Author: George Malik

The Grand Rapids Griffins will play a set of back-to-back games in Winnipeg against the Manitoba Moose this weekend, and they’ve posted their weekly notebook this afternoon:

This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS at Manitoba Moose // Fri., Oct. 22 // 8 p.m. EDT // Canada Life Centre
GRIFFINS at Manitoba Moose // Sun., Oct. 24 // 3 p.m. EDT // Canada Life Centre
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7:35 p.m. Fri. and 2:35 p.m. Sun.
Watch: AHLTV
Season Series: First and second of eight meetings overall, first and second of four at Canada Life Centre
All-Time Series: 65-33-1-1-7 Overall, 30-19-0-0-2 Road
NHL Affiliation: Winnipeg Jets
Noteworthy: This game will mark the first time the two franchises will meet since Jan. 11, 2020 as they did not match up against each other during the 2020-21 campaign. Since the Moose rejoined the AHL in 2015-16, Grand Rapids is 21-9 against them and has outscored them 98-69.

Of prospect-related note from Sweden:

In the Allsvenskan, Gustav Berglund finished even with 2 shots on goal, and Albin Grewe finished at +1 with a penalty taken in Mora IK’s 4-3 OT win over Vasterviks IK;

And in the SHL, in Frolunda HC’s 5-2 win over Timra IK:

Simon Edvinsson finished with an assist and 3 shots, finishing at +1 in 25:18 played:

Elmer Söderblom scores his 5th goal of the season and 7th point of the last 7 games. Assist Simon Edvinsson. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/2QHLwV3qCD

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) October 19, 2021

Theodor Niederbach scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 2 shots in 11:33 played:

Theo Niederbach scores his 2nd goal of the season #LGRW pic.twitter.com/m58pRUv0QJ

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) October 19, 2021

And Elmer Soderblom scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 2 shots in 14:16 played.

In addition to addressing the Dylan Larkin suspension and the Garland-Zadina incident, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shares news regarding both Gordie Howe and Mark Howe in today’s “32 Thoughts“:

27. In a perfect marriage of history and technology, 10 Gordie Howe NFTs are coming to market. The official announcement is scheduled for Thursday, with proceeds going to the Howe Foundation and the NHL Alumni. Mark Howe joked his son Travis (Gordie’s grandson) has tied him up for months on this project. The family hired a local artist from Detroit to do the work and tell the tales. One is the famous train story that led to Mr. Hockey getting number nine, another called “Hockey Dad” shows Gordie with sons Mark and Marty as members of the WHA’s Houston Aeros. Looking forward to seeing them.

28. For a second time, Mark Howe is retired. The Hall-of-Famer ended his playing career in 1995 and, after last season, retired as a scout. “I remember asking dad when I was still playing, ‘How do you know when it’s time?’” Howe said Monday. “He answered, ‘You’ll know.’ He was right. It hit me then and it hit me again.” Howe said he wants to spend more time with his partner, Sharon, recognizing that is more important to him now than work. “I’ve been compensated very fairly. I strongly believe in Steve Yzerman and his plan. Steve is the hardest-working guy I’ve seen. He demands the same of others and he should. But I wasn’t just tired, I was burned out. It is time.” Howe went out of his way to praise the Red Wings and the Ilitch family. “They were great to me, and us. To share my father with the rest of the world when he passed made a difficult time very nice.”

There’s more:

The Red Wings posted a 12-minute episode of “The Forecheck” ahead of tonight’s game vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets (7:30 PM on Bally Sports Detroit/Bally Sports Ohio/ESPN+/97.1 FM):

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a notebook article discussing the Red Wings’ suddenly competent power play under new assistant coach Alex Tanguay:

With the addition of assistant coach Alex Tanguay, more offensive depth, and some simple career growth, the Wings look sharper on the man advantage, having scored goals in each of the first two games and clipping along at a 28.6% success rate.

Small sample size but quite good so far.

“They have an understanding of what Alex wants them to do, which is pretty simple,” Blashill said. “Quick puck movement, take what’s given, be ready to attack.”

Special teams are a big component of success in the NHL. If a team takes advantage of the power play, and conversely is effective at killing penalties, it’s likely they will be a winning hockey team.

Blashill is pleased with the way the power play has looked, but he was quick to add it’s a long season and there’s room to grow.

“We’ve got to keep getting better at it,” Blashill said. “It’s going to be a big piece of success. I gave our guys a stat before the year, that in the last five years if a team won the specialty teams battle, 76% of the time you’re going to win the hockey game. That’s a huge percentage. So let’s find ways to make sure we win the specialty teams battle.”

Continued

The Hockey News’s Stephen Ellis penned an article discussing Moritz Seider’s performance with the Red Wings thus far:

Seider had two assists in his NHL debut on Oct. 14, a 7-6 overtime loss in an absolute wild affair with Tampa Bay. Seider followed it up with an assist against Vancouver two days later, skating in 22:55 of the game. Seider has always loved getting extra minutes and playing against top talent doesn’t seem to phase him. That’s the steady presence the Red Wings need, and he’s only 20.

Playing alongside veteran Nick Leddy, Seider already looks like a seasoned NHLer and not a young kid getting his legs under him. Of Detroit’s top four, Seider’s 40.48 Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 is the best (although, not great compared to the rest of the league). There isn’t too much you can take from stats after just two games, but the eye test definitely suggests he’s already one of Detroit’s better two-way players and his game has transitioned nicely from his tenure in Sweden.

So, where can Seider go from here? He’s clearly the team’s D-man of the future. From a mobility perspective, Seider has a bit of Chris Pronger in him, just with a little less physicality. Some Red Wings fans say he reminds them of Vladimir Konstantinov. Others liken his overall ability to Marc-Edouard Vlasic in his prime. 

Overall, there’s a lot of hope that Seider can become a star for a team that needs one on the blueline. Seider can be that man as the team continues to move towards the future – one that should see the team become a true contender in the near future. 

Continued

ESPN’s Sean Allen posted a fantasy hockey column today, and while I’m bullish on one Moritz Seider, after all of two games played, I’m not sure I’d give Seider this kind of endorsement:

Moritz Seider, D, Detroit Red Wings (up 21 spots to No. 105): He’s passing all tests in the early season and looking like the Calder Trophy candidate we hoped. Seider is leading the Red Wings in power-play minutes and should be scooped up in all leagues to see where he can take this.

Continued; deep breaths, everybody. Seider is clearly a special player, but he’s going to have some ups and downs as he continues to learn how to play NHL hockey. Yes, right now it might not be a bad idea to pick him up in your fantasy league, but I’ve seen frickin’ Nicklas Lidstrom go through growing pains during his first season in the NHL. They will happen to Moritz, too.

Of Red Wings and Blue Jackets-related note ahead of the teams’ match-up tonight at Little Caesars Arena (7:30 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/Bally Sports Ohio/97.1 FM), subsequent to the game-day skate and the post-skate media availabilities (videos of coach Jeff Blashill and Pius Suter included):

1. MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a varied notebook which discussses Thomas Greiss, Moritz Seider’s ups and downs, Marc Staal’s status, and the atmosphere at Little Caesars Arena now that fans are back in the stands:

[Red Wings coach Jeff] Blashill noted that the atmosphere at LCA the first two games has been as charged as it has been since the building opened four years ago.

“I think the atmosphere has been great. Both games were highly emotional, which is a positive,” Blashill said. “We want to play with lots of compete, lots of emotion. The crowds have been awesome. It’s a loud building. It’s been a while since we had that (due to COVID restrictions last season). The first game in this building (in 2017), we didn’t have enough people in the seats. There were lots of people here, but they were either in the club level eating or checking out how beautiful the arena is. Now everybody is in the seats, and it just seems really, really loud.”

A loud building can provide a home-ice advantage.

“Playing at the highest level of compete and emotion every night is not easy for 82 games and most teams can’t do it,” Blashill said. “It can be a separator if we can do it on a night-to-night basis. We’re looking for every way we can to separate ourselves from other teams, and this is one way.”

2. ColumbusBlueJackets.com’s Jeff Svoboda posted a game-day update which includes the following:

This is interesting stuff from today’s morning skate:

Some really interesting stuff from Jeff Blashill this morning on the Red Wings’ use of analytics. A couple of nuggets: They use the NHL tracking data and Coaching Insights App, plus a third party. They still track scoring chances subjectively. (1)— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) October 19, 2021

What is the Red Wings’ subjective criteria for a scoring chance? Shot location is part of it. So is the distance the goalie had to travel to make the save. “The more the goalie has to move, the greater the likelihood of the puck going in.”— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) October 19, 2021

What is the Red Wings’ subjective criteria for a scoring chance? Shot location is part of it. So is the distance the goalie had to travel to make the save. “The more the goalie has to move, the greater the likelihood of the puck going in.”— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) October 19, 2021

The Red Wings look beyond shots on goal and shot attempts. They look at Grade A scoring chances and zone time, in terms of actual game time elapsed. Again, they use NHL tracking data plus a third party.— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) October 19, 2021

Blashill, on defining scoring chances and tracking them objectively: “We’ve written algorithms that take a lot of those factors into play. This will all get improved greatly as we are able to really harness the puck tracking and the player tracking.”— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) October 19, 2021

The analytics stuff starts at about 8:15 —> Detroit Red Wings Morning Skate | Jeff Blashill – 10/19 https://t.co/F9oHEEMmGj via @YouTube— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) October 19, 2021

Update:

Of Twitter-related note from the Columbus Blue Jackets ahead of tonight’s game between the Detroit Red Wings and Blue Jackets (7:30 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/Bally Sports Ohio/ESPN+/97.1 FM):

? CHINNY'S IN ?@BlueTech_Inc | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/agQuz4iZfO

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 19, 2021

Expect @sean_kuraly to be RELENTLESS tonight @Ticketmaster | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/ZkEFeqKAdP

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 19, 2021

Chinny’s in & Korpi starts per the bench boss ✍️@Ticketmaster | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/A1NoWpM9qP— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 19, 2021