Author: George Malik

Team Sweden struggled at the first scouting event for 2002-born prospects (i.e. players drafted this past summer) this season, the Under-20 Four Nations Cup in the Czech Republic, but the Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari gave a shout-out to Red Wings prospect Liam Dower Nilsson for his effort at the tournament:

The Swedes went winless in their three games over the event. Their roster was missing almost everyone expected to be on the world junior roster, with just a few notable names such as Liam Dower-Nilsson, Alexander Ljungkrantz, and Oliver Tärnström. The majority of the roster is filled with their ‘B team’ who were looking to put their name on the map.

Unfortunately for the Tre Kronor, the Swedes didn’t play well and their standouts were few and far between. Dower-Nilsson, a Detroit Red Wings prospect, had a decent showing with a few flashes of offensive flair as a passer.

Continued; here’s a clip of LDN doing his thing from Ferrari:

Sweden finally gets on the board with a powerplay goal late in the game. Nice pass from Liam Dower-Nilsson (#lgrw) for Lugwig Persson (#2022NHLDraft) who pots it back door. #FourNations pic.twitter.com/BTRvK9HdZn

— Tony Ferrari (@theTonyFerrari) August 26, 2021

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen found that EP Rinkside’s Russ Cohen believes that the Red Wings’ decision to trade up to draft defenseman Shai Buium was a wise move:

Draft expert Russ Cohen, a regular on NHL Network Radio, also thinks the Red Wings’ second rounder Shai Buium should be viewed as a first rounder. He was taken early in the second round (36th overall) by the Red Wings.

“Buium moved up the charts and he has late first round talent,” said Cohen, owner of the Sportsology website and a contributor to EP Rinkside. “Buium’s offense has been emerging. His passing is a strength. He has a knack for seeing plays develop. Finding those spaces is very important, especially if you have creative forwards to work with. ”

California-born defenseman Buium (6-foot-3, 210) posted 26 points in 50 games for Sioux City in the United States Hockey League last season. He will play college hockey at Denver this season.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a profile of Red Wings prospect and 2021 draft pick Carter Mazur, a native of Jackson, MI:

Draper knew what kind of player Mazur was [from coaching Mazur at Little Caesars Hockey], and noticed what the young player was accomplishing in the USHL. But seeing it confirmed by other Wings scouts gave Draper the reaffirmation to draft Mazur.

“The interesting thing for me was watching [the USHL’s] Tri-City [Storm] and seeing the improvement from Carter from last year to this year,” Draper said. “Our area scouts, the reports they were putting in about Carter, talking about the improvement, it was great to hear. We (drafted) Carter in a spot where he deserved it. As we were talking to our scouts, it was a pick we all wanted to make.”

For Draper personally, it was gratifying to see Mazur be drafted after watching the progress the young player made.

“He grew up playing Little Caesars all the way from 10 to U-16,” Draper said. “It’s been a lot of fun. I’m proud to watch Carter develop into the player he has. Last year he went into his first year in Tri-City and it’s a big jump. At the time he was maybe 5-9, 5-10. He’s grown two or three inches and he’s put on about 20 pounds. (But) he knows he needs to still get bigger and stronger.”

Continued

Per the New Haven Register’s Michael Fornabaio, former Red Wings prospect Keith Petruzzelli has signed a pro contract with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, the farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Former Quinnipiac men’s hockey goaltender Keith Petruzzelli has signed a two-year American Hockey League contract, the Toronto Marlies announced Sunday.

Petruzzelli, 22, was the ECAC Goaltender of the Year as a senior in 2020-21, ranking seventh in Division I hockey with a 1.89 goals-against average. He was a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award. He started the last 63 games of his Quinnipiac career.

The Wilbraham, Mass., native was a 2017 third-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings. Those NHL rights expired on Aug. 15.

Update: Here’s a bit of a scouting report from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

The scouting report on Petruzzelli is that he’s a little too robotic in his movements between the posts but the biggest knock against his pro credentials is the inconsistency that’s persisted in his game thus far through his development years.

While sighting the move by the Marlies as a good gamble, an NHL scout emphasized the latter of the two words when it came to investing in Petruzzelli futures.

“When he is good, he can be really good but when it goes south, it really can be ugly,” the scout said of Petruzzelli’s game. “When he was younger, I thought he would grow out of it with maturity but it still seems to be an issue.”

Via Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman: Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill took part in a round of celebrity golf at the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, MI today, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of some of Blashill’s remarks regarding his own team:

Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill likes what the team has done during the NHL offseason. He’s convinced that the club is trending positively.

As to how quickly the Wings will get to where fans want them to be – back in the Stanley Cup playoffs – Blashill is less certain.

“We think we’re headed in the right direction,” Blashill said. “Now what does that mean? I can’t tell how you quick can we get to where we want to be. I can’t tell you those things. But I definitely feel like we’re headed in the right direction.

The Detroit coach sees a better club set to take the ice for training camp in Traverse City. The offseason brought defensemen Nick Leddy and Jordan Oesterle, centers Pius Sutter and Mitchell Stephens and goaltender and Calder Trophy finalist Alex Nedeljkovic into the fold.

“We’ve gotten some players that are going to help us and now we’ve got to go to work,” Blashill said. “In terms of expectations, we’re going to start camp and we want to be better on Day 2 than we were on Day 1.”

Continued; here’s more from the Detroit News’s Matt Charbonneau…

As mentioned last week, new Red Wing and Tampa Bay Lightning alumnus Mitchell Stepehens had his “Day With the Cup” in Peterborough, Ontario on Wednesday, but things were toned down somewhat due to coronavirus issues.

Stephens had a boat parade with the Cup, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff did the digging to find some superb Tweets and a video from Stephens’ boat parade:

Stephens also spoke with the Peterborough Examiner’s Mike Davies:

From InGoal Magazine:

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A post shared by InGoal Magazine (@ingoalmag)

You can listen to the interview over on InGoal Magazine‘s website.

The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin took on an Herculean task in the name of fantasy hockey players, publishing a ranking of his top 250 fantasy hockey performers with one or more sentences’ worth of analysis included for each and every one of the players who made his cut.

That’s damn, damn impressive work, and here are his seven Red Wings selections, notes included:

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The second episode of “The Winged Wheel,” a behind-the-scenes feature focusing on the front office’s machinations, will air tonight at 6 PM EDT on the Wings’ YouTube channel. This episode will focus on free agency moves made by the team: