Category: Uncategorized

Red Wings-Maple Leafs set-up: how do you ‘play spoiler’ when there’s nothing to spoil but a Hockey Night in Canada home game?

The Detroit Red Wings can at least theoretically “play spoiler” when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening (7:00 PM EDT on FSD/CBC/97.1 FM). That term can be used more in the sense of giving the playoff-bound Leafs a rare home loss as opposed to truly denting Toronto’s playoff hopes or playoff positioning.

With the Red Wings’ last wisps of playoff hopes extinguished, the Wings can help prevent the Leafs from climbing the Eastern Conference standings, where the Leafs sit 3rd in the Atlantic Division. The 44-23-and-7 Leafs have won 5 of their past 6 games, including a 5-2 decision over the Nashville Predators on Thursday (in which Auston Matthews returned from injury).

As the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan notes, Toronto plays 6 of their final 8 regular season games at home, so their goal is to “get on a roll” with the playoffs two weeks away:

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs set-up: how do you ‘play spoiler’ when there’s nothing to spoil but a Hockey Night in Canada home game?

Mike Green’s doctor has quite the resume

I don’t usually post stuff like this, but I think it’s interesting:

“Becker’s Spine Review’s” Shayna Korol offered a little biography of the doctor that is performing Mike Green’s probable discectomy (i.e. removal of the herniated portion of the disc in Green’s neck), Dr. Frank Cammisa:

Dr. Cammisa is the chief emeritus of the spine service at [the Hospital for Special Surgery]. He specializes in minimally invasive spinal surgery, computer-assisted spinal surgery, microsurgery, athletic spinal injuries and motion-preserving procedures, including artificial disc replacement. He serves as the spine consultant for the NHL Players Association.

Back in 2014, Cammisa performed a discectomy on Henrik Zetterberg.

Khan speaks with Ken Holland regarding his future, state of the Wings’ “rebuild on the fly”

MLive’s Ansar Khan engaged in a conversation with Red Wings GM Ken Holland, discussing the state of the team’s “rebuild on the fly” and questioning whether Holland is the “man for the job”:

Is Ken Holland the right man for the job? It’s a question ownership might have already determined, likely answered by the time players gather for the team photo and locker cleanout, a couple days after the April 7 season finale.

Holland said on Friday, one day after his team was officially eliminated from playoff contention, that he hasn’t spoken yet with ownership.

“From my perspective, I’m not too concerned,” Holland said. “I’m very comfortable where I’m at in my career.”

Holland is 62 and completing his 21st year as the team’s general manager, which ties him with Nashville’s David Poile for the longest current tenure in the league.

The Red Wings have had tremendous success with Holland as GM – three Stanley Cup championships, four Presidents’ Trophies, 19 playoff appearances and countless sellouts.

Is it time for new leadership?

Khan continues, and his article is worth your time…

Here’s the Griffins’ Game Day Preview video ahead of Friday’s game vs. Iowa

The Grand Rapids Griffins face the Iowa Wild tonight and tomorrow, and the Griffins posted a Game Day Preview ahead of Friday night’s game:

 

Krupa: Griffins need all hands on deck with 3 games in 3 nights this weekend

Per the Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa, it appears that the Red Wings won’t recall a defenseman this weekend as the Grand Rapids Griffins–who are in a battle for their playoff lives–play the Iowa Wild tonight and tomorrow, and the Chicago Wolves on Sunday:

If you missed it, per the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

Update: MLive’s Ansar Khan confirms:

Update #2:

Red Wing TV follows Dylan Larkin through a shift at Tim Horton’s

Dylan Larkin spent a shift working at Tim Horton’s in Hazel Park to promote the “I Love the Red Wings” donut, which benefits the Detroit Red Wings foundation:

Update: Also of note on Twitter:

Continue reading Red Wing TV follows Dylan Larkin through a shift at Tim Horton’s

Libor Sulak will join the Griffins

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins on Twitter:

Here’s the press release:

Continue reading Libor Sulak will join the Griffins

NHL.com on ‘what went wrong’ and ‘reasons for optimism’ for the Wings

NHL.com’s Brian Compton penned a now-that-they’re-eliminated article about the Red Wings, discussing “what went wrong” and offering reasons for optimism:

Reasons for optimism

Help is on the way: They used the No. 9 pick at the 2017 NHL Draft to select forward Michael Rasmussen, their first top-10 selection since 1991 (Martin Lapointe). Rasmussen, 18, had 59 points (31 goals, 28 assists) in 47 games for Tri-City of the Western Hockey League this season. He could compete for a job with the Red Wings at training camp in September.

Stockpiling picks: Detroit will be busy at the 2018 NHL Draft, with eight picks in the first four rounds. They added a second first-round pick when they traded forward Tomas Tatar to the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 26.

Bertuzzi brings hope: He may have two goals in 40 games, but Tyler Bertuzzi, a second-round pick (No. 58) in 2013, is showing signs of being a top-six forward at the NHL level. He’s been playing on a line with Henrik Zetterberg and Gustav Nyquist this month and has a Red Wings best seven points (all assists) in 12 games since Feb. 28, and has drawn a team-high six penalties while being assessed two penalty minutes. Bertuzzi, 23, was most valuable player of the Calder Cup Playoffs last season, when he had 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in 19 games for Grand Rapids.

Custance on Ken Holland and the young Mr. I

The Athletic’s Craig Custance penned an article discussing Ken Holland’s future, as well as the Ilitch-sized elephant in the room:

As hard as it is to win a Stanley Cup, Holland may be facing his biggest challenge yet. The Detroit fan base wants change. There’s a mess to clean up that is the result of his attempts to optimize the team’s Stanley Cup chances in the final stages of the Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg era. There are bad contracts to burn off and high-end prospects who need to be drafted. Whether or not Holland will be the one tasked with doing that is all going to come to a head in the next few weeks.

“I think that probably between now and sometime at the end of the year, I would expect there would be some kind of decision made,” Holland told The Athletic this week.

Yzerman, a man whose opinion still carries much weight in Detroit, offers his support.

“I believe [with] everything he’s done, he deserves the time to rebuild it now,” Yzerman said. “He deserves the time and the respect of everyone to rebuild it.”

That may hinge on one person.

Continued (paywall)

Cup of Khan: Wings’ leadership on the youth movement

MLive’s Ansar Khan’s 6 AM-posted column discusses the Red Wings’ loss to Washington and the Wings’ post-game discussion regarding their youth movement.

Coach Blashill weighed in regarding the concept of simply giving young players ice time because the team’s out of the playoffs…

“There’s a fine line there,” coach Jeff Blashill said following his team’s 1-0 loss to the Washington Capitals Thursday at Little Caesars Arena. “You have to make sure you compete and work. If you don’t compete and work you’re not getting ice time.

“Two … if you want to take one of those guys’ job, you got to play better than them. If I start playing guys because of their age, you lose 100 percent credibility and you don’t teach lessons of earned ice.”

And both Jimmy Howard and Henrik Zetterberg spoke with Khan regarding the players’ belief that “the kids” need to play in a competitive environment:

Continue reading Cup of Khan: Wings’ leadership on the youth movement