Author: George Malik

FYI:

Florida #Panthers placed Gustav Forsling on Injured Reserve, assigned Ryan Lomberg to the Taxi Squad, and recalled forwards Aleksi Heponiemi and Owen Tippett.https://t.co/qcJlYptEpZ https://t.co/htkcKvZ3Nf— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) January 30, 2021

The Detroit News’s Mark Falkner tells a semi-Wings-related story regarding Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper’s ties to an underachieving Lansing-based hockey team that he coached all the way to a high school championship:

They were as different as two teams could be, separated by 20 years.

In 2000, the “Bad News Bears” of hockey, a patchwork group of high school hockey players in East Lansing won a regional tile coached by future Stanley Cup champion Jon Cooper, who went on to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to the NHL title in 2020.

However, Cooper’s two teams 20 years apart had more in common than meets the eye and taught valuable lessons on how to build championship-caliber teams, according to retired Michigan District Court judge Thomas Brennan Jr.

Brennan needed someone to coach his son’s team at Lansing Catholic Central and Cooper, a Michigan lawyer who had never coached before and was handling Brennan’s court-appointed work for $1,000/month to represent clients who couldn’t afford legal fees, agreed to take over the team which won only 7 of 24 games the year before.

Cooper led the freshman-dominated Cougars to its first regional hockey title in 25 years, highlighted by Jeff Swan’s winning goal with 36 seconds left in the first overtime period to beat Mattawan 3-2 in the Division III final at Southside Arena in Grand Rapids.

Continued

DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy filed a morning skate report based upon the remarks of Troy Stecher and coach Jeff Blashill ahead of tonight and tomorrow’s games opposite the Florida Panthers:

“Obviously, anytime you’re on a losing streak, guys are upset and pissed off,” Stecher said. “We have an opportunity. We’re at home now, we’ve got to take pride in playing at home. This is a good opportunity to change the page.”

“We didn’t get the results we wanted (on the road trip), but I think it was definitely a good learning curve for our group early in the season,” said Stecher. “Understanding that we’ve got to play a certain way if we want to have success. When you get away from that, obviously you’re going to get exposed, especially at this level.”

Florida is off to a 3-0-1 start after having the beginning of its season delayed due to the Dallas Stars’ COVID-19 outbreak. The Panthers have scored four or more goals in three games, and saw both of its contests at Columbus extended to a shootout.

Five Panthers have tallied at least four points in the early going, led by centerman Carter Verhaeghe’s six points on four goals and a pair of assists. Forward Patric Hornqvist has chipped in with four goals, while winger Anthony Duclair has collected five assists. Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger have split time in net, with Driedger boasting a 1.92 goals-against-average that currently ranks ninth among NHL goalies.

“They’re a team that forechecks well, they get locks of pucks to the slot area,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “Verhaeghe’s had a good start there, playing with (Aleksander) Barkov. They’ve been in some close games, found ways to get points or win them. I think that’s what the league is. Every night you have opportunities – even if the score doesn’t end up close – to make a play to either win or lose. They’ve found a way to be on the right side.”

Continued; as McWethy notes, Florida has won 6 straight games vs. Detroit…

Everything Sportsnet’s Luke Fox relates is true here:

Happy 60th to my boyhood hero, Wayne Gretzky.

In recognition of the birthday, Mark Greczmiel, director of 2016’s excellent California Golden Seals Story documentary, dropped his full interview with Gretzky (watch below).

Gretzky takes us back to 1988, when the Edmonton Oilers told him to pick his trade destination. Red Wings fans: Blame Walter…

“I sort of narrowed it down to the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and L.A. Kings. People always thought that I came to L.A. because my wife Janet said, ‘OK, you should play in L.A.’ The reality was, my wife and I were really set and sort of had our mind that we were going to go to Detroit, because I grew up a huge Gordie Howe fan, it was close to my hometown, and it’s a great sports city,” Gretzky says in the previously unreleased interview.

The Red Wings reportedly tabled a trade package of Adam Oates, Petr Klima and Joe Murphy, plus picks and cash. Think of the alternate hockey universe that would’ve created — or how slow the growth of sunbelt hockey would’ve been had Gretzky not gone to the beach.

“It was my dad who actually said, ‘You should do something really unique. You should go to L.A.’ And I remember thinking, Wow, OK. So, I chose L.A. We were 20th out of 21 teams the year before; they were second-to-last in the league. It wasn’t a very good team,” Gretzky recalls.

Continued

Red Wings prospect Albin Grewe has been receiving limited ice time playing for Djurgardens IF of the SHL, and, as a result, Grewe still wants to come over to North America if and when the OHL season ever gets underway. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

“If it starts, I’ll probably go over”

It has been a season full of uncertainty for Albin Grewe. And despite the fact that we will soon be in February, the forward honestly does not know if he will end the season with Djurgarden or in North America.

“It’s clear that it’s still in my head to start it, I will probably go over,” he says to Hockeysverige.se about a possible move to the junior league OHL.

The struggling Detroit Red Wings host the Florida Panthers for a two-game series tonight and tomorrow at Little Caesars Arena (7 PM EST on Saturday; 5 PM EST on Sunday; both games will air on FSD/FS Florida/97.1 FM).

Our friends from Florida have won 6 straight games in Detroit, and possess a 3-0-and-1 record thus far.

The Red Wings were supposed to hit the ice just before 10:30 AM for their morning skate, but there was a delay, and Ken Kal’s Tweet made it look like an “optional”:

Morning Skate Show coming up https://t.co/1EArXKCYT0 Join us pic.twitter.com/wNDWedNJWF— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) January 30, 2021

Still optional?

The boys have hit the ice for morning skate as we prep for tonight’s matchup with the Panthers. #FLAvsDET #LGRW

Watch live presented by: @littlecaesars » https://t.co/FpcREWdS2q pic.twitter.com/sGUTXty6gq— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 30, 2021

The Athletic’s Max Bultman also Tweeted this, which explains why the Wings are auctioning off 250 seats per home game:

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the media after today’s morning skate in Detroit, ahead of tonight’s game vs. the Florida Panthers (7 PM EST on FSD/FS Florida/97.1 FM). He does not update Bernier’s status, listing the goaltender as “questionable’:

Blashill also hints at the concept that the Hirose, Smith and Rasmussen demotions to the “Taxi Squad” are temporary, but he was particularly evasive regarding lineup decisions today.

The Red Wings have a link up on DetroitRedWings.com’s main page as a placeholder for their live stream show of the morning skate, which usually includes Daniella Bruce, Art Regner and Ken Kal as hosts.

The Detroit Red Wings host the Florida Panthers tonight and tomorrow (7 PM EST tonight on FSD/FS Florida/97.1 FM and Sunday at 5 PM EST on FSD/FS Florida/97.1 FM), kicking off a stretch of six games between the teams over the course of the next four weeks.

While the Wings possess a 2-5-and-1 record, the Panthers sit at 3-0-and-1, and their latest game came Thursday, when they lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

If you want to watch highlights of that game, you can do so here:

Former Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard appeared on the NHL Network’s NHL Now on Friday, discussing his recent retirement while wearing a lot of Oakland Junior Grizzlies gear: