Author: George Malik

Grand Rapids Griffins defenseman Seth Barton is something of a “mystery prospect” to me. The 2018 3rd round pick is 22 going on 23, and at 6’3” and 196 pounds, the Griffins defenseman hasn’t played a full professional season yet, nor did he replicate his prolific BCHL numbers at the NCAA, AHL or ECHL levels.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Nate Brown profiles Barton this evening, and his “upside” is hard to pin down due to injuries…

Injuries hindered Seth Barton’s time on the ice this season as well as a solid grading of where he stands in the system. The small sample size of 20 games did show favorable returns, however. A big bodied defenseman at 6’3 and 215 pounds, Barton was looking to add more muscle to his frame during last year’s offseason to prepare him for the 2021-22 season. 

In the handful of games he did play, Barton was efficient and scored his first goal with the Griffins as 2021 was coming to an end. In a 5-4 victory over Milwaukee on December 31, Barton found the back of the net in just his first five games.

So, as Brown suggests, Barton’s more than a little bit down the depth chart in terms of his status as a potential NHL prospect:

Barton’s arrival in Hockeytown is going to come with some competition in a crowded pipeline. Not only did Detroit beef up during free agency, but there are a number of players ahead of him knocking on the door. Simon Edvinsson, Jared McIsaac, William Wallinder, and Albert Johansson all have the inside track as of now. Detroit Hockey Now has Barton as the Red Wings’ tenth best defensive prospect in the system.

Brown continues, and I’m not about to write off a Red Wings prospect while he’s still in the system, but Barton’s climb toward the NHL is certainly uphill.

The Woodward Sports Network’s Nick Leach reminds us that the Rocket Mortgage Classic is taking place next week at the Detroit Golf Club next Wednesday, and a “Celebrity Scramble” will precede the event. Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin will be attending and participating in the “Celebrity Scramble”:

PGA TOUR players participating include; Will Zalatoris, Tony Finau, Jason Day, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar.

Celebs will be Barry Sanders, Tom Izzo, Calvin Johnson, Dylan Larkin, Maurice Allen, and Kelley James.

— Rocket Mortgage Classic (@RocketClassic) July 13, 2022

Here’s the press release, in case you plan on attending:

The AREA 313 Celebrity Scramble – awarded the PGA TOUR’s “Best Special Event” after its debut in 2019 – will be held Tuesday, July 26 at Detroit Golf Club. It is one of the many special events being held during Detroit Community Days presented by DTE Energy, which provide complimentary admission and parking on Tuesday, July 26 and Wednesday, July 27.

The Rocket Mortgage Classic returns July 26-31 to Detroit Golf Club, bringing the PGA TOUR event to the city of Detroit for the fourth straight year. Tickets for Thursday-Sunday competition rounds are available at RocketMortgageClassic.com.

I’m not a golf person, but if you are, enjoy!

Dobber Hockey’s Shane Malloy discusses four free agent forwards who signed with new teams over the course of the past week, and he endorses the Red Wings’ decision to sign 28-year-old center Andrew Copp to a 5-year contract:

#4) Andrew Copp – C – Detroit Red Wings

Contract: $5.625M – 5 Years remaining

Personally, this may be one of the best signings in free agency so fa. He has term on his contract, a controllable cap hit (currently), while he has a modified no trade clause (M-NTC, meaning he submits a 10-team no-trade list), he is going to be 33 years old when the contract expires. Some people have said the amount is a little too high, if anything I think it is around fair value in today’s market. He plays the middle of the ice well, above average in the faceoff dot, in the last couple of seasons he has played with some talented players in Winnipeg and while a member of the Rangers as well. His point production has seen improvements spanning from the 2020-2021 season, and with this seasoning in Detroit it seems he should be the second line center behind Larkin for the next little while. This signing gives recently drafted, Marco Kasper time to develop, along with a player that most people forget about, Joe Veleno. Detroit has a solid cast of players to play alongside of Copp in the meantime, and overall, his value shouldn’t be seen in a negative light when it comes to him as a real-life NHL asset. In the fantasy realm though, I’m not sure if I like the cap-hit versus the little amount of time he has shown an offensive flair. But it’s one that I believe can age well given the upcoming cast that Detroit has in the pipeline, along with their young roster players, and the other players that Yzerman brought in.

Continued; Copp has definitely been a late-bloomer offensively, but as a stalwart two-way center slated to play on the Red Wings’ second line, I don’t believe that the Red Wings overpaid too badly for his services.

I think that Malloy is right that the fact that Copp buys Kasper and Veleno a couple of years to really find their form is part of the reason why Yzerman signed him.

As for his offensive game, he blossomed with Artemi Panerin on his wing in New York, but his body of work with the Winnipeg Jets was very strong, too.

The Red Wings invited big Connor Murphy, a 23-year-old free agent goaltender, to last week’s development camp.

At present, the Union College senior isn’t harboring many pro aspirations, but Murphy told the Daily Gazette’s Ken Schott that he enjoyed attending the camp immensely:

“It was a great experience,” Murphy said during a phone interview Tuesday. It’s a super honor just to get invited, first of all. I really enjoyed my time there. The whole [coaching] staff in general did a really good job of making sure that we enjoyed our time there. It was kind of a stress-free environment, where they were basically just kind of focused on teaching us new things, getting us to work on certain aspects of our game and stuff like that. So it was really a stress-free time for me, and it was just a lot of fun.”

Murphy had a solid first season for the Dutchmen after transferring from Northeastern. He posted a 14-18-3 record with a 2.66 goals-against average, a .919 save percentage and three shutouts. He set a program record making 1,060 saves. That caught the attention of the Red Wings.

“I actually received a call from Phil Osaer, who was their goaltending scout and head development coach,” Murphy said. “He actually reached out to my advisor at the end of the season, probably a couple of weeks after we finished. He just invited me to the camp and said that they would love to have me there.

“I had one other offer to go to a different camp, but I decided ultimately to go to Detroit because they reached out first. I just thought that was the best decision, and I’m very glad I did because it was a really good time.”

Continued

The Sporting News’s Bryan Murphy posted a list of potential landing spots for former Dallas Stars defenseman and soon-to-be-30-year-old John Klingberg. As Murphy suggests, Klingberg and the Red Wings are a bit of an awkward combination:

Detroit Red Wings: Another Atlantic Division team that has taken major strides to becoming contenders are the Red Wings. GM Steve Yzerman had a busy offseason, bringing in Ville Husso, Ben Chiarot, Andrew Copp, David Perron, Dominik Kubalik and Olli Maata. 

Despite all of that spending, the Red Wings still have about $10 million left in cap space for this season, which theoretically would be more than enough to bring in Klingberg. 

Bringing in the free agent defenseman would make the team better, but may not make a ton of sense. It would bump Filip Hronek to the third pairing, and I’m not so sure Yzerman loves the idea of paying $4 million to a No. 5 defenseman. There also are the upcoming contracts to Dylan Larkin, Mo Seider and Lucas Raymond that all have to be considered in the future. 

Klingberg wouldn’t be the top, right-handed defenseman on the team, falling into a similar role as he did with the Stars. Plus, Detroit has plenty of righties on the blue line. Sure, he makes the roster better and they can make it work financially, but it’s not a great fit for either side. 

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen considers whether the Red Wings might be able to afford the asking price for Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk, and Allen does not believe that the Red Wings are the favorite for Tkachuk by any stretch of the imagination:

First, what we are hearing is that the Flames will want a top forward, a premium prospect and a first-round pick. The Flames will be looking for players like Lucas Raymond or Edvinsson, maybe Elmer Soderblom, etc.

Calgary once acquired  a young Jarome Iginla for Joe Nieuwendyk and they will be trying to replicate that deal. Yzerman is not likely to part with Raymond and Edvinsson.

Second, those who like the idea of moving Tyler Bertuzzi in a trade for Tkachuk have to consider that the Flames aren’t going to be interested in another player with a chance to be a UFA next summer. Second, Bertuzzi’s unvaccinated status could cause even more problems if he is on a Canadian team. Of course that is all dependent upon what Canada’s vaccination rules will be in 2022-23. We simply don’t know what those will be. But the Flames, having lost Gaudreau and now Tkachuk, will be looking for players with term on their contract.

Also, Tkachuk has the leverage here because most teams will want to sign him long-term. We don’t know know how he feels about Detroit. Would he want to be part of a rebuild? He is only 24. Tkachuk knows Michigan because he played two seasons for the U.S. National Team Development Program. He knows Larkin. That’s a plus.

Tkachuk is also probably going to want a long-term contract in the $9-10 million range. Remember, he is a restricted free agent so the acquiring team needs cap space for him this season. Depending upon who goes back in the deal, the Red Wings could suddenly be pushed up against the salary cap. Detroit Hockey Now projects the Red Wings will have about $7.5 million in cap space at the start of the season.

Continued; put bluntly, I can think of the minimum asking price for Tkachuk to be Bertuzzi, Edvinsson and a first round pick, if not all of that plus another second round pick.

I am certain that the Flames would ask for Raymond, Larkin or Seider, and I am certain that the GM would say, “No.”

And no, as The Athletic’s Max Bultman noted on Twitter today, because Tkachuk filed for salary arbitration, he can’t accept an offer sheet. The Flames earned the ability to protect their asset by Tkachuk’s arbitration filing.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed his afternoon notebook article, focusing today upon 28-year-old defenseman Olli Maatta, who’s joined the Red Wings as an unrestricted free agent signing. Maatta told Kulfan that he doesn’t feel as “old” as he is in terms of his NHL-playing experience:

“It’s kind of crazy,” said Maatta, who will turn 28 on Aug. 22 and is entering his 10th NHL season. “I don’t feel like a veteran in that sense. I feel like I have a lot of hockey left in me. I’m still kind of young, still have a lot of work to do and improve on. Having played that long, it feels like time flies. Nine seasons gone now, going into the 10th season, but I feel like I still have a lot left.”

The Wings feel the same way, having signed Maatta to a one-year contract worth $2.25 million. The addition of Maatta and defenseman Ben Chiarot, said general manager Steve Yzerman, “will help our special teams and particularly our penalty killing, and then defensively five-on-five as well.”

Maatta, who won two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh, was thrilled to join a Red Wings organization seemingly on the upswing.

“You see some of the players they already had before free agency started, and adding some big pieces, it’s a great place and exciting times,” Maatta said. “You can definitely see it, they’re up-and-coming and they want to be contenders. I want to be part of it.”

…

For his part, Maatta feels he can supply more offense than he has the past several years. He notched 29 points two times earlier in his career but has dropped off since, including posting single digits the last two years with the Kings.

“I have more offense in my game, more than in the last couple of years, and it’s definitely something I’ve been working on,” Maatta said. “I’m known as a defensive guy, but I have more offense in my game than my stats show.”

Continued

Sportsnet’s Sonny Sachdeva ranks every goaltending tandem in the NHL on a division-by-division basis this afternoon. Sachdeva believes that the Red Wings have fairly good goaltending, ranking the Wings 3rd in the stacked Atlantic Division:

3. Detroit Red Wings: Ville Husso, Alex Nedeljkovic
Steve Yzerman pulled off one of the key trades of this off-season in acquiring Husso, who’s fresh off stealing the starting job in St. Louis from Jordan Binnington, and emerged as a star. How he fares playing behind a different blue line, behind a more inexperienced squad, remains to be seen, but if Husso can keep it rolling and build on a great 2021-22, he should be a difference-maker for the up-and-coming Red Wings. And while Nedeljkovic fell flat in a greater role last season, a move back to the No. 2 spot might just help him regain the excellent form he showed as Carolina’s backup a season ago.

Continued

The Red Wings made a somewhat controversial signing in inking 31-year-old defenseman Ben Chiarot to a 4-year deal at $4.75 million per season on July 13th. As MLive’s Ansar Khan notes, the Red Wings believe that the big, physical Chiarot (6’3,” 231 lbs) will stabilize the team’s blueline:

Pairing the 31-year-old left-shooter with the 21-year-old right-shooting Seider, this year’s Calder Trophy winner as NHL rookie of the year, seems logical.

“Obviously, an impressive young defenseman,” Chiarot said. “Kind of does everything really well — offense, defense, plays physical, which you don’t see a ton of anymore with young guys coming in. Not too many have kind of an edge, but Moritz certainly does, and he doesn’t back down out there. He was a fun guy to watch this year, look forward to getting out there with him.”

The Red Wings had holes to fill on left defense with Danny DeKeyser (unsigned) and Marc Staal (signed with Florida) not returning. Chiarot and Olli Maatta, inked for one year at $2.25 million, filled those voids and will play in the top four.

“Kind of defense-first defenders, bigger bodies, get in the way, kind of hard to play against,” general manager Steve Yzerman said. “I don’t know what Derek (coach Lalonde) will ultimately decide, but I would expect those two guys to play with Moritz and Filip (Hronek) and be good complements for them. They have good length, they defend pretty well, can block shots and are big bodies that are hard to play against.”

Chiarot had nine goals, equaling a career high, and a career-best 26 points in 74 games last season, split between Montreal (54) and Florida (20). But he is a stay-at-home defender who is not expected to produce much offense in Detroit.

He aims to be “a stabilizing presence” for his young defense partner, whether it’s Seider or Hronek.

Continued

The Grand Rapids Griffins have released their 2022-2023 regular season schedule:

The 2022-23 season schedule is here!!

Learn More > https://t.co/z1fEtq7dRA pic.twitter.com/3euiertVbP— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) July 21, 2022

Here’s the Griffins’ press release: