I had my big-ass anxiety attack during the World Junior Championship, so I wasn’t able to cover all the Red Wings prospects’ exploits during the tournament. Red Wings Prospects on Twitter posted a list of the statistical exploits of the Wings’ seven World Junior Championship participants:
Final WJC stats for Red Wings prospects. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/80m2NFybwp— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) January 6, 2021
Red Wings free agent signing Mathias Brome checked in with HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Persson this morning, discussing his initial impressions from the Wings’ training camp. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:
Continue reading Roughly Translated: Mathias Brome speaks with HockeyNews.se about training campBrome’s successful start at the NHL camp: “Feeling fit and fresh”
Mathias Brome has started the Detroit Red Wings’ training camp in the best way, and already in the first game he scored two goals.
Afterwards, he was praised by coach Jeff Blashill.
Now the forward talks about his lonely Christmas celebration, the first days at camp and how he sees his chances of earning a spot in Detroit.
“As long as I go down there and do my best, I can walk away with my head held high,” he says to HockeyNews.se.
NBC Sports just released its 2020-2021 NHL season broadcast schedule, and here are the Red Wings’ 10 total scheduled appearances on NBC and NBCSN this upcoming season:
Mon., Jan. 18 Columbus Detroit NBCSN 12 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 24 Detroit Chicago NBC 12:30 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 3 Detroit Tampa Bay NBCSN 5:30 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 17 Chicago Detroit NBCSN 7:30 p.m.
Sun., Feb. 21 Florida Detroit NBCSN 7 p.m.
Sun., Feb. 28 Detroit Chicago NBCSN 7 p.m.
Sun., March 28 Columbus Detroit NBCSN 3 p.m.
Sun., April 4 Detroit Tampa Bay NBC 12 p.m.
Mon., April 19 Detroit Dallas NBCSN 7:30 p.m.
Sun., May 2 Tampa Bay Detroit NBC 3 p.m.
The Athletic’s Corey Pronman posted an article discussing his “all-stars, surprises and disappointments” at this year’s World Junior Championship in Edmonton, and one Red Wings prospect made his “surprises” list:
Elmer Soderblom, LW, Sweden (Detroit)
Soderblom has been rising since he was a sixth-round pick by Detroit in 2019. He’s a very large human who has tremendous puck skills. His ability to go one-on-one against opponents and make tough plays in small areas was consistently on display as one of Sweden’s most dangerous offensive players. He hasn’t gotten it done versus men primarily due to his poor skating, which will be his main issue in the NHL, but he’s certainly a player trending up and looks like a guy who could play NHL games one day.
Continued (paywall); you can always work on your skating. I’m not sure if you can work on possessing the hockey sense or innate talent necessary to score two of these kinds of goals, and make it look natural:
Get a workin’ on moving those big feet, Elmer.
The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe spoke with a significant portion of the Toledo Walleye’s roster and coaching staffs after the Walleye announced that they’ve opted to not play for the 2020-2021 ECHL season:
“I’m also so sad for the people of the city,” said [Shane] Berschbach, who has become the face of the franchise. “I know how rough this has all been, and we were all looking forward to hockey bringing some happiness to the new year.”
Another veteran forward, Kyle Bonis, said he was bewildered by the announcement.
“I can’t really believe it,” said Bonis, who was slated to begin his sixth season with the team. “The news just does not seem real.”
Walleye coach Dan Watson called it a very tough moment for the entire organization and its fan base.
“Today stings for all of us,” Watson said. “I want to personally thank our players who have patiently awaited the start of the season.”
Continued; Bonis has retired.
The Associated Press’s Larry Lage posted a capsule preview of the Detroit Red Wings ahead of the 2020-2021 season, and his preview is quite blunt regarding the state of the rebuilding Wings:
The Detroit Red Wings have spent half a decade rebuilding.
And, this still might not be the year a once-proud franchise with 11 Stanley Cups breaks through and makes the playoffs.
Detroit had the NHL’s worst record last season with 23 fewer points than any other team in a pandemic-altered season that mercifully lasted just 71 games.
When this shortened, 56-game season ends in May, the Red Wings will most likely extend their postseason drought to five years to match the longest since they were known as the Dead Wings from 1979-83.
Entering his second season as general manager with the franchise he led as a Hall of Fame center, Steve Yzerman is making no promises about progress.
“I can’t really predict what we’re going to be,” Yzerman said. “I believe we’ll be improved from last year. How much? I don’t know.”
Continued; none of us really know how much the Wings have improved yet, but the Wings started putting their systems into practice at today’s scrimmage, as noted by DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy:
“If you’re a goalie, just having that focus for 60 minutes is different than practice, and that’s just one position,” said Blashill. “If you’re a defenseman, you’re put in a lot of different situations. Same with the forwards. I think (scrimmages) can be useful.”
“The other thing it does for our staff is it gives us a chance to know what we need to work on more,” Blashill said. “When you implement systems in practice, everything can look great and then you drop the puck and it doesn’t. It’s hard to have corrective actions without see those things live. We’ll go back and go through the film and get a chance work on some things at practice.”
Red Wings prospect Eemil Viro played a fairly significant role in Finland’s 4-1 win over Russia at the World Junior Championship’s bronze medal game.
Viro nearly wiped himself out of the game in the 2nd period, making an attempt to kick the puck to his stick at the side of Yaroslav Askarov’s net, eating end boards:
GEESH
— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@HeresYourReplay) January 6, 2021
Eemil Viro goes face first into the boards
? @TSN_Sports pic.twitter.com/Eqyf7rsf6l
But Viro’s decision to send a wrist shot toward the net instead of winding up for a slap shot early in the 3rd period was wise: the puck chipped off a Russian forward, bounced on the ice and was tipped by Mikko Petman into the net, giving Finland a lead that they would not surrender:
Continue reading Wings at the WJC: Viro’s Finns win bronzeIt’s good to see FSD at LCA again:
The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a training camp notebook article this evening, discussing Michael Rasmussen’s confidence level after a fairly strong stint with the ICE HL’s Graz99ers:
Rasmussen had 18 points (five goals) in 18 games playing for Graz, and heads into this Red Wings camp confident he can make an impact.
“Compared to different camps, I feel more in game shape and more in game mode,” Rasmussen said. “I definitely didn’t know what to expect going over there but it was a high level of hockey. It was a big ice, a bit more open, but it’s a great league.”
Rasmussen, the Wings’ 2017 first-round draft pick, spent the 2018-19 season in the NHL when the only options were either the NHL or junior hockey. In a perfect world, Rasmussen probably would have benefited from playing in the AHL, which he did last season in Grand Rapids.
Rasmussen had 22 points (seven goals) in 35 games with the Griffins, before an upper-body injury effectively shelved his season.
“Frustrating,” Rasmussen said. “I got off to real good start.”
WDIV’s Steve Garagiola posted a report discussing the late Alex Trebek’s love for his favorite hockey player, Gordie Howe, and (at least until Howe retired) the Red Wings: