Via Kukla’s Korner on Twitter comes sad news out regarding a Red Wings alumnus:
Tragic. Always enjoyed his game.
Greg was Canucks sr. director of development Ryan Johnson’s brother. https://t.co/bAQdECG5YC— Patrick Johnston (@risingaction) July 9, 2019
Former National Hockey League player and Thunder Bay native Greg Johnson, 48, passed away on Monday in Detroit, according to friends close to the family.— cjsports_tb (@cjsports_tb) July 9, 2019
The Red Wings posted a video of Dylan Larkin playing rather rough with NHL Playmobil figures in order to announce that the single-game tickets for the 2019-2020 season will go on a pre-sale on Wednesday, July 17th. The Wings are asking fans who are interested to sign up at http://detroitredwings.com/presalelist
That suggests that the Wings will place their tickets on sale on either Friday the 19th, Saturday the 20th, or Monday the 22nd.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski posted an Insider-only list of free agency grades for each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams. Here’s what they had to say about the Red Wings:
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Detroit won’t be rebuilt in a summer, according to Steve Yzerman’s first moves at the helm of the Red Wings. Patrik Nemeth is a nice addition to the blue line at two years and $3 million AAV. Valtteri Filppula‘s return to Detroit for two years is the kind of move for which Ken Holland would have been demolished, but for which Yzerman gets a “because he’s Steve Yzerman” pass.
Next summer is when he’ll really be able to put a stamp on the roster. — Wyshynski
Continued (paywall), and I was surprised with the amount of flak Yzerman got for drafting Moritz Seider and then signing Filppula. The Yzerplan may be popular, but Yzerman himself isn’t bulletproof by any means necessary, and the Red Wings’ fan base is still…itchy and twitchy.
Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff penned an article for DetroitRedWings.com, and the article focuses on two very small forwards in Otto Kivenmaki and Ethan Phillips. I feel that the final couple of paragraphs are the most important ones, however:
WORLD JUNIOR SUMMER SHOWCASE IN METRO DETROIT: The future of the Wings will be well represented when the World Junior Summer Showcase comes to USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth from July 26-Aug. 4.
The top prospects for this season’s world junior championship will be on the ice in the four-team tournament that includes Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United States.
Kivenmaki will play for Finland. Goalie Jesper Eliasson (84th, 2018) and forward Jonatan Berggren (33rd, 2018) are part of the Swedish team. Forward Joe Veleno (30th, 2018) and defenseman Jared McIsaac (36th, 2018) are on the Canadian roster, although shoulder surgery will keep McIsaac out of the tournament.
Defenseman Alec Regula (67th, 2018) and forward Robert Mastrosimone (54th, 2019) are on the USA roster. Mastrosimone suffered a broken ankle at the Wings’ development camp, so he’ll also be out of action.
Michigan State goalie Drew DeRidder, who attended the Wings development camp as a free agent, is also part of the USA team.
Continued, and my summer vacation to Grand Marais, MI is up in the air, so I may very well be in Plymouth for the last week in July/first week of August.
From WXYZ:
The Detroit Red Wings will once again travel throughout the state of Michigan starting in July to take over the parking lots of Meijer locations to host free street hockey clinics for children ages 7-12.
New to this year’s program, the first stop of the Street Hockey Summer Tour will be hosted at Little Caesars Arena in The District Detroit. On Tuesday, July 9, the event will take place in the Chevrolet Plaza, adjacent to the Meijer Southwest entry. The tour is open to children of all skill levels and hockey experience. The first hour of each session will feature a clinic, followed by a 30-minute pick-up street hockey game. The clinics will be instructed by Red Wings representatives and local hockey players and coaches.
Each stop on the tour will feature two sessions, one each for children ages 7-9 and 10-12. The younger age group will start at 10:00 a.m. at each stop of the tour, while the older group will begin at 1:00 p.m. each day. Parents or guardians must register their children online in advance of each tour stop at https://www.nhl.com/redwings/community/youth-hockey/street-hockey-summer-tour
Valtteri Filppula conducted a fair amount of interviews recently, but the spate of Finnish-language discussion has more to do with Filppula’s participation in the annual, NHL-alumni-laden Bermuda tennis tournament in Helsinki than anything else.
What I’m assuming to be the last of Filppula’s tour of the Finnish hockey press comes from MTV.fi, where Filppula spoke in video (regrettably unavailable outside of Finland) and text form. What follows is roughly translated:
Valtteri Filppula returns home and is thinking about life after hockey–“I hope I will remain healthy for at least two years”
Valtteri Filppula talked about his participation in the Bermuda tournament on Saturday.
Valtteri Filppula left the Detroit Red Wings in 2013 after six seasons. After winning a Stanley Cup there, the two-way forward played in Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and for the New York Islanders before returning to the Motor City for the upcoming season.
Filppula said that he was particularly pleased with the two-year contract.
“It’s a familiar place and there are still some familiar players left there. It’s nice to see that it went smoothly,” said Filppula to MTV Sports in the suburb of Helsinki on Saturday.
Filppula admits that the return of Steve Yzerman to Detroit was important for the Finn’s decision. Yzerman has been the GM of Tampa Bay since 2010.
“That was one thing. Otherwise, it was an old and familiar team. And the two-year contract was a big part of the decision.”
The Finn has not yet had more detailed discussions about his role in Detroit.
“I’m playing in the middle. It’s really the only thing that we’ve talked about,” Filppula laughs.
“In the early stages, your role can go different ways, but the smooth playing of the games will ultimately determine how big it will be.”
After the two-year contract, Filppula can’t say what will happen.
“It was nice to get a deal. I’ve played hockey for so long that I started to think I couldn’t do it any more. Hopefully for two more years I’ll stay healthy, and after that I’ll reconsider,” Filppula said.
NHL.com’s Dave Hogg penned an article about Moritz Seider, and Hogg’s article discusses Seider’s possible playing destinations for the 2019-2020 campaign:
Seider impressed more than Yzerman and Detroit’s scouting staff with his World Championship performance. In one of his games, he played against the United States, coached by Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill and featuring Detroit’s top scorer Dylan Larkin at center.
“I’m really happy we got Moritz, because he really showed me some good things when we played them,” Larkin said. “He was facing NHL players and he didn’t seem at all out of place.”
The rookie didn’t disappoint in development camp, either.
“He can skate, he’s poised and he’s got good skills,” said Red Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff. “He was really impressive.”
He’ll head back to Germany for summer training, then return for rookie camp, training camp and the decision of where he’ll spend 2019-20. The Red Wings have a logjam on the blue line, with youngsters Dennis Cholowski (21-years-old), Filip Hronek (21) and Jared McIsaac (19) already in the mix.
“That’s a tough question, and we will have to have some meetings,” Seider said. “Maybe the AHL with Grand Rapids, or maybe the CHL. But why not Mannheim? It’s one of the best organizations in Europe.”
Continued, and for one more season, at least, I expect Seider to return to Mannheim. Unless the Red Wings expect Seider to make the jump to North America post haste, he’s probably best-served playing pro hockey in Europe, where the literal and figurative (i.e. travel) bumps and grinding aren’t as heavy.
Former Red Wings forward Slava Kozlov played for 9 more years after the Red Wings traded him to Buffalo for Dominik Hasek in 2001. As it turns out, Kozlov settled in Atlanta, where he played for the Thrashers.
He slowly but surely migrated back home, buying a house in Spain and eventually heading home to Moscow, where he’s an assistant coach for his final professional hockey-playing stop, Spartak Moscow of the KHL.
Realitor.com’s Nicole Slaughter Graham reports that Kozlov is finally selling his home in the Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead, and it’s opulent to say the least:
Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood is sought after for golf and luxury living—making it a hot spot for the rich and famous.
Russian hockey legend Slava Kozlov made his home in Buckhead during his eight-year stint with the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers, but now he’s ready to skate away. The winger has put his brick mansion on the market for $3.8 million.
The 6,500-square-foot estate is over the top and ornate down to the very last detail. The front entrance sets a lavish tone, and the exterior is completely covered in gorgeous brick. The rounded entryway with brick columns makes for a regal entrance into a home that’s just as fancy.
I spotted this video on Facebook via my email alerts, and the Red Wings just re-posted it on Twitter:
???@Dylanlarkin39‘s family with some PRICELESS stories! pic.twitter.com/BfAfRue6kb— NHL (@NHL) July 8, 2019
The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a 3-part development camp notebook on Monday afternoon, discussing prospects Antti Tuomisto, Chase Pearson and Elmer Soderblom. Here’s what Chase Pearson, whose father, Scott, played as an enforcer, had to say about his game:
The Wings were eager to select Tuomisto with the first of their second-round picks (35th overall).
“I’ve liked this kid all year, for sure,” said Tyler Wright, the Wings’ director of amateur scouting. “We talk at length, and you watch the playoffs and see the size of these guys with St. Louis and Boston, it doesn’t mean they’re big and just big.
“I wouldn’t be here without him,” Pearson said at the Wings’ development camp. “The countless hours before and after school, I’d practice all that extra time with him and he didn’t have do that. But to have him out there, he knows what it takes to get to the next level and he’s been through it all.”
Pearson, 21, said his father advised him to stay in school for several years and resist jumping to the pros too early.
“Take your time,” said Pearson, of his dad’s thinking. “Guys rush in sometimes and kind of get sifted out of the development pipeline. Me, having those extra years, was real good for my development.”
Pearson had 78 points (37 goals, 41 assists) in 107 games at Maine, serving as the team’s captain both his sophomore and junior seasons.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound center will play in Grand Rapids this season, projected to be a shut-down type of forward.
“For me, if I’m going to make the NHL, it’s going to be as a shutdown, defensive forward with some offensive upside,” Pearson said. “I just have to compete and make sure I’m not taking any crap out there on the ice. If I win my battles in front of the net, that’s going to be my MO at the next level.”
“This is a guy that’s 6-4, plays with a real bite to his game, but he’s a good player. He’s got good sense, he can find the middle of the ice.
“We really liked him. That’s what we stepped up and took him. He was a guy that we targeted for a while at 35 and he happened to be there. We were ecstatic to leave with him.”
