Author: George Malik

The Score’s Sean O’Leary posted a set of “Calder Trophy Power Rankings,” and the second-leading rookie scorer finishes third…

3. Moritz Seider, Red Wings

Previous rank: 2

Seider‘s offensive production has slowed down a touch since our last rankings, but he’s still contributing in every facet of the game on the Red Wings‘ top defensive pair. The German stalwart leads all rookies in average ice time by a significant margin and ranks second among Detroit’s rearguards in even-strength minutes.

Additionally, Seider is still tied for second in rookie scoring despite the relative dry patch, and the majority of his production is coming at even strength. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Seider’s debut campaign to date is his play in the defensive zone. He’s provided a ton value in shot and scoring chance suppression, leading Detroit’s regular defensemen in goals against per-60, Corsi against per-60, and expected goals against per-60.

And #1 remains #1:

1. Lucas Raymond, Red Wings

Previous rank: 1

Through two months, the Calder is Raymond‘s to lose. He leads all rookies in goals, points, and shots while routinely showcasing electrifying game-breaking talent for a Red Wings team that wouldn’t be anywhere near a wild-card position without him in the lineup.

Raymond is a weapon at even strength and on the power play thanks to a lethal release that can beat any goaltender clean. Combine his shot with elite hockey IQ and deft playmaking, and it’s clear Raymond is bound to become a special player.

Continued

Well, enjoy, from the Woodward Sports Network:

Per the Chilliwack Progress’s Eric Welsh:

Chilliwack Chiefs forward Kienan Draper is the BCHL’s third star of the week following an offensive explosion.

The 19-year-old Michigan product scored three goals and added three assists for six points in three games, all wins for his Chiefs.

Draper collected two points in an 11-1 whomping of the Powell River Kings Nov. 24, setting up a shorthanded goal by Connor Milburn in the first period and scoring a power-play marker of his own in the third.

He recorded his second straight multi-point game three nights later when he notched two goals and one assist in a 7-2 win over the Coquitlam Express. Draper wrapped up his weekend on Sunday with one assist in a 3-2 triumph over the Surrey Eagles.

Draper now has 13 points in 15 games this season, which is good for seventh in team scoring behind Cameron Johnson (19), AJ Lacroix (16), Ethan Bowen (16), Frankie Carogioiello (15), Abram Wiebe (15) and Dawson Good (14).

The Detroit Red Wings begin a stretch of 2 games to be played over the course of 2 nights tonight in Boston (7 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet West/Sportsnet Pacific/97.1 FM). The Wings will then return home to host Seattle on Wednesday, but first things first:

The Red Wings almost never win in Beantown. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that, since the Wings won Game 2 of the first round in 2014, the Wings possess a gaudy 1-11-2 record at TD Garden.

While the Bruins will be without Brad Marchand’s services as he’s been suspended for slew-footing, Boston stands at 11-and-7 going into this game, and have won 5 of their past 7 games.

The 10-9-and-3 Wings actually sit a point ahead of the Bruins in the Eastern Conference standings, but Detroit’s 3-7-and-1 road record is of concern.

There is some tumult in Bruins land away from Marchand’s latest suspension; Jake DeBrusk’s agent has informed the Bruins that his client wants a trade, and while Linus Ullmark is starting vs. the Red Wings, the as-yet-unsigned Tuukka Rask is beginning what seems like an inevitable comeback toward the Bruins’ crease.

The Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy noted that Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy hasn’t been completely enthused with the play of Ullmark, despite his strong performance in the Bruins’ 3-2 win over Vancouver on Sunday:

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills filed a notebook article in which he discusses Jordan Oesterle’s homecoming with the Wings, the Wings’ home record, and Givani Smith’s presence on the Wings’ second line, but this line from coach Jeff Blashill caught my eye..

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond has appeared in all 22 games during his rookie season, and more than earned his spot. He’s been especially impactful at home.

Last week, the 19-year-old scored one goal in each of Detroit’s games at Little Caesars Arena, including the game-winner in overtime against Buffalo on Nov. 24. In 11 home games, Raymond has tallied seven points, including four goals and three assists.

“I think he’s got a chance to be a really good player,” Blashill said. “But he’s got to prove it on a night-to-night basis and if we sit here after the season, and he’s had a whole bunch more milestones, then he gives you more reason to believe that’s what he is.”

One month after fellow rookie Moritz Seider earned the award, Raymond could very well be in the mix for the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for November. Raymond has 12 points on five goals and seven assists in 13 games played this month. Raymond and the Red Wings will wrap up their November slate on Tuesday night at Boston.

As did this quip from the Free Press’s Dana Garauder’s notebook:

The Wings’ other celebrated rookie, Lucas Raymond, is easily outpacing his peers statistically. Entering Monday’s action, Raymond led all first-year players with nine goals, 12 assists and 21 points. No other rookie has more than 14 points. Raymond has points in six of his last seven games and added to his brilliant start by scoring the game-winner against the Sabres.

Blashill cautions that it’s way too early to measure Raymond’s potential.

“It’s 22 games. It’s not five but it’s certainly not 500,” he said. “We have to be patient and let guys prove what they are over a long period of time. There’s certainly been a lot of good young players in this league that have had a great first or second year and kind of ended up not being to that height.”

Continued; sounds a little Babcockian, doesn’t it? I’m not so worried about where Raymond’s head is at in terms of his self-confidence versus his ego.

2. Regarding Oesterle, he’s been playing with Moritz Seider of late, and the Dearborn Heights, MI native says that he’s enjoying the ride, as he told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

The Red Wings have been particularly entertaining to watch over the course of their first 21 games, and Sportsnet’s Justin Bourne took note of the fact that the Red Wings and Ducks have made particular improvement in the “you can watch the teams and not be bored” category in his “Five quarter-mark thoughts“:

2. The Ducks and Red Wings are legitimately better teams

Even with records of just over .500 in their past 10 games, both of these teams have shown enough speed and skill and improvement to make me believe they’re legitimately better. Oh weird, adding dynamic, exciting stars at both forward and defence helps, who knew?

Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, to go with Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, are among the handful of names I’m most excited about adding to the NHL this season. Zegras is italicized nasty out there, and Raymond is a dynamic offensive force, too. The first step in a rebuild is going from awful to watchable before becoming “good” and both of these teams are watchable now, thanks in large part to these four names.

Continued

From the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:

The Toledo Walleye have signed Adam Parsells, a 6-foot-6, 192-pound defenseman who is in his first pro season.

Parsells, a native of Wausau, Wis., has appeared in one game in the ECHL and two games in the American Hockey League this season.

Parsells was released by the Indy Fuel on Saturday. He did not play in Toledo’s game against Indy on Friday night at the Huntington Center.

The defenseman has appeared in two games this year with the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL and one with the Fuel. He has not recorded any points or penalty minutes.

The 24-year-old played in two games for the Utah Grizzlies in 2020-21 after completing his college career at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Continued

This recall was not accompanied by a notice that anyone got COVID or got hurt, but the Wings are playing 2 games in 2 nights, so perhaps the team felt it needed an extra body:

Kyle Criscuolo recalled by Detroit

Forward has 12 points in 12 games with Griffins

DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings today recalled center Kyle Criscuolo from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Criscuolo, 29, has played parts of four seasons with the Griffins over two separate stints with the club, rejoining the organization in 2020-21 after signing with Grand Rapids to begin his professional career in 2015-16. In 262 AHL games between the Griffins, Rochester Americans, Lehigh Valley Phantoms and San Diego Gulls, he has logged 150 points (62-88-150), a plus-27 rating and 94 penalty minutes. As a first-year pro in 2016-17, Criscuolo helped the Griffins capture a Calder Cup championship, contributing 41 points (17-24-41) in 76 regular-season games and adding nine points (5-4-9) in 19 postseason contests. This season, the 5-foot-9, 175-pound forward is tied for the Griffins lead in points-per-game, racking up 12 points (5-7-12) in 12 games. Criscuolo also played in nine NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres during the 2017-18 campaign.

A native of Southampton, N.J., Criscuolo spent four seasons at Harvard University from 2012-16 and logged 113 points (53-60-113), a plus-42 rating and 46 penalty minutes in 124 collegiate games, serving as captain of the Crimson as a junior and senior. Harvard won an ECAC conference championship in 2015, and Criscuolo was a back-to-back ECAC Student-Athlete of the Year, All-Ivy League Second Team and All-ECAC Second Team member. Prior to his time at Harvard, Criscuolo spent the 2011-12 season in the USHL with the Sioux City Musketeers, notching 44 points (21-23-44) in 59 games.

Dealing with chronic mental illness–for me, at least–is more like living on a continuum of feelings as opposed to the stop-and-start of specific events.

There’s always a certain level of what I describe as “background radiation” within one’s perceptions that doesn’t quite line up with reality, there’s always a certain amount of discomfort, and you just sort of learn to battle through it as many days as you possibly can.

Today, after practice, my depression did really get the better of me, hitting me as if it was a big, heavy wave that knocked me over, and feeling gloomy about being such a tiny little blog of so little importance that has to kick and scream and fight to fund-raise every month…It just kind of hit me that I may always be small-market–the Lucas Raymond story going over the heads of the “in crowd” certainly illustrated that–and I just didn’t want to do anything.

It turns out that, when I woke up, I found an aunt in an equally foul mood, and she reminded me of course that this little blog and its little community isn’t all about me. The whole damn reason I do this is because I want to share the level at which I would be following the Wings anyway with the small community of readers that are the whole reason TMR exists.

I’m not sure what the answer to feeling inferior about “being small” is, but I think that I could have found a less clunky way of dealing with the wave of depression that hit me than simply letting it knock me down and not getting back up.

I’m sorry for the interruption in service, but this was a bad day for me, and sometimes the way my brain responds to having a bit of an existential crisis is to get depressed, and there are days that I can fight through the chemical wave, and there are days that it knocks me down. And I stay down sometimes, because there are days that hurt more than others.

The Detroit Red Wings practiced on Monday without the services of Filip Hronek, who coach Jeff Blashill told the media is dealing with a non-COVID illness, and should be available for the Wings’ road game vs. Boston tomorrow night (7 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet West/Sportsnet Pacific/97.1 FM).

Shortly after coach Blashill and defenseman Jordan Oesterle spoke with the media, the Red Wings made their availabilities viewable on YouTube: