Author: George Malik

Team Sweden lost for the third straight game at the World Junior Summer Showcase, dropping a 4-1 decision to Team USA White on Tuesday.

None of the Red Wings’ prospects taking part in the game took part in the scoring, but Theodor Niederbach served as Sweden’s #1 center, looking a little more comfortable on the “small ice” as he continues to adjust to playing against bigger, stronger players than he ever faced in the Swedish J20 league with Frolunda;

William Wallinder played in his second game for Sweden, and displayed superb three-direction skating, good gap control, excellent reads and a steady demeanor;

And Team USA White’s Shai Buium looked a little more like the player the Red Wings drafted 33rd overall on Saturday, playing steadier, stronger hockey and displaying much more maneuverability on his skates as he worked in on the Americans’ second defensive pair.

After the game, the trio spoke with myself and the Detroit News’s Nolan Bianchi:

Red Wings prospect Lucas Raymond spoke with Rakapuckar’s Henrik Leman regarding his recovery from elbow surgery and his decision to head over to North America this upcoming season, and the Free Press’s Helene St. James spoke with Leman regarding the Wings’ plans for Raymond.

What follows is a rough translation of Leman’s article:

The 20-21 season has somehow never ended for Lucas Raymond. The injured (and operated upon) elbow kept him away from the end of Frolunda’s season, but he had hoped to make a comeback–but that hope died when his teammates crash-landed vs. Rogle.

“I wanted to be in game shape, so I trained pretty hard until the season ended. Then I felt that I should just as easily continue doing so…Ha ha.”

His first skate after a while was skating on the ice with Andreas Larsson (Hockey PT), who was in Kungsbacka last week, where Raymond was one of the many stars who kept skating.

It was a good test for Raymond’s operated-upon elbow. One that has turned out so well that the subject can be deleted.

“Yes, you can see that we trained quite hard; I feel safe, I don’t feel it at all. It’s very-nice,” says the ex-Frolunda winger.

Good depth re-signing here:

UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings today agreed to terms with left wing Taro Hirose on a one-year contract extension. pic.twitter.com/cjNpGcU6vL— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 27, 2021

Here are the terms, per PuckPedia:

The #LGRW re-signed 25 y/o F Taro Hirose to 1 year $850K Deal:

NHL $850K
Minors 190K
Guarantee $220K

2P in 6 NHL GP, 28P in 29 AHL GP

Rep’d by Allain Roy @royhockeygroup https://t.co/p1iETNqgKM— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 27, 2021

Update: Here’s the Wings’ press release:

From the Jamie Daniels Foundation’s Twitter account:

Join us as we Roast and toast former @StarNhl and Stanley Cup winner, Brett Hull. Guests to include @BlueDarrenPang Dennis Hull, Steve Yzerman and many more! For more info: https://t.co/PqsO5T7i9f pic.twitter.com/Y32lxj9T2K— Jamie Daniels Foundation (@JDanielsFund) July 27, 2021

MLive’s Ansar Khan ponders what the Red Wings might do during the upcoming free agent period, which begins tomorrow at 12 PM EDT:

General manager Steve Yzerman will be active, seeking to fill a few holes on the roster. The Red Wings need two or three right-shooting forwards and a depth defenseman, preferably a left-shooter.

Yzerman likely will look to sign players on short-term deals (one or two years) at relatively low cap figures.

The Red Wings had only three right-shot forwards last season – Bobby Ryan, Sam Gagner and Luke Glendening – and all are free agents.

“Right shots are a bit of a concern for us,” Yzerman said. “Our three right-shot forwards are unrestricted free agents, and we have definite interest in all three of them. Between now and (today), we’ll decide if we can get something done with any of those guys or do we go beyond the 28th and see what else is out there.”

Continued; Khan believes that Ryan, Gagner and Glendening are all legitimate options at forward, as are some of the more notable names out there at forward, but he suggests that the Wings will look at an Alex Biega-type defenseman to shuttle between Detroit and Grand Rapids, and stand pat in goal.

Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic appeared on 97.1 the Ticket’s Stoney and Jansen show this morning, speaking for 13 minutes about his trade to the Wings and his expectations for the upcoming season:

ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski filed a massive article for ESPN+ this morning, discussing the free agency outlook for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams. Here’s what they had to say about the Red Wings’ free agency outlook:

Detroit Red Wings

Key players hitting UFA: RW Bobby Ryan, C Sam Gagner, C Valtteri Filppula, C Luke Glendening, C Darren Helm, D Alex Biega
Key players hitting RFA: F Tyler Bertuzzi, F Adam Erne, F Jakub Vrana, D Christian Djoos, D Filip Hronek
Cap space: $37,565,277

What they should do: GM Steve Yzerman has already gotten some work done. He traded for defenseman Nick Leddy and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, and re-signed defenseman Marc Staal and forward Michael Rasmussen. That’s a good start. At the moment, the Red Wings have only 13 players under contract for next season. But that number will climb when they get around to signing some of their RFAs, with an emphasis on Vrana, Bertuzzi and Hronek.

The Wings will likely go bargain hunting in free agency, as they continue to cycle through their rebuild. Yzerman signed six UFAs last offseason, none of them to longer than two seasons. The needs this time for the Red Wings: Some right-shot forwards, as the back end looks fairly filled out — including two goaltenders.

Continued (paywall)

Per the Red Wings:

RED WINGS AGREE TO TWO-YEAR EXTENSION WITH
KYLE CRISCUOLO

… Five-Year AHL Veteran Won Calder Cup with Griffins in 2017 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today agreed to terms with center Kyle Criscuolo on a two-year contract extension.

Updated at 6:20 AM: The Red Wings chose to re-sign 34-year-old defenseman Marc Staal to a 1-year, $2 million contract on Sunday, adding a full no-movement clause to the mix to ensure that the 6’3″ defenseman would remain a Wing, and Staal spoke with the media regarding his decision to stay on a rebuilding Detroit team on Monday morning:

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan found that Staal is genuinely happy about re-signing with the Wings…

“I told you guys (reporters) at the of the year, during the year, I really enjoyed myself (in Detroit),” Staal said Monday during a media Zoom call. “The organization, the team, the way we were playing, what’s been going on there (offseason moves), it’s fun to be a part of.

“You never know what you’re going to have in free agency and I was curious to get there. But Steve (general manager Steve Yzerman) reached out and made an offer, and like I said before, I had fun playing (in Detroit).”

Staal, 34, also asked, and received, a no-move clause from Yzerman.

“Getting something concrete down where I can move my family down there now and do that stuff, at this time, it was the best decision,” Staal said. “I have three young kids and it was important to me. Not to say I’d say no to an opportunity (at the trade deadline, if it occurs) but with the young family and you never know what’ll be the situation when you get to that time of the year (trade deadline). To be able to control it a little bit at the trade deadline was important.

“Steve was willing to do that for me and I appreciate that. You never know what’s going to happen, but it’s a nice thing to have.”

Kulfan continues; Staal also told DetroitRedWings.com’s Josh Berenter that he’s bought into the Wings’ attempts to improve its roster:

Ahead of the start of unrestricted free agency on Wednesday, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen and The Athletic’s Max Bultman have all considered the free agent marketplace as it applies to the Red Wings’ desire to add a couple of forwards to their mix, but there’s only one player that’s truly “on my radar,” via Bultman:

Perhaps the most surprising name to go unqualified Monday was Blackhawks centerman Pius Suter, who put up nearly a half-point per game as a rookie last season in Chicago. Red Wings fans will remember he scored his first career goal against the Red Wings — as well as two more in the same game to complete the hat trick.

In fact, he scored five goals against Detroit last season, so the Red Wings brass should be plenty familiar with his name. He was a breakout player for the Blackhawks, playing 16 minutes per night, and playing a premium position at age 25, he immediately becomes a player of interest for teams looking for centers — which should be just about all of them.

Can the rebuilding Red Wings get him on board? They certainly can’t sell him on Stanley Cup contention, but they may be able to offer some of the most available playing time, with the potential to slot onto the second line. Suter’s 27 points last season would have led the Red Wings.

Continued (paywall); Bultman suggests that Nick Ritchie, Dominik Kahun, Ondrej Kase and Ryan Donato could all be “fits” for the Wings, but in my book, you go for the sniper.