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HSJ with a mid-day trade rumor update

The Free Press’s Helene St. James penned a mid-day SUnday column discussing the Red Wings’ trade deadline plans:

As the Detroit Red Wings headed on the road, front office personnel gathered at home to focus on the trade deadline.

The organization is rebuilding, and that hasn’t changed even as the Wings remain within striking distance of a playoff spot. General manager Ken Holland is looking for draft picks or prospects, and defenseman Mike Green is the team’s most likely candidate to be moved by Monday’s 3 p.m. closing bell. Tampa Bay and Washington are among teams who are interested in Green, a right-handed shot with a nose for offense.

Forward Tomas Tatar also has drawn interest, as has forward Luke Glendening. Neither of them are pending unrestricted free agents, though, and contenders tend to go for so-called rentals this time of year. The Wings are looking for a first-round pick or high-end prospect for Tatar, a consistent 20-goal scorer. They may opt to keep Glendening because he’s only a $1.8 million cap hit, he’s usually good for 8-10 goals, he’s fast and he’s a good penalty killer.

St. James continues…

Update: FYI:

 

Red Wings-Rangers no-morning-skate Tweets and articles: Spooner to play for Rangers tonight

Updated at 1:19 PM: The day after the Red Wings defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1, the Red Wings head to New York to play the winless-in-six New York Rangers (7:30 PM EST on FSD/MSG/NHL Network U.S./97.1 FM).

The game may start a little late because the Rangers are retiring Jean Ratelle’s #19 starting at 6 PM, and the game will definitely be one in which Rangers personnel are shuffled as Rick Nash’s trade to Boston won’t be the only trade the Rangers make before the deadline.

Ryan McDonagh (upper-body) won’t play, and the Rangers, who are only 1 point behind the Wings in the Eastern Conference standings, but are admittedly “rebuilding,” so they’re looking to clear the decks.

As for the Red Wings, Mike Green (neck) traveled with the team to New York, and it’s assumed that Jimmy Howard will start opposite Henrik Lundqvist, though we won’t know those details for sure until Blashill speaks with the media around 5 PM (back-to-back games = no Wings morning skate).

Ahead of the wildness surrounding the Rick Nash trade, NewYorkRangers.com’s Matt Calamia penned a game preview:

Continue reading Red Wings-Rangers no-morning-skate Tweets and articles: Spooner to play for Rangers tonight

Talking about Mike Green and the Wings’ future on defense

Two Mike Green-related items popped up this morning (again: the Free Press’s Helene St. James reported that Green [neck] accompanied the team to New York), with USA Today’s Kevin Allen naming Green one of the nine “most intriguing” players to watch going into the deadline…

Mike Green, Detroit Red Wings. Green is a right-handed shooting defenseman who can still help spark an offense and contribute on a power play. Those players are rare, and that’s not just for this deadline. He’d look good on a contender’s second pair. Green, who has a $6 million cap hit, is set to be a UFA this offseason.

And The Athletic’s Max Bultman examined Green’s injury-induced absence as a “glimpse of the Red Wings’ defense” minus #25:

In Green’s absence, Trevor Daley has seen an uptick in time on the unit, joining Niklas Kronwall as the team’s main power-play blueliners. In a 3-1 Detroit win over the Hurricanes, Daley logged 2:20 with the man advantage and Kronwall totaled 2:53. Danny DeKyser was the only other Detroit defenseman to see more than a minute of power-play time, and only just barely: He had 1:05.

But asked Wednesday if Kronwall and Daley were the presumptive plan in the event of a trade, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill also offered another option.

“You’ve got a guy in Joe Hicketts down in the minors, too, that at some point might get the opportunity to come up and show what he can do on the power play,” Blashill said. “I think (Daley)’s done a good job, I think he’s a good power-play player and (Kronwall)’s a good power-play player. So, we’ll see.”

We’ll see, indeed. Hicketts didn’t get any power-play time in his NHL debut Jan. 22, a 3-0 Red Wings win over New Jersey, but having his name brought up by Blashill is probably a sign in his favor.

Could there be a scenario in which Detroit calls up fellow Griffins defenseman Filip Hronek, who has seven goals and 21 assists in the AHL this season? Hronek is outpacing Hicketts’ two goals and seven assists this year, though last season Hicketts finished with seven goals and 27 assists, and he’s still a year-and-a-half older than Hronek.

It would be hard for a power play to get better losing Green, but “better” probably isn’t the most relevant consideration here. The Red Wings have continued to fight to win this season, even in the face of overwhelming odds. However, that’s just one aspect of this situation. If Green is traded, the next step becomes about what’s the best option for the franchise — that mostly means looking toward the future.

Bultman continues (paywall), and I’d imagine that the Wings would call up one of Hicketts or Hronek before the deadline passed as the Wings are only allowed to make 4 non-roster emergency call-ups after the deadline passes at 3 PM EST.

Zetterberg scores 335th career goal, tying Ted Lindsay for 5th all time in Red Wings scoring

The Red Wings earned a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild last night (cue 8 minutes of highlights from AWood40)..

And Henrik Zetterberg’s 335th goal served as the game-winning marker. In scoring his 335th goal, Zetterberg tied Ted Lindsay for 5th all time in Red Wings goals scored.

After the game, Zetterberg spoke very respectfully of Lindsay, as noted by MLive’s Ansar Khan…

Continue reading Zetterberg scores 335th career goal, tying Ted Lindsay for 5th all time in Red Wings scoring

Triple Gold for Datsyuk

From USA Today’s Kevin Allen…

Pavel Datsyuk made it clear his two Stanley Cup championships with the Detroit Red Wings now rank second on his list of accomplishments.

“You play for your country — it is more important,” Datsyuk said after captaining the Olympic Athletes from Russia to an Olympic gold medal with a 4-3 overtime win against Germany.

It was the first Olympic win by the Russians since the Unified Team won the gold medal at the 1992 Games in France.

“It feels good to have accomplished my dream,” Datsyuk said. “Now I have no dream.”

Datsyuk, at 39 years, 220 days, becomes the oldest male to win an Olympic hockey gold, replacing Carl Erhardt (39 years, one day), who helped Great Britain win in 1936.

And IIHF.com’s Andrew Podnieks:

By virtue of winning gold in PyeongChang, Russian forward Pavel Datsyuk is the newest member of the IIHF’s Triple Gold Club. He is the 28th player so honoured.

Datsyuk won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and 2008, and he won World Championship gold with Russia in 2012. And now he won Olympic gold with the Olympic Athletes from Russia in an overtime win in the final against Germany.

“I’ve not even thought about the Triple Gold Club yet,” he said after the game. “But when it sinks in, I guess I’ll need a new dream to shoot for because all my dreams have come true.”

Additionally, Datsyuk has won Olympic bronze (2002), World Championship silver (2010) and bronze (2005, 2016) and played in the World Cup twice (2004, 2016).

Update: Here’s more from the AP’s Stephen Whyno:

Continue reading Triple Gold for Datsyuk

Red Wings-Rangers mini preview: one point separates Team We Can Do It from Team Gloom

The Detroit Red Wings face the New York Rangers this evening (7:30 PM EST start on FSD/MSG/NHL Network U.S./97.1 FM), and this is going to be a weird one.

The Rangers are going to retire Jean Ratelle’s #19 (the ceremony starts at 6 PM EST, so we’ll see whether the game starts on time) on Sunday night…

But the 27-30-and-5 Rangers, who sit one point behind the Red Wings in the Eastern Conference standings, are “officially rebuilding.” They’ve traded Michal Grabner, they won’t play Rick Nash, they won’t play Ryan McDonagh (who also happens to be injured), and who knows who else might sit.

Continue reading Red Wings-Rangers mini preview: one point separates Team We Can Do It from Team Gloom

Prospect round-up: Griffins, Walleye win; Cholowski 3A; NCAA regular season winds down

In the AHL, Matthew Ford and Matt Lorito scored goals and Tom McCollum stopped 22 of 23 shots as the Grand Rapids Griffins won 2-1 over the Iowa Wild.

The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Griffins, Walleye win; Cholowski 3A; NCAA regular season winds down

Red Wings-Hurricanes wrap-up: nice one, Z

The Detroit Red Wings out-battled the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night, winning 3-1, and after snapping a 3-game losing streak, the Wings will try to keep the good times rolling against the New York Rangers on Sunday night (7:30 PM on FSD/MSG/NHL Network U.S./97.1 FM)

On Saturday night, the Red Wings played a tremendously solid final 40 minutes against the Hurricanes, with the Wings generating offense and withstanding a tremendous number of Hurricanes shot attempts–to the tune of a staggering 31 shots blocked (Danny DeKeyser blocked 7 shots alone).

Henrik Zetterberg also hit a milestone marker on Saturday:

Our friends from Carolina were disappointed that their superb start didn’t result in any offensive output, as they told CarolinaHurricanes.com’s Michael Smith:

Continue reading Red Wings-Hurricanes wrap-up: nice one, Z

Griffins celebrate ‘Toy Night’ with LEGO stop-motion videos

The Grand Rapids Griffins celebrated “toy night” with a set of LEGO stop-motion videos, and they’re really cool:

Continue reading Griffins celebrate ‘Toy Night’ with LEGO stop-motion videos