Author: George Malik

Well, why not all three?

Vegas, baby! ?✨

You can now vote for Dylan Larkin, Mo Seider & Lucas Raymond in the 2022 @NHL All-Star Fan Vote!

Details: https://t.co/PEbr1MzKxH
Vote: https://t.co/9ZMQ81K3xA pic.twitter.com/k74YNCRhMn— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 11, 2021

Here’s the hype reel:

???https://t.co/lOBLQudphM pic.twitter.com/bAL3u5gNEk— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 11, 2021

This makes sense given that Grand Rapids plays tonight in Manitoba:

The #RedWings today assigned center Kyle Criscuolo and defenseman Brian Lashoff to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Details: https://t.co/JTfnxmA26q pic.twitter.com/3quy9ax2nt— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 11, 2021

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has already filed an off-day notebook which focuses on the Wings’ defensive struggles over the course of last night’s 7-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche:

“It was a litmus test for us defensively and we know we have to grow and get better,” coach Jeff Blashill said. 

The Wings (13-12-3) have lost their last three games, and have been outscored 18-7 in the process. They continue to have difficulty winning away from Little Caesars Arena, with a dismal 4-9-1 record.

“I’ve talked about it a lot — when you’re on the road you have to be great defensively and you have to manage the puck great to win,” said Blashill, who added the Wings haven’t been overly great in those two areas lately at LCA either. “Those two areas, if we want to be a team that can with both on the road at home, we have to do better at. It’s a lesson our guys are learning.”

To have any sort of success Friday, it was important for the Wings to have a good start and keep the Ball Arena crowd — which, incidentally, had a large segment of Wings fans, Detroit natives who arrived early for the Lions’ game here Sunday — out of the equation.

But the Avalanche scored three quick goals in just over 10 minutes, and the rout was on.

“They’re a premier offensive team, you give them time and they’ll roll around and make plays,” forward Dylan Larkin said. “You have to find a way to grind out your shift and stay tight and we just got beat on our assignments, and especially early. It was a disastrous start and you can’t have that kind of start in this building.”

Continued; Kulfan also reports that Tyler Bertuzzi and Marc Staal *may* return from COVID protocols in time for Tuesday’s game vs. the Islanders.

Former Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg spoke to Hockeysverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist at length regarding the early-season success of one Lucas Raymond. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Henrik Zetterberg praises Lucas Raymond: “A little sensational”

Lucas Raymond is the Detroit Red Wings’ top scorer and leads in the points league for rookies in the NHL. At home in Sweden, the legendary Henrik Zetterberg follows the progress of the great Swedish talent with pleasure.

“You have to say that it’s a bit sensational,” says “Zata” to Hockeysverige.se.

After the overnight game between Detroit and Colorado, 19-year-old Lucas Raymond has played in 28 games and has posted 10 goals and 24 total points. With that, he’s the Red Wings’ best scorer thus far. Together with Moritz Seider, he is perhaps the league’s best rookie thus far.

Someone who is impressed with Lucas Raymond is former NHL star and team captain of the Detroit Red Wings, Henrik Zetterberg.

“Before the season, I had hopes that he would get a chance in Detroit, that he would go up and down a little between Detroit and Grand Rapids. That’s what I saw in front of me,” says Henrik Zetterberg to Hockeysverige.se, and he continues:

How did you see the start to his season?

“It must be said that it’s a little bit sensational. There were also a lot of coincidences. Jakub Vrana suffered an injury, needed to have shoulder surgery. Ta da, there was a place in the top six. Lucas got the chance and he took it.”

“It’s not just that there was only one place, but that he really deserved that spot. He’s taken it and now it’s his spot. Had Vrana not gotten hurt, who knows whether he would have gotten the chance immediately.”

“Now he gets to play on the first “PP” (power play) and has played mostly with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. It’s a good line and they complement each other very well.”

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in North America on Friday night:

In the ECHL, Kaden Fulcher served as the back-up and Billy Christopoulos stopped 30 of 32 shots as the Toledo Walleye lost 3-2 to the Iowa Heartlanders in a shootout;

In the QMJHL, Jan Bednar pitched a 21-save shutout as his Acadie-Bathurst Titan won 5-0 over the Oscar Plandowski-less Charlottetown Islanders. Bednar was named the game’s second star;

In the OHL, Pasquale Zito had an assist, finishing at +2 with a penalty taken and a 4-for-7 faceoff record in the Windsor Spitfires’ 4-1 win over London;

In the WHL, Cross Hanas finished even with 1 shot in the Portland Winterhawks’ 4-1 win over Spokane;

Alex Cotton finished at -1 with 7 shots in the Vancouver Giants’ 4-3 loss to Victoria;

The Sebastian Cossa-less Edmonton Oil Kings lost 3-2 to the Brandon Wheat Kings;

And in NCAA Hockey, Robert Mastrosimone had an assist, finishing even with 3 shots in the Boston University Terriers’ 3-3 overtime tie with Boston University;

Cooper Moore had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots in the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ 5-2 win over Colorado College;

Sam Stange had an assist, finishing at +1 with 2 shots in the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ 4-1 win over Penn State;

Jack Adams had an assist, finishing at -1 in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s 3-2 win over Michigan State;

Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and an assist, finishing at +1 with 5 shots in the Arizona State University Sun Devils’ 4-3 win over Clarkson;

And in the University of Denver Pioneers’ 5-0 win over Minnesota-Duluth:

Shai Buium scored his first NCAA goal, finishing at +3 with 2 shots;

Carter Mazur had an assist, finishing at +2;

And Antti Tuomisto finished even with 1 shot.

The Grand Rapids Griffins sort of had “opposite night” when compared to their parent club on Friday evening in Winnipeg: Grand Rapids actually scored the game’s first two goals, with Tyler Spezia and Turner Elson opening up a 2-0 lead…into which the Griffins fell like a chasm, surrendering four 3rd period goals (including an empty-netter) to the hometown Moose, ultimately losing a 4-2 decision.

Calvin Pickard was still named the game’s first star as he stopped 38 of 41 shots for the Griffins, but the goalie can’t score goals.

Anyway, here’s the Griffins website’s recap:

The Detroit Red Wings have lost 3 straight games, and they sit at 13-13-and-3 after an ugly 7-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, wrapping up a nasty set of back-to-back losses on the road (in both St. Louis and Denver), on top of a bad home loss to the Nashville Predators.

Our friends from Denver now sit at an impressive 15-7-2, while Ken Daniels informed those of us who were paying attention on Thursday night in St. Louis that, in terms of “difficulty of schedule,” the Red Wings, who sit at 13-12-and-3, have the hardest remaining schedule of any NHL team (in terms of their remaining opponents’ win percentage).

Long story long; between the 7-3 loss to Colorado on Friday and the 6-2 loss to St. Louis on Thursday–never mind the 5-2 home loss to Nashville on Tuesday–the Red Wings have learned a lot about what not to do defensively, as well as how not to stage a comeback from multiple-goal deficits.

As ColoradoAvalanche.com’s Laken Barker notes, the Avs’ win was one for the record books, or at least the record-tying ones…

It translates pretty well, given that it’s mostly a highlight clip:

The Red Wings tried to rebound from a difficult road loss in St. Louis on Friday night, heading to Ball Arena to battle one of the NHL’s best teams in the Colorado Avalanche.

The Red Wings lost their third straight game in ugly fashion, dropping a 7-3 decision to the Avs that could have been far closer, had the Red Wings made fewer mistakes…and it could have been a lot worse, had the Avs finished on a few more of their chances.

There were the ironic goals against, like Darren Helm’s breakaway goal on Thomas Griess (who was pulled), there were scares (like Lucas Raymond getting kneed and leaving the ice for five minutes) and there was a lot of learning being done by a Red Wings team that hasn’t played teams like the caliber of the Blues or Avs yet.

The Wings and Avs will meet again at Little Caesars Arena on December 20th, and here is hoping that the Red Wings get their shit together by a week from Monday.

They’ve got a 3-day break to grow upon before playing their 5 final pre-Christmas games, 3 of which will be held at home.

Red Wings prospects Sebastian Cossa and Donovan Sebrango are taking part in the Canadian World Junior selection camp in Calgary this week; Carter Mazur and Red Savage will take part in Team USA’s WJC selection camp in Plymouth next week; Frolunda’s Simon Edvinsson and Theodor Niederbach have been named to the Swedish WJC team; and Eemil Viro has been named to the Finnish WJC team.

According to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Red Wings prospect and goaltender Jan Bednar has joined the fray:

Acadie-Bathurst Titan goaltender Jan Bednar has been named to the Czech Republic’s National Junior Team selection camp.

The 19-year-old from Karlovy, Czech Republic is among 28 players invited to the camp ahead of the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship. The selection camp runs from December 15-25 in Red Deer, Alberta while the tournament itself gets underway on boxing day. The Czech staff will need to make three cuts before announcing the final roster for the tournament.

In his second season with the Titan, Bednar is 9-8-0 in 18 starts with a .898 save percentage and a 3.21 goals-against-average. The big six-foot-four, 196-pound netminder also has three assists this season which is the most among QMJHL goaltenders.

Czech Republic will play two exhibition games in preparation against the United States (December 20th) and Switzerland (December 23rd). They’ll open the World Juniors against Canada on December 26th at 8pm AST.