Of Red Wings-related note this evening:
1. According to Beckett’s Ryan Cracknell, four five Red Wings will be featured in Upper Deck’s 2018-19 Series One hockey set, with Filip Hronek (#214), Michael Rasmussen (#226), Libor Sulak (#227), Dennis Cholowski (#231) and Christoffer Ehn (#234) making their cardboard debuts as short-printed Young Guns;
2. Among the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan’s off-day Wings reflections:
This is not a good day or good time to post this article…
But the Guardian’s Tom Perkins wrote a thorough article discussing the fact that development around Little Caesars Arena has either stalled or has resulted in the establishment of parking lots instead of thriving retail-and-or-residential neighborhoods in the “District Detroit,” and that’s a problem:
Along the streets leading to Detroit’s recently minted Little Caesars Arena, colorful banners hang from temporary fencing, informing visitors they have arrived in the District Detroit. The neighborhood holds “a dynamic mix of shopping and dining” with “places to live in the heart of the action”, the signage reads. The banners depict a thriving urban core with smiling families holding hands while well-dressed people drink under patio lights.
Beyond the fencing, the landscape isn’t quite so lively. There are few places to live in the District, and little to eat. Vacant, decaying buildings make up entire city blocks. There are almost no lights, save for those illuminating surface lots and parking garages.
The arena, the Red Wings ice hockey team that plays there, and almost all the blighted property in the District share the same owner: Detroit’s billionaire Ilitch family. Their company hung the banners, but there’s growing frustration among many Detroiters over the discrepancy between the Ilitches’ imaginative marketing and the neighborhood’s stark reality.
Just down the street from LCA, Sean Swierkosz, general manager of the longstanding sports bar Harry’s, watched the Ilitches make progress, “but then it stalled”, he said. “I feel like I’m looking over the fence at my neighbor’s yard at his half-finished project or garage.”
Continued, and I truly and sincerely hope that in 5-10 years, the District Detroit will look like those thriving neighborhoods we were promised as part of $200 million in development to take place around the arena. I understand that that kind of investment takes time and takes effort, and I don’t fault the Ilitches for putting up parking lots in the interim…
But it doesn’t look good, and should the promises Olympia Entertainment made to secure public funding for the arena go unfulfilled, they need to be held accountable for inaction.
This isn’t Red Wings-related per se, but The Athletic’s Sara Civian penned an excellent article about the relationship between Red Wings forward Evgeny Svechnikov and his more-heralded brother, Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov:
Since Evgeny was 3 and a half years old and his little brother was born, they’d always had each other. And since as long as they can remember, they’ve held onto the idea of someday playing together in the National Hockey League.
No one in Andrei Svechnikov’s camp is surprised that the versatile No. 2 overall pick scored his first goal in his third NHL game. No one’s even surprised that it was the first stolen lead in an 8-5 thriller, or that Andrei had logged a handful of assists before he did the damn thing.
“I had no doubt,” Evgeny said. “I had no doubt he was gonna do it.”
As fast as this league moves, as bonkers as the rest of the Hurricanes’ Sunday win was, the Svechnikovs aren’t letting this particular goal go uncelly’d.
“I’ve waited for this my whole life,” Andrei said, sweat still dripping. “It’s my dream. My dream came true.”
“It’s huge,” Evgeny said of both the goal and their relationship. “It’s everything.”
As WOOD TV8 notes, the news that Little Caesars Arena will be replacing its red seats with black ones isn’t all bad news:
A Grand Rapids company will be replacing over 18,000 seats in the home of the Detroit Pistons and Red Wings.
Little Caesars Arena announced Monday that it will begin swapping out its 18,600 red seats with black ones in December.
Crain’s Detroit reported Tuesday that Irwin Seating Co. will be the company doing the job. Irwin also installed the original red seating.
The venue began using black seat covers last season after the empty red seats drew attention on telecasts. Covers will remain on the seats until the changeover process begins.
Of Twitter-related note this morning:
Join former @DetroitRedWings Defenseman @jason15woolley & friends for a night of support for the Dyer Family! Lineup to be announced soon! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/cx6SmdXGYa
— DetroitRedWingAlumni (@RedWingAlumni) October 9, 2018
Student & Military rush is ON for Thursday Night’s battle with the Toronto Maple Leafs at Little Caesars Arena! Grab your seats now! ? #LGRW
Student: https://t.co/fsz6bBNzJu
Military: https://t.co/LqOPMm3aLd pic.twitter.com/R3BCfIAvea— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 9, 2018
Inside Hockeytown tonight 9 til 11. @patcaputo98 and @KenKalDRW Questions and opinions about start of Red Wings and NHL season. Free pair of tickets, too. https://t.co/er1CG7OsN4
— 97.1 The Ticket (@971theticketxyt) October 9, 2018
Of prospect-related note from the time in which I was sidelined:
On Saturday, in the AHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins were shut out 4-0 by the San Antonio Rampage. The Griffins’ website posted a recap and photo gallery from the game; the Rampage’s website posted a recap.
In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye beat the Kalmazoo K-Wings 8-5 in an exhibition game held at the Huntington Center. The Walleye’s website posted a recap, as did the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe; Toledo and Grand Rapids both open their regular seasons on Friday, October 12th. Continue reading Prospect round-up: Catching up with a busy weekend
Of Red Wings-related note this morning:
1. Fox Sports Detroit posted its inside-the-locker-room video from the 1st intermission of Monday night’s 3-2 shootout loss to Anaheim:
Three close games, three losses, lots of learning.
The Detroit Red Wings return home still in search of their first victory of the season, but while they stagnate in the standings their young players are enriched. Rookie defensemen Dennis Cholowski, Libor Sulak and Filip Hronek are playing big minutes to offset the absence of veterans. Rookie forward Michael Rasmussen made a nice pass to earn his first NHL point. Second-year forward Tyler Bertuzzi already has two goals. Rookie Christoffer Ehn looks like a solid grinder-type.
That’s what needs to be the focus as the Wings nurse an 0-1-2 record despite playing well in back-to-back games at Los Angeles and Anaheim.
“We know where we are at in terms of having a young team, and we are looking towards a number of these guys to be the future of the Detroit Red Wings,” coach Jeff Blashill said after Monday’s 3-2 shootout loss at Honda Center. “I think as they continue to show improvement, that’s a positive for the organization. In the meantime, we’re working like crazy to win games and there are areas where we can be a little bit better.”
The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night, and the Wings return home for a single game (vs. Toronto on Thursday) before heading back on the road for 4 games (@Boston, @Montreal, @Tampa Bay, @Florida) spanning the middle of the month.
We should know much more about the now 0-1-and-2 Red Wings come October 22nd (when the Wings host Carolina) than we do now, but initial impressions suggest that this young-by-necessity Red Wings team is fleet of foot, smart with the puck, but prone to the kinds of mistakes and “teachable moments” that result in goals against.
Detroit will get no sympathy from the Ducks, either, as Anaheim celebrated its 25th anniversary with 6 rookies to Detroit’s 6, as the Orange County Register’s Elliott Teaford noted:
Continue reading Red Wings-Ducks wrap-up: shootout loss leaves Wings winless during young season
The Detroit Red Wings attempted to earn their first win of the 2018-19 season in Anaheim, hoping to spoil the Ducks’ 25th anniversary home opener.
There were some positives and some negatives to the Red Wings’ 3-2 shootout loss to Anaheim. The positives included Jimmy Howard’s 25-save effort–Howard made a couple of highlight-reel stops–the play of Tyler Bertuzzi (goal), Michael Rasmussen (assist) and most of the Wings’ defense (especially Libor Sulak and Dennis Cholowski)…
But the negatives included mistake-making by that same young defense, inattention to detail by the “kids” up front (the Mantha-Larkin-Nyquist line had a significant number of “almosts” because they didn’t bear down, and they weren’t alone), and some general sloppiness when playing special teams hockey (Detroit went 0-for-2 on the PP and stopped 3 Ducks PK’s), combined with a loss of energy level as the 3rd period ticked on down, was enough for Anaheim to get back into things with a 3rd period GTG (game-tying goal) and then nurse the game toward overtime.
Blashill made another bizarre challenge on a goal against as well (Silfverberg’s game-tying marker), and that timeout could have come in handy late in regulation.
So the Wings head home 0-1-and-2 ahead of a home game against Toronto before a road trip spanning a week-and-a-half and road games against Boston, Montreal, Tampa Bay and Florida.
Continue reading Red Wings-Ducks quick take: Wings flag late, quack up a shootout loss
From Crain’s Detroit Business’s Bill Shea:
Little Caesars Arena’s red seats to be swapped for black
The red seats at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena will be swapped for black seats over several months beginning in December.
All of the red seats at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena — which show up starkly on TV when they’re not filled during games — will be swapped for black seats over several months beginning in December, the venue’s operator said Monday evening.The announcement comes 13 months after the building opened and its two primary tenants, the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons, were the subject of commentary about the unfilled bright red seats during games.
Seats in the entire lower bowl will be covered with temporary black fabric covers for all events during the replacement process, something that was done earlier this year during the 2017-18 Detroit Pistons season.
Olympia Entertainment, which manages the building, said in a statement that games and events won’t be affected because the seat replacement will be done in phases when there are no events at the arena.
“We evaluated every aspect of arena operations during the inaugural year, and after numerous discussions with the Pistons and other stakeholders, we have made the decision to install black seats at Little Caesars Arena,” said Chris Granger, group president for sports and entertainment at Ilitch Holdings Inc., in a statement. Ilitch Holdings is the umbrella company for the entities that built and operate the arena.
The original seat installation was a $3.5 million project contracted with Grand Rapids-based Irwin Seating Co., one of the country’s major manufacturers of stadium, arena and theater seating. The contract was for 18,600 seats.
Irwin will do the replacement job, Olympia confirmed to Crain’s. It wasn’t immediately clear what will happen with the current seats.
