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NHL.com’s Cotsonika discusses the Red Wings’ self-improvement campaign

When asked which team has improved itself the most over the course of free agency (thus far), NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika makes the case for Steve Yzerman’s job so far with the Red Wings as the NHL’s best…

Nick Cotsonika

I’m going to lead off with a surprise: the Detroit Red Wings. Coming off a season when they had the worst record in the NHL since the salary cap arrived in 2005-06 (17-49-5, .275 points percentage), there is a lot of room for improvement. Under general manager Steve Yzerman, the Red Wings chose forward Lucas Raymond No. 4 in the NHL Draft with their highest pick since 1990 and selected 11 players in rounds 2-7, including three in the second and two in the third. They have signed goalie Thomas Greiss, defensemen Jon Merrill and Troy Stecher, and forwards Bobby Ryan and Vladislav Namestnikov to short-term, economical contracts as unrestricted free agents. And they have acquired defenseman Marc Staal and a second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft from the New York Rangers for future considerations, using cap space to their advantage. They’re early in their rebuild, not close to contending for the Stanley Cup, but they have taken smart steps forward.

And Cotsonika also penned an article in which he discusses Yzerman’s work in greater detail. This article is superb, and it’s worth your time:

Continue reading NHL.com’s Cotsonika discusses the Red Wings’ self-improvement campaign →

A bit more about Wings prospect Alex Cotton

The Red Wings posted defenseman Alex Cotton’s Zoom call with the Wings’ beat writers this afternoon…

And this evening, the BC Local News’s Dan Ferguson posted a quote-light article discussing the second day of the draft, when Cotton realized that he’d been drafted by Detroit:

He was waiting with his family to see whether he would be tapped for the 2020 NHL Entry draft and before anyone else noticed, he saw his name come up on the video feed, and the name of the team that had drafted him.

“Oh, crap,” Cotton remembers saying. “Wow. I was pretty shocked.”

It was a mixture of disbelief and delight at being picked by the legendary Detroit Red wings.

“It’s unreal,” Cotton told the Langley Advance Times.

Cotton was selected 132nd in the fifth round of the 2020 draft on Wednesday, Oct. 7. by the Detroit franchise that has been home to legends like Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and Alex Delvecchio, to name just a few.

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Veleno, Seider reflect on their respective SHL debuts

Neither Joe Veleno nor Moritz Seider had particularly busy debuts with the Malmo Redhawks or Rogle BK, respectively, on Thursday, but both players spoke to their new teams’ websites after their SHL debuts.

You can watch a 2-minute interview with Veleno via the Redhawks’ website here after playing 17:55 in Malmo’s 5-2 loss to HV71;

And Seider spoke with Rogle BK’s website for just under a minute and fifty seconds, after playing 16:22 in Rogle’s 2-1 loss to Brynas.

Prospect round-up: Kivenmaki 1+1 for Assat; Seider, Veleno make SHL debuts

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects were very busy in Europe today, but almost all of the Wings’ European-playing skaters had quiet Thursdays.

In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki registered a goal and an assist and a +1 in 21:28 played, and Kasper Kotkansalo played 20:46 as Assat Pori lost 3-2 in a shootout to Jukurit;

In the SHL, Albin Grewe had an assist and 5 shots in 10:55 played as Djurgardens IF lost 5-4 to Linkoping;

Moritz Seider had 2 shots on goal and played 16:22 in his debut for Rogle BK, which lost 2-1 to Brynas;

Joe Veleno had 1 shot on goal and finished at -1 in 17:55 played as Malmo lost 5-2 to HV71. Malte Setkov did not play for Malmo due to an injury;

Lucas Raymond had 2 shots and finished even in 15:23 played as the Frolunda Indians won 3-2 over the Vaxjo Lakers;

Matias Brome had an assist and 2 shots, finishing at +1 and winning 50% of his faceoffs in 24:31 played as Orebro lost 2-1 in a shootout to Lulea;

Jonatan Berggren took 1 shot and played 16:46 in Skelleftea AIK’s 1-0 win over Farjestads BK. Albert Johansson had 2 shots in 17:40 played for Farjestad.

Berggren scored a beautiful goal, but it was waved off:

Update: The Malmo Redhawks posted a 2-minute video of Joe Veleno’s post-game remarks (not embeddable), as well as a teaser Tweet:

TV: @jveleno91 efter sin debut i Redhawkströjan
? “Vi fick inte det resultatet vi ville ha, men under stora stunder spelade vi väldigt bra i fem mot fem”

? https://t.co/ynli6wc7eT#HjärtaKvalitetStolthet #HV71MIF pic.twitter.com/Ji89NdRw8n— Malmö Redhawks (@Malmo_Redhawks) October 15, 2020

Red Wings post Kyle Aucoin’s Zoom call

The Red Wings must be holding interviews with the later-drafted prospects today. The latest Zoom call comes from defenseman Kyle Aucoin:

Video: Kyle Aucoin, who as a kid used to play against fellow 2020 Red Wings draft pick Kienan Draper: “He texted me after and was, ‘we’re finally on the same side.’ So that’s cool.” https://t.co/iQbNK6Tai3— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) October 15, 2020

Kulfan talks ‘winners,’ ‘average’ and ‘ugly’ free agency teams

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan graded each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams based upon their work during free agency thus far, with Kulfan deeming the Red Wings to be a “winner” so far:

Detroit Red Wings: Look, the Red Wings aren’t going to make the playoffs, win the Stanley Cup, but they will be more competitive. After last season’s debacle, that’ll be a step forward. In trading for defenseman Marc Staal, and signing goalie Thomas Greiss, forwards Bobby Ryan and Vladislav Namestnikov, and defensemen Troy Stecher and Jon Merrill (Grand Blanc/Michigan), GM Steve Yzerman made no long-term, big-money commitments but added leadership and improved the roster.

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