Author: George Malik

The 2-1-and-1 Detroit Red Wings face a unique situation in facing the 0-and-5 Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/City TV/TVA Sports/ESPN+/97.1 FM), kicking off a stretch of back-to-back games against winless teams (the Red Wings also battle the 0-4-and-1 Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday at 7 PM EDT).

Montreal is 0-and-5 for the first time since 1995, per the Detroit News’s Steve Kornacki, and Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported that no Stanley Cup Finalist has ever gone 0-and-6 to start their season.

The Red Wings, of course, will be without Tyler Bertuzzi due to his vaccination status, and are coming off a 3-0 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday; Montreal most recently lost a 4-1 decision to Jesperi Kotkaniemi and the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, and Sportsnet’s Justin Bourne reminds us that the Canadiens are without Carey Price and Shea Weber, among others.

Put bluntly, the Montreal press corps and Canadiens partisans are going crazy in both English and French due to the Canadiens’ struggles, and things aren’t much cheerier in Chicago, so the young Red Wings face extraordinary challenges in attempting to kick two nemeses while they’re down–and desperate.

Detroit chose to cancel practice on Friday; Montreal did practice on Friday, but the Canadiens did practice, and they spoke with the media afterward. The Montreal Gazette’s Stu Cowan will lead our game preview off, however, with a “state of the franchise”…

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes–and those of you who follow me on Twitter have noted–when Matthew Tkachuk slashed Lucas Raymond on the leg yesterday night, there was no response from the Red Wings, and that pissed off partisans all over the world:

During the first period [on Thursday], Flames agitator Matthew Tkachuk was at it again. He just seems to know how to get under the skin of the Red Wings.

Tkachuk responded to some mutual bumping by delivering a slash to the back of the legs of Red Wings rookie forward Lucas Raymond. Raymond went to the ice in a heap before hobbling to the bench. Tkachuk paid no penalty for his illegal act – from the game officials in terms of a penalty, or from any Red Wings players in the form of retribution.

To a man, Wings players are talking about how this team is sticking up for each other. They boast of the chemistry and the bonding within their dressing room.

“We have a tight-knit group in our locker room, all good buddies and we look after each other on and off the ice,” Bertuzzi said. “That’s just what happens when you’re so close in the locker room, building chemistry and doing it the right way.”

This certainly was in evidence through the first three games but wasn’t showing on Thursday. There needed to be some sort of response to Tkachuk, letting him and everyone else know that messing with the Red Wings’ kids isn’t alright.

Duff continues; I don’t believe that hockey is a space any more where you need a dedicated enforcer to immediately challenge Tkachuk to a fight, but whether it’s Givani Smith, Michael Rasmussen, Mar Staal or someone else, the Wings did need someone to give Tkachuk a rough ride for at least a couple of shifts thereafter, and that didn’t happen on Thursday.

I’ve been looking at the October calendar and noting that Tyler Bertuzzi will miss 2 of the Red Wings’ next 5 October games due to his unvaccinated status. Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen turned the calendar to November, and, as it turns out, Bertuzzi will miss the Wings’ first game in November as well.

That adds up to missing 3 of the Wings’ next 6 games for Bertuzzi. It’s not hard to suggest that Bertuzzi has every right to decline vaccination, but, thanks to Canada’s travel ban for unvaccinated players, there’s also no doubt that Bertuzzi’s “personal decision” affects his ability to perform his job:

Next weekend, the Red Wings play in Toronto on Saturday and then in Montreal on Tuesday as part of a four-game road trip.  GM Steve Yzerman is more likely to call up a player from Grand Rapids when Bertuzzi misses two games.

Presuming Bertuzzi will join the team in Boston on Wednesday, he will miss two practices in Montreal. When he takes the ice Thursday in Boston, he will not have played for six days.

Bertuzzi knows it’s important for the rebuilding Red Wings to have a strong start.

“Not just this start but look at the first 10-15-20 games,” Bertuzzi said. “Just play good hockey and try to have a winning record and just build from there. The chemistry is there and it’s going to continue to be there. If we can just keep playing the way we’re doing, playing a little bit smarter just keep doing it the right way, we’re gonna get some more wins.

It’s not as if the Red Wings aren’t used to playing without Bertuzzi. He only played nine games last season because of injury. But it is different when you know a teammate is sitting in his living room watching on TV when he could be playing

Continued; Bertuzzi’s forfeiting salary as well, a total of $450,000, for the sake of not “getting the jab,” and you can say a lot of things about his decision, but the word “selfish” rightly belongs in there, as Darren McCarty suggested.

Actions have consequences, and the Red Wings will have to learn to play without one of their most important, effective players over the next two weeks as a result. That’s the bottom line.

The Detroit News’s Steve Kornacki filed a Friday notebook article in which he discusses the Red Wings’ struggling power play, noting that the Wings have scored 2 power play goals over the course of 4 games, running at 14.2% efficiency:

Coach Jeff Blashill was asked to explain why his team came up empty on three power plays in Thursday night’s 3-0 home loss to the Calgary Flames.

“We didn’t handle their pressure good enough,” he said. “When we had chances to attack, we didn’t attack. When we had chances to make plays, we didn’t make plays. And we turned the puck over too many times when we didn’t need to do that.”

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin added: “We’re going to look at the film and try to be better. We have the guys in the locker room to have a good power play unit. We believe that.”

Forwards Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Zadina have Detroit’s power-play goals.

It won’t help that Bertuzzi can’t play in Montreal because he’s the lone Red Wing electing not to get the coronavirus vaccine and isn’t allowed in his native country. He’s scored a team-high five goals and is the kind of aggressive shooter who makes opponents pay for being down one man.

Blashill said even one power-play goal would’ve made a big difference against Calgary. But Detroit was blanked on two opportunities while putting 14 shots on goalie Jacob Markstrom in the second period.

“We had enough opportunities,” Blashill said. “If you score one or two, it’s a different atmosphere. … Ultimately, the power play needs to be better than it was.”

Continued; simpler, quicker passing, moving their feet, pucks and bodies to the front of the net, and motion instead of passing from stationary player to stationary player. The answers to the Wings’ power play woes aren’t hard to figure out. It’s just a matter of executing.

The Detroit Red Wings aren’t necessarily receiving balanced scoring going into this weekend’s back-to-back series vs. the winless Canadiens and Blackhawks, so Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen names 4 culprits in the 2-1-and-1 Wings’ struggles, in a subscriber-only article. Here are two of the four sources of offense that Allen lists:

Center Pius Suter: After playing superbly in the preseason, Suter’s offensive touch has gone cold. It’s not about effort. Suter leads the team with 12 shots on goal. But he doesn’t have a point yet. To make matters worse, he’s minus-3. He’s a smart player who helps even when he doesn’t get points.

But Suter has to score for the Detroit Red Wings to show any measurable improvement this season. They must have two scoring lines.

…

Center Michael Rasmussen: The Red Wings coaches are trying to convince Rasmussen he can be another Jordan Staal. To do that, Rasmussen will need to be more physical. This season, Staal has played three games and Rasmussen had played four. They each have two assists. But Staal has 10 hits and Rasmussen shows two.

The Red Wings appreciate that Rasmussen works at his game. He is trying to become a better player. He’s 6-foot-6 and he needs to use that size to his advantage. Quality teams usually have a No. 3 center that plays with an edge.

Continued (paywall); I knew that Pius was going to struggle adjusting to playing on the Red Wings, but my hope is that playing against Chicago on Sunday will spark him–and he is as talented as advertised–and Rasmussen is equally a battle of self-belief, because “The Moose” does a fine job of playing physically when he buys into his job.

The Grand Rapids Griffins play the Manitoba Moose tonight and Sunday (tonight it’s at 8 PM EDT on TheAHL.tv), and the Grand Rapids Griffins posted a video preview of the back-to-back set:

The Athletic’s Eric Duhsatchek discusses Moritz Seider’s very early-season candidacy for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie this evening, noting that it’s not easy for a defenseman to win the award:

There is always considerable interest in the NHL’s rookie race, and a question was posed about the chances of the Red Wings’ fine prospect, Moritz Seider, actually challenging for the Calder. My answer is yes, for a couple of reasons. One: Voters are more willing than ever to look at defencemen in rookie of the year balloting. For a long time, it was a black hole. From 1990, when Sergei Makarov won the Calder, until 2014, when it went to Nathan MacKinnon, only three defencemen won the award: Bryan Berard in 1997, Barret Jackman in 2003 and Tyler Myers in 2010.

Since then, we’ve seen Aaron Ekblad (2015) and Cale Makar (2020) win the Calder and in Makar’s year, two other defencemen were in contention for the award (Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox). This year’s race could be interesting, because the two odds-on favorites up front, Zegras and Montreal’s Cole Caufield, have been slow off the mark offensively. In theory, you could see three defencemen in the running again: Seider, Colorado’s Bowen Byram and Anaheim’s Drysdale. One thing Jason Robertson’s unexpected Calder challenge last year taught us: There’s always going to be one candidate that comes from a little off the grid to make it a race. Maybe Seider is that candidate this season.

Continued (paywall)

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe on Friday:

In the Finnish Liiga, Eemil Viro finished at +1 with 2 shots in 17:32 played as TPS Turku won 3-2 over Assat Pori;

Otto Kivenmaki had an assist, finishing at +1 with 4 shots in 14:25 played during the Lahti Pelicans’ 4-2 win over Karpat;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Jesper Eliasson served as the back-up as Almtuna IS lost 5-4 in a shootout to HV71, whose Filip Larsson was also a back-up today;

In Mora IK’s 3-2 loss to AIK Stockholm, Albin Grewe had 2 assists but finished at -2 with 3 shots, and Gustav Berglund finished at -1 with 1 shot;

And in the Swedish J20 league, Liam Dower Nilsson scored a goal in Frolunda HC’s 5-3 loss to Orebro.

I’m kind of looking at this article and going, “Do I have to post it?” but I suppose that’s a sign that I do indeed have to post it. The Athletic’s Sean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn offer their latest set of power rankings this morning, and while the Red Wings’ 3-0 loss to the Calgary Flames last night was a major bummer…

The “vibes” around the Red Wings are good?

14. Detroit Red Wings

Record:  2-1-1
Last Week: 27
Dom rank: 15
Sean rank: 14

Sean: We adjusted after the Wings’ 3-0 loss to Calgary on Thursday night, and we could’ve dropped them further, but … whatever. They get the 14th spot based on vibes. I watched a decent chunk of that game, and Moritz Seider may well be as good as everyone says. If and when they stink, that’ll give the fanbase something to glom onto. Same goes for Lucas Raymond. That’s good enough for now.

Dom: They had 6.9 expected goals against Columbus the other night so their vibes are indeed very nice.

Continued (paywall); shit, if you’re gonna rank the Wings 14th based on anything other than objective criteria, I’ll take it at this point, but the 2-1-and-1 team needs to get its shit together opposite desperate Canadiens and Blackhawks teams this weekend.

I think this weekend’s back-to-back games will reveal a lot about the Wings’ character and resolve going forward.

This article comes to us via the invaluable IceHockeyGifs on Twitter: Red Wings prospect Elmer Soderblom engaged in a “20 Questions” interview with Johannes Haggelund, and here’s a rough translation of Soderblom’s answers to Haggelund’s questions:

1. If you had to pick an aspect from another player in the SHL, whose skill would you pick?

“[Teammate] Ryan Lasch‘s passing game.”

2. Who is your most difficult opponent in the SHL?

“Last year, Moritz Seider (of Rogle) was hard to play. I’m often around the goal and in the corners, and I met him a lot there and it was tough.”

3. What physical exercises do you think are the most fun, and the most boring?

“Bench presses are always fun. It’s one of the most fun exercises. The most boring physical exercises are chin-ups. I’m tall and heavy [Soderblom is 6’8″ and 238 pounds]. They’re not my favorite.”

4. What do you do in the bench press?

“I’ve gotten up to 137.5 kilos [303.13 pounds] this season.”

5. When were you the most starstruck?

“When I met Peter Forsberg at the Globen Arena after we won the Under-18 World Championship [in 2019] in Ornskoldsvik. After that we had to go to the Globen and I met “Foppa.” It’s the most starstruck I’ve ever been.