Author: George Malik

The Red Wings took part in their final preseason practice on Monday morning, with the Wings taking to the ice very early at the BELFOR Training Center the morning after the team’s 3rd and final Red vs. White Game.

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Kal spotted an unnamed player taking to the ice alone at 8:30, an hour-and-a-half before practice was set t obegin:

Quick turn around. Back at Belfor Training Center for today’s practice. Join ⁦@daniellabruce_⁩ and yours truly for our final training camp show. View stream on https://t.co/IQvFVfZYrv pic.twitter.com/rAbCCXjrnw— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) January 11, 2021

And as Kal alluded to, the Wings are trying something new today…

Last day of @DetroitRedWings training camp with the one and only @KenKalDRW !! Tune in to our live coverage starting at 10:30 on https://t.co/uvZSRo6ZWQ P.S. we are smiling under the masks ? pic.twitter.com/XlPjcOZSIU— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) January 11, 2021

The Wings hit the ice just after 10 AM…

Take this for what you will, from NBC Sports:

NBC SPORTS ANNOUNCES NHL GAME AND STUDIO COMMENTATORS FOR 2020-21 SEASON

NBC Sports’ Commentary Team Features Over 20 Game and Studio Commentators

Kenny Albert, Brendan Burke and John Forslund Headline Play-By-Play Commentators

Liam McHugh, Kathryn Tappen, Anson Carter, Keith Jones and Patrick Sharp Anchor Studio Coverage

Stanley Cup Champion Head Coach Mike Babcock and 13-Year NHL Veterans Ryan Callahan and Dominic Moore to Contribute to Studio Coverage

2020-21 Season Preview Conference Call Today at 1 p.m. ET

STAMFORD, Conn. – Jan. 11, 2021 – NBC Sports has announced its team of more than 20 game and studio commentators for its coverage of the 2020-21 NHL regular season, which begins Wednesday on NBCSN with a tripleheader headlined by the defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning against the Chicago Blackhawks. As a result of approximately 100 regular-season games in four months combined with COVID protocols, NBC Sports will use a deep roster of game and studio commentators in a variety of different combinations, with some occasionally calling games from remote locations.

GAME COMMENTATORS

NBC Sports will utilize nearly 15 play-by-play commentators and analysts throughout the 2020-21 season. Kenny Albert, Brendan Burke and John Forslund will headline the group of play-by-play commentators. Eddie Olczyk, Brian Boucher, Pierre McGuire and AJ Mleczko will lead NBC Sports’ game analyst team, all appearing on the season’s opening night Wednesday Night Hockey tripleheader. U.S. Olympic gold medalist Kendall Coyne Schofield, who has appeared numerous times on NBC Sports’ NHL coverage, will take on a recurring role as a game analyst this season.

In addition, many analysts, such as Olczyk, Anson Carter and Keith Jones, will contribute to both game and studio coverage during the year. In some instances, game commentary will originate from remote locations, including NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn.

NEW: Mike Milbury won’t be back as an NHL analyst for NBC Sports, @FOS has learned.

Statement from NBC Sports:

“We are grateful to Mike for all of his contributions to our coverage for 14 years, but he will not be returning to our NHL announce team. We wish him well.”— A.J. Perez (@byajperez) January 11, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings are going to stream the final day of training camp’s practices, with Ken Kal and Daniella Bruce taking the reins starting at 10:30 AM EST:

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. WDIV’s Dave Bartkowiak Jr. posted his weekly Red Wings report, and he offered an interesting “best guess” at the Red Wings’ probable opening night roster. It assumes that a couple of players who are currently “unavailable to play” get healthy, quick:

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted an article which ponders whether Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin can become a Selke Trophy-level center at some point in the future:

As the Red Wings look to turn the corner in their rebuild over the coming years, the No. 1 thing they may need from their No. 1 center is to begin trending toward the league’s two-way elite.

Last season, the Islanders’ J-G Pageau (a well-regarded defensive center himself) said of Larkin, “It’s hard to play against him. He’s always on the good side of the puck, he doesn’t (make) a lot of mistakes, and I think that’s what makes him such a good player, both sides of the puck.”

In March, Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour, who won multiple Selkes as a player, added: “(We) wanted to draft him back in the day — it just didn’t work out. Everyone did. Why wouldn’t you? Because he’s competitive. To me, the talent is pretty easy to see. … But then when you add that competitive edge, that’s what separates guys from being OK players to great players, and that’s what he (has).”

That competitive edge has become Larkin’s calling card, as [Bobby] Ryan alluded to. And as he continues to grow in the NHL, it’s also the quality that can drive him to the two-way excellence the Red Wings will ultimately need from him.

“In the big picture, when you buy into the team game and when you become a complete player, it helps your team win,” Larkin said. “And that’s what we’re all here to do. That’s what I want at the end of my career, is to be known for team success. And, yeah, I’m still working on it, I still have a long way to go, but it is something that I want to take pride in and continue to work to be a 200-foot player.”

Continued (paywall)

ESPN posted 31 NHL team previews this morning as a set of ESPN+ Insider articles, and Emily Kaplan was tasked with discussing the Red Wings’ 2020-2021 season expectations. Here’s a fair amount of what she has to say:

Big question: Is this the last season of misery? Yzerman took control of the Red Wings in April 2019. The GM refuses to put a timetable on his rebuilding plan, and for the past 20 months it has felt like Detroit has just been biding its time until bloated contracts expire and enough prospects develop. The Red Wings were tough to watch in 2019-20, finishing with a league-low 39 points — 23 fewer than the Ottawa Senators — with an absurd minus-122 goal differential.

Yzerman made several depth signings to make the Red Wings more competitive. The question is: Just how competitive (and watchable) are they now?

Did realignment hurt or help? Let’s be honest: Wherever the Red Wings played this season, they would be projected at or near the bottom. Realignment doesn’t change much for Detroit’s prognosis.

Offseason comings and goings, plus the cap situation The Red Wings have $9,538,611 in projected cap space, according to Cap Friendly.

Lots of movement in Detroit this offseason. Joining the team: goaltender Thomas Greiss, defensemen Marc Staal, Jon Merrill and Troy Stecher, forwards Vladislav Namestnikov and Bobby Ryan. Gone: goaltender Jimmy Howard, forward Justin Abdelkader, defensemen Madison Bowey, Trevor Daley, and Jonathan Ericsson.

Bold prediction

The defense will significantly improve. The Red Wings finished last in the NHL last season in goals allowed per game (3.73) but should see that number drop. Greiss is an upgrade over Jimmy Howard to platoon with Jonathan Bernier, and the additions of Staal, Stecher and Merrill — who have all been on winning teams — make the defense much sturdier.

Continued (paywall)

According to Aftonbladet and Expressen, the Malmo Redhawks, Joe Veleno’s team, are pausing operations for the week due to positive coronavirus tests on the team. Three players total have tested positive for the coronavirus.

As a result, the SHL’s website reports that neither of Malmo’s games this week will be played until a later date. The Redhawks’ website also reports that the team will not practice this week, with all players “going into lockdown” for the week to isolate themselves from each other.

One never quite knows what to make of a rumor-in-retrospect, but The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta is as plugged-in to the marketplace as anyone, and if I may be blunt, I’m glad that the Wings didn’t succeed here:

The Detroit Red Wings had expressed serious interest in goaltender Jacob Markstrom at the start of free agency. I’ve been told the Wings offered a higher AAV than the $6 million he’s now making in Calgary on his six-year, $36 million contract, but on a shorter term, possibly five years.

There’s just no need for this kind of investment at this particular point in the rebuild.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan added this as a note at the bottom of his Red vs. White Game #3 scrimmage recap, but it’s worth noting: the Red Wings and the NHL’s other 30 teams have to submit their final 23-man rosters and “taxi squad” rosters to the NHL’s front office by 5 PM on Tuesday, January 12th. That likely means that the Wings will place several players on waivers tomorrow:

The Wings, and the rest of the 30 NHL teams, need to finalize rosters by Tuesday at 5 p.m. (EST).

I’m expecting the Wings to keep Mathias Brome on their NHL roster for now, and, for the moment, anyway, Dennis Cholowski, Gustav Lindstrom, Michael Rasmussen, Givani Smith and Taro Hirose to head to the “taxi squad” for a month before heading to Grand Rapids when their season begins on February 5th.

Likely waiver candidates are forwards Riley Barber, Kyle Criscuolo, Dominic Turgeon and Turner Elson (I believe that Chase Pearson is still waiver-exempt) [edit: though I expect Evgeny Svechnikov to be waived once he gets healthy], defensemen Dylan McIlrath, Brian Lashoff and Joe Hicketts, and goaltenders Kevin Boyle and Pat Nagle (again, I believe that Kaden Fulcher is waiver-exempt).

Update: Speaking of which, per DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy:

The Free Press’s Helene St. James weighs in on the Red Wings’ final scrimmage of training camp this evening, duly noting that, despite the dominance of the Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha line, the most positive development over the course of the last seven-to-ten days has been the emergence of a real, honest-to-goodness second scoring line:

Robby Fabbri, Filip Zadina and Vladislav Namestnikov starred, for what it is worth, in Sunday’s scrimmage, showing chemistry and scoring prowess. Namestnikov scored the first goal and Zadina the last goal as Team White topped Team Red, 6-2.

“I think the fact they were dangerous in the scrimmage is important,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “We need more lines. So the fact they could be impactful in a scrimmage is good. Come Thursday, it will be a different animal a bit, but all they can control is the setting and then play great within the setting, and they did a great job of that.”

It was the third and final scrimmage before the Wings open the 2021 season Thursday at Little Caesars Arena against the Carolina Hurricanes.

“I thought both teams were competing,” Blashill said. “It wasn’t like it was a summer hockey game. It looked like a real enough game.”

Continued

Update: MLive’s Ansar Khan also weighed in on the scrimmage, discussing Filip Zadina’s play on the second line: