake Walman, D, Detroit Red Wings: Jake Walman flies under the radar, but players like him are a coach’s dream.  The 27-year-old game is centered around simplicity and efficiency. Walman knows who he is. He knows he’s not Mortiz Seider, and you’ll never find him attempting a crafty, highlight-reel dipsy-doodle. 

Ultimately, the beauty of Walman’s game lies in the positive impact he makes that often doesn’t attract the naked, unsuspecting eye. He’s terrific at executing zone exits, finishing 13th among defensemen in carried exits (10) per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 this past season, according to allthreezones.com. 

Walman is a cerebral defenseman who knows when to jump into the play, when to stay back, and when to distribute the puck versus skate with it. The 6-foot-2 left-shot rearguard is the perfect partner for Seider, acting as somewhat of a safety blanket for the uberly talented – albeit sometimes reckless – offensive defenseman.

In 63 games last season, Walman averaged 19:43 minutes per game and recorded nine goals and 18 points. He also averaged only 2.28 expected goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, which ranks him 14th among defensemen that played at least 500 minutes this season, according to naturalstattrick.com. 

Continued; I agree that Walman does sometimes cover up for Seider’s more dangerous plays, and fantastic advanced stats aside, Stoller’s best observations here is that Walman knows who he is and who he is not.

Walman plays as a complementary defenseman, and he plays a simple, smart game, knowing when to simply dump the puck out of the zone and when to send a pinpoint pass, when to sneak a slap shot or when to simply walk into a wrister from the point, and when to stay back and make sure that little to nothing happens during his shift (because, as Henrik Zetterberg said, sometimes a shift where nothing happens is a successful shift).

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe posted a Q and A with new Toledo Walleye coach Pat Mikesch this morning. We’ll start with the first three questions…

Question: What have your initial impressions of the community been?

Answer: “Ninety percent of my time has been downtown. But I’ve been impressed with all the parks here. We have three dogs. They’ll love getting into the trails and running. We have an older dog, Maggie. She’s a Shih Tzu that’s 16 years old now. We have two other Labs, Beano and Wally, and they are 3 years old. So they’re the active ones. [Toledo] has a very Green Bay feeling to it with the sports community downtown. And we’ve loved our time in Green Bay. It’s set up the same way with some very good neighborhood communities, great people. I think that’s good for us settling in.”

Q: How is the recruiting process going?

A: “Right now I’m just letting [the six players that are already signed] get to know me, and they’ve all done their homework. Those guys are ready to get in town. They want to win a championship, and a lot of these guys have been close. We’re talking to one free agent right now that we’re working hard on. Most of the free agents we’re talking to are still trying to see if they’re gonna get that American League contract. We want that guy who’s right on the fringe. I want players to feel comfortable that if they end up coming to Toledo, they’re coming to a great market and a place that has its own energy every night. Hockey players want to enjoy their experience and be taken care of. Overall it’s been exciting.”

Q: What attributes are you looking for in a player?

A: “Every player has their own skill set, and you’ve got to have all the pieces. Character, the hockey sense, and skating [are important]. I want to play fast. So we better have that core group that can play at that level. I want to see what their history is as far as winning. Where was their last championship team? That’s a big thing. We want to be playing late into the season, very meaningful games, so went to see their playoff stats.”

Continued

AWood40 posted the entirety of the Red Wings’ game-winning markers from the 2002-2003 season:

Red Wings Swedish super-fan and “The Swedish Winger” podcaster Lars Thorsell reports that the “upper-body imaging” that Liam and Noah Dower Nilsson had at the end of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp led to some bad news, per Rakapuckar’s Henrik Leman:

Frölunda insider & journalist @henrikleman reports that @DetroitRedWings draftee Noah Dower-Nilsson has had shoulder surgery and will be out for a couple of months. The #LGRW player face an important season to try to break in to the SHL-team.https://t.co/cKMMPhUDlj

— Lars Thorsell (@LarsThorsell) July 21, 2023

This certainly explains why Noah wasn’t listed on Sweden’s World Junior Summer Showcase roster.

Here’s hoping he gets better soon…But Frolunda Hockey’s official channels have not confirmed Noah’s shoulder issue, so we’re going to classify this as a highly-reliable “report” until the official news comes out.

And the WJSS starts next Saturday at USA Hockey Arena. The only two Red Wings prospects who will be taking part are USA Hockey White’s Trey Augustine and Sweden’s Axel Sandin Pellikka.

If you’re interested in heading to the WJSS, games will take place on July 29th, July 31st, August 2nd and August 4th. It’s a fantastic event to take in top 2023-drafted prospects and some top prospects eligible for the 2024 and 2025 NHL Drafts.

Grand Rapids Griffins goaltending coach Roope Koistinen spoke with Karpat Oulu’s website regarding his decision to leave the Finnish Liiga’s organization for North America. Here’s a rough translation of his conversation:

Roope Koistinen about his AHL contract: “It’s a dream come true”

The career of Roope Koistinen, who worked as the goaltending coach for Karpat’s Under-20 team, and as the youth team’s goalie coaching manager, took a big step this summer. At the beginning of this month, Koistinen, who worked as the goaltending coach for Karpat, signed a contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins, the AHL team of the NHL team Detroit Red Wings.

“Things happened quickly. Through the NHL’s drafting of young goalies, many networks have been formed over the years, and I’ve tried to actively create those networks myself as well. It’s been my goal and dream to one day be able to coach in North America. I didn’t think it would happen in such a short span of time. Discussions took place briefly during June. After that came an invitation to an official interview, and shortly after that they wanted to offer me a contract. After all, it was a dream come true.”