Author: George Malik

Of prospect-related note in both Europe and North America on Sunday:

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Jesper Eliasson stopped 27 of 31 shots in Almtuna IS’s 4-1 loss to BIK Karlskoga;

Neither Albin Grewe nor Gustav Berglund, who are both injured, played in Mora IK’s 4-1 loss to Bjorkloven;

Filip Larsson stopped 21 of 24 shots in HV71 Jonkoping’s 3-2 loss to Kristianstads;

In the QMJHL, Jan Bednar stopped 16 of 19 shots in the Acadie-Bathurst Titan’s 8-3 win over Baie-Comeau;

Oscar Plandowski finished even with 1 shot in the Charlottetown Islanders’ 5-2 win over Blainville-Boisbriand;

In the WHL, Sebastian Cossa stopped 19 of 21 shots as the Edmonton Oil Kings’ 5-2 win over Saskatoon;

And in the BCHL, Kienan Draper had an assist, finishing even in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 3-2 win over Surrey. Draper had 2 goals and an assist on Saturday.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen suggests that the Red Wings might want to depart from their 2-goaltender rotation now that Alex Nedeljkovic has staked his claim to the Red Wings’ crease with consistent, strong play:

The tandem approach made sense to start the season because the Red Wings played their first 20 games in 38 days. But the team had only two games last week and don’t play again until Tuesday in Boston. Blashill doesn’t discuss his goalie rotation, but it would make sense to play Nedeljkovic against the division rival Bruins and then go with Thomas Greiss the next night at home against the expansion Seattle Kraken.

“(Nedeljkovic has) earned the right to get the starts,” Blashill said. “We’re going to need both guys to be good as we continue this season. We’re going to go through different stretches where it’ll be grueling and we’re going to need both guys to be good.”

Nedeljkovic, 26, is 6-3 with a 2.70 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. Meanwhile, Greiss, 36, is at 4-6, with 3.41 GAA and .901 save percentage.  His save percentage over the past three games is .947.

“He’s been great, ” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “He plays the puck and he’s just made some incredible saves. The other night  he won us the game and he has that ability. It’s been a great confidence boost to know that he’s going to be there every night.”

One advantage Nedeljkovic has over Greiss is his ability to play the puck with authority. In fact, he plays it so often that it actually caused issues in the first couple of games when Detroit players struggled to adjust to his tendencies. They now have it figured out.

“I know for defensemen love it,” Larkin said. “You get the puck quicker and you get out cleaner. More time with the puck is good. “

Continued

As the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan notes in his Sunday afternoon notebook, the Red Wings have not done the greatest job of going to the front of the net and screening the opposition goaltender, so coach Jeff Blashill was particularly happy with the ways in which the Wings went to the front of the net and stayed there in Saturday’s win over Buffalo:

The Wings haven’t been scoring many “dirty goals” around the opposing team’s net, where it’s particularly physical and gritty.

But trailing 1-0, the Wings were able to take a 2-1 lead on just those types of goals from Carter Rowney and Pius Suter, just 1 minute, 19 seconds apart in the second period.

“We haven’t been a good team screening the goalie and you’re just not going to score consistently if you don’t,” Blashill said. “Tokarski has been really good for them, and he’s a real athletic goalie who can make big-time saves. You have to find ways to score dirty, especially when a goalie is feeling it.”

One Red Wing who made an impact screening Tokarski and was noticeable around the net was forward Givani Smith.

Getting playing time on a line with Robby Fabbri and Suter, Smith drew an assist on Suter’s goal and took advantage of his opportunity.

“He (Smith) has played more consistently and at a better level here in the last bit,” Blashill said. “I’ve rewarded him with more ice time on that line and he played good. He’s a big body around the net, hard around the net. He finds ways to win puck battles down low and that’s important.”

Continued; Givani Smith may not be the long-term answer to the Wings’ gritty-goal-scoring woes, but he can help the effort.

The Grand Rapids Griffins are having an incredibly difficult time defeating one of their most frequent opponents in the Chicago Wolves. On Sunday, Grand Rapids dropped its sixth straight game to the Wolves, losing 3-1 (despite a 41-save performance by goaltender Calvin Pickard).

The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 1 at Chicago Wolves 3

Nov. 28, 2021

ROSEMONT, Ill.– The Grand Rapids Griffins failed to get its first win of the season in five tries against the Chicago Wolves, losing 3-1 on Sunday at Allstate Arena. The defeat snapped the Griffins’ six-game road point streak (4-0-1-1).

Grand Rapids is now winless in its past six outings against Chicago, dating back to last season. Despite the loss, Kyle Criscuolo extended his point streak (3-6—9) to four games. Calvin Pickard made his sixth straight start in net for the Griffins and has appeared in 12 out of the 17 games this season.

The Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Chicago Wolves today at 4 PM EST, and somebody must not be able to play today, because the Griffins have signed Toledo Walleye scorer Matt Berry to a pro try-out contract:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday signed forward Matt Berry to a professional tryout.

Berry comes to Grand Rapids from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. The Canton, Mich., native has amassed 24 points (9-15—24) and 22 penalty minutes in 15 games with Toledo this year.His 24 points are tied for second in the ECHL among forwards while his 15 assists and plus-16 rating places first. Berry has logged five multi-point outings this season, including two four-point nights on Nov. 14 and 21.

The sixth-year pro has spent much of his career in the ECHL, logging 189 points (76-113) and 178 penalty minutes in 186 regular-season games. Berry last played in the AHL during the 2018-19 season when he posted 18 points (4-14—18) in 42 contests with the San Diego Gulls. The former Michigan State Spartan has 62 AHL games to his name with 22 scores (7-15—22).

Red Wings forward Robby Fabbri’s parents, Len and Stefani Fabbri, spoke with DetroitRedWings.com’s Carley Johnston regarding their son:

The Free Press’s Helene St. James answers a mailbag question this morning, discussing Red Wings prospect Simon Edvinsson as the most likely rookie to join the Wings’ fray next season:

Edvinsson spent part of last season with Frölunda in the Swedish Hockey League, where he was teammates with Raymond. Yzerman billed Edvinsson as a “big, rangy D that can really skate. He’s got good puck skills. We just see his potential to be a left-shot defenseman that can log a lot of minutes and be a defender that can add some offense to the game as well. We like his skating ability, his size and his reach.”

Edvinsson is similar in size to Seider, standing 6 feet 5 and 207 pounds. That’s an advantage, especially for young players, making it less likely opponents try to intimidate them as they adjust to the NHL. Edvinsson is highly skilled, too. He’s enjoying a really good season with Frölunda, with whom he has one goal and 10 assists after 18 games. He has played as much as 25 minutes some nights, and averages about 20 minute of ice time. That’s an impressive pace for an 18-year-old in his first full season in the SHL.

Yzerman has been firm the Wings won’t rush prospects, but Raymond was brought over at 19, and he has looked like he belonged in the NHL from his first game. Defense is a harder position, but Edvinsson has that same poise that allowed Seider to succeed in men’s leagues at an early age.

Continued (paywall)

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a column regarding the Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres this morning, with Khan noting coach Jeff Blashill and captain Dylan Larkin’s comments regarding the crowd at Little Caesars Arena being utilized as a motivating force:

The Red Wings don’t play in front of regular sellout crowds like they did at Joe Louis Arena during their Stanley Cup championship years, but the fans showing up at Little Caesars Arena are giving the team some “juice,” coach Jeff Blashill said.

“I think they’ve been awesome,” Blashill said. “I know the roads weren’t great today so it’s hard for everybody to get down here, but I thought the crowd was great tonight. The energy in this building has been great. I think that’s a huge reason why we’re 7-2-2. It gives so much momentum to our guys when the crowd is like that.”

The Red Wings (10-9-3) have won three in a row at home for the first time since Dec. 31, 2019 to Jan. 10, 2020. They are 7-2-2 at LCA.

“We play well here,” Larkin said. “The fans have been showing up, the atmosphere’s been great. We’re just get excited to be here. It was a long year without fans. We missed them a ton. To have them back and to play in this building, some of the loudest moments that I’ve heard here since it’s been open have happened this year. We got to keep going to make sure there’s louder moments and we’re right there in a playoff spot, where we want to be.”

Continued

Lucas Raymond has hit the big time in a different category: Now he’s giving post-game interviews to the Swedish media after his big moments:

Here’s a rough translation what Raymond had to say to Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman after his overtime goal in the Red Wings’ 3-2 victory over Buffalo on Saturday:

Of Red Wings prospect-related note from North America on Saturday night:

In the QMJHL, Jan Bednar stopped 26 of 30 shots in the Acadie-Bathurst Titan’s 4-3 loss to Quebec;

In the OHL, Pasquale Zito finished at -1 with 1 shot and a 6-for-10 faceoff record in the Windsor Spitfires’ 6-5 OT loss to Saginaw;

In the WHL, Alex Cotton finished with a goal on 4 shots, finishing even in the Vancouver Giants’ 3-1 win over Spokane;

In the BCHL, Kienan Draper finally broke out, posting 2 goals and an assist, finishing even in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 7-2 win over Coquitlam;

And in NCAA Hockey, Sam Stange finished even in the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ 3-0 loss to Clarkson;

Cooper Moore finished at +1 with 4 shots in the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ 3-2 win over Minnesota;

Red Savage scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 1 shot and a 7-and-5 faceoff record in the Miami of Ohio Redhawks’ 4-1 win over Long Island;

Carter Gylander stopped 8 of 9 shots in mop-up duty during the Colgate Raiders’ 6-1 loss to the UConn Huskies. Chase Bradley had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots for UConn;

Robert Mastrosimone finished even with 5 shots, and Chase Bradley did not play in the Boston University Terriers’ 6-4 loss to Cornell.