Author: George Malik

Former Red Wings forward Johan Franzen engaged in an incredibly lengthy conversation with HockeySverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist, who published a novella of an article as part of his “Old School Hockey” series.

The vast majority of the interview with the 40-year-old Franzen consists of discussions regarding his hockey upbringing in Landsbro, Sweden, his attempts to break into the pro game, his status as an incredibly shy human being and, eventually, his career in Detroit.

This time, however, there’s no mention of that certain former coach who is definitely not on Franzen’s Christmas card list, and the interview concludes with a health update from the big goal-scorer, who has suffered greatly from post-concussion issues over the past couple of years.

It sounds like Franzen has finally turned a corner in his attempts to recover from the most debilitating parts of his post-concussive symptoms, but he’s not anywhere close to 100%, and he may never get back to that point.

Anyway, what follows is a rough translation of the pertinent part of the interview, which is in Swedish:

Red Wings prospect Elmer Soderblom is 21 years of age, and we tend to think of him as particularly experienced because big Elmer (6’8,” 249 pounds) has played parts of three seasons with Frolunda HC of the SHL, but last season was Soderblom’s first year exclusively spent at the SHL level.

Soderblom’s somewhat limited professional experience means that he’s probably going to need a stint in Grand Rapids before he comes up to the Red Wings at some point soon, for the sake of acclimating Soderblom to the rigors of North American hockey.

He’s never played on the smaller rink (NHL rinks are 200’x85,’ and international rinks are 200’x100′), he’s never played at NHL pace, and he hasn’t really battled with players who are just as big and strong as he is.

After Lucas Raymond’s performance last season, he’s certainly proven that anything is possible in the prospect development department, but Soderblom will probably require a little bit of patience from Red Wings fans.

The need for patience with Big Elmer is the focus of an article by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff this morning:

A middle-of-the-night note from a sleep-deprived blogger: Sportsnet’s Courtney Jacobson picked the website’s “3 Stars” from Saturday’s World Junior Championship action, and Red Wings prospect Carter Mazur earned 3rd star honors:

3rd Star: Carter Mazur, USA: It appears that a day of rest following their 7-1 victory over Switzerland did nothing to squander the momentum of the United States. They came out of the gate swinging and continued relentlessly, completing a staggering 7-0 win over Austria.

Team USA’s leading goal scorer Carter Mazur collected two more in the second period, scoring goals five and six to secure the blowout victory.

With his family in attendance, the Red Wings prospect scored his third goal of the tournament point-blank after a forced turnover in the offensive zone by Thomas Bordeleau.

His second goal of the afternoon came less than a minute later on the power-play, where Mazur ripped it from the bumper position off another feed from Bordeleau.

Following this two-goal performance, Mazur retains his spot as number two in tournament scoring, second only to Canada’s Mason McTavish. He’s tied with linemate Bordeleau for points leaders on Team USA, each tallying six.

Continued; Mazur’s development into a potential top-six forward has been a pleasant surprise. Here’s hoping his ascent continues.

Red Wings prospects faced off in Edmonton on Saturday afternoon as Canada’s Dominic Sebrango (Sebastian Cossa served as Canada’s back-up goaltender today) played against the Czechs–who did not start Jan Bednar, but instead, Tomas Suchanek.

The game was the third “round robin” affair for both teams, but it took Canada’s talent, including a “Michigan” goal from Kent Johnson, for Canada to win, by what was ultimately a 5-1 score:

💀💀💀 KENT JOHNSON with the goal of the tournament! @hockeycanada up 2-1 against @narodnitym #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/qY5WtdawAa— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) August 13, 2022

Sebrango played a workmanlike 19:46, finishing even with 2 shots, playing his solid, spare and simple defensive brand of hockey, oftentimes blocking shots with his body or hands (to the point that he ended the game on the bench with an ice bag on his left hand). During a game in which the Canadians didn’t arrive without a small delay, Sebrango was dialed in from the opening faceoff, and his game was steady throughout.

In terms of the game’s narrative…

In the 1st period, the news was that Dylan Garand faced Tomas Suchanek in goal, yielding a no-go for a Cossa-Bednar match-up.

The NHL Network’s Jon Morosi sat down with Red Wings prospect Carter Mazur for a superb interview, and Mazur said this about being drafted by his former youth hockey coach, one Kris Draper:

. @Carter_Mazur scored twice for @usahockey on Thursday. He talked about playing for @HockeyCaesars with @kienandraper33 — on teams coached by Kris Draper, who drafted him to the @DetroitRedWings. Team USA plays again in the WJC at 2 pm ET on @NHLNetwork, available via @fuboTV. pic.twitter.com/LsvDQZlV88— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 13, 2022

Red Wings prospects Carter Mazur and Red Savage took part in Team USA’s third “round robin” game, a tough match-up with the plucky Austrians on Saturday.

Team USA romped the Austrians 7-0, with Carter Mazur scoring two gritty goals, Red Savage scoring 1 goal and adding 1 assist, and a massive battle between the 3-and-0 Americans and 2-and-0 Sweden slated for tomorrow night at 10 PM EDT.

Mazur has looked just short of utterly dominant this tournament, playing gritty, determined, high-skilled hockey as the “bumper” on the power play and a net-front specialist. He had 2 goals on 4 shots, finishing at +1 in only 12:49 played as his ice time was manged;

Savage has been speedy as hell as he’s shifted to playing the 4th line center’s role, finishing with 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 shot and a +3 in only 10:50 played.

Update: Here’s a bit of Mazur speaking to IIHF.com’s Andrew Podnieks:

“A quick start is something we really focus on,” Mazur noted. “You really want to get to the other team and get the upper hand. I feel like if we do that every game, we’re going to be in a good spot. And I liked how we stayed with our game. So I feel like bringing that into our next game against Sweden will be a really tough challenge, but I think we’re ready for it.”

And here’s Savage, per NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest:

The Hockey News’s Jason Chen, a fantasy hockey writer, posted a very long list of all the NHL rookies this upcoming season who may contend for the Calder Trophy this upcoming season, and he included one Simon Edvinsson on the “long list”:

Simon Edvinsson, D, Red Wings: The Wings’ busy off-season takes some pressure off Edvinsson, especially after Moritz Seider’s incredible rookie campaign. Edvinsson and Seider will surely form the backbone of their defense for years to come, and with little pressure to win now, the two youngsters will log plenty of ice time. Edvinsson is likewise an all-around defenseman but is also noted for his mobility and aggressive play on offense. Filip Hronek is back so he’ll take up some power play time but Edvinsson is a name to remember for dynasty leagues.

Continued; it’s his skating that impresses me the best. He’s very confident in his abilities, and his skill level is high “all-around,” but he’s another effortless skater, not quite Seider good, but close.

Per WLUC TV 6 in Marquette comes this note regarding former Red Wings head coach and current Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jeff Blashill:

Ten people have been selected to join the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame. The 51st induction banquet will be held May 13, 2023 at Island Resort and Casino in Harris, 15 miles west of Escanaba. The banquet will begin at 6 p.m. (EDT).

Most of the selectees come from traditional athletic backgrounds. They include all-around athlete David Cvengros of Wakefield, former U.P. men’s golf champion John Koskinen of Baraga, basketball standout Katie (Hoy) Batten of Newberry, runners Chris Lett of Houghton and Ginger Polich of Ironwood, and coaches Don McDonald of Iron River, Lisa Twardzik of Calumet, the late Jim Mattson of L’Anse, and former Detroit Red Wings’ head coach Jeff Blashill of Sault Ste. Marie.

The lone exception from that norm is harness horse driver/trainer Joe Casagranda of Crystal Falls.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an article about Red Wings prospect and Team Finland defenseman Eemil Viro, who seems to be able to handle the bump and grind of best-on-best competition despite his 6′, 165-pound stature:

Viro, 20, is penciled to play in Grand Rapids beginning in October to start his North American career, and steadily work his way toward the NHL.

Niklas Kronwall, the Wings’ longtime defenseman, is currently a Wings’ development coach in Europe and has worked extensively with Viro. Kronwall has drilled into Viro the importance of staying within himself.

“He said, ‘Keep improving your skills,'” Viro said about what Kronwall has stressed. “‘Play with your skills, and it’s going be fine.’ I’m a good skater and I can use that. I’m a two-way defenseman. I can defend well. I really want to improve my offensive skill, getting the pucks to the net and creating more on the offensive.”

Viro is currently one of the leaders and more experienced players for Finland at the world junior championships in Edmonton. Viro played 19 minutes and was plus-one in Finland’s 6-1 victory Tuesday over Latvia.

General manager Steve Yzerman talked about the importance for any young player such as Viro to be able to compete in a pressure-filled tournament.

“It’s fantastic for players to go into these world junior tournaments,” Yzerman said. “They’re great experiences individually for them, but also in their development as hockey players playing in big games, do-or-die games and under the pressure is great.”

Continued; thus far, I haven’t seen many instances when the wiry-framed Viro has been pushed around or pushed off the puck. His positioning is good, he’s got a short stick that he uses to his advantage, and his lower-body strength seems to be good.

He’s definitely going to have to gain ten pounds of muscle if that’s conceivably possible for him, but his techniques are going to be more important to his ability to compete than a 200-pound weight.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Nate Brown wrote an article discussing Steve Yzerman’s drafting as the Red Wings’ general manager a couple of days ago, and today, he continues a series analyzing Detroit’s drafting (called “The Anatomy of the Yzerplan”) by comparing the late Ken Holland regime’s draft record to that of the 3 years‘ worth of Steve Yzerman:

Looking at the entire body of work for both general managers, many of the observations made over the past few years regarding the drafting differences have been backed up statistically. Yzerman has gone heavier in the international leagues while Holland tended to favor the Canadian junior leagues, with 35% of his picks coming from north of the border. The strategy for Detroit paid off in earlier rounds, but the magic wasn’t there as the rounds went later.

A final takeaway here is that Holland and Yzerman had different objectives when drafting. Holland had playoff teams until 2017, using draft capital to acquire talent for long playoff runs. It didn’t pay off, and when push came to shove, Holland started targeting the acquisition of picks instead of peddling.

During Yzerman’s tenure, he’s simply looked to acquire as many picks as he could while rarely, if ever, surrendering them. Though there’s a different mindset, Yzerman has done well with his first round picks, making sure those foundational pieces are being set. The later rounds will come into focus over the next few years.

Brown continues…