Author: George Malik

Per the New Haven Register’s Michael Fornabaio, former Red Wings prospect Keith Petruzzelli has signed a pro contract with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, the farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Former Quinnipiac men’s hockey goaltender Keith Petruzzelli has signed a two-year American Hockey League contract, the Toronto Marlies announced Sunday.

Petruzzelli, 22, was the ECAC Goaltender of the Year as a senior in 2020-21, ranking seventh in Division I hockey with a 1.89 goals-against average. He was a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award. He started the last 63 games of his Quinnipiac career.

The Wilbraham, Mass., native was a 2017 third-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings. Those NHL rights expired on Aug. 15.

Update: Here’s a bit of a scouting report from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

The scouting report on Petruzzelli is that he’s a little too robotic in his movements between the posts but the biggest knock against his pro credentials is the inconsistency that’s persisted in his game thus far through his development years.

While sighting the move by the Marlies as a good gamble, an NHL scout emphasized the latter of the two words when it came to investing in Petruzzelli futures.

“When he is good, he can be really good but when it goes south, it really can be ugly,” the scout said of Petruzzelli’s game. “When he was younger, I thought he would grow out of it with maturity but it still seems to be an issue.”

Via Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman: Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill took part in a round of celebrity golf at the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, MI today, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of some of Blashill’s remarks regarding his own team:

Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill likes what the team has done during the NHL offseason. He’s convinced that the club is trending positively.

As to how quickly the Wings will get to where fans want them to be – back in the Stanley Cup playoffs – Blashill is less certain.

“We think we’re headed in the right direction,” Blashill said. “Now what does that mean? I can’t tell how you quick can we get to where we want to be. I can’t tell you those things. But I definitely feel like we’re headed in the right direction.

The Detroit coach sees a better club set to take the ice for training camp in Traverse City. The offseason brought defensemen Nick Leddy and Jordan Oesterle, centers Pius Sutter and Mitchell Stephens and goaltender and Calder Trophy finalist Alex Nedeljkovic into the fold.

“We’ve gotten some players that are going to help us and now we’ve got to go to work,” Blashill said. “In terms of expectations, we’re going to start camp and we want to be better on Day 2 than we were on Day 1.”

Continued; here’s more from the Detroit News’s Matt Charbonneau…

As mentioned last week, new Red Wing and Tampa Bay Lightning alumnus Mitchell Stepehens had his “Day With the Cup” in Peterborough, Ontario on Wednesday, but things were toned down somewhat due to coronavirus issues.

Stephens had a boat parade with the Cup, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff did the digging to find some superb Tweets and a video from Stephens’ boat parade:

Stephens also spoke with the Peterborough Examiner’s Mike Davies:

From InGoal Magazine:

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A post shared by InGoal Magazine (@ingoalmag)

You can listen to the interview over on InGoal Magazine‘s website.

The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin took on an Herculean task in the name of fantasy hockey players, publishing a ranking of his top 250 fantasy hockey performers with one or more sentences’ worth of analysis included for each and every one of the players who made his cut.

That’s damn, damn impressive work, and here are his seven Red Wings selections, notes included:

Fundraising is going well. We’ve raised about $300 of the $600 needed for the server (with four more fundraising days to go before the bill comes due on the 31st) and that means everything’s going healthily.

I’m incredibly grateful for your support of the NPR of blogs, and I hope that we can continue commercial-free, at least for the time being (save the fundraising posts!).

If you’re willing to lend a hand, here are the usual channels:

If you’re willing to help me raise the $600 for my server bill, and/or what’s getting closer and closer to $3,000 for the Traverse City trip, you can use Paypal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com, and yes, you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check.

Thank you for your readership and your time.

The second episode of “The Winged Wheel,” a behind-the-scenes feature focusing on the front office’s machinations, will air tonight at 6 PM EDT on the Wings’ YouTube channel. This episode will focus on free agency moves made by the team:

Two items of Frans Nielsen-related note hit the wires this morning:

1. Nielsen spoke with SN.dk this morning, telling Af Riatzu that he’s looking to play more if he leaves the NHL. Here’s a rough translation of the pertinent part of the article, which discusses his desire to play more regularly:

“If we managed to win it in Olympic qualification, I’d like to go to a place where I play a lot, so I can be in the right shape. In Europe, you’re more confident of your playing time.”

“If we miss the Olympics, I can better afford to have an icy stomach and wait for the right thing to appear,” says Frans Nielsen.

Although he’s turned 37 and has almost 1,000 NHL games on his resume, he’s not let go of his boyhood dream of winning the sport’s biggest tropy.

“I still dream of winning the Stanley Cup, even if I have to play a little less. If there are still any teams in the NHL who feel they need depth on their team, then it can be difficult to say, ‘No, thank you,'” says Frans Nielsen.

He got news that he was done with the Detroit Red Wings last week. It sent the experienced center on the hunt for a team on a far from optimal time, with many teams having their rosters in place for next season. Nielsen himself, however, is confident.

“Of course, it changes some things when you have family, but it’s not something that I’m losing sleep over. I know there are opportunities on the market.”

“Had it happened in June, it would have course been much easier. But I think it’s under control, and there are good opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic,” says Frans Nielsen.

2. According to Hockeynews.se’s Uffe Bodin, the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks’ GM, Patrik Sylvegard, says that he’s having “great discussions” with Nielsen, who apparently lives in the Malmo area with his Swedish wife (Nielsen broke into the SHL with the Redhawks).

Sylvegard feels that Nielsen might want to play more regularly if the Danes manage to qualify for the Olympics (this seems to be something of a theme here).

This morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan makes an estimate as to what lines the Red Wings will hit the ice with in October. We’ll take a look at his estimated second and third forward lines:

2: Jakub Vrana-Pius Suter-Robby Fabbri

The Red Wings are eager to see what Vrana can do over a full season after collecting eight goals and 11 points in 11 games following a trade with Washington. They hope Suter can solidify the second-line center spot after picking up 14 goals as a 25-year-old rookie with Chicago. Fabbri was limited to 30 games due to COVID at the start and a concussion in the end but was productive (10 goals, 18 points).

3: Vladislav Namestnikov-Michael Rasmussen-Sam Gagner

Rasmussen was one of their most-improved players, though it didn’t reflect in his production (three goals, 12 points in 40 games). The Red Wings see him as a shut-down type center and a net-front presence on the power play. Gagner might be the only right-handed shooter on the top three lines and the lone righty forward on the power play. Namestnikov struggled last season, producing only eight goals (five empty-netters) and 17 points.

Continued

The Champions’ Hockey League is a strange kettle of fish. It’s a league in which 32 of Europe’s best professional teams play tournament games against each other, over the course of approximately 6 weeks, starting in August. The games are technically “friendly” matches, but there’s a tournament trophy at stake, and bragging rights.

So the Champions Hockey League began play today, with Red Wings prospects taking part.

Simon Edvinsson, Elmer Soderblom and Theodor Niederbach took part in the Frolunda Indians’ 4-1 win over Mlada Boleslav today, and Niederbach ended up with an assist on the following goal, as illustrated by IceHockeyGifs on Twitter:

Theo Niederbach opens the scoring with a deflection #LGRW pic.twitter.com/4Qgm2KAp6a

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) August 26, 2021

Here are a few more .gifs of interest…

Edvinsson pinching in off the faceoff helps set up Frölunda's 2-0. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/Rg2nFftIcR

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) August 26, 2021

Some Niederbach puck possession. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/n65QWHmMPb

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) August 26, 2021

William Wallinder also played in Rogle BK’s 5-3 win over EV Zug, but there are no stats from that game indicating that he registered a point over the course of the game…

And tomorrow, Eemil Viro and TPS Turku will battle Pinguins Bremerhaven. I’m sure IceHockeyGifs will have clips.