Author: George Malik

97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield posted an article this morning discussing the Red Wings’ expectations for one Michael Rasmussen. Burchfield suggests that Rasmussen could develop into a Jordan Staal-style two-way center:

Jordan Staal, to put it bluntly, is a beast. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast and he’s more skilled than you might think. You don’t stumble into 1,000-plus games in the NHL, and you don’t put up 575 points by mistake. If Rasmussen ever comes close to those numbers, the Wings would have to be over the moon. Aim high, right?

You can tell Rasmussen has bought into the vision. He was drafted ninth overall in 2017 as a prolific scorer out of the WHL, but his NHL profile will have to be different. Asked at the start of camp how he wants to establish himself this season, Rasmussen, never one to waste words, said, “Earning valuable ice for our team, whether it’s five on five, a big face-off, penalty kill, power play. Anywhere I can help the team, I just want to get that trust.”

Staal has that trust in Carolina. He’s had it for years, and he had it in Pittsburgh before that. He was second among forwards on the first-place Hurricanes last season in ice time (18:29) and the only forward on the team who played at least two minutes per game on both the power play and the penalty kill. He put up 38 points, 14 of which came on the power play, in 58 games. Oh, and he won 58 percent of his face-offs, fifth best in the NHL.

Continued

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a set of five observations made over the course of training camp, framing them as questions going forward. Among them:

4. Will the power play show signs of improvement? One of the most important offseason additions Detroit made won’t play a minute on the ice for them this season. That would be assistant coach Alex Tanguay, who has the task of running the Red Wings’ power play, which last year was among the league’s worst.

Veteran Sam Gagner spoke during camp about the importance of getting some swagger back with the man advantage, noting that Tanguay had that swagger as a player. He said Tanguay the coach has been clear about what he wants.

“He’s direct about moving the puck quick, getting open fast, not dusting off pucks and being available for your teammates,” Gagner said. “I think that’s something that’s really important for us to get our swagger, is making sure that we communicate about those different types of things and there’s no question marks. It’s just: ‘This is what we want, and this is how we’re going to do it and this is how we’re going to have success.’ That’s the first step, and now we’ve got to go out and execute.”

The Red Wings have done plenty of work on the power play in camp, including during the Red-White game, but none of it really means anything until we see it with units that resemble the ones Detroit will actually use and against an opposing team’s penalty kill.

Continued (paywall)

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a subscriber-only article this morning which discusses the Red Wings’ roster as in flux heading into the 8-games-in-11-nights exhibition season. She also noted that Wings coach Jeff Blashill has high expectations for Lucas Raymond, should he attempt to make the team out of training camp:

At the other end of the career spectrum is Raymond, a 5-11, 182-pound winger who has spent the past couple seasons in the Swedish Hockey League. Blashill joked that “it should be clear to my wife that (Raymond) should be on the hockey team” — meaning the 19-year-old will have to dominate his shifts, more so than a veteran.

“They’re both going to get chances with good players, and then they have to go out and grab jobs,” Blashill said. “Bobby [Ryan] has been through this before; Lucas is new to it but I think he’s a kid who would love a job and wants a job. Wants to do everything he can. He certainly understands if he’s not ready to play a primetime role for us, that he’ll start in Grand Rapids, and if that’s the case, he’ll be determined to work his way back up. That’s the type of person he is.

“Both of them are going to get opportunities, both of them are going to get a good number of games, and that goes for a number of guys. We have guys like Taro Hirose and Riley Barber that had really good years in the AHL. They’re going to get a number of games.”

Blashill debated dividing the 40-odd players into Detroit and Grand Rapids squads, but “I don’t know who’s on that Detroit team yet. We’ll use exhibition season to determine who’s on that team.

“Whoever can grab a job, grab a job. I think it’s as competitive as it’s been here in a long time.”

Continued (paywall)

NHL.com’s Dan Rosen discusses several Red Wings-related topics in his Wednesday mailbag feature:

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has made some interesting moves this offseason. He has some serious prospects in their system. He has drafted well. How long until we see a renaissance of sorts with his team? Could we see Sebastian Cossa, Lucas Raymond or Moritz Seider make the team this year? — @theashcity

The Red Wings are at least two years, if not three, away from a renaissance. But that’s not surprising. This was a five-year plan when Yzerman was hired as executive vice president and general manager April 19, 2019. They’re two truncated seasons and three NHL Drafts into it.

Seider has the best chance of making an impact this season. The No. 6 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft should be penciled in as a top-six defenseman. He scored 22 points (two goals, 20 assists) in 49 games for Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League in 2019-20. He played for Rogle in the Swedish Hockey League last season, won the SHL Elite Prospects Award, and was named SHL Defenseman of the Year, scoring 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists) in 41 games.

Raymond, the No. 4 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, is in the mix to earn a spot in Detroit’s forward group, but the 19-year-old might not be ready and could be headed for Grand Rapids.

Cossa won’t be in the NHL at least until the 2023-24 season figuring he has one more season with Edmonton in the Western Hockey League and then at least one in the AHL. The No. 15 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft is in line to be Detroit’s goalie of the future, but Alex Nedeljkovic has the net after signing a two-year contract July 22, the same day he was traded to the Red Wings by the Hurricanes.

Continued; Blashill had this to say about Lucas Raymond’s challenges in terms of making the team out of training camp, per WXYZ’s Brad Galli:

Jeff Blashill said Lucas Raymond’s needs to stand out to to make the Red Wings roster.

“It should be clear to my wife that he should be on the hockey team,” Blashill said, before clarifying that it’s not a slight on his wife. pic.twitter.com/H7tNvUQ3jR— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) September 29, 2021

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes that Red Wings defenseman Troy Stecher hopes to play better hockey after experiencing a “bump” in performance as an integral member of Team Canada’s World Championship team:

Stecher was a huge piece of the puzzle as Canada won the gold medal at the 2021 IIHF World Championship. He believes that will only serve to make him a more valuable player in Detroit’s scheme of things.

“Last year for myself was kind of a season with two different ends,” Stecher explained. “I started the season really well. Then I got hurt and came back and didn’t play as well as I would have liked, so [going to the worlds] was an opportunity for me to extend my season, go play some meaningful minutes.

“I played a ton there and in an important role for that team. More than anything it gave me a lot of confidence and reassurance in myself as a player that I can play at this level and I can be a factor.”

Stecher is also hoping that his offseason work ethic pays off:

“For me, I pride myself in my work ethic and what I do away from the rink, especially in the offseason,”Stecher said. “This past summer I took only six days off after the World Championship.

“Getting back to Canada, I looked at the schedule. It was June 17. I realized camp was coming up pretty quick.

“I’ve been on the ice basically for 12 months now, been to the gym the whole offseason. I just wanted to come to camp and show the organization, the coaching staff and management how hard I worked this summer and make sure I was in good shape.”

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the battle for jobs on the Red Wings’ roster this upcoming season, and he specifically discusses coach Jeff Blashill’s takes on Lucas Raymond’s chances of beating out someone for a top-six role…

“You should walk out of games and feel like he was one of the better players on the ice,” Blashill said. “It shouldn’t be a hard decision. If guys are equal, then you keep your depth by starting a guy like Lucas Raymond in the minors and letting him earn his way back on the team. Guys that are trying to grab jobs, you can’t be just as good as the other guy, you got to be way better. Ultimately, I think he’s a guy who can really be an elite power-play guy. So, help our power play look elite when he’s out there. Have the puck on his stick a good amount. Find a way to have the puck more either by going to get it yourself, or by making sure you’re facilitating and getting yourself open.”

Joe Veleno’s chances of earning a third or fourth-line spot ahead of Mitchell Stephens or possibly Bobby Ryan…

“If he ends up a much better player than some of those guys we foresee in those spots and we can find him a spot in the top nine then it’s a discussion,” Blashill said. “The discussion for fourth-line center, we’d have to (determine) what’s best for Joe Veleno. Is he a little better than another guy? Is that the best thing for our organization and the best thing for him in terms of development? Those are talks Steve (general manager Yzerman) and I will have as we go through exhibition season. He just needs to make a statement every time he’s on the ice that he’s going to make us better.”

And Moritz Seider’s learning curve:

“When he gets the puck, he’s really good. When he’s engaged with a player, he’s really good,” Blashill said. “It’s without the puck that he’s got to make sure offensively he knows what he’s going to do with it before he gets it. He’s got great poise and size, so he draws people to him and makes plays but sometimes the right play is to just move it right away. Let’s play fast, let’s get it moving and then you jump into the play.

“Defensively, when he’s engaged in people, he’s a really good defender but you have to work and think ahead so that you’re in the proper position to have really good gaps so you can get engaged in that guy quicker. I just think it’s without the puck, and those issues are just learning things for young defensemen.”

Continued

This is really cool. Al Sobotka, the Red Wings’ building manager, explains how the Wings put the ice in at Little Caesars Arena in the inaugural episode of “The Crew”:

Of brief prospect-related note from Europe today:

In the Swedish J20 league, Liam Dower Nilsson scored a goal in Frolunda HC’s 5-4 win over Malmo.

Update: Here’s a .gif thereof:

Liam Dower Nilsson ? #J20Nationell #frolundahc #LGRW
? SvenskHockey TV pic.twitter.com/EbwVvNCt5f— SwehockeyGIFs (@swehockeygifs) September 28, 2021

WXYZ’s Brad Galli filed a report regarding Bobby Ryan’s attempt to make the Red Wings out of training camp as a free agent try-out…

“There were a very select few places I was holding out that I hoped would call, and this was No. 1,” Ryan said on Monday. “I’m happy it did work out, even if it was short notice. They realize how much I wanted to be here and loved being here last year. No place has felt this comfortable for me throughout my career.”

His season ended early after scoring seven goals and seven assists last season with the Red Wings. He is trying to make the roster on a tryout.

“You feel like you’re on a shorter leash,” he said. “I can say with absolute certainty you feel tighter and a little more restrictive. I am fortunate that I’ve been here and I know the coaching staff. I have a good rapport with everyone in the room.”

And a video of Ryan’s press conference from Monday accompanies the story:

The Detroit Red Wings engaged in their final practice of their 2021 training camp on Tuesday, spending most of their time working on situational power play vs. penalty-killing drills, working on puck retrieval and breakouts, and generally attempting to replicate in-game situations.

There was a little less out-and-out skating from end to end of the rink today, and much more strategy regarding defensive zone coverage and trying to capitalize on scoring chances. Blashill did not spare the rod when he felt that a team that was clearly a little tired after 6 days of training camp was lollygagging a bit.

In the second group, I noticed that he spent a fair amount of time with Moritz Seider, who, according to coach Blashill, needs to a) know what he’s going to do with the puck offensively before he gets it and b) know that the simple play is often the wisest play defensively speaking.

Blashill also told the media that he’s going to put Filip Zadina on a line with Sam Gagner and Joe Veleno for a bit, taking Zadina away from the Larkin-Bertuzzi pairing, and he stated that Lucas Raymond will have to be the best player on the ice after every game he plays in for the Red Wings to keep him on the roster to start the season; otherwise, the Wings see no harm in sending him go GR for “finishing school” (my term, not his).

The Red Wings now head back to Little Caesars Arena to prepare for tomorrow’s game vs. Chicago (8:30 PM EDT, NBCSCH/NHL Network ‘Joined in Progress’) and Thursday’s tilt vs. Buffalo (7:30 PM on DetroitRedWings YouTube).