Author: George Malik

Former Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard spoke with the Bangor Daily News’s Larry Mahoney about his decision to retire from hockey recently:

“With the state that we’re in with the pandemic, I didn’t want to leave and not be able to see my wife and kids,” Howard said. “It’s so nice to be just dad instead of Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard.”

Howard and wife Rachel (Miller) have four children.

“I sat Rachel down the first week of December and told her I was done getting hit by pucks,” he said.

Howard loves being able to spend more time with his family. He is the head coach of 9-year-old James IV’s hockey team and an assistant coach for 6-year-old Henry’s team. The Howards’ other children are Olivia, 2, and 10-month old Louis.

James and Henry are forwards, not goalies, and that is fine by their father.

“Scoring goals is where the money is,” quipped Howard, who is enjoying life at home. “I have been doing little things around the house, whatever needs to be done. I’d much rather do this than be stuck in some hotel room,” he said.

Continued

Of prospect-related note in Europe:

In the Finnish Liiga, Kasper Kotkansalo scored a goal, finishing even with 1 shot in 23:48 played, and Otto Kivenmaki finished at +1 in 14:33 played as Assat Pori won 4-1 over Ilves;

Eemil Viro scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 2 shots in 20:01 played as TPS Turku lost 5-2 to IFK Helsinki:

#Liiga
– Viro 1+0, +1, 4 SOG, 2 PIM, 20:01 ice time in a 5-2 loss
– Ässät 4-1 win:
• Kotkansalo 1+0, +/- 0, 9 SOG, 23:48 ice time
• Kivenmäki 0+0, +1, 14:33 ice time
#LGRW https://t.co/JySe2j5BDY— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) January 29, 2021

Victor Brattstrom served as the back-up in KooKoo’s 4-1 win over Jukurit;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Malte Setkov scored the winning goal, finishing at +2 with 2 shots in 20:19 played as AIK Stockholm won 3-2 in overtime over Sodertalje SK;

The Detroit Red Wings open a 2-game series opposite the 3-0-and-1 Florida Panthers tonight and tomorrow (7 PM and 5 PM EST on FSD/97.1 FM), and both the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and MLive’s Ansar Khan filed notebook articles noting the Red Wings’ immense struggles to find offense as significant contributors to the team’s 2-5-and-1 record.

Kulfan noted that the Red Wings feel that they have been unable to generate offensive “zone time” against their opponents, especially during Thursday night’s 7-3 loss to Dallas, where the power play went 1-for-6…

“You get 12 minutes of power-play time, you’ve got to score, and you’ve got to score earlier than that,” [Wings coach Jeff] Blashill said. “We have good entries, are in great spots and then we give pucks away. When we’re in the zone, we’re not executing. We’ve got to find a way.”

The Wings found themselves ranked 22nd out of 31 teams in power play percentage at 14.8% (4-for-27) entering play Friday.

Blashill mixed and matched units in the third period in an effort to ignite any kind of spark, and Tyler Bertuzzi did score to briefly cut into the deficit.

But it was too little, much too late. And it did nothing to erase the images of many Wings on the power play seemingly losing confidence with the puck.

“We’re fighting pucks. We’re not relaxed and not making the plays. We’re forcing it,” forward Dylan Larkin said. “It’s not working. We have to find a way to be dangerous. We have to keep it simple to start, and get a couple of shots and rebounds, bang a couple home. (But) the more we talk about it, the more we think about it. We can’t think about it too much.”

Kulfan continues; Khan focused on the Red Wings’ inability to generate offense without their quintet of COVID absences in Robby Fabbri, Filip Zadina, Sam Gagner, Adam Erne and Jon Merrill:

Their absences have contributed to the struggles, particularly on offense, where the Red Wings are tied for 29th, averaging 2.00 goals per game, and on the power play (22nd at 14.8 percent).

Fabbri was centering an effective second line with Zadina and Bobby Ryan. Those three, along with Gagner and Merrill, also played on the power play.

The available players must step up their game.

Anthony Mantha has just one goal and three assists, with a league-worst minus-10 rating. Vladislav Namestnikov has only one point (a goal) and Mathias Brome has no points in eight games.

“If there’s somebody else who can do a better job, we have to keep looking,” Blashill said. “We have to find a way. Those guys have to pick their games up or somebody else has to do the job. We’ll have some guys coming back, but it’s not through the weekend.”

Khan also continues…

Update: The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz also offered this stat as a tip to sports bettors:

Detroit Red Wings — 1.86 goals per game

The Red Wings are 29th in the NHL in goals per game, managing just four in their three games prior to Thursday’s tilt with Dallas.

Analysis: The Red Wings are probably still a couple years away from playoff contention again, and although they have some young and improving forwards, rarely is this team going to light up the scoreboard. The odds might not be great, but I’d still lean towards betting their team under, or their opponent winning outright.

This story is just hard to report. 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield reports that former Red Wings defenseman and hockey analyst Aaron Ward has revealed that he was one of the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of University of Michigan athletic physician Dr. Robert Anderson, who abused hundreds of victims:

Ward shared his experience in an interview with TSN 690 in Montreal in recognition of Bell Let’s Talk Day in Canada, a campaign aimed at fighting the stigmas surrounding mental illness.

Ward, who played hockey at Michigan from 1990-93 and later spent seven seasons with the Red Wings as part of a 15-year NHL career, said the abuse he suffered from Dr. Anderson contributed to a gambling addiction that plagued him for years.

“When I was in college and I was 17 and 18, I was sexually abused by a doctor who was at the University of Michigan who’s currently publicly under investigation,” said Ward, later confirming Dr. Anderson’s identity. “Listen, I was married 20 years and my ex-wife did not know that, not an ounce of that. But you come to a place of realizing that when you finally let go of these things and when you share with people, whether you deem them embarrassing, whether you can’t come to grips with the reality, if you take the chance and you verbalize it, you can quickly find out that people can either kind of relate to what you’re going through or they can just be there (for you).

“So as I admit that on radio, that I was sexually abused by a doctor in a professional environment at the University of Michigan and suppressed it forever, it is liberating as you drop these things from your conscience. I spent, since I was 17 years old when that happened, trying to figure out why I gambled since I was 17. That’s not the only reason, but it’s a contributing factor.”

Continued

Former Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard spoke with Fox 2’s Jennifer Hammond on Friday, engaging in an 8-minute-long interview in which he discusses his decision to retire from hockey:

From the Grand Rapids Griffins comes this press release announcing that the Griffins will open training camp at Van Andel Arena on Sunday, January 31st:

GRIFFINS TO OPEN TRAINING CAMP SUNDAY

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins will commence their 25th training camp this Sunday, Jan. 31 with a 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. practice at Van Andel Arena.

Head coach Ben Simon’s squad will hold practices at the same time Monday through Thursday, as the Griffins prepare to open the 2020-21 season on the road next Friday, Feb. 5 against the Chicago Wolves at 8 p.m. EST. Grand Rapids will play its first four games in hostile territory before returning to Van Andel Arena on Saturday, Feb. 20 for Opening Night presented by Huntington, when the Cleveland Monsters will provide the opposition at 4 p.m.

The Griffins’ training camp roster will be announced on Sunday via the team’s social media channels.

While the Griffins remain hopeful for the potential to host fans at Van Andel Arena at some point, it is anticipated that the season will begin without fans in attendance. Fans are encouraged to watch the games via a subscription to AHLTV ($34.99 for all 30 Griffins games), tune in on Newsradio WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM, and follow the team’s social media channels. Important information for Griffins season ticket members is available at griffinshockey.com.

NHL.com asked 9 staff writers to weigh in as to the “most surprising player” in the NHL this season, and Boston-based Amalie Benjamin picked Red Wings forward Bobby Ryan:

Bobby Ryan, Detroit Red Wings

I expected Ryan to help the Red Wings — I called it my favorite signing of Oct. 9, the first day of free agency this offseason — but I didn’t expect him to make this much of an impact already. The forward has scored four goals in seven games; the Red Wings have 16 as a team. He scored eight points (five goals, three assists) in 24 games with the Ottawa Senators last season. Ryan recently said that a fresh start was welcome for him, after he took an extended leave of absence last season to enter the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. He returned later in the season and won the Masterton Trophy as the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. It’s looked so far like the change has worked. — Amalie Benjamin, staff writer

Continued

Farjestads BK coach Johan Pennerborn spoke with HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek regarding Red Wings prospect Albert Johansson, who’s on loan to Pennerborn’s SHL team. The Swedish coach believes that Johansson would be best-served by spending another year in Sweden. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

The Farjestad coach about the NHL-aiming great prospect: “Stay another year”

Stockholm. Detroit-drafted Farjestad defenseman Albert Johansson, 20, has established himself at the SHL level.

But his head coach, Johan Pennerborn, prefers that he wait another season before going to the NHL.

“In my opinion: stay another year. Be a real leader. Grow into it fully. Put on four more kilos,” says Pennerborn.

Probably a paper transaction (or two):

Update: Center Michael Rasmussen has been assigned to the #RedWings taxi squad.

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 29, 2021

Update: The #RedWings today reassigned right wing Riley Barber from the team’s taxi squad to the Grand Rapids Griffins » https://t.co/IwHefu6oez

Additionally, Forwards Taro Hirose and Givani Smith have been assigned to the #RedWings taxi squad. pic.twitter.com/xJP2XQWfzM— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 29, 2021

From the Red Wings this morning:

RED WINGS REASSIGN RILEY BARBER TO GRAND RAPIDS … Winger Has Appeared in 12 NHL Games with Washington and Montreal …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today reassigned right wing Riley Barber from the team’s taxi squad to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins

Barber, 26, is a veteran of 283 American Hockey League games, posting 217 points (106-111-217) and 204 penalty minutes over five seasons with the Hershey Bears, Laval Rocket and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Barber saw time with three teams during the 2019-20 season, appearing in nine games with the Montreal Canadiens, logging 31 points (13-18-31) in 39 games with Laval and recording six points (3-3-6) in seven games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after he was traded from Montreal to Pittsburgh on Feb. 20. Barber previously had a three-game NHL stint with the Washington Capitals in the 2016-17 season and has totaled 12 NHL games over his professional career. The 6-foot, 190-pound winger also has 15 points (5-10-15) in 38 career AHL postseason games.