HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek reports that Red Wings prospect Moritz Seider has been chosen to play for the German national team at the Deutschland Cup next week. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Rogle duo selected for the German national team: “We are very happy”

Detroit-loaned prospect Moritz Seider has gotten off to a flying start with Rogle in the SHL. Now he and a Rogle colleague have been selected for the German national team [playing at the Deutschland Cup] next week.

Germany’s Finnish national team manager, Toni Soderholm, has selected Rogle defenseman Moritz Seider for the German national team ahead of the Deutschland Cup.

The 19-year-old Seider, who is on loan to Rögle from the NHL team the Detroit Red Wings this season, has scored one goal and four assists in the five SHL games he has played since arriving earlier in October.

In the 5-2 victory away against Färjestad, Moritz Seider played over 21 minutes and he has played over 19 minutes on average in Rögle. Now national team games await.

Seider played the World Championship for Germany already, as an 18-year-old ,in the spring of 2019 in Bratislava. The German squad for the Deutschland Cup includes six players who took part and won Olympic silver in South Korea in 2018.

“We are very happy that some of the best German players will return a year later. We have two more days to prepare for compared to last year and we will use them intensively. We now want to keep an eye on the team with a view to the World Championship because the NHL players may not be there,” says Soderholm to the German Hockey Federation’s website.

In addition to Moritz Seider, Rogle has named his assistant coach Cory Murphy to the German coaching staff for the tournament in Krefeld, Germany next week. Rogle also has a trio in Tre Kronor next week on defenseman Niklas Hansson and forward duo Leon Bristedt and Daniel Zaar.

Germany also has a B national team in the Deutschland Cup, and these are players who may be relevant for the Olympics in China 2022.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with Red Wings forward Sam Gagner regarding the passing of long-time Edmonton Oilers and Edmonton Eskimos dressing room attendant Joey Moss, who died of Alzheimers’ disease at 57.

Moss had Down Syndrome and made sure that it was never an impediment to his passion for working with Edmonton’s pro sports teams, and Gagner, a long-time Oiler, shared his memories of Moss with Kulfan:

“My biggest memory after my eight points in a game was just sitting down with Joey, having a beer and chatting,” Gagner said. “There was a lot going on that night. I talked to Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey, my parents and my soon-to-be wife.

“I didn’t get out of the rink until a couple of hours later and the only guy left in the rink was Joey and a couple of the trainers. He said he was proud of me and that was such a special, special moment, something I’ll never forget.”

Gagner, who had four goals and four assists in the 8-4 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 2, 2012, and two more goals against the Red Wings six days later in a 4-2 loss at Joe Louis Arena, said Moss’ hard work, positive attitude and sense of humor was an inspiration to him, his teammates and his family.

“Right from when I first met him, we became instant friends,” Gagner said. “There was a group of us, a bunch of young guys coming in who lived together. We would always take Joey out for dinner, have him sleep over. We just had a blast getting to know him. There was never a bad day. He always had a smile on his face.

“When he slept over and we had to be at practice the next morning for 8:45-9 o’clock, he would be waiting by the door at 7 a.m. We would be kind of lingering and he would get antsy. He would say, ‘I got work. I got stuff to do.’ He took his job very seriously and at the end of the day, he was just one of the guys.”

Continued

The Free Press’s Helene St. James was among the reporters who engaged in Tyler Bertuzzi’s Zoom call regarding his 1-year, $3.5 million arbitration award, and she noted Bertuzzi’s thoughts on his deal, as well as his preparations for the 20-21 season:

“It’s a little different than anything I’ve ever been through, but it went smoothly and we’re happy we got a deal done,” Bertuzzi said. “There was a lot of talking going on. At the end of the day, we’re happy with a one-year deal. I’m looking forward to the season.”

He may be looking forward for quite a while. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has Jan. 1 as the latest target date to start the 2020-21 season, but the novel coronavirus pandemic may delay that even further. For now, he’s working out and skating with a local group that includes Wings teammates Dylan Larkin, Luke Glendening, Anthony Mantha, Robby Fabbri and Valtteri Filppula. They have not been able to at the practice facility inside Little Caesars Arena.

“We’re all working out together and bonding and we’re all looking forward to coming back,” Bertuzzi said. “We’re skating, playing little games, little scrimmages here and there, trying to keep up that game-feeling. 

“It’s very weird. We’d already be in the season. It’s a different feeling. You have to monitor when to work out. Once we know there’s a final date to when the season is going to start, then we can kind of base all of that on that. But it’s very different, for sure.”

Continued

Update: Here’s more from the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

In the second episode of “Al’s BBQ,” Al Sobotka discusses chicken recipes. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d type in a blog entry:

Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi held a Zoom call with the Detroit media regarding his 1-year, $3.5 million arbitration award:

? pic.twitter.com/xtvOgQKySS

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 28, 2020

Just got off Zoom call with Tyler Bertuzzi. Certainly doesn't seem like there's any hard feeling against #RedWings. Just business. He says small group is skating, anxious to start season (whenever that'll be)

— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) October 28, 2020

Bertuzzi says he hasn't yet spoken with Yzerman or anyone from the F.O. since the arb hearing, but thinks they will soon about the season. Doesn't think there's anything that needs to be resolved.

"We want to win hockey games. We're here to win. There's nothing personal at all."

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) October 28, 2020

Asked if he was interested in a longer deal or preferred to go short, Bertuzzi says "It was a mix. Obviously there was a lot of talking going on and at the end of the day we're happy with a one-year deal."

Even if he had signed longer, says he'd play like he's on a one-year deal

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) October 28, 2020

The Red Wings have a 24-hour buyout window opening tomorrow thanks to their arbitration hearing with Tyler Bertuzzi, as the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan noted via a Tweet…

One thing to remember after yesterday’s Bertuzzi arbitration: #RedWings have another 24 hour buyout window beginning Thursday. Only possibility would be Frans Nielsen. Would they?— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) October 28, 2020

Buying out Nielsen now would save, per CapFriendly, about $1.3 million in real-world dollars, but Detroit would have to pay Nielsen $2.67 million of his remaining $4 million in salary to buy him out.

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a column which discusses the respective situations of 7 teams that “could weaponize” their remaining salary cap space, and the Red Wings make Dixon’s list.

As you know by now, I don’t believe that the Wings should spend all their cap space in one year, given that the salary cap will remain stagnant for at least the next 2-to-3 years, but I’ll be the first to admit that anything can happen with Steve Yzerman at the Wings’ helm:

Detroit Red Wings
Cap space: $15,238,611

Detroit has the potential to be the league’s one true dumping ground. (That sounds awful; it’s actually not.)

In the midst of a long rebuild that has, thus far, not been aided by any draft lottery luck, GM Steve Yzerman has already made one shrewd, salary-related move by taking defenceman Marc Staal and his $5.7-million cap hit from the Rangers, while getting New York to toss in a pretty tasty 2021 second-rounder.

Its lack of lottery fortune means Detroit doesn’t have anyone in the fold who figures to need a big raise coming off an entry-level deal in the next couple of years, though the Wings do need to hammer out a new deal with RFA Anthony Mantha. The Illitch family spent whatever was required when its teams — the Red Wings and Detroit Tigers — were chasing championships. Cutting some cheques with the Wings now at their nadir could also help.

Continued; would you “weaponize” all the Wings’ cap space this offseason, or save some for a rainy day?

After accepting an arbitrator’s 1-year, $3.5 million contract award for Tyler Bertuzzi, the Red Wings have a CapFriendly-estimated $15.238 million in salary cap space remaining, and about a third of that space will go toward re-signing the Red Wings’ remaining restricted free agents, Anthony Mantha and Dmytro Timashov.

Sportsnet’s Luke Fox has updated his article regarding the “NHL’s Top 15 Unsigned RFA’s,” and here’s what he has to say about Mantha’s situation:

Anthony Mantha
Age: 26
Position: Left wing / Right wing
2019-20 salary cap hit: $3.3 million
Arbitration rights: Yes — but did not file
Bargaining chips: Puts up the same points per game (0.88) as [Mat] Barzal. Plays nearly 19 minutes a night. Managed 38 points in 2019-20 despite being hampered with injuries. Consecutive 24-goal, 48-point efforts in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The latest: When healthy, Mantha is a beastly winger and dependable contributor to Detroit’s top six. The drawback here is an injury history that has prevented Mantha from playing more than 70 games in all but one of his five pro years.

“It will be complicated, I think,” Mantha told The Detroit News of his upcoming negotiation with Yzerman. “But it’s not in my power. My power is to play hockey. My agent and Stevie are going to talk. Maybe they’ve started. I don’t even know.

“It’s hard to base right now. I played 40 games this year. I missed so many games, so it’s hard to go for the extension before the end of the year. We’ll see in the off-season. Hopefully it goes quick and I’ll be here for a long time.”

Continued; as Fox notes, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman told the media that he was negotiating with Mantha’s representatives during the 2020 NHL draft. Those negotiations obviously took a backseat to the Bertuzzi talks, but now it’s time to get Mantha signed.

What kind of deal do you think the Wings and Mantha will reach an accord upon? Will they work on a short-term, “bridge deal” like Bertuzzi’s one-year contract, or will the Red Wings invest in Mantha over the long haul?

Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom penned an article discussing a business venture in which former Red Wings players Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall have teamed up with Auston Matthews of all people to advance the Swedish inline skate brand Marsblade.

This article may seem like Swedish fluffernutter, but it reveals some important details regarding the latter stages of Henrik Zetterberg’s career, a bit about Niklas Kronwall’s decision to move back to Sweden this past summer, and Marsblade’s plans to expand its NHL footprint.

What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

The superstar’s new venture with “Zata”

LOS ANGELES. Auston Matthews, 23, is one of the NHL’s biggest names after four seasons in the league.

He likes Toronto’s investment in Swedish players over the years.

“I love having William Nylander as a linemate. He really is a special player and one of the smartest in the NHL today. And a close friend,” says Auston in an interview with SportExpressen.

Matthew’s ties to Sweden are now even stronger.

He’s now a co-owner of Marsblade in Östersund, which manufactures inline skates and has now also developed a skate rail to be launched in the hockey world.

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren’s strong start in the SHL this morning. Khan spoke with Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff regarding the 5’10” mini-mite’s impressive October playing for Skelleftea AIK:

Berggren is off to a hot start for Skelleftea in the Swedish Hockey League, the country’s highest division. He is third in scoring with 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) in 10 games.

“He’s off to a great start and it’s a good sign for us,” Shawn Horcoff, Red Wings director of player development, said. “He’s a guy who’s faced a lot of adversity with injuries the last couple years. These aren’t injuries that are easy to come back from. They’re bigger injuries, longer layoffs.

“To his credit, going through that, it’s done two things – it’s made him realize what he needs to work on, and it’s also given him time to work on those deficiencies. He was a guy we drafted who was very raw in terms of his physical development. I think the last couple of years the amount of time he’s been able to spend in the gym and off the ice has helped him in that area.”

Continued