Apparently, this group of Walleye are very serious about grabbin’ the Brabham.
The team went unscathed through another taxing road trip, earning eight out of eight points.
With the four-game win streak, Toledo kept the pressure on several teams chasing them for the lead in the ECHL overall standings.
The trophy for finishing with the most points in the league is called the Brabham (pronounced Brab-UM) Cup. Toledo has become very familiar with the regular-season championship, taking the Brabham last season and in 2015.
With a 4-1 win at Cincinnati on Sunday, Toledo swept a four-game road trip. The successful stretch also came during a travel-filled journey of four games in five days. The final two victories also came over desperate teams (Indy and Cincinnati) that are still looking to lock up a spot in the Kelly Cup playoffs.
The highlight win came on Saturday when the team rallied from a 3-0 deficit at Indy midway through the first period to swipe two points away from the Fuel with a 4-3 OT win courtesy of two clutch goals from Kyle Bonis.
The Walleye now have a nine-point lead over Fort Wayne in the Central Division. The archrival Komets, who were idle on Sunday, do have three games in hand on Toledo.
The Detroit Red Wings will attempt to snap a 10-game losing streak (0-9-and-1) against a team in a particularly vigorous battle for playoff positioning in the 37-25-and-11 Philadelphia Flyers this evening (7:30 PM EDT on NBCSN with Ken Daniels and Brian Boucher/97.1 FM).
DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner speaks to Grand Rapids Griffins forward Eric Tangradi in his latest “Red and White Authority” podcast, discussing hockey with the Griffins’ 25-goal-scoring power forward…
And Regner duly notes that the Red Wings have kept Tangradi in the organization for the past three years for more than his hockey chops:
“Unfortunately, the NHL life is totally different than juniors, totally different than the AHL,” Tangradi said. “When guys leave the rink, they leave, you don’t see a lot of people outside the rink.
“I didn’t have that support system, I didn’t have somebody I could lean (on) and it was really hard going back to the hotel room at 21 years old. At times I just turned the lights off and watched a movie because you’re so upset with the way things are going.”
As he became older and bounced around from organization to organization, Tangradi never forgot how he felt as a youngster playing for the Penguins’ AHL team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
“At 29 now and being part of this (Detroit) organization for three years, I’ve seen guys in this locker room, the Manthas, the Athanasious, the Bertuzzis, those are guys that I’ve seen at times have such high expectations and struggle here,” Tangradi said. “I take pride I was the first guy to go over to them and make sure they got their confidence back that they were playing the right way.
“Hopefully, I left a lasting impression on them that helped them move on to the next level. Those are all guys I played with down here when they (the Red Wings organization) were trying to get them out of funks.
“I put them (under) my wing and gave the guidance I wish I had when I was young.”
Regner continues, and it is essential for the Wings to have a leadership group in both Detroit and Grand Rapids to show “the kids” how to approach life as a professional hockey player.
The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa has weighed in on the Wings’ near-historically-bad losing streak as it applies to the Wings’ purpose for the remainder of a playoff-less campaign.
Krupa suggests that the Wings need to “embrace the tank” in a different sense of the term, namely in spending the majority of their energies attempting to improve the developmental learning curves of four foundational players who are really struggling right now in Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Bertuzzi (as well as
This season always has been more about rebuilding than competing for playoff position. A mistake was ever thinking otherwise.
Sure, play to win, always. But manage to win in the long run by properly preparing the lineup for rebuilding.
And, as the expression goes, “coach them up.”
Memories of the last sustained period of winning, “going on a run,” is measured in calendar years. The next lineup to play deep in the playoffs feels a few to several seasons away.
By brute force of mediocrity, they are accomplishing what some people, deluded by a win-the-lottery sense of how to proceed, have counseled for 24 months: The Red Wings are, in effect, tanking.
Take Tomas Tatar and Frans Nielsen out of one of the weaker lineups in the NHL, especially for scoring, and the results are as plain as they were predictable. But there are things to achieve, in the last 19 days.
Krupa continues from there, and the long story short is this: Larkin, Mantha, Athanasiou and Bertuzzi aren’t the only Wings who are struggling, so it would behoove the Wings’ leadership and coaching staff to take the bolster the fortunes of the guys that are going to be part of the roster fix, even if it means losing some games along the way.
It’s a good theory, sort of “embracing the tank by building one.”
In the KHL, in playoff action, Alexander Kadeikin didn’t play as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl lost 2-0 to SKA St. Petersburg.
SKA got two goals from Ilya Kovalchuk, and SKA now leads the semifinal series 2 games to 1. If I may be impolite, barring a termination of his KHL contract, Kadeikin has likely played his last game as a Red Wings prospect.
Malmo leads the best-of-seven quarterfinal series 1-0, and Ehn is under contract to the Red Wings, set to join the Wings’ legion of checking forward prospects in North America next season.
Of brief Wings-related note on a day in which neither the Red Wings nor the Philadelphia Flyers practiced:
1. The Red Wings posted their weekly “The Forecheck” video, and Carley Johnston and Manny Legace discuss the Wings’ three upcoming opponents (Philadelphia, Washington and Toronto) this week:
On Tuesday night, [Petr] Mrazek will make his first trip back to Detroit since the trade when the Flyers (37-25-11, 85 points) take on the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena (7:30 p.m. face off).
Philadelphia currently sits third in the Metropolitan Division and appears to be destined to make the playoffs as one of the top three teams in their division or as one of the two wild cards in the Eastern Conference.
The Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals, 6-3, on Sunday with Mrazek in goal. It was his fifth victory as a member of the Flyers, which is significant because if the Flyers make the playoffs, coupled with Mrazek’s fifth victory, it gives Detroit a third-round pick in 2018 NHL draft instead of a fourth-round pick.
If Philadelphia makes it to the Eastern Conference final and Mrazek wins six playoffs games, the third-round pick becomes a second rounder.
Since the trade, Mrazek has played in 11 games with the Flyers and has posted a 5-5-1 record, with a 3.14 goals-against average, a .888 save percentage and one shutout.
3. Both Tuesday and Thursday’s games are on NBCSN. NBC Sports’ weekly press release revealed the announcer lineups for both games.
Tuesday’s game is going to be a little weird as a Red Wings broadcaster and a Flyers broadcaster will combine to cover the game:
FLYERS-RED WINGS – TUESDAY AT 7:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN
The Red Wings (26-35-11, 63 pts) look to snap their 10-game losing streak on Tuesday. Larkin leads the team in both points (50) and assists (41).
Former Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek was traded to the Flyers on Feb. 19, and has won five games with Philadelphia since the trade, including the Flyers’ 6-3 win against Washington on Sunday.
Ken Daniels (play-by-play) and Brian Boucher (‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst) will call Flyers-Red Wings from Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
CAPITALS-RED WINGS – THURSDAY AT 7:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN
The Capitals (41-24-7, 89 pts) are 4-1-0 in their last five games and currently sit two points ahead of the Penguins for first place in the Metropolitan Division. Washington aims to rebound from a 6-3 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday. Ovechkin netted his 43rd goal of the season in the defeat.
This marks the third matchup between the Capitals and Red Wings this season, with each team winning once in overtime.
Daniels (play-by-play) and Boucher (‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst) will call Capitals-Red Wings from Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
No Mickey Redmond, Chris Osgood or Darren Eliot until Saturday, when the Wings play Toronto (and half of you will be watching Hockey Night in Canada anyway).
Pro Hockey Talk’s Adam Gretz weighed in on the state of the “Red Wings’ decline” as a preface to this week’s power rankings, and if you were wondering what the “outsiders” think of what’s going on in Detroit right now, here’s what Gretz thinks of the post-2009 Red Wings:
The team was clearly starting to descend down the mountain. That descent has now turned into a complete collapse, and they may have hit rock bottom over the past couple of weeks.
At least for this season. Who knows how much deeper this can go in future seasons. After being systematically dismantled by Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday, the Red Wings enter the week having lost 10 games in a row, have one of the worst records in the NHL, and just look … bad.
The most concerning thing of all, though, is that this is not just a bad team this season, it is one of the oldest teams in the NHL, one of the most expensive teams in the NHL, and 15 of the players on the roster are under contract for next season with more than $58 million in cap space committed to them.
Even worse: Who on this team is a player that can be the centerpiece of any sort of a rebuild or offer legitimate hope for the future?
Dylan Larkin is still only 21 years old and has shown flashes of being an impact player at various times in his young career. But he has also 23 goals … over the past two years. Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou look like they could be useful players, but they are not franchise building blocks. Gustav Nyquist is going to be 29 next season and has topped 50 points once in his career. There is not one player on the defense right now that is under the age of 27 and other than Mike Green all of them are signed through at least next season.
Detroit Red Wings: Four key forwards to the Red Wings’ rebuild are Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Bertuzzi. In the Red Wings 0-9-1 losing streak, Larkin has three points and is minus-7; Athanasiou has three points and is minus-3; Mantha has five points and is minus-6; and Bertuzzi has seven points and is minus-four.
Petr Mrazek’s eyes lit up and he showed a wide smile each time he was asked about his old team. He wants the revenge game against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. What he did Sunday night, getting a win that dramatically changed the Flyers’ playoff outlook, probably earned him the opportunity.
“It’s gonna be nice to be back but when the game starts, it doesn’t matter who is on the other side,” Mrazek said. “We are going there to get some good result and we have to go from there. It’s gonna be nice to be back in the town where I spent my first five or six NHL years.”
On Feb. 19 the Flyers traded for Mrazek. Detroit retained half of his salary and in return the Flyers gave a draft pick in 2018 and an additional pick in 2019 if Mrazek re-signs in Philly.
The initial pick was a fourth-rounder that becomes a third-rounder if Mrazek wins five regular-season games and the Flyers make the playoffs. The first condition was met with Sunday’s 6-3 win over Washington. It could become as high as a second if the Flyers make the Eastern Conference finals and Mrazek has six playoff wins.
Detroit, in rebuild mode, is hungry for draft picks and the conditions of the trade was their a showing of hope in Mrazek, who disappointed over the last couple years for the Red Wings. Upon his leaving town, it was clear that rumors of poor work ethic and attitude rubbed the organization the wrong way.
“Sometimes there’s things that I think about certain situations I can’t tell you people,” GM Ken Holland told reporters in Detroit. “I don’t think it’s fair to all the people involved.”
Isaac continues, and let’s just state what Holland intimated at his Mrazek presser: it is highly likely that Mrazek felt entitled to the #1 goaltender’s job, and Ken Holland has very specifically and very repeatedly said that he “doesn’t believe in entitlement.”
After the Wings anointed Mrazek their #1 goaltender, and told Howard that he’d be the back-up, Mrazek got a big contract, had a rough 2016-17 campaign, and pissed off management along the way, thus being exposed during the expansion draft.
It certainly appears that Holland accommodated Mrazek’s desire to exit the situation, and Mrazek himself suggested as much after he was traded…
So neither party was happy, and it’s probably better that Petr’s where Petr is now.
As in Detroit, Mrazek has been inconsistent in his brief time with the Flyers, going 5-5-1 with a 3.14 goals-against average and an .888 save percentage. Rookie Alex Lyon, who is coming off Saturday’s 4-2 win in Carolina, is the other option for Tuesday’s game, but coach Dave Hakstol is expected to go with the more experienced Mrazek.
When he was traded, Mrazek said he realized right away that the Flyers had one more game in Detroit.
“It’s gonna be nice to get back, but when the game starts, it doesn’t matter who is on the other side,” Mrazek said. “We are going there to get some good results, and we have to build from there.”
After losing seven of eight games, the Flyers regrouped nicely over the weekend, winning in Carolina and whipping Washington. They sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division with nine games left.
Next they face a reeling Detroit team that is out of the playoff picture and has lost 10 straight, during which it has been outscored, 41-19. The Red Wings have allowed four goals or more in eight of their last nine games.
“It’s gonna be nice to be back in the town where I spent my first five or six years in the NHL, but now it’s the opposite [side],” Mrazek said. “It’s gonna be fun.”
A team suffering through a losing streak sometimes feels like it just can’t get any bounces to go its way. The Red Wings experienced that in the third period against Los Angeles, when we saw one of the strangest goals of the year take a terrible, unlucky bounce against Detroit.
I thought the Red Wings deserved to win. They outplayed the Kings in almost every facet of the game. But again, they couldn’t solve Jonathan Quick, who made countless big saves to keep the game close.
And then the goal in the following clip happened midway through the third period to give the Kings the lead:
3. Of Twitter-related note, in the contest department…
Enter to win 2 tickets to the #RedWings regular season finale! Visit the Carhartt Detroit Store 5800 Cass Ave, or enter online by emailing –> drwsweepstakes@carhartt.com
1. I’m not a big fan of the theory that “tanking is good” for a franchise, and I don’t believe that the Red Wings are “throwing” games despite their 0-9-and-1 record of late. I truly believe that the Wings are just an incredibly, incredibly mediocre a team this season.
That being said, MLive’s Ansar Khan duly notes that the Red Wings’ odds of earning a high first-round draft pick are improving because the team is struggling so mightily, and Khan discusses the team’s imminent elimination from playoff contention as well:
If the Red Wings (26-35-11, 63 points) lose to the Philadelphia Flyers at Little Caesars Arena in any fashion (regulation, overtime or shootout), they’re out. Even if they win, they would be eliminated if New Jersey (37-26-8, 82 points) defeats San Jose.
This will mark the first time the Red Wings have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since they failed to qualify five years in a row from 1979 to 1983.
The good news: Their odds of winning the draft lottery, or least moving into the top three, are improving.
The Red Wings, during this skid, have dropped from 25th overall to 28th. If that’s where they finish they will have a 9.5 percent chance at landing the No. 1 pick and a 28.6 percent chance of getting into the top three. Those are estimates calculated by tankathon.com’s simulator. The NHL doesn’t release official lottery odds until after the regular season.
The 15-team draft lottery is a merciless business, and with the bouncing balls’ odds not even determined yet, any low-finishing team’s chances of dropping down in the draft lottery are higher than their chances of moving up.
No offense intended, folks, but just as players are hard-wired to try to win, I believe in rooting for wins, even if they’re incredibly elusive because the Wings just aren’t very good.
2. Speaking of mediocre, Petr Mrazek has played perhaps predictably streaky hockey for the Philadelphia Flyers of late.
Mrazek helped the Red Wings’ draft stead by backstopping Philadelphia to a 6-3 win over Washington on Sunday. Mrazek’s 5th win flipped the Wings’ compensation for Mrazek from a conditional 4th round pick to a 3rd-rounder, but it’s going to take a long shot for Mrazek to earn the Wings a 2nd round pick–he has to win at least 6 playoff games and the Flyers have to make the Eastern Conference Finals to trigger the 2nd-round pick…
“Well, it’s going to be nice to be back, but when the game starts it doesn’t matter who is on the other side,” Mrazek said. “We’re going there to get some good results, and we have to go from there. But it’s going to be nice … to be back where I had five or six NHL years. It’s going to be fun. I am looking forward to it.”
As Parent notes, however, Mrazek’s play has been inconsistent:
Mrazek, acquired from Detroit when regular goalies Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth went down with injuries last month, won his first three Flyers starts but then swooned as his team suddenly went south.
As the Flyers went from a stretch of no regulation losses in 12 games to seven losses in their next eight games, Mrazek fell to 4-5-1 with a 3.15 goals-against average and .887 saves percentage as a Flyer.
After getting yanked for allowing four goals on 10 shots, Petr Mrazek knew he needed a good game. He was solid until one leaky goal at the end when Carlson scored on a backhand and Mrazek was slow to react.
“After the game against Columbus when you don’t finish the game you try to go into the next game with big confidence and build with that,” said Mrazek, who finished with 25 saves. “I tried from the beginning of the game to focus on the puck and get as many pucks as I could. That was a big first period for me and our team.”
More on Mrazek in Tuesday’s Courier-Post but have to wonder if part of the motivation on Sunday was that if he laid another egg he might not get a start Tuesday in Detroit against his former club. Detroit traded him to Philadelphia before the trade deadline and Sunday being his fifth win for the Flyers elevated the fourth-round pick the Flyers spent to a third rounder as long as the Flyers make the playoffs. Each time Mrazek was asked about returning to face the Red Wings, his eyes lit up and he smiled.
“It’s gonna be nice to be back but when the game starts, it doesn’t matter who is on the other side,” he said. “We are going there to get some good result and we have to go from there. It’s gonna be nice to be back in the town where I spent my first five or six NHL years.”
3. You may have noticed that the lip of Niklas Kronwall’s visor has slowly but steadily migrated from the tip of his nose to the center of his forehead again, despite the NHL’s new rule mandating that players wear their visors in front of their faces (see: Tyler Bertuzzi for a good example of visor compliance).
One interesting development on the visor front is that a handful of players with the option not to use them at all have since been granted dispensation to wear them in a manner not allowed by their younger colleagues. That list includes Detroit’s Niklas Kronwall, Arizona’s Niklas Hjalmarsson and Toronto’s Leo Komarov.
4. Finally, Alex Wood, a.k.a. AWood40 on Twitter and YouTube, has done a tremendous job of compiling Wings highlight videos over the years. This morning, he’s dug into the archives to post 33 of Vladimir Konstantinov’s 47 regular season goals, as well as Konstantinov’s 5 playoff markers:
