Category: Uncategorized

This was coming, per the Detroit News’s Chris McCosky…

Ilitch Holdings Inc. announced a realignment of business operations Wednesday that includes temporary furloughs and layoffs.

The move comes after six months paying salaries and benefits for all employees of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings, and at the Fox Theatre, despite the cancellation of more than 200 sporting and entertainment events during measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Baseball and hockey operations staffs are expected to be unaffected by the realignment.   

Chris Granger, group president of sports and entertainment for Ilitch Holdings, sent emails to the affected employees Wednesday morning.

“Our industry, one predicated on bringing people together and designed to bring joy to so many, was the first to shut down and, most likely, will be one of the last to return,” Granger wrote.  “Indeed, even as capacity restrictions are relaxed, we remain severely limited in our ability to welcome back guests in any meaningful way.  Of course, we are not alone. COVID-19 has negatively impacted the entire sports and entertainment industry, including our partners, our vendors, our sponsors, and our guests.

“It is in this environment that we have had to make the difficult decision, with respect to our business operations, to put in place some temporary furloughs, as well as layoffs.”

And the Free Press’s Evan Petzold:

Continue reading Detroit News, Free Press report furloughs and layoffs on business side of Tigers, Red Wings

In the Czech Extraliga, Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek registered a goal and an assist as HK Mountfield defeated HC Olomouc 6-1. Hronek finished at +4 in 22:26 played. You can watch Hronek’s goal (narrated by a very unhappy Olomouc announcer) here.

The Athletic’s Craig Custance took on the gargantuan task of ranking the NHL’s best post-salary-cap teams today. Custance believes that the 2007-2008 Red Wings gave the Red Wings a significant boost in his rankings, but today’s Wings are obviously not what they used to be per his points scale:

6 (tied). Detroit Red Wings

Total: 27

The Red Wings gathered most of their points early on in the cap era with a 2008 Stanley Cup and 2009 near-miss. The rebuild under Steve Yzerman is still early in the process and the Red Wings are likely years away from adding to this point total but fans can look to Yzerman’s fingerprints on the 2020 Stanley Cup champions for a little optimism of what may be coming when he’s done building in Detroit.

Total playoff years: 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 09SCF, 08SC, 07CF, 06

Average: 1.80 points per season

Continued (paywall); along the rebuilding lines, The Athletic’s Max Bultman also wondered aloud whether these Red Wings can be built into a Stanley Cup contender again by their current GM, Steve Yzerman:

Even if he stopped short of claiming satisfaction for his former team’s success, the fact Yzerman has been most of the way down that path as a GM is meaningful. Just as the Lightning fell short last year before reaching the pinnacle, and just as the Red Wings first stumbled before becoming a dynasty when Yzerman was a player, coming up short can be a hell of a teacher.

And now, the successes, failures and lessons from his time in Tampa Bay can still be applied in Detroit, while inevitably carrying more weight as tried-and-true. Even if he won’t get plaudits for finding the final puzzle pieces in Tampa, his role in the foundation is unquestionable.

So, with a crucial 2020 offseason now officially in full gear, Yzerman is out of the Lightning’s championship frame, working again just to establish the foundations of an organization. He has essential RFA deals to ink, impossibly important draft picks to make, and, maybe, another surprise or two yet to come.

He won’t do any of that with a 2020 championship ring sitting in the background.

But as Detroit looks up from the bottom, seeing its GM’s former team now at the top, the climb up has to look a bit more attainable.

And if Yzerman can some day get the Red Wings back to that summit, for this city, satisfaction won’t even begin to cover it.

Continued (paywall)…

The NHL released its 2020 draft order today, and here are the Red Wings’ 10 2020 draft picks, per ProHockeyRumors.com, which I’ve found to be a reliable and non-rumor-y website:

Detroit Red Wings

1st round – 4th overall
2nd round – 32nd overall
2nd round – 45th overall
2nd round – 55th overall
3rd round – 63rd overall
3rd round – 65th overall
4th round – 107th overall
5th round – 125th overall
6th round – 156th overall
7th round – 187th overall

97.1 the Ticket’s Pat Caputo offers an analysis of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s roster as built by former general manager Steve Yzerman…

For one, Yzerman had to find a way to keep Stamkos and Hedman around when both were headed for free agency in 2016. He locked up Stamkos through 2024, Hedman through 2025. And he locked up Alex Killorn through 2023 that same summer, just for good measure. Yes, he had the upper hand in a state without income taxes. But in the face of a possible cap crunch, Yzerman never blinked.

Moreover, the Lightning were mostly done picking near the top of the draft when Yzerman arrived. This is where he’ll be better equipped in Detroit. Tampa’s highest average pick from 2010-18 was No. 22. Yzerman still managed to land the likes of Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat, Anthony Cirelli and Cedric Paquette. Vasilevskiy was the only first-rounder among them, 19th overall in 2012.

And Caputo suggests that Yzerman has more than enough tools with which to build the Red Wings into a Tampa-like contender:

Continue reading Caputo: Yzerman can build Wings in the Lightning’s mold

Bad news for the “District Detroit,” per Crain’s Detroit Business’s Kirk Pinho and Jay Greene:

The Detroit Medical Center is scrapping its plan to build a Sports Medicine Institute in the Ilitch family’s District Detroit area.

The medical system confirmed in a Tuesday email to Crain’s that it “will not move forward with plans to lease space for a sports medicine institute” in a $70 million building that’s being constructed on Woodward Avenue between Little Caesars Arena and the Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business.

“Our decision allows us to reallocate resources appropriately in this changing environment,” the health system said in a release.

“The last several months have brought about unprecedented change for the health care industry. Stay-at-home orders and restrictions prohibiting elective procedures caused hospitals everywhere to reevaluate their core services,” DMC said.

Ron Staley, senior vice president of Southeast Michigan operations for Lansing-based contractor The Christman Co., one of the joint-venture partners on the project with Detroit-based Brinker Group, said the building’s core and shell still remain on track to be completed by the end of the year.

Grand Rapids-based law firm Warner Norcross + Judd and DMC were the two main tenants set to occupy the 127,000-square-foot building at 2715 Woodward Ave., the site of a former surface parking lot. Boston Consulting Group is also expected to take space in the building.

Continued; here’s more from the Free Press’s Darcie Moran…

Continue reading Crain’s: Detroit Medical Center won’t build sports medicine complex next to Little Caesars Arena; building will still be constructed

As part of today’s The Word on Wooward show, the Red Wings posted a short profile of 2020 draft prospects Jamie Drysdale and Yaroslav Askarov:

USA Hockey is holding an evaluation camp for 39 hopeful players looking to take part in the 2021 World Junior Championship. USA Hockey’s camp will take place from October 8th to 13th in Plymouth, MI–it will be closed to the public due to the coronavirus–and Red Wings prospect and Boston University forward Robert Mastrosimone was named to the team.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji profiles Austrian forward Marco Rossi today:

Although born in Feldkirch, Austria, NHL Central Scouting listed him among the North American skaters in its final rankings because he played for the Ottawa 67’s in the Ontario Hockey League the past two seasons.

But Rossi didn’t just play in the OHL, he dominated it with 120 points (39-81-120) in 56 games and was named the league’s Most Outstanding Player. Rossi is only the second European import to win that award.

In its final rankings, released April 8, NHL Central Scouting had Rossi sixth among North American skaters, with only Lafrenière, Byfield, Jamie Drysdale, Jake Sanderson and Cole Perfetti ahead of him.

When the OHL and other Canadian Hockey League teams canceled the remaining regular-season games on March 12 and then the 2020 Memorial Cup on March 23, Rossi returned home to Austria.

With an extended offseason looming, Rossi decided to make the most of it.

“My main goal was getting more faster, more speed, more explosiveness. Just getting quicker,” Rossi said during an NHL prospects Zoom call last week. “I started to do that right away when I came back from Canada in mid-March. Me and my personal coach started to work on that right away, because that’s my goal, to be much quicker. He did a really good job. We’ve been working for 6-7 months. It’s going really good. You can see a big improvement off the ice, on the ice. I’ve never felt that good on the ice, especially my body. I got so much better with my body. It was really good before, and now it’s so much better.”

Continued

Via the Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa comes a reminisce on happier times, via TSN’s Gord Miller:

With the NHL draft coming, here is a common thread with the rosters of almost every Stanley Cup champion: at least one player they picked in the top five, and a large group either drafted after the first round or signed as undrafted free agents. The Lighting are no exception.— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) September 29, 2020

1st rd: Hedman, Stamkos (1st), Vasilevskiy
2nd: Kucherov, Stephens, Volkov
3rd: Cirelli, Killorn, Point
4th: Paquette
7th: Palat
Undrafted FA: Gourde, Johnson

10 players acquired after the first round of the draft.

(Players who dressed for at least one playoff game)— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) September 29, 2020

The last Stanley Cup champion that didn’t have a player they picked in the top 5 of the draft on the roster was Detroit in 2008. The Red Wings more than made up for that with 12 players they either drafted after the first round or signed as undrafted free agents. https://t.co/0e6hJ21Ke8— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) September 29, 2020

1st: Kronwall
2nd: Hudler, McCarty
3rd: Filppula, Franzen, Lidstrom, Osgood
5th: Helm
6th: Datsyuk, Drake
7th: Zetterberg
10th: Holmstrom
Undrafted FA: Lebda— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) September 29, 2020

If only the Wings could draft and develop like they did back in the day–even without a Datsyuk or Zetterberg–they’d be much better off.

Over to you, Mr. Yzerman and Mr. Draper…