The Free Press posted an excerpt from Helene St. James’ book, “Big 50: Detroit Red Wings” this morning, chronicling the Red Wings’ journey toward their first Stanley Cup in 1997:

Yzerman hoisted the Cup above his head, his gap-toothed smile a mix of relief and joy. He skated to the Wings bench so that owners Mike and Marian Ilitch could touch the Cup, then took his victory lap around the ice.

“I would have preferred to go with everybody in the beginning,” Yzerman said. “I wanted to go as one big group.”

Yzerman passed the Cup to Slava Fetisov, who held it up with Larionov. It was a very conscious, very telling choice on Yzerman’s part. It revealed the respect he felt was due to the two men who had done so much to liberate Russian hockey players from Soviet red tape.

“The last couple of days I thought who I wanted to give the Cup to,” Yzerman said. “I thought about Slava. He and Igor, what they stand for, are good examples for younger players…. All five Russian players were significant players and great guys.” Players took turns taking laps with the Cup. Bowman put on skates and took a lap too. “That was great,” Yzerman said. “I’ve seen it all. He doesn’t show emotion. He doesn’t let us get too close to him. For a few minutes there, he was one of us.”

In 1993, after the Toronto Maple Leafs eliminated the Wings in the first round, Yzerman cried in a back room at the Joe until 4:00 am. The next spring, when his season ended with a stunning first-round upset by the San Jose Sharks, Yzerman cried until 3:00 am. Finally, the Joe was a place for celebration. “He tried to get it for 14 years, and now he gets it,” teammate Tomas Holmstrom said. “I almost started crying.”

Continued

According to Hokej.cz’s Marek Hedbavny, Mountfield Hradec Kralove has extended its contract agreement with Filip Hronek for another month, citing the uncertainty surrounding the start of the NHL season as the reason for its decision to retain Hronek’s services.

Sportsnet’s latest “The Greatest: Goal of the 21st Century” match-up is a no-win situation, because it pits two all-time great goals against each other.

Pavel Datsyuk’s flip shot vs. Antti Niemi faces off against Alex Ovechkin’s scoring-from-his-back goal, so vote for your favorite. One way or another, a great goal gets chopped from the competition:

Of prospect-related note today:

In the SHL, Jonatan Berggren did not play in Skelleftea AIK’s 3-2 win over HV71 today. Skelleftea’s website reminds us that Berggren is serving a suspension;

Joe Veleno had an assist and 3 shots on goal, finishing at -2 in 17:17 played as the Malmo Redhawks lost 3-1 to Leksands IF. Veleno is playing pretty well for Malmo, but the Redhawks are a struggling team. Here’s his assist:

? Händemark! Malmö tar ledningen! #shl #twittpuck pic.twitter.com/pfI6aXHspN

— C More Sport (@cmoresport) November 28, 2020

Theodor Niederbach made his debut as a second-line center for the Frolunda Indians on Saturday, taking 2 shots and finishing even, winning 33% of his faceoffs in 17:34 played as Frolunda lost 3-2 to Djurgardens IF.

Lucas Raymond took 2 minor penalties in 14:55 played; on the other side, Albin Grewe played 9:52 for Djurgarden, serving as a fourth-line winger;

And Albert Johansson had an assist and 1 shot, finishing at +2 in 11:26 played during Farjestad BK’s 6-4 win over Brynas IF;

In the Finnish Liiga, Victor Brattstrom served as the back-up goaltender during KooKoo’s 3-1 loss to SaiPa;

Eemil Viro had an assist and finished at +2 with 1 shot in 19:12 played as TPS Turku won 4-1 over Assat Pori;

Otto Kivenmaki had a rough night for Assat, taking 2 minor penalties and finishing at -1 with 1 shot in only 13:32 played, but Kasper Kotkansalo scored Assat’s only goal, finishing even with 5 shots in 24:09 played;

Later today, in NCAA Division I Hockey, Patrick Holway and the University of Maine will battle Connecticut at 3 PM EST;

Jack Adams’ Providence College Friars will take on Seth Barton and UMass-Lowell at 4 PM;

And Ryan O’Reilly’s Arizona State University Sun Devils will battle Sam Stange and the University of Wisconsin at 7 PM.

Update: Ryan O’Reilly had an assist and finished with 5 shots, taking 2 penalties in the University of Arizona Sun Devils’ 8-5 win over the University of Wisconsin Badgers. Sam Stange had 4 shots, finished at -3 and took 3 penalties;

The University of Maine Black Bears’ game vs. Connecticut was postponed;

And the University of Massachusetts-Lowell’s game against Providence was also postponed.

Hokej.cz’s Marek Hedbavny reports that Filip Hronek and his current Czech Extraliga team, Mountfield HK, are dealing with a contractual deadline. Hedbavny suggests that, should Hronek and Mountfield not reach a contract, rumors are swirling that Filip Zadina’s team, Ocelari Trinec, may reach out to Hronek. What follows is roughly translated from Czech:

Hronek’s contract will end after the weekend. Will he stay with Hradec Králové?

Filip Hronek, currently the biggest name in the Tipsport Extraliga, and at the same time the most productive defender of this season, is still negotiating his extension with Hradec Králové.

His contract will end on the last day of November [Monday November 30th]. He will definitely play for Hradec Králové against Třinec on Sunday, but what then?

“The amendment to the contract has not been signed, we are still negotiating,” General Manager Aleš Kmoníček wrote on Hradec Králové’s website on Friday.

Rumors are already appearing on social networks that [Ocelari] Třinec is circling around Hronek–just like [they were] in summer. O2 TV Sport expert Jakub Koreis came up with this speculation on Twitter.

As the situation regarding the NHL remains confusing, the management of the [organization] officially still looks forward to January 1. However, unofficial news speaks of another [delay], or even the [suspension] of the entire season.

So Hronek could last for some time in the extraleague.

But will it be at home in Hradec Králové?

So far, he is by far the most useful player on Mountfield: in fourteen games, he has helped them with fourteen points. He is not only the most productive defender of Tipsport Extraliga, but also the best scorer among the defensemen (with 5 goals). In addition, he is the second-best defender in the statistics of +/- (+12) and in the number of shots per goal (36).

Former Grand Rapids Griffins and Toledo Walleye forward Alden Hirschfeld spoke with Griffins play-by-play announcer Bob Kaser for nearly 20 minutes in the Griffins’ latest “Blasts from the Past” video:

The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek filed a mailbag article this afternoon, and he leads off the article with a question as to how the Tampa Bay Lightning may allow the Detroit Red Wings to “help” Tampa Bay clear some salary cap space:

In your opinion, what moves will Tampa have to do to get cap compliant before the start of the season? Tharajan G

Given the combined cap hell and NTC and NMC contracts of the Lightning, I do not see how they get out of this especially given the fact that Brayden Point is the only big contract with no movement restrictions. How many big players will go and will they get much in the way of a return? Jeffrey M

If this were an easy problem to solve, it would have been solved already. The fact that it’s still lingering points to the obvious issue: Teams understand the financial corner the Lightning are in and aren’t about to let them wiggle out of it easily. After signing RFA Mikhail Sergachev to a three-year, bridge contract this week, the Lightning are almost $2 million over the salary cap, with two more RFAs (Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak) still to sign. I believe it goes one of two ways for HM Julien BriseBois – either two intermediate-level tweaks or one exceedingly bold move.

The obvious first landing place for any of Tampa’s salary-cap headaches is Detroit, run by Steve Yzerman, the former Lightning GM, and the manager responsible for many of the contracts currently on Tampa’s books. For those who don’t follow it closely, Tampa has three middle of the lineup forwards with no-trade clauses (Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson) and a fourth, Alex Killorn, with a modified no-trade. Of the four, the Lightning presumably value Palat the most. Truthfully, all four are probably overpaid for what they’re producing, which becomes a greater issue in a flat cap world. I see Palat as a likely survivor of the salary-cap purge to come. Johnson is 30, has four years left at $5 million and was waived earlier this year (and there were no takers). So, you’ll need both a sweetener to move his contract and permission from the players’ camp. Complicated, but not impossible.

In a perfect world, I would try to move not just one, but two of the remaining contract headaches (preferably Johnson and Killorn) to Detroit, and be prepared to surrender both a first-round pick and a quality young player to get the Red Wings to bite. Detroit would probably jump on that deal if that quality young player were Cernak, who is highly valued around the NHL. Tampa obviously wouldn’t want to pay that high a price. Sometimes, as an organization, you’re trapped and have to make hard choices. By solving all your financial problems in one fell swoop, you take your medicine, but you also create the necessary flexibility to operate with a little breathing room, as you pursue a Stanley Cup defence.

Continued (paywall)

The NHL Coaches’ Association posted a quick clip of Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill speaking to younger coaches regarding several topics, including having empathy for his players, his superstitions and his biggest embarrassment:

Of prospect-related note on a busy Friday:

In the Belarusian Hockey League, Kirill Tyutyayev posted 2 assists, finishing at +1 with a blocked shot in Yunost Minsk’s 5-1 win over Metallurg Slobin;

In the ICE Hockey League, Michael Rasmussen scored a goal on 4 shots, finishing at -1 in the Graz99ers’ 6-3 loss to KAC;

Jesper Eliasson served as the back-up in the Red Bull Salzburg’s 5-3 win over AV19 Fevervahr;

In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki scored a goal on 3 shots, finishing even and winning 33% of his faceoffs in 16:09 played as Assat Pori lost 6-5 in overtime to Jukurit. Kasper Kotkansalo finished at +1 with 2 shots in a massive 26:07 played for Assat.

This clip comes from Dana Wakiji on Twitter…

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Hronek just fine(d); 2A for Zadina the birthday boy; Rasmussen, Kivenmaki, Viro score goals →

Via The Athletic’s Max Bultman on Twitter, Rakapuckar’s Henrik Leman reports that Theodor Niederbach will be playing center on Lucas Raymond’s line (between Raymond and Simon Hjalmarsson) after former Red Wings prospect Jan Mursak had to bow out of Saturday’s game vs. Djurgarden due to a positive coronavirus test.

This is an interesting development given that Frolunda has been bringing the 18-year-old Niederbach along slowly on the men’s team as he dominated in Junior-20 league action, but now that the J20 league is suspended due to coronavirus concerns, Niederbach is getting his first big chance to succeed at the SHL level.