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The Free Press’s Jeff Seidel reports that Dylan Larkin stole the show at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, for all the right reasons:

Red Wings center Dylan Larkin was walking down the same fairway toward his ball during the AREA 313 Celebrity Challenge, part of lead-up to the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the first PGA Tour event in Detroit. And up ahead, Kid Rock was in the middle of the fairway, smoking a cigar, wearing some white “Made in Detroit” shorts.

It was a cluster of celebrities, all heading toward the same green, and one voice stood out.

“D-Boss!” Michael Banaszewski screamed at Larkin. “D-Boss!”

Larkin stopped and looked at Michael, a 14-year-old from Grosse Pointe, who has Down syndrome and is fighting cancer.

Larkin left the celebrities and walked toward the edge of the fairway. Larkin waved for Michael to duck under the rope and walk onto the course, and it turned into a moment that could have melted an entire sheet of ice.

They talked and posed for pictures. There were high-fives and hugs, and Jimmy Howard came over and he gave Michael a signed ball. Michael loves the Red Wings. He decorated his room at Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital with Wings memorabilia, and his face lit up talking to Larkin.

If ever there was a moment that captured what sports means in Detroit, what these sports heroes mean to this city and the impact they can have, not to mention what it means to bring the PGA Tour to Detroit, it happened on that fairway. The moment Michael met Larkin.

Continued

A big hug from our biggest Red Wing fan! Thank you @RocketClassic for an amazing day and allowing myself and fans like Michael to make life long memories! https://t.co/soqaALcLiy— Dylan Larkin (@Dylanlarkin39) June 26, 2019

The Red Wings did not issue qualifying offers to Martin Frk, Dylan Sadowy, Axel Holmstrom or Libor Sulak on Tuesday, allowing the quartet to qualify for unrestricted free agency.

For players like Frk and Sadowy, success and consistency were hard to find at the NHL level, but Frk was a prolific AHL scorer, and Sadowy found a home with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye.

Fresh off a run to the ECHL’s championship round (Toledo lost to the Newfoundland Growlers), the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe and Walleye coach Dan Watson wished Sadowy well:

Sadowy, a 23-year-old from Woodbridge, Ont., played in parts of the last three seasons for the Walleye.

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound forward averaged more than a point per game for Toledo this season with 46 points (23 goals and 23 assists) in 43 games. He then played in 24 playoff games and was part of the deepest postseason run in the team’s 10-year history. Sadowy had 17 points with seven goals and 10 assists as the Walleye reached the Kelly Cup finals for the first time.

Sadowy appeared in 88 regular-season games in Toledo and tallied 79 points (36 G, 43 A). He also played in 33 playoff games and had 21 points (10 G, 11 A).

Sadowy (pronounced SAD-oh-way) was selected in the third round of the 2014 NHL draft by San Jose. The Red Wings then traded for Sadowy in May, 2016, in exchange for a future third-round draft pick.

Walleye coach Dan Watson said Sadowy’s goal should be to earn a contract with an American Hockey League team.

“Hopefully he’s ready to make the next step. I hope another organization sees it and he runs with it,” Watson said. “The offense will be there. It’s just other details in his game. He has gotten much better. With his production at this level, I would love to see him become a full-time AHL player.”

Monroe continues, and while it’s disappointing that Sadowy didn’t make the NHL during his time with the Red Wings, there is no shame in becoming a successful minor league player, and I always wish the prospects who don’t make the Red Wings well in their future endeavors. They’re still people worth rooting for.

On Tuesday night, Dylan Larkin and Jimmy Howard took part in the Pro-Am which kicked off the Rocket Mortgage golf Classic at the Detroit Country Club.

Here’s what Howard had to say about the Wings’ drafting and front office changes while speaking with MLive’s Jared Purcell:

Larkin was at the Detroit Country Club on Tuesday afternoon for the AREA 313 Celebrity Challenge with teammates Jimmy Howard and Justin Abdelkader. Howard was at his lake house in Maine during the draft and said he hasn’t evaluated any of the picks the Red Wings have made yet. Still, he has confidence in the organization’s abilities despite the shock that the Seider pick created.

“Those guys, they do their homework so well,” Howard said. “They know every player in and out. Maybe for them, the family and the kid, it was of a surprise. But going into it, they obviously had him penciled pretty high and I welcome him to the organization. It’s going to be great to see.”

Howard is also excited that Steve Yzerman has returned to the organization.

“I was able to play a couple of games with Stevie my rookie year,” Howard said. “Now, to have him back here and being the boss, it’s neat and it’s great for the city. I think it’s great for our organization as a whole.”

Purcell continues, and he posted clips of various celebrity Pro-Am participants taking swings. FORE your consideration:

Continue reading Larkin, Howard literally ‘tee off,’ talk hockey at the Rocket Mortgage Classic Pro-Am

The Detroit News posted a staff/wire report in which former Red Wings Vaclav Nedomansky and Jim Rutherford reflected upon their naming to the Hockey Hall of Fame’s 2019 induction class:

Nedomansky helped Czechoslovakia earn the 1968 Olympic silver medal and the 1972 world championship. 

He was the first player to defect from the other side of the Iron Curtain, started in the World Hockey Association and went on to record 278 points in 421 NHL games with the Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Rangers.

“When I made the decision in ‘74 to finish my dream, I jumped right into it and I’m so happy I did that,” Nedomansky said.

Rutherford, a longtime general manager of Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins, built teams that won the Cup in 2006, 2016 and 2017 and will be inducted in the builders’ category.

He is one of two GMs in NHL history to win the Cup with two different teams. Rutherford, who played 10 years in Detroit with a 97-165-43 record and a 3.69 GAA in 314 games, recalled going to the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Toronto as a kid and how surreal it is to become a part of it.

“It was day where I thought, ‘Man, this is really special,’” Rutherford said. “Now here I am.”

Continued

After all the radio silence over the past couple of months, I still feel guilty when I’m out of touch for a while. It took over an hour to get home from Little Caesars Arena as South Lyon is a bit of a haul, and if you are interested, there’s more Wings news available this evening:

1. Among the Red Wings YouTube channel’s offerings is this clip of director of player development Shawn Horcoff addressing first-day topics:

2. Also in the multimedia department, the Detroit News’s hard-working sports photographer, David Guralnick, posted a 78(!)-image gallery from the first day of development camp [edit: and Michigan Hockey’s Michael Caples posted a photo gallery, too /end edit];

3. The Detroit New’s Ted Kulfan took note of comments made by both Joe Veleno and Horcoff regarding the challenges Veleno faces as he “turns pro”:

Continue reading Evening news: ‘Horc’s’ comments; on Joe Veleno turning pro, Moritz Seider’s first day and Jonatan Berggren’s back

The Hockey News’s Ken Campbell reports that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, bade farewell to long-time scout Glenn Merkosky in a puzzling manner.

In one of his first acts as Detroit Red Wings GM, Steve Yzerman fired longtime pro scout Glenn Merkosky, who was with the Wings for two Stanley Cups, and replaced him with Chris Yzerman, Steve’s brother who had been scouting for him with the Lightning. Discuss amongst yourselves.— Ken Campbell (@THNKenCampbell) June 25, 2019

I don’t think that the move was completely self-serving, but it is certainly curious.

Expect the Red Wings to make more front office moves (the team has already added Pat Verbeek as an assistant GM) as executives and scouts’ contracts expire on July 1st. Yzerman is not going to make wholesale changes for the sake of change, but there will be front office moves.

FYI: For what it’s worth, Chris Yzerman has always stayed in the Ottawa area, so he’s probably going to serve as the Ottawa/Quebec area scout…

And I have some skin in the game as Merkosky follows me on Twitter, and is a very nice man. I have to believe that given all that he’s done for the team over his years as an amateur scout, he was not let loose out of spite.

The Oakland Press’s Pat Caputo feels that center Joe Veleno may be something of a “forgotten man” among the Red Wings’ prospect corps. Caputo suggests that Veleno is in fact integral to the Red Wings imminent future:

Defense is an obvious need for the Red Wings, but so is center. Dylan Larkin is a No.1 center. That’s obvious. But who is the No.2 in the future?

And most legitimate Stanley Cup contenders essentially feature a 1 and 1-A at center. Strength down the middle is every bit as vital as defense.

The classic examples: The Red Wings most recent Stanley Cup title teams with Yzerman and Sergei Federov, followed by Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

The Red Wings opened their annual developmental camp Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena. Going through a litany of drills with other prospects, it’s clear Veleno is far more advanced most of the others.

He was supposed to be selected the middle of the first round in 2018, but dropped to 30th where the Red Wings grabbed him with a selection they acquired by trading Tomas Tatar to Las Vegas.

The choice did not have the hype of flashy winger Filip Zadina dropping to the Red Wings at sixth overall in the same draft. Veleno hasn’t seen extensive time in the NHL like recent other recent Red Wings’ first-rounders Zadina, Michael Rasmussen and Dennis Cholowski.

But he is just as important to the Red Wings’ future given the lack of potential high-end centers in their prospect pipe line.

Caputo continues…

Both the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and the Free Press’s Helene St. James posted articles regarding the comments made by Wings first round draft pick Moritz Seider today.

As Kulfan noted, Seider received a welcome-to-the-Wings call from Dylan Larkin this past weekend…

“It was so much fun at the draft, now it’s kind of calm,” Seider said after his first workout at LCA. “It’s getting better. It’s fun to be here. It was pretty cool to spend another day with my family (back in Vancouver) and now come to Detroit. It was such a nice welcome here. Everyone is excited, so me too.”

Seider enjoyed walking into LCA.

“Amazing,” Seider said of his emotions. “When you walk into the building, it’s all brand new. It’s been real exciting so far.”

Seider expects discussions with the Wings’ front office at some point, regarding whether he’ll remain in Germany next season, or begin his pro career in North America. Seider received an unexpected phone call upon being drafted Friday.

“Dylan Larkin called,” Seider said of the Wings’ young star. “I was so excited, I didn’t know what to say. It was just real cool.”

And the Free Press’s St. James asked Seider whether he’ll play in North America this fall–a decision that has yet to be made:

Seider can use this week to get a feel for what it is like to play on the smaller ice sheet used in North America. The Wings can use the week to teach about him about nutrition and get him immersed in how they want players to work out. 

Seider will be back for training camp in September. He could end up returning to Germany, he could play in Grand Rapids – or he could be on the opening night roster.

“I can’t answer that right now,” Seider said. “We have to sit down for a couple meetings and figure out what is best for yourself, where you can play the most. I don’t know yet.”

Shawn Horcoff, the team’s director of player development, called Seider “a big kid who can skate well. Especially for a guy like that, that hasn’t really skated in a month, coming off the draft, it’s a tough stretch. He had a good day today.”

Red Wings prospect Joe Veleno spoke with the media after taking part in the first day of the Red Wings’ summer development camp today, and Veleno discussed the challenges involved in “turning pro” this year, regardless of whether he plays for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, the Red Wings, or both teams. 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burtchfield took note of Veleno’s comments:

“It’s one of the biggest challenges coming from juniors, managing how to create time and space on the ice for yourself and how to make plays at a higher pace,” he said. “That’s one thing I’m definitely going to have to work on this summer and get used to for next year. … Guys are bigger, stronger, quicker, so you have to be ready for that.” 

In all likelihood, Veleno will start the season with Grand Rapids in the AHL. It will allow him to adjust to the pro game away from the pressures of the NHL. If he acquits himself well, he could be summoned to Detroit. 

He acknowledged Tuesday that he has some growing to do on the defensive side of the puck, a process he began in earnest last season. He said he started to play more of a 200-foot game and clean up “the little things that are going to translate well in the pros.”

Veleno held up well in training camp last year, then tallied a couple assists in three preseason games. His speed and vision appeared to play at the next level. As he enters a legitimate tryout this year, that experience should help. 

“It gave me a lot of confidence. I saw that I was able to play with some of the older guys who had already turned pro and I was able to keep up with them,” Veleno said. “Already then it gave me an idea of where I’m at and how I can prepare myself for next year.”

Continued

After the second session of the day at the Red Wings’ summer development camp, director of player development Shawn Horcoff spoke with the media.

Horcoff didn’t know whether Filip Zadina (hamstring, probably out for the week) or Taro Hirose (day-to-day injury) were going to take part in the on-ice activities after missing Monday’s session, but he did address the Wings’ decision to draft Moritz Seider and Antti Tuomisto in the first and second rounds of the 2019 draft, he emphasized the concept that the summer development camp is not an evaluation camp, but instead, an instruction camp, and Horcoff weighed in regarding several of the Wings’ prospects over the course of a 5-and-a-half-minute interview:

Once Horcoff was through, the media corps spoke with a trio of “quiet guys.”

Antti Tuomisto, the Red Wings’ 35th overall pick, spoke softly about his strengths as an offensive defenseman, his friendship with fellow Assat Pori forward Otto Kivenmaki and Red Wings signee Oliwer Kaski, and Tuomisto shared that he’s headed to college after one more year with Assat, suggesting that an NCAA playing experience combined with an NCAA education were too good to pass up:

Otto Kivenmaki then spoke with the media, stating that he’d gained nearly 20 pounds, and that he was up to about 155 from a draft weight somewhere in the 130’s. Kivenmaki is 5’8″ and listed at 154 pounds, and the 2018 draft pick spoke of the challenges and advantages available to “small forwards” like himself:

Finally, 2019 draft pick and defenseman Gustav Berglund spoke with the media, discussing his admiration for the Red Wings of the 2008 Cup era, his appreciation of Nicklas Lidstrom and Erik Karlsson’s offensive prowess, and his belief that he needs to improve defensively after a point-per-game performance with the Frolunda Indians’ under-18 team:

In video form, from the Red Wings:

Continue reading Audio from the first day of the Red Wings’ summer development camp: Horcoff, Tuomisto, Kivenmaki and Berglund; also an update on Zadina and Hirose’s injuries