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Updated at 2:23 PM: Red Wings GM Ken Holland appeared on 97.1 the Ticket’s Jamie and Stoney show this Thursday morning, speaking for 20 minutes regarding cursory post-season topics:

Also of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. Crain’s Detroit Business’s Bill Shea reports that the creditor which is tasked with redeveloping Joe Louis Arena’s footprint is asking for a 2-year extension to be mediated between itself and the City of Detroit;
2. FYI:

There’s still time to register to paint the ice at @LCArena_Detroit on Thursday, April 26! ? #LGRW

Reserve your spot –> https://t.co/bkeRiTLl0c pic.twitter.com/eqkJOxbl3x

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 12, 2018

Update: Among 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burtchfield’s partial transcript highlights:

If Holland has an alibi, it’s that his hands may have been tied toward the end of the playoff streak. Late owner Mike Ilitch was justifiably hungry for one more championship. Was Holland under some kind of edict to win at all costs, to push for the playoffs under the premise that anything can happen once a team gets in?

“That was my philosophy,” Holland told 97.1 The Ticket.

Maybe he’s in a position to answer that question truthfully, maybe not. To him, the answer is academic. The rebuild was coming one way or another.

“Whether you say it should’ve started in 2015 or in 2013, you’re still going to have to live it, and you would have lived it from 2013 to 2017. There’s going to be a period of time that a franchise needs to rebuild,” Holland said. “You’re talking about different years, and I’m just saying, what’s the difference?”

Then he pointed to the past, mentioning the Red Wings were the last team to miss the playoffs in the salary-cap era. They survived from 2005-06 to 2015-16.

“During those 10 years, we won the championship, we went to the finals twice and at the end, from 2007 to 2013 — a seven-year period — six of the years we went to the second round or further. There’s your run, there’s you run, ” he said. “We tried to milk it a little bit longer.”

The Grand Rapids Griffins “earned a point” on Wednesday, rallying from a 2-0 deficit en route to a 3-2 overtime loss to the Texas Stars.

Defensemen Dan Renouf and Brian Lashoff scored second-period markers to help Grand Rapids earn a point, and Jared Coreau stopped 26 of 29 shots in his return to the Griffins’ crease.

Grand Rapids heads to San Antonio for one more game in Texas prior to the team’s season finale on Saturday in GR (against the Cleveland Monsters).

The Griffins’ website posted a game recap:

Continue reading Grand Rapids Griffins drop OT game in Texas

The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun gave the Winnipeg Jets’ fourth line a hell of a compliment after Winnipeg’s 3-2 win over Minnesota on Wednesday.

LeBrun suggested that the Jets’ Lowry-Tanev-Copp line evokes memories of the Red Wings’ Grind Line:

Watching from the press box on this night was Kirk Maltby, scouting the game for Detroit, he of the famous Grind Line from late ‘90s Red Wings Cup glory lore. That was a unit centred by Kris Draper that scored big goals while providing important minutes in big matchups.

“It didn’t really click in for me in terms of what were able to do as a line until we started Game 1 of the Cup final in 1997 against Philly’s Legion of Doom line,’’ Maltby told The Athletic after Wednesday night’s game.

That was an achievement. It was such an asset that the Wings could deploy their fourth line against any line that spring.

“We knew our stars would be stars from Stevie (Yzerman) on down, but for us, we always had the mindset if our line could chip in the odd goal and keep the other team off the scoresheet, that would be huge for our team,’’ Draper, driving back late Wednesday night from a scouting assignment, told The Athletic over the phone.

“We got to play against Gretzky’s line when he was in St. Louis that year in the playoffs, it was a fun challenge,” added Draper. “We had the trust of Scotty Bowman to play in all kinds of situations. That trust from your coach allows you to have the confidence to chip in offensively and play minutes.’’

LeBrun continues (paywall), with Maltby suggesting that the “Lowry Line” does indeed have a boatload of potential…

Of playoff-related prospect note:

In the OHL, Kaden Fulcher stopped 24 of 27 shots as his Hamilton Bulldogs won 4-2 over the Niagara IceDogs.

Fulcher was named the game’s third star, and Hamilton now leads Niagara 3 games to 1 in the teams’ second-round series;

Jordan Sambrook finished even with 2 shots in the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds’ 5-2 win over the Owen Sound Attack.

Sault Ste. Marie tied the second-round series at 2 games apiece;

And in the WHL, Michael Rasmusssen only had an assist on the game-winning goal, finishing +2 with 6 shots as his Tri-City Americans won 5-3 over the Victoria Royals.

Tri-City swept the second-round series, advancing to the WHL’s Western Conference Final…

And Rasmussen now has 10 goals, 14 assists and 24 points over the course of 8 playoff games played, with a +15;

Lane Zablocki had a rough night for Victoria, finishing at -2 with 3 shots and a 3-for-6 faceoff record. It’s possible that the Wings might assign Zablocki to the Grand Rapids Griffins to give him some AHL playoff experience.

Zablocki, a checking forward, ended the year with 12 goals, 19 assists and 31 points registered over the course of 65 games played with the Red Deer Rebels, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Victoria, accumulating 105 penalty minutes.

 

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan led the beat writers to the grading department in issuing 2017-18 Red Wings player grades on Tuesday, and this morning, the Free Press’s Helene St. James gives her final marks.

Let’s take a look:

F Andreas Athanasiou

C

Key stats: 16 goals, 17 assists, 33 points in 71 games.

Salary cap hit: Restricted free agent.

The buzz: With his ability to accelerate and his soft hands, he should not be as quiet as he was at times, going without a goal for stretches of 15 games and 13 games. Lost his spot on the power play because he was a non-factor (three points his first 24 games despite averaging more than two minutes per game in man-advantage time). Very skilled, but needs to show more assertiveness.

St. James continues…

Update: St. James appeared on WDET on Wednesday as well:

Helene St. James covers the Wings for the Detroit Free Press. She says Christopher Ilitch is relying on Holland’s experience to rebuild the roster. The thinking is he did it once, he can do it again.

“I’ve noticed (Holland) has done more scouting this season than he probably has in quite a while, because there’s renewed emphasis on drafting,” St. James says.

Detroit currently stands fifth in the NHL’s 2018 draft order, but that could change depending on how the draft lottery plays out. But it could be years before any of this year’s picks will be ready for the Wings. Even those that are ready might not turn the team around right away.

“Edmonton has a generational player in Connor McDavid, and they’ve missed the playoffs for the 11th time in 12 seasons,” St. James says. “It’s incredibly hard, and you need a lot of luck along the way.”

 

According to the Free Press’s Bill Laitner, all went well at the premiere of The Russian Five film at the Filmore Detroit on Wednesday night…

A sellout crowd in downtown Detroit was set to cheer and applaud Red Wings hockey Wednesday night — on the silver screen.

Sports buffs as well as mavens of documentary films lined up at The Fillmore Detroit — a short walk from the Wings’ new home at Little Caesars Arena — to view the world premiere of “The Russian Five,” a feature-length film about a quintet of Soviet emigres who, from 1990 to 2003, dotted the Red Wings’ roster to blend speed, finesse, muscle and uncanny synchrony like hockey fans had never seen.

By 1995, coaches had all five often playing at once, and it was their athletic chemistry that largely brought Detroit its first Stanley Cup in 1997 in more than half a century.

At this kickoff of the fifth annual Freep Film Festival, appreciative Red Wings fans said they were there to remember.

“We just love the Russian Five,” said Teresa Orr, 61, of Southgate, attired along with her husband, Ian Orr, 63, in bright Red Wings jerseys.

Ian Orr held a copy of the just-published book with the same title as the film, autographed moments earlier by former Free Press sports writer Keith Gave, who was writer-producer for the film while also writing the book.

Laitner continues; the Free Press posted a 63-image gallery from the premiere, and the Free Press’s Brian McCollum revealed that the Wayne Kramer-scored film will air at the Detroit Institute of Arts on Friday:

8:30 p.m. Thu., Emagine Royal Oak. Sold out.

4 p.m. Fri., Detroit Film Theatre at Detroit Institute of Arts (followed by a concert featuring Wayne Kramer & the Kollaborators). $12, $10 advance

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan shares a locker room clean-out day article this afternoon, speaking with Jimmy Howard regarding the Wings’ underwhelming 2017-18 season performance.

Howard was optimistic about the team’s future, but he didn’t spare himself from criticism regarding this season’s struggles:

“I don’t think it’s too big,” Howard said of how far the gap is for the Red Wings to return to contention. “There’s probably some people out there who’ll probably say a lot (bigger gap), but I don’t think it’s necessarily that big of a margin.

“There’s quite a few reasons why (there were) so many one-goal losses (27). All of us as a group, whether it was not making a smart play or me not coming up with a save, it falls on our shoulders to figure it out.”

Howard was, arguably, one of the Wings’ best players the first half of the season, keeping the Red Wings on the brink of the playoff line.

He was forced to play more games with backup Petr Mrazek not playing well, and then after Mrazek was traded and Jared Coreau struggling after was recalled from Grand Rapids. Howard’s statistics dipped as a result.

His 60 games played were the most since he played 63 games in back-to-back seasons in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Howard was 22-27-9 last season, with a 2.85 goals-against average and .910 save percentage. The losses and GAA were career highs. The save percentage fell considerably from the previous season (.927).

“Statistically, probably no,” Howard said of whether his season was good enough. “Far from it. In this league you want to be somewhere around the .920 save percentage and I wasn’t there.”

Kulfan continues, noting that the Red Wings will probably sign an interim back-up to help Howard along next season…

WJR AM 760’s Frank Beckmann spoke with Red Wings GM Ken Holland this morning, addressing the state of the Wings over the course of a 14-minute interview…

And Mitch Albom spoke with Wings coach Jeff Blashill regarding his retention by the team and the coaching and managerial teams’ plans going forward, over the course of a 7-minute interview:

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. The Wings posted a clip of their recent Make-A-Wish guest, Lucas Kellogg from Westland, MI…

2. And DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji spoke with Frans Nielsen regarding the 2018 World Championship, which is being held in Nielsen’s home country of Denmark–and his hometown:

Grand Rapids Griffins announcer Bob Kaser issues something of a “State of the Griffins” while previewing tonight’s Griffins game against the Texas Stars (8:30 PM EDT on WOOD Radio).

Kaser discusses the Griffins’ playoff push, the play and leadership of Matt Ford and Eric Tangradi, and more over the course of the Griffins’ Game Day Preview video: