Author: George Malik

Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom spoke with Red Wings free agent signing Robert Hagg about his decision to join the Red Wings a little later in the free agency signing period. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Hagg excited about the challenge in Detroit

Los Angeles. Our Swedish NHL professionals are starting to arrive in Canada and the USA ahead of the 2022-2023 NHL season.

The holiday season at home in Sweden is over or coming to an end.

The NHL teams will start their training camps on September 20th or 21st.

One of the Swedes who traveled across the Atlantic last week was Robert Hagg, 27, who chose to sign with the Detroit Red Wings this summer.

“I’m very excited and have always liked playing here as an opponent. The Red Wings are a long-standing team in the league,”says Robert to SportExpressen.

He arrived in Detroit on Monday and has spent the week getting an apartment in the suburb of Royal Oak and familiarizing himself with Little Caesars Arena.

“I go in every morning and train in the gym and then go on the ice. I feel healthy and fresh and have had a good summer at home in Uppsala. There’s nothing to complain about.

After Marco Kasper, Theodor Niederbach and William Wallinder all played well in Rogle BK’s 5-1 win over GKS Katowice, two more Champions Hockey League games took place involving Red Wings prospects.

In the first game, Liam Dower Nilsson had an assist but finished at -2 in 11:40 played as Frolunda HC lost 5-3 to Mountfield HK. LDN’s assist came on what was, at the time, a 4-3 goal as Frolunda tried to rally from a 4-1 deficit late in the 3rd period.

Here are the game’s highlights…

And if you want to watch the entire game all over again, you may do so here:

Per Sam Gagner on Twitter:

Thank you so much @detroitredwings for an incredible couple years. My family and I loved #hockeytown and made some lifelong friends. Very excited for our new adventure in Winnipeg. Let’s go @nhljets !!!— Sam Gagner (@89SGagner) September 10, 2022

Gagner did the Instagram thing, too:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sam Gagner (@sgagner89)

DobberHockey’s Brad Hayward posted a set of predictions for the Eastern Conference’s teams today, and his prediction for the Red Wings is certainly aspirational!

7.   Detroit Red Wings. Remember that part about sticking my neck out? Steve Yzerman makes brilliant moves, and Dylan Larkin flirts with 100 points and a Hart nomination (but not quite). Sleeper:  Andrew Copp. Second line center is the perfect position for him, he’s back home to Michigan, and he will flourish.

Continued; I hope and I wish and I just want Larkin to stay healthy this season. 100 points would be remarkable, but getting Larkin through a season without it ending in some sort of surgery would be even better.

Updated 3x with highlights at 1:05 PM: There are still two Champions Hockey League games taking place as Frolunda HC and Liam Dower Nilsson are battling (and losing to) Mountfield HK right now (you can watch the game here) and Antti Tuomisto and TPS Turku are going to tangle with EV Zug at 1:30 PM (and the link to the live stream is here)…

But Rogle BK has put on a clinic in their 5-1 win over GKS Katowice, and the trio of Red Wings prospects who play for the Angelholm-based team in Skane (southern Sweden) put on a show for the home crowd.

Marco Kasper, playing as the team’s 2nd line center, posted 2 assists (one on the 2-0 goal and one on the 5-1 goal), finishing at +1 with 3 shots in 14:15 played:

Marco Kasper helps set up Rögle’s 2-0 goal, his 5th point in 4 CHL games #LGRW pic.twitter.com/m0CGU3i6jY— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 10, 2022

Rögle wins 5-1 and Marco Kasper gets his 2nd assist of the game on the last goal.
Kasper has now matched his CHL production of last season (6 points/12 games) in just 4 games. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/gRB82cfaBR— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 10, 2022

Theodor Niederbach, ostensibly playing as the 4th line center, finished even with 1 shot in 15:01 played;

And William Wallinder, playing on Rogle’s top defensive pairing, had a hell of a game, finishing with 3 assists, an even plus-minus rating, 4 shots and 6 blocked shots in 20:07 played.

William Wallinder picks up a powerplay assist on Rögle’s 1-0 goal against Katowice #LGRW pic.twitter.com/oW2DdxTZeN— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 10, 2022

William Wallinder’s 2nd assist of the game, powerplay goal Rögle #LGRW pic.twitter.com/r2WJx65obd— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 10, 2022

4-1 Rögle and William Wallinder picks up his 3rd assist of the game #LGRW pic.twitter.com/KqNN8x3wBA— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 10, 2022

The Champions Hockey League is very good about posting highlights, so those will be up soon…

And Wallinder, speaking in Swedish, was the subject of Rogle’s post-game YouTube video, “Grönt & Vitt” (Green and White):

After the Frolunda and TPS Turku games wrap up, the trio of CHL participants won’t play again until the CHL schedule picks up again on October 8th.

Update: If you want to re-watch the game, you can watch the entire 2 hour and 43 minute broadcast here. In English!

Well, I was just about to write a lovely, flowery bit of praise for the fundraising efforts we made on Friday, because, out of the $1,200.00 that it’s going to take to get me up to Traverse City, we’ve raised $650.80, but…

Life has a funny way of keeping things complicated. I just got a call from my mechanic, and he says that it’s going to cost $350.00 to fix my Pacifica’s wiring so that I have working headlights on the trip up to Traverse City.

There are apparently rotten wires involved, so that bumps up the cost significantly as Norm’s Total Auto–the most honest mechanic’s shop that I have ever dealt with over the 16 years that I have lived in South Lyon–has all the wires untangled and in the process of repair.

And there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to ask for help here because I just don’t have a back-up plan, and that means we’re back at $300 of the $1,200 necessary to get me up to TC instead of $650. It effing sucks, but I had a bad feeling that there was going to be a surprise from the mechanic’s.

So, with $900 to raise over the next five days…

If you’re are willing to lend an assist, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, 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.

Edit/update: I think I’m gonna go curse and cry or follow some combination of the two. I’m going to be able to use my State of Michigan paycheck to help defray the cost for now, but that means I can’t pay my bills at the end of the month, so one way or another, I need to raise $600 to get up to Traverse City, and now, instead of $1,200 to get home, $1,650 to get home.

Oof.

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, the Swedish Under-20 leagues have begun their regular season play ahead of next Saturday’s SHL opener, and here’s how two Red Wings prospects fared:

2022 draft pick Anton Johansson finished at -1 with 3 shots and a minor penalty taken in Leksands IF’s 7-2 loss to Brynas.

It’s still entirely possible that Johansson will crack the roster of the Leksands men’s team, but for now, he’s earning some Under-20 league time;

And the “oh yeah, the other Swede the Wings drafted in 2022” guy, Maximilian Kilpinen, finished even in Orebro HK’s 4-1 win over the Vaxjo Lakers.

Kilpinen is highly likely to stay with Orebro’s J20 team.

At this point, we just don’t know whether Simon Edvinsson will manage to earn a spot on the Red Wings’ blueline at all, but Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin still names the big Swedish defenseman an “honorable mention” among a crowded field of 2022-2023 Calder Trophy candidates:

Simon Edvinsson, Detroit Red Wings: Taken sixth overall in 2021, Edvinsson is a giant 6-foot-6 Swedish defenseman – who, along with Seider, is the future of the Red Wings blueline. After a great season in the SHL with Frolunda, registering 19 points in 44 games, Edvinsson seems poised to make the jump to the NHL. Edvinsson does a lot of things right, like using his large frame to his advantage to knock players off the puck, whether with a poke check or sheer physicality. His supreme defensive knowledge is also a focal point of his game. It appears Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has hit yet another home run. Projection: 3.5 goals and 29.8 assists for 33.3 points.

Continued; Calder nod or no Calder nod, it would be wonderful if Edvinsson both made the Wings’ roster and posted 33 points over the course of his regular season. That’s an ideal scenario.

The Hockey News’s Jason Chen posted a set of fantasy hockey predictions for the Red Wings and their constituent players over the course of the 2022-2023 season. Here’s Chen’s bottom line:

Outlook: The Wings bought themselves a whole line with [Andrew] Copp, [David] Perron and Dominik Kubalik, and shored up their defense and goaltending. On paper, they look vastly improved, and new coach Derek Lalonde brings a lot of winning experience having served as the assistant on the Lightning since 2018. Jeff Blashill was not a bad coach; he just didn’t have a lot to work with, and a new voice in the room might coax out better seasons from their underperformers, including Filip Hronek and former top prospect Filip Zadina. In years past, Larkin was the only player worth rostering in fantasy, but as the Wings improve, the number of options has also increased. [Dylan] Larkin,[Lucas] Raymond, ]Moritz] Seider, [Tyler] Bertuzzi, Perron and [Jakub] Vrana are all projected to score at least 50 points, according to THN’s Pool Guide. 

Continued

Here are the streams for Saturday’s Champions Hockey League games: