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The Detroit News’s Rod Beard reports that the Pistons have found a novel way to deal with the empty red seats at Little Caesars Arena:

Pistons fans are seeing red no more.

At Little Caesars Arena, there’s a lot less red — the color of all the seats in the arena — after the Pistons added a few thousand black seat covers, sponsored by the Art Van furniture company, on Monday.

The seat covers were added the day after Art Van Elslander, the founder of Art Van company, died at the age of 87. Pistons officials confirmed that the covers are part of a new corporate partnership with Art Van and are not related directly to Van Elslander’s passing.

The agreement appears to be with the Pistons and not the Red Wings.

Continued…I don’t believe that the Wings will cover the seats, but one never knows.

The Under-18 Five Nations Tournament is taking place this week at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, and if you weren’t already considering attending a game or two, USA Hockey’s Becky Olsen offers a strong endorsement for the tournament:

Continued

 

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a Monday night notebook article, and he discusses the Wings’ 3rd period struggles and Tomas Tatar’s status as having just ended a goal-scoring slump:

Tatar hadn’t scored in eight games (only one in 13 games ) before scoring twice Sunday — including the overtime winner — in the 5-4 overtime victory over Washington.

“Two big goal-scorer’s goals there,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He’s a real big scorer. He gets a little streaky at times, and hopefully he can get streaky hot here. He’s been a little snake-bitten, but I also think the goals followed what has been real good play here the last little bit.”

The two goals Sunday give Tatar 14 for the season, likely not the pace the Red Wings would have hoped for after signing Tatar, 26, a restricted free agent at the time, to a four-year contract worth $21.2 million in July ($5.3 million salary cap hit).

Last season, Tatar had 46 points (25 goals, 21 assists), thanks to a hot finish. Tatar has gone over 21 goals each of the last three seasons.

Tatar admitted it’s been difficult lately not seeing the puck go into the net.

“When you have chances to score and the goals won’t go in, you feel frustration,” Tatar said. “When the team isn’t winning, it doesn’t feel good. When you score, it’s nice to score for sure.”

Kulfan continues…

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James penned an off-day notebook discussing Anthony Mantha’s scoring potential:

Anthony Mantha’s bid for 20 goals as a rookie was cut short by a fight.

He’s closing in on the benchmark now in his second season with the Detroit Red Wings, with two months of games still remaining. Mantha picked up three goals during the trip to New York and Washington, giving him 19 goals in 52 games. He’s the Wings’ leading goal scorer, ranks third on the team with 33 points, and has their third-best points-per-game average at 0.63.

He’s showing the growth the Wings hoped to see when the season began.

“What I’m seeing is work ethic,” coach Jeff Blashill said after Sunday’s 5-4 overtime victory at Washington. “He’s been excellent. His second effort has been good. His skating has been really good. To me, it’s just the simplicity of bending his knees – when he bends his knees and skates, he’s excellent. That’s the fire-starter for him. What’s the one thing that makes the big difference? It’s when he bends his knees and skates as opposed to being straight-legged. He’s been working on that for a long time and I think his work ethic has been great here the last 10 games.”

St. James continues…

2. And of Twitter-based note:

Continue reading On Anthony Mantha, knees bent, and Tweets of note

The Athletic’s Topher Scott looked back at the Red Wings’ 7-6 OT loss against the New York Islanders, examining the reasons why the Red Wings collapsed in the third period. According to Scott, Tyler Bertuzzi’s should’ve-been-a-minor-penalty on Cal Clutterbuck wasn’t the main reason why the Islanders rallied, though the major penalty certainly helped:

Most people would look at Tyler Bertuzzi’s major slash as the penalty that swung the game. But to me it was Justin Abdelkader’s second-period fight with Johnny Boychuk that shifted the entire momentum of the contest.

With only a few minutes left in the second period, the Islanders had nothing going. They had only 11 shots on net, including a measly three in the second period, and Detroit had the game firmly in its grasp. The Red Wings were playing a solid road contest – frustrating the Islanders with simple, boring, defensive hockey.

But as the road team, you never want to poke the bear.

And with just over one minute left in the second period, Abdelkader prompted a fight by slew-footing Boychuk in front of the net, getting the crowd and the Islanders’ bench engaged into the game.

Scott continues (paywall), and here’s the Abdelkader-Boychuk fight:

 

 

NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti spoke with Red Wings defenseman Mike Green about #25’s uncertain future with the team:

“I haven’t thought about it, to be honest,” Green said. “If I have to make a decision, then I’ll think about it.”

But the reality is the Red Wings (22-23-9) will probably approach Green at some point in the next two weeks to talk to him about waiving the no-trade clause in his contract. Barring a dramatic rally in their final 28 games, the Red Wings will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight season following a remarkable run of qualifying in 25 consecutive seasons.

Even after their win Sunday, they sit eight points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. So, they’ll have to soon look to the future and see what assets they can get by trading Green.

“We’ll see what happens,” Green said. “Obviously, it’s coming close. There might have to be some decisions made, but right now I’m not too worried about it.”

The no-trade clause in Green’s contract gives him some control over his situation, which he acknowledged makes it easier for him.

“It definitely helps,” Green said.

Gulitti continues, wondering if Green is a fit for the Washington Capitals…

From the Associated Press comes a superb story about Korean Olympic hockey coach and former Grand Rapids Griffins assistant coach Jim Paek:

Playing parts of six NHL seasons and winning the Stanley Cup twice, Jim Paek had seen hockey at its highest level.

When he returned to his native South Korea to take over its men’s national team, he saw hockey at an almost unacceptable level. Paek inherited a program that lacked the basic necessities of the sport, let alone the talent to compete internationally.

“We didn’t have a skate sharpener,” Paek said. “That’s how small our country is for hockey.”

South Korean hockey has come an unimaginable distance in in the past three-plus years with Paek and fellow former NHL player Richard Park in charge of bringing everything from the equipment and the locker room to the quality of play up to speed in time to take part in the Olympics as the tournament host.

“Jim and Richard, without them I think it wouldn’t be what it is,” goaltender Matt Dalton said. “They’ve added so much professionalism and all that — respectability. … Their accolades or whatever they’ve done, in Korean hockey no one’s ever come close to that. When they talk, people listen, and rightfully so. They should.”

Continued

UPDATE: Garrioch says that DeKeyser isn’t “on the market.” So take note!

The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch penned his trade rumor column on Sunday night, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I read the following:

Two league executives told this newspaper Sunday the Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks have all joined the Senators on the list of teams looking to unload.

The Rangers have been very public about their desire to sell off assets and there are several contenders trying to get forward Rick Nash.

The Sabres are looking to move winger Evander Kane while the Canucks are offering up blueliner Ben Hutton. The Wings have defencemen Mike Green on the market and teams have called about Danny DeKeyser while Montreal GM Marc Bergevin has been aggressive in his pursuit of a Max Pacioretty trade.

Garrioch continues, and…

Teams want Danny DeKeyser? Are you kidding me? I can’t imagine the Wings moving DeKeyser without having to eat a substantial portion of that 5-year, $30 million contract…But that’s good news.

In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye defeated the Wichita Thunder 1-0 thanks to a late-3rd-period goal from Dylan Sadowy and a 28-save performance from Pat Nagle. The Walleye’s website posted a recap:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Walleye beat Wichita 1-0; Fulcher back-stops Bulldogs to win over Sault; Cholowski posts 2 assists

The Free Press’s Jeff Seidel spoke with Team USA assistant coach and Red Wings ambassador Chris Chelios regarding his Olympic charges, and Chelios suggests that the American Olympic hockey team will be underestimated at its opponents’ peril:

“I think we have a great group of guys,” he said. “We just need to win that game that counts and keep going. I wish there were more spots. The hardest part is telling a guy they are one play short of making it. Or one injury from making it. That’s the nature of the beast, the downside of all sports. There’s not enough seats.”

How will this group of unproven players do?

Chelios has no doubt.

“I always go into tournaments, I go into every playoff, I go into every game thinking we could win,” he said. “That’s my mentality and that has to be the mentality of this team, if we are going to have any success. The U.S., 20 years ago, realistically was an underdog. Now, everybody is going to be in the same boat. All of the NHL players are not going to be there. This is something where no one knows what to expect. You can predict stuff. You can call favorites, but that’s why there are upsets. I wouldn’t say we are an underdog. I’d say we are flying under the radar, us and Canada especially because of the advantage the Europeans have. A lot of them are over there playing and a lot of teams are playing together. I think anything is possible.”

Continued