From Michigan Hockey:
The third annual Play With Purpose Charity Game takes place TONIGHT at 7 p.m. inside @USAHockeyArena in Plymouth.
Check out the rosters and find out more info about the event here: https://t.co/rR4Y8nkJgn pic.twitter.com/SvPKGRAGb9— MiHockey (@MiHockeyNow) August 16, 2019
RotoWorld’s Corey Abbott examines the Red Wings’ 2019-2020 campaign outlook while focusing on the fantasy hockey-applicable aspects of the Wings’ 18-19 campaign:
Detroit Red Wings
2018-19 Finish: 32-40-10 record, 14th in the Eastern Conference
Noteworthy Gains: Valtteri Filppula, Patrik Nemeth, Calvin Pickard, Adam Erne
Noteworthy Losses: Thomas Vanek
Strengths: Dylan Larkin has emerged as a stud center and offensive catalyst for the Red Wings. Anthony Mantha displayed plenty of promise and expectations are higher for Tyler Bertuzzi following his hot finish to the 2018-19 campaign. They could form a productive trio for Detroit in 2019-20. Andreas Athanasiou, who was a 30-goal scorer, can contribute secondary scoring, but the team needs other players to step up. Filip Zadina, Joe Veleno and Taro Hirose should see NHL action this season because they all possess offensive upside.
Weaknesses: Detroit ranked 27th in the league with 3.32 goals against per game. Jimmy Howard had a rough year between the pipes and the defense corps was in shambles for most of the year due to injuries. Detroit posted a .901 save percentage, which tied the team with Buffalo for 22nd in the league. The Red Wings also had trouble holding onto leads in 2018-19. The club led the league with nine losses when leading after the first period and had the second-most overtime defeats (six) when leading after the first period.
Player to Watch: Filip Hronek is poised for a larger role with the Red Wings in 2019-20 after he left a very good first impression with the team last year. He collected five goals, 23 points, 73 shots and 66 hits in 46 games with Detroit. Hronek may have to compete with Mike Green for power-play action, but Green has been bothered by injuries and could be traded at some point.
Continued, and here’s part one of RotoWorld’s NHL season preview.
Hometown Life’s Colin Gay issues a timely reminder:
The Joe Kocur Foundation for Children will hold its 11th annual Celebrity Softball Series at Duck Lake Pines Park in Highland on Saturday, Aug. 24.
The series will consist of three softball games featuring alumni of the Detroit Red Wings, such as former goaltender Chris Osgood and right wing Kirk Maltby, and local Detroit celebrities, like former Detroit Lions quarterback Eric Hipple and actor Jeff Daniels.
Kocur, who played for the Red Wings for nine seasons as a right wing, began his foundation in 2009. Its main priority is to assist local charities that focus on children and local families in the greater Detroit area.
The proceeds from the softball series will benefit organizations like Wings of Mercy East Michigan, FAR Therapeutic Arts and Recreation, Huron Valley Special Olympics and the Play Like Jackson Foundation.
Tickets for the softball series are $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. Gates for the event open at 11 a.m. on Aug. 24, with games beginning at 12:15 p.m., 2:15 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.
MLive’s Ansar Khan’s player profiles continue this morning with a discussion of defenseman Filip Hronek’s 2019-2020 season outlook:
2019-20 outlook: Hronek was expected to win the competition between young defensemen and earn an NHL roster spot out of training camp but wasn’t ready, so he was demoted after playing six games as an injury replacement. He returned to Detroit in mid-December and was sent back to Grand Rapids for a couple of weeks in February before joining the Red Wings for good on Feb. 17.
He improved defensively during his time in the AHL and was much better the final seven weeks of the season. He cut down on mistakes and odd-man rushes against by not stepping up as much in the neutral zone while still contributing offensively.
Injuries forced the Red Wings to play the rookie more than they would have preferred – he logged more than 22 minutes in a stretch of 13 out of 15 games. He saw more time on the penalty kill. He played against top lines more often.
Barring a significant regression, Hronek will start the season in the Red Wings’ top four, paired with either Danny DeKeyser or (more likely) Patrik Nemeth. The club would like to keep him around 20 minutes per game while having him man the point on one of the power-play units and still see some time on the penalty kill.
DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji examines Red Wings goaltending prospect Carter Gylander’s 2018-2019 season “By the Numbers” this morning.
She discusses Gylander’s developmental curve at length, noting that Gylander will be spending one more season with the AJHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders before heading to Colgate University, and Wakiji speaks with Wings goaltending coach Brian Mahoney-Wilson regarding Gylander’s potential:
Quotable: “Great human being, great person, very mature for his age. Someone I saw a lot on video this year, ranked very high on my list, both with his stature and his technical play. He’s slated to go to Colgate in a year’s time. He’ll be the starter in the Alberta junior league in Sherwood Park. Carter only had played 22 games this year. I think he could have gotten more starts because they actually had an overage goalie in Sherwood Park.
From Carter’s standpoint, he fills a lot of the boxes that we need. To think this kid just turned 18 in early June and to see just how he’s handled himself in his first development camp, he’s been impressive. In the 3-on-3, I thought he handled his own, he’s been very good in the goalie sessions. Not knowing a lot about his personality, prior to the draft, but seeing on video and connecting with his goalie coach at Sherwood Park, he’s just truly a tremendous human being. We’re going to expect a lot in the next 2-3 years. I can’t wait to see his progress in college because I think he’s going to be a force at Colgate.” — Brian Mahoney-Wilson, Red Wings goaltending development coach
The Detroit Red Wings made a trade to do exactly what GM Steve Yzerman said he might do on July 1st–shore up their depth on the wing–on Wednesday, and I certainly scratched my head when I heard the name “Adam Erne.”
The Wings acquired the 24-year-old Erne for a 4th round draft pick, and the 6’1,” 185-pound forward was very quietly signed to what the Tampa Bay Times’ Diana C. Nearhos reported is a 1-year, $1.05 million contract extension.
Nearhos describes Erne’s assets as follows…
Erne, 24, had something of a breakout season in 2018-19, his first spent entirely in the NHL. He had 20 points (seven goals) and 40 penalty minutes (10 minors) in 65 games.
The 6-foot-1, 214-pound wing added physicality to the fourth line without drawing many penalties, earning a consistent spot in the lineup.
Erne was arbitration eligible this year but did not file. He was on a one-year, $800,000 contract last year, and his expected raise was to $1 million.
Nearhos also explains why the Lightning traded Erne:
Continue reading Red Wings trade for Adam Erne…Who?Several Red Wings players have been taking part in Power Edge Pro’s hockey camp at USA Hockey Arena this past week, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan headed to Plymouth to speak with Dylan Larkin. The prospective captain of the Red Wings spoke particularly enthusiastically regarding his team’s potential:
“We can be very competitive every night and go on hot stretches,” said Larkin, adding there’s one important ingredient: “Get off to a good start.”
He added: “We’re going to have to come out to a good start, and that’s something we didn’t do last year (1-7-2). It’s all-in the start and getting some steam and getting buzz around town, and young guys contributing and gaining confidence.”
Part of the excitement surrounding the Wings is the arrival of general manager Steve Yzerman.
The Red Wings legend and Hall of Famer replaced long-time GM Ken Holland (who went to Edmonton) in April, and Yzerman’s arrival – after a successful run as the Tampa Bay Lightning GM – has injected excitement among Wings’ fans.
Larkin has only spoken sparingly with Yzerman this offseason but can see and feel Yzerman’s impact.
“His history and legacy speak for itself,” Larkin said. “He’s a pretty impressive guy. Just how dialed into the game he is, and what he’s done with Tampa, he knows what it takes to get to the level they’re at. I’m just real excited for it.”
Red Wings forward Evgeny Svechnikov seems to have been around forever, but the 22-year-old is firmly pressing the “reset” button on his career after suffering an ACL injury that wiped out his 2018-2019 season.
Svechnikov spoke with The Athletic’s Max Bultman while attending the Power Edge Pro camp in Plymouth, and the one-time top prospect discussed his desire to reclaim his potential on a crowded Wings forward corps:
“It’s still healing, it’s still a process,” Svechnikov said. “So, I’m still in the process, and I’m doing pretty good skating. … It maybe looks good, but it doesn’t feel (as good) as it looks. But I feel comfortable. Just gets tired and sore at the end. But it’s coming along.”
He still has about four weeks to help it along even further, valuable time in his pursuit of a roster spot come opening night. Some of that is beyond his control, but this is all the time he has left to improve his chances.
Svechnikov said he has met new general manager Steve Yzerman only briefly, and that he mainly just wanted to know about the knee. But he’s not concerning himself much with what exactly the team’s brass is expecting or looking for from him when Traverse City arrives. His goals are singular.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I don’t really care what they’re looking at (with) me, you can put it that way. Because I just want to go out there and take my spot. That’s really it. Doesn’t matter last year if I was hurt or (not). And I don’t really expect, from them, anything. Obviously they want to expect from me, they want to see what it’s like, but at the same time they know I was injured. To me, it doesn’t matter. I just want to go out there and take my spot and make the team.”
Continued (paywall); my best guess is that Svechnikov will have to head to Grand Rapids this fall and earn his way back into the Red Wings’ lineup. He’s young enough and talented enough to at least provide some jam as a forechecking bottom-six forward; whether he is able to press his ceiling higher is up to Svech.
The Toledo Walleye signed defenseman Brandon Anselmini today, as noted by the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:
Anselmini, a 26-year-old from Guelph, Ont., played last season for Kalamazoo in the ECHL. In 45 games with the Wings, he posted three goals with 21 assists and 74 penalty minutes. He also appeared in 10 games for Utica in the American Hockey League and had two points (1 G, 1 A) and 11 penalty minutes.
Anselmini (pronounced AN-sell-mean-ee) has played in 124 games in the ECHL and 24 games in the higher-level AHL.
The 5-foot-10, 183-pound defenseman played in 28 games for the Indy Fuel in 2017-18, producing 17 points (2 G, 15 A) with 56 penalty minutes.
The Red Wings posted a Tweet today which revealed the numbers that several players will be donning for the 2019-2020 season.
I’m a little surprised that Valtteri Filppula will continue to wear #51 as Frans Nielsen is changing to #81 to accommodate Filppula; Taro Hirose debuted his #67 at the Red Wings’ summer development camp; Adam Erne will be the first Wing to wear #73, and Patrik Nemeth will go with #22.
New season.
New numbers. pic.twitter.com/GRWeGS1FpH— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 15, 2019
