Author: George Malik

Of prospect-related note from Europe today:

In the Swedish J20 league, William Wallinder didn’t register a point in Rogle BK’s 7-3 win over Farjestad, but he finished at +1 with 3 shots;

In the SHL, Albert Johansson had an assist, 2 shots and finished at -1 in 15:51 played as Farjestads BK won 5-3 over the Malmo Redhawks. Jesper Eliasson backed up starter Henrik Haukeland.

IceHockeyGifs snagged Johansson’s assist…as well as some discussion of Johansson’s potential…

Albert Johansson picks up his first point of the season in Färjestad’s second game, assisting on the 1-0 goal early in the 1st period. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/lneQRpCp8J

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 18, 2021

Sanny Lindström and Staffan Kronwall break down some of Albert Johansson’s strength and weaknesses ahead of today’s game. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/CoNn2XAY6j

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 18, 2021

Elmer Soderblom scored the game-winning goal, finishing at +1 in 8:32 played as Frolunda HC won 2-1 over Lulea Hockey.

Simon Edvinsson had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots in 15:32 played, and Theodor Niederbach finished at +1 with 1 shot in 8:34 played.

As you might imagine, IceHockeyGifs had some clips from the game:

From the Red Wings, regarding tonight’s game vs. the St. Louis Blues (7 PM EDT on The Red Wings’ YouTube channel):

So, for the Red Wings, that’s:

Forwards:

Lucas Raymond–Joe Veleno–Jonatan Berggren

Cross Hanas–Chase Pearson–Kirill Tyutyayev

Patrik Curry–Pasquale Zito–Cameron Butler

Luke Toporowski–Cooper Walker–T-Bone Codd

Defense

Jared McIsaac–Alex Cotton

Donovan Sebrango–Mason Ward

Adam Brubacher–Oscar Plandowski

Goaltenders:

Sebastian Cossa

Jan Bednar

Good stuff from NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz here:

Best-Case Scenario: This still is not going to be a playoff team. Not with that roster. Not in this division. But they can take some steps. The ideal situation for the Red Wings this season is that Nedeljkovic proves he can be a consistent starting goalie in the NHL and they see significant progress from players like Filip Zadina, Filip Hronek, Jakub Vrana, and Seider. The playoffs are still an unrealistic expectation right now, but this many years into a rebuild there should be some progress toward that.

Worst-Case Scenario: It would be a lack of progress and another finish near the bottom the league standings. This still is not a particularly deep roster but there are some players that need to start establishing themselves as core building blocks. The worst case scenario would be a lack of progress on that front. It would be Nedeljkovic failing in his new role, Zadina not progressing, Vrana not playing like he did after the trade last year, and all of it adding up to another awful year in the standings.

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects will take on the St. Louis Blues’ prospects tonight at 7 PM EDT (to be streamed on the Red Wings’ YouTube channel), and ahead of a 2-games-in-2-nights schedule, Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon chose to take an efficient, energy saving route this morning:

Today’s morning skate lasted all of 20 minutes, from 10:01 AM until 10:31 AM, pre-practice and post-practice stretching included. The players engaged in a brief but spirited set of drills, emphasizing efficient puck movement through the neutral zone, retrieving dump-ins and breaking out with the puck.

There were also some situational power play-vs-penalty-killing drills, maximizing the brief window with which Simon and fellow Griffins coaches Mike Knuble, Todd Krygier and Matt MacDonald had to reinforce fundamentals of play. Everything was done crisply and sharply, with a heavy emphasis on game-level pace.

In terms of the goaltenders, Sebastian Cossa had his own net to work in this morning, indicating that he will start tonight’s game, and that means Jan Bednar will likely start vs. Columbus on Sunday (6 PM ET start).

The Detroit Red Wings will air tonight’s prospect tournament game vs. the St. Louis Blues on YouTube. If you can’t watch it via the embed code, head to their YouTube page.

This one required some Instagram digging, and I’m more of a YouTube person, so I prefer when the Wings post every social media video on YouTube. But…DetroitRedWings.com’s Carley Johnston spoke with Victor Brattstrom over the course of a 14-minute interview, and it’s a “good watch”:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Detroit Red Wings Hockey Club (@detroitredwings)

Both the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted stories about Jonatan Berggren this evening.

Kulfan noted that, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Berggren is a fan of playing on 200-foot-long-by-85-feet-wide ice despite growing up playing on the 100-foot-wide European rink:

“It’s difficult, you have much less space and time,” Berggren said Friday. “But I like it, too. You need to be 100 percent ready all the time when you have the puck. I like to make hard plays and give my teammates good spots to score. I like it when it’s pretty tight and it’s harder out there on the ice. I like when it’s smaller ice.”

Berggren, in his first taste of pro-caliber North American hockey, certainly looked offensively capable, assisting on two goals in the Wings’ 5-4 victory over Dallas on Thursday night in Traverse City in the Prospects Tournament.

Playing on a line with past first-round picks Joe Veleno and Lucas Raymond, Berggren showed glimpses of the offensive skill scouts raved about.

“The first practice is a big difference with the smaller ice, but when you get to the games you just focus on the games and don’t think about it,” Berggren said. “I just play my game that I have played all my life.”

Kulfan continues, and Duff notes that Berggren believes that he’s ready for the NHL, or at least very close:

The Hockey News’s Jason Chen penned a medium-sized article discussing the Detroit Red Wings’ 2021-2022 season outlook from a fantasy hockey perspective, and Chen isn’t particularly bullish on the Wings, but he believes that Robby Fabbri might be a good pick:

Hidden gem: Robby Fabbri, C/LW: There’s no real gem in the Red Wings lineup for fantasy purposes, but Fabbri does carry quite a bit of intrigue. The 21st overall pick in 2014, Fabbri’s career started off really well but injuries – he sat out the entire 2017-18 season due to his knee – took their toll, and the Blues traded him for Jacob De La Rose to give him a fresh start and more playing opportunities. His raw numbers haven’t been particularly good, but two advanced numbers jump out. First, his career 13.4 S% ranks 65th out of 277 players (top 25 percent) who have scored at least 50 goals since Fabbri’s rookie season, and second, according to naturalstattrick.com, he consistently outperforms his expected goals at 5-on-5. 

That’s usually a sign of a pretty good player – good players should perform above expectations – and the Wings definitely leverage his talent but starting him in the offensive zone over half the time. Fabbri’s a high-risk pick because his injury history is a little concerning, and even if all things go right, the Wings still won’t be a very good team. The Pool Guide has Fabbri pegged for 38 points, but I think he could just as easily finish above Vrana (53), Zadina (40) and Tyler Bertuzzi (45).

Continued, with equally sunny proclamations…

MLive’s Ansar Khan leads off the mid-afternoon stories from the Red Wings’ beat writers with an article discussing the on and off-ice chemistry between Jonatan Berggren, Joe Veleno and Lucas Raymond:

Buddies Lucas Raymond and Jonatan Berggren worked well together in their first Prospects Tournament game, along with center Joe Veleno. The trio has formed a bond off the ice, too.

“Joe can speak a little Swedish,” Berggren said. “We talk some Swedish to him and (teach) him some good Swedish words. He helps me with English and drives me and Lucas. He has a car here, so he’s our Uber driver.”

They could form the top line to start the season with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins. Of course, each is trying to make the Detroit Red Wings roster out of training camp and the preseason.

Wherever they start, Raymond and Berggren have brought some much-needed skill and scoring ability to the organization.

Continued

FYI:

Goaltender Pat Nagle, the @ToledoWalleye all-time leader in wins (68) and games played (106), has signed to play for Lehigh Valley of the AHL.
For the first time in five years, Nagle will not be in the @DetroitRedWings organization. He was a free agent. pic.twitter.com/Lt6xVKpOJc— Mark Monroe (@MonroeBlade) September 17, 2021