Of brief prospect-related note:

In Belarus, Kirill Tyutyayev finished even with 1 shot in Yunost Minsk’s 2-0 win over Metallurg-Zhlobin.

The Red Wings have seven players participating in the World Junior Championship–Theodor Niederbach, Lucas Raymond, Albert Johansson, Gustav Berglund, Elmer Soderblom (all playing for Sweden), Eemil Viro (Finland) and Jan Bednar (Czech Republic).

Today, DetroitRedWings.com’s Josh Berenter noted Red Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin’s comments regarding the Wings’ stable of WJC participants:

“For (those) that don’t know, the World Junior Tournament, in my opinion, is the best under-20 tournament in the world,” the Wings’ assistant GM said. “It’s best-on-best competition. It’s an incredibly competitive tournament with lots of players that even have NHL experience all the way down to high-end juniors.”

While many North American players have had extended pauses in their offseason regimens due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Martin noted that most European prospects have been able to continue their training almost uninterrupted, allowing them to develop and get a jumpstart on preparation for the World Junior Championship.

“A lot of these (European) guys have had very few interruptions in their season dating back to when their training camps opened in the late summer, early fall,” Martin said. “They’ve had some delays, but for the most part, a lot of the European leagues have been pretty consistent in getting their games back up and running, dedicating time to practice and (for) development.

“For the European players, I don’t think there’s been as much of an impact in terms of development, but the opportunity to play in this tournament regardless of what the players have been doing for the fall, it’s great experience.”

Continued

Of prospect-related note:

In NCAA Hockey, Keith Petruzzelli stopped 26 shots to power the Quinnipiac Bobcats to a 3-0 shutout of Holy Cross;

And Carter Gylander made his NCAA debut, pitching half-a-game’s shutout in stopping 12 shots en route to the Colgate Raiders’ 5-4 overtime win over Clarkson.

From the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS RELEASE 2020-21 SEASON SCHEDULE … Detroit Begins 56-Game Slate Against Carolina on Jan. 14 at Little Caesars Arena …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today released their 2020-21 regular-season schedule. The 2020-21 campaign marks the 95th season for the Red Wings in the National Hockey League, and the fourth at Little Caesars Arena. The Red Wings open the season at home on Thursday, Jan. 14 against the Carolina Hurricanes and end on the road on Saturday, May 8 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The team’s 56-game schedule is almost exclusively comprised of two-game sets against Central Division opponents, as part of the NHL’s temporary realignment for the 2020-21 season. The Red Wings will take on the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning eight times each: four times at home and four times on the road.

A 310-day gap between games will end on Thursday, Jan. 14, as the Red Wings host the Hurricanes at Little Caesars Arena – coincidentally, the same opponent they faced on March 10 prior to the pause that eventually ended the team’s 2019-20 regular-season slate. Detroit will start with four-straight home games between Jan. 14-19 before playing 10 of its next 12 games on the road, including a season-long six-game road swing from Feb. 3-13 against Tampa Bay (Feb. 3-5), Florida (Feb. 7-9) and Nashville (Feb. 11-13). The Red Wings will then return to Little Caesars Arena for 12 of their next 16 games, including a pair of season-long six-game homestands from Feb. 15-25 and March 9-20.

Detroit will play back-to-back games on eight occasions in 2020-21. Twenty-five of the team’s games will take place on weekends, including four Fridays, 12 Saturdays and nine Sundays, in addition to four Monday games, 12 Tuesdays, two Wednesday and 13 Thursdays. The 56-game regular season will wrap up in Columbus on Saturday, May 8, marking the latest date the Red Wings have ever concluded the regular season.

Your 2021 #RedWings schedule, brought to you from our home. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/YbGWihp9vs— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 23, 2020

DetroitRedWings.com’s Carley Johnston explains the parameters of a contest in which the Red Wings are asking fans to take part in their “longest puck drop” prior to this year’s home opener:

The countdown to puck drop is on! #LGRW @chevrolet

Upload your videos to be featured here: https://t.co/uaUg6NJWvt pic.twitter.com/0Ni4eklqaZ— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 23, 2020

Here’s the Red Wings’ 2020-2021 schedule, per NHL.com:

The #RedWings will open the season against the @Canes on Jan. 14. Here’s their full slate with times TBA. pic.twitter.com/Ifkwo7IBeO— Stefan Kubus (@StefanKubus) December 23, 2020

Your 2020-21 Red Wings’ schedule pic.twitter.com/B4FlR0PEuD— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) December 23, 2020

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan also posted the schedule…

A feature in this is the baseball-style two-game series.

The Wings will host Columbus on Jan. 18-19 to complete the season-opening four-game homestand.

The Wings will then travel to Chicago (Jan. 22-24) and Dallas (Jan. 26-28) — both former Central Division rivals of the Wings’ before the Wings were moved to the Eastern Conference.

The Wings end their home season with back-to-back games May 1-2 against defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay, before ending their season May 7-8 in Columbus.

And this comes from Michigan Hockey’s Stefan Kubus:

The Wings will open the season Jan. 14 at Little Caesars Arena against the Hurricanes to begin a four-game homestand.

Detroit will welcome the defending Stanley Cup Champions Tampa Bay on March 9 and fellow Stanley Cup finalist Dallas on March 18. Original Six rival Chicago will first visit on Feb. 15.

Perhaps the most bizarre run will see the Wings play Dallas four times during the week of April 19-25.

Here’s a bit from MLive’s Ansar Khan as well:

The Red Wings will play 10 games in 18 days in January. Their longest trip is six games, from Feb. 3-13. They have four games in a row against the Stars from March 19-24 (two in Dallas and then two in Detroit).

The Detroit Red Wings have released their 2020-2021 regular season schedule, and Detroit will open the season on Thursday, January 14th against Carolina:

Rivalries will take center stage during the 2020-21 @NHL season, which begins Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021.

Schedule: https://t.co/3AvFv7TchC #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/WPFvGklTVr— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 23, 2020

The Toledo Walleye have brought alumnus Trevor Hamilton back into the fold:

Defenseman Trevor Hamilton has agreed to terms with the Toledo Walleye for the 2020-21 season.

Hamilton, 25, returns to Toledo after spending last season in Europe, where he played 45 games in the EBEL with the Graz 99ers in Graz, Austria. He recorded four goals and 16 assists for 20 points.

The 6-foot, 195-pound defenseman made his professional debut with the Walleye in 2017. He returned in 2018-19, splitting his rookie season between Toledo, posting 14 points in 28 games (5G, 9A), and the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Hamilton skated in 17 games for the Griffins, scoring one goal and two assists for four points and eight penalty minutes.

A former Nittany Lion, the Gross Pointe Farms, Michigan native left Penn State as one of the most decorated defensemen to play for the program. He was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten following his senior season. He skated in all 38 games, scoring six goals and setting a single-season Penn State defenseman record with 23 assists. He led all Big Ten defensemen, and the entire nation, with 29 points and 109-blocked shots. This set a single-season Penn State record.

Update: Here’s a bit from the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:

Defenseman Trevor Hamilton has agreed to terms with the Toledo Walleye for the 2020-21 season, the team announced Thursday.

Hamilton, 25, returns stateside after spending last season in Europe where he played 45 games in the EBEL with the Graz 99ers in Graz, Austria, scoring four goals and 16 assists for 20 points.

“Trevor is an exciting addition to our roster,” Walleye coach Dan Watson said. “He was a very big piece of our success during the Kelly Cup run in 2019. He’s a versatile defenseman, who can play in all situations and has a great compete level. He is a great teammate and has a locker room presence that will continue to shape our culture.”

Red Wings color commentator Mickey Redmond appeared on yesterday’s “The Word on Woodward” episode, and “The Word on Woodward’s“ YouTube channel posted Redmond’s “Catching up With Carley” interview:

The Hockey News’s Graeme Roustan, the publisher of the magazine, posted a pair of interviews over the past 12 hours which may be of interest to you (and if the video embeds don’t work, click on the links for direct access to said interviews):

The first is a 4-and-a-half minute interview with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who discusses the “ins and outs” of the NHL’s 2019-2020 pause and “return to play”…

And the second interview is more interesting, in that Roustan speaks with NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr for 22 minutes, discussing the NHL and NHLPA’s attempts to hammer out a new CBA during the pandemic, trying to get back on the ice for the 2020-2021 season and many other topics:

Both interviews are intriguing, and the Fehr interview contains a background that looks a lot more like the Blog Cave than anything else.