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HSJ on Mantha and the Wings’ great expectations for #39

As the Free Press’s Helene St. James notes, the Red Wings are planning on asking Anthony Mantha to work with a boxing coach this summer to push his competitive limits.  St. James notes that the Red Wings’ expectations for Mantha match the player’s desire to meet them:

Mantha had a team-leading 24 goals. There are those in the organization, including Chris Chelios, who see Mantha developing into a 40-goal scorer. Mantha himself wants to be a go-to guy, and this season has seen his relationship with Blashill develop. One key date was Jan. 22 in New Jersey, when the two had a heart-to-heart that led to a show-and-tell video.

 “We took the 10 best shifts of my season and the 10 worst and we compared those,” Mantha said. “There is a big difference when I am actually competing or when I am not. That’s a learning thing I did this year.
“We talked about it again this morning. He knows I could be an impact player on this team and that’s his goal — he wants me to be like the best player, a superstar. He really wants me to focus on a couple details and sometimes the way he thinks he needs to reach out is by calling me out.”
Blashill coached Mantha his first year of pro hockey, in 2014-15, in Grand Rapids.
“My job is to get the very most out of each individual player that I can,” Blashill said. “Part of that job is to figure out the right buttons to push. And sometimes those buttons change. I’ve had Anthony a long time. It’s not like this is just a new growth process. Those buttons can change as people mature.
“One of the biggest thing in getting the best out of people is finding ways to connect with them. If the player gets to a realization where they understand what you are trying to do it get the very best out of them, that you’re not picking on them, when they understand that, there can be real growth.”
St. James continues, and in the FYI department:

Khan: Mike Green, veteran back-up likely to complement Wings’ youth movement

MLive’s Ansar Khan penned a locker room clean-out day article which focuses on the comments made by Ken Holland, Jeff Blashill and Henrik Zetterberg regarding the Wings’ official rebuild…

But Khan also lets some hints drop regarding the Wings’ offseason player personnel plans:

The Red Wings aren’t likely to be too active in a free-agent market that’s becoming increasingly thin. They would like to re-sign defenseman Mike Green, preferably for two years. He’s coming off neck surgery and will be ready for the start of training camp. They need to sign a goaltender to either back-up Jimmy Howard or compete for the starting job. Carter Hutton of St. Louis is on their radar.

No player on the current roster was acquired through trade, but Holland said he’d “love to do a value for value deal.”

Also, regarding the youth movement:

Holland said 6-foot-6 center Michael Rasmussen, their 2017 top pick who is dominating in the WHL playoffs for Tri-City (nine goals, 19 points in six games), has a chance to make the team next season. Evgeny Svechnikov, their 2015 top pick, also will be competing for a spot.

They are not as deep on defense, on their roster and in the system. They hope one of Joe Hicketts or Filip Hronek makes the jump from AHL Grand Rapids to the NHL at the start of the season.

“I’m hoping and expecting that minimum of two, maybe four or five kids between the ages of 19 and 22 are on the roster next year that weren’t on the team to start this year,” Holland said. “I want to get those young people onto this roster when I think that they can help us be competitive.”

Khan continues at length…

Griffins’ ‘Between the Benches’ video series returns

The Grand Rapids Griffins’ “Between the Benches” video series returns as the 2017-18 campaign winds down, with the first episode discussing the Griffins’ playoff push over the course of 8 behind-the-scenes minutes:

 

Kulfan: Kronwall expects to return

There weren’t many surprises (if any) from the Red Wings’ locker room clean-out day, but the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan noted a mild surprise in that Niklas Kronwall joined Henrik Zetterberg in suggesting that he’s highly likely to return:

“I don’t think it’ll be any different than it was last year, (which is) trying to train as hard as I can and be ready to go come training camp,” said Kronwall, who has chronic knee pain. “From my own standpoint and body-wise, as of right now, yes (he is returning).”

Heading into this summer, Kronwall feels better than he has the last two years.

“At this point of time, definitely,” Kronwall said. “The last two years I wasn’t really sure what’s going to come out of the training. I do feel if I just stick with the program (this summer) and do what gave me the chance to play this year, I’ll be just fine. Hopefully tweaking the program regimen a little bit make it even better.”

Last summer, Kronwall limited his weightlifting to one day per week, and it proved to be “less pounding on the joints,” he said. Kronwall has switched to more alternative workouts, such as swimming, “and stuff like that gave me the opportunity to play this year, and I’m hoping will do the same thing next year”.

Kronwall also is embracing the chance to be a veteran presence for the expected transfusion of young defensemen onto the roster next season.

Kulfan continues…

Michigan Radio posts interview with director and producer of Russian Five film

Michigan Radio’s Stateside program posted a 15-minute interview with the director and producer of the Russian Five film:

The Russian Five is the first feature-length documentary from Port Huron’s Joshua Riehl. It’s getting its world premiere this Wednesday night at a sold-out event in Detroit.

Director Joshua Riehl and producer Jenny Feterovich joined Stateside to discuss the stories and stylistic decisions behind the film, the risk the Russian players took in immigrating to the United States, and the effect the newcomers had on the Red Wings, the NHL, and the city of Detroit.

You can listen to the interview here…

Articles from Locker Room Clean-Out Day: On Blashill’s return, Holland’s remarks and more

Updated 4x at 5:30 PM: Okay, thus far I’ve posted Tweets, videos and full pressers from the Red Wings’ locker room clean-out day, and now some articles are hitting the wires from the Wings’ media corps.

97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burtchfield penned an article regarding coach Jeff Blashill’s return to fulfill the fourth and final season of his contract…

“I thought the team played hard to the finish. I’m hoping that two, three, four young players in our system make the team (next year). He did a good job with the young players in Grand Rapids when he was the coach there. This year you look at the impact of (Tyler) Bertuzzi and (Dylan) Larkin and the development and the importance they had on the team this year, they improved as players,” Holland said.

Bertuzzi, 23, grew into a reliable top-six forward as the season wore on, while Larkin, 21, set career highs in assists and points. 23-year-old Anthony Mantha also took significant strides, scoring 24 goals in his first full NHL season.

As a team the Red Wings took a step back in the standings, finishing fifth to last with 73 points, but they showed signs of progress in terms of dictating play. Moreover, Blashill’s coaching never seemed to wear on the players, who responded to him even when the going got tough.

“We lost nine in a row in March and the bottom fell out, but I felt even when we lost nine in a row, we lost a lot of games by a goal and we played hard,” said Holland. “I thought that the young kids that have been brought up improved. He played them, they were important, they got minutes. I think that with the experience of three years in the National Hockey League, (plus) he’s been a guy that’s had success along the way, there’s a reason for him to continue to be the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings.”

 

Burtchfield continues, and the Free Press’s Helene St. James picks up the narrative from there…

Continue reading Articles from Locker Room Clean-Out Day: On Blashill’s return, Holland’s remarks and more

Fox 2 posts full Ken Holland, Jeff Blashill pressers (over an hour of video)

Updated 2x at 4:49 PM: Fox 2 Detroit posted the full 43:48 of Ken Holland’s post-season presser and all of coach Jeff Blashill’s 21:26 post-season wrap-up:

Update: Here’s a 39:22 clip of comments from Zetterberg, Howard, Kronwall, Abdelkader, Larkin, Nielsen, Nyquist, Bertuzzi and Athanasiou:

Update #2: The Wings are posting their locker room clean-out day Twitter videos:

Continue reading Fox 2 posts full Ken Holland, Jeff Blashill pressers (over an hour of video)

A sampling of videos from Locker Room Clean-Out Day

Of video-related note from the Red Wings’ Locker Room Clean-Out Day:

Michigan Hockey posted videos of Jeff Blashill discussing his return as the Red Wings’ coach and GM Ken Holland addressing the improvement necessary by the team’s younger players before touching upon Dylan Larkin’s contract negotiations…

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a video of Blashill addressing his return and a video of Holland speaking about his head coach…

WXYZ posted a video regarding Blashill’s return…

 And on Twitter, from Fox 2 Detroit and WXYZ’s Brad Galli:

Continue reading A sampling of videos from Locker Room Clean-Out Day