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Articles from practice: Wings get ready for a schedule grind amidst offensive slumps

The Red Wings practiced on Thursday ahead of a stretch in which they’ll play 10 games over the course of 19 days, and Dylan Larkin told the Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa that the team can make hay while the sun shines:

“It’s a time when we can rally and get a lot of games in a short period of time,” said Dylan Larkin, who has eight goals and 31 assists for 39 points in 52 games played. “If we get hot at the right time, it could be a really fun stretch.”

Larkin now has 48 goals and 68 assists for 116 points in 212 career games. Some of Zetterberg’s herculean time on ice in recent seasons has shifted to the 21 year-old Larkin this season.

 After the Islanders, the Red Wings begin a stretch of nine games in 15 days that will take them to the NHL trade deadline Feb. 26.
They have only 12 games remaining at home, and five will be played before the deadline.

 

“If we do well,” Larkin said, of the approaching juncture of the season, “we could be right where we want to be with one month left.”

At the same time, as MLive’s Ansar Khan notes, the Wings’ scoring forwards have been battling slumps…

Continue reading Articles from practice: Wings get ready for a schedule grind amidst offensive slumps

HSJ’s mailbag: talking trade deadline

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a mailbag article, and among her questions and answers:

HSJ: I’ve heard there’s interest in forward Gustav Nyquist (15 goals, 9 assists, 24 points in 52 games), but it may depend on whether the Wings would have to retain a portion of the $5.5 million he’s owed next season (salary cap hit is $4.75 million). He’d also have to consent to a trade. As for goaltenders Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek, Mrazek might interest a team given he seems finally to have emerged from a two-year slump (Mrazek has a .958 save percentage and 1.30 goals-against average in his last seven games). He turns 26 on Feb. 14 and he’s essentially a pending unrestricted free agent, as even with his recent surge, he’s unlikely to be qualified at $4 million.

As for Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall, let’s see what happens this summer. Zetterberg will be 38 in October, and he’s topped 1,000 NHL games. He rarely practices any more, as he’s figured out the optimal way to keep himself freshest for games. Health will certainly factor into whether he plays next season, and he did have  back surgery in 2014. As for Kronwall (turned 37 in January), he’s played all but three games this season. If he feels he can continue next season, he will play the last year of his contract.

There already is a significant youth movement under way. One of the reasons general manager Ken Holland resisted re-signing Thomas Vanek last summer was because the Wings wanted Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou to play bigger roles. Dylan Larkin leads leads team forwards and is third overall with an average of 19:51 minutes per game. Mantha averages 17 minutes, Athanasiou, 16. All three are playing more on average than they did in 2016-17. Tyler Bertuzzi would have started the season in Detroit had he not gotten hurt during exhibition season. They were also hoping Evgeny Svechnikov would make a push after hitting 20 goals his first year of pro hockey and helping the Grand Rapids Griffins win the Calder Cup, but he, too, suffered an injury during exhibition season. (Svechnikov had some growing pains the first half but has played much better since around New Year’s. He had a goal and two assists Wednesday to help the Griffins improve to 15.3-0-2 their last 20 games).

Continued

Former Wing Brendan Smith waived by Rangers

A former Red Wings player has fallen from grace on the New York Rangers:

The Red Wings traded Smith to the Rangers for 2nd and 3rd round picks, with the 2nd-round pick coming to the Wings in this year’s draft. The Wings drafted Peterborough Petes 2-way center Zach Gallant with their 3rd-rounder last spring.

 

Tweets from practice: Another maintenance day for Zetterberg as Wings prepare for 10-games-in-17-nights stretch

Updated 4x at 12:27 PM: Mrazek starts Friday and Zetterberg will play against Isles:

The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena just after 11 AM, preparing for a stretch in which they’ll play 10 games over the course of 17 afternoons and evenings (beginning with Friday’s road game against the Islanders).

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa said, “Hello” from LCA…

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji also weighed in…

#RedWings practice: Mantha-Booth (taking Zetterberg spot)-Nyquist

Tatar-Larkin-Athanasiou

Helm-Nielsen-Abdelkader

Bertuzzi-Glendening-Frk

Ericsson-Daley

Kronwall-Green

DeKeyser-Jensen

Ouellet-Witkowski

#RedWings PP units: Frk-Booth (in Zetterberg’s spot)-Nyquist-Mantha (net front)-Kronwall;

Tatar-Larkin-Athanasiou-Abdelkader (net front)-Green

Fox 2’s Woody Woodriffe and Sky Kerstein also posted Tweets…

Continue reading Tweets from practice: Another maintenance day for Zetterberg as Wings prepare for 10-games-in-17-nights stretch

USA Hockey Arena to host Under-18 Five Nations Cup next week

As the Plymouth Observer’s Tim Smith notes, USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth is hosting the Under-18 Five Nations Cup  from February 13th to 17th, and the event is one of the premier tournaments for draft-eligible players:

The building (14900 Beck Road) will be jammed with National Hockey League officials and scouts who will be filling notebooks with musings about dozens of players considered the cream of the crop in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

In addition to the U.S., the round-robin tournament will include Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic.

“The ones who have been here for any international event know they’re fun, the games are great,” said Scott Monaghan, senior director of operations for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, which is based in Plymouth. “(During) the women’s world championship, the USA-Canada games just rocked.

“We hosted a Five Nations in February two years ago, that was the younger age group, U-17s. We had a fantastic final game with USA-Russia. The building was packed and it was rocking.

“This is a bigger event, because it is the last event before the U-18 World Championship, the next-to-last time the NHL teams and scouts can see all these kids. And there’s probably going to be upwards of 60 kids that are ranked in the draft from these five countries.”

Continued, and USA Hockey posted a hype video for the tournament:

 

Grand Rapids Griffins raising funds for family of passed member of front office

From WZZM 13, quoting a Grand Rapids Griffins press release:

The Griffins lost a beloved member of our family yesterday with the passing of Jake Engel.

Jake was in his second season as a corporate sales account manager after starting with the Griffins as an intern in 2015, and he also spent time with the staffs of the West Michigan Whitecaps and Muskegon Lumberjacks. His infectious smile and positive attitude were a joy to everyone around him, and he truly treated everyone as a friend.

We ask for your prayers and thoughts for his wife Rose, their unborn daughter, and his countless number of family, friends and co-workers who were blessed to have known Jake.

A friend of Jake’s set up a GoFundMe page since Monday: https://www.gofundme.com/engelstrong

Little Caesars Arena doesn’t have toxic vapors (and that’s a good thing)

The Detroit News has posted a special report regarding toxic vapors in the air near polluted sites across Michigan, and Little Caesars Arena’s construction almost made the list for a simple reason:

When you excavate tons and tons of soil to put the rink below ground level in Detroit, you’re dealing with thousands of tons of contaminated soil. Thankfully, the Detroit News’s Michael Gerstein reports that the Wings’ new rink was built in a manner that properly disposed of the polluted soil:

An environmental assessment submitted to the state in 2014 showed that several “polynuclear aromatics, metals and petroleum-related volatile organic compounds” were found at levels higher than they should be in soil samples, said Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Tiffany Brown.

The company removed the polluted soil, which is common at large construction projects in cities, said Brett McWethy, a spokesman for Olympia Entertainment Inc.

“As is common with such large-scale, urban projects, construction included the comprehensive removal of existing fill from the property,” McWethy said. “This process was fully documented in previous filings with the Department of Environmental Quality, and the successful removal and remediation was certified by thorough lab testing, which was also submitted and verified by DEQ.”

The state DEQ took the arena project off of its list after the contaminated soil was removed.

Continued

 

 

Via KK: TSN’s McKenzie discusses the Wings’ Mrazek-or-Howard decision

I was a little busy communing with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on Wednesday night…

So I knew this day would come, and I’m not upset about it. While I was out, Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner snagged quite the scoop, and I’m citing KK as the source of the following story/video:

Quoth NBC Sports:

NHL on NBC
Wings won’t bring back both Howard and Mrazek

The Red Wings may have trouble dealing either Jimmy Howard or Petr Mrazek by the deadline, but Bob McKenzie believes one them will be gone by next season.

Here’s NBCSN’s video…

And let’s all appreciate Bob for stating what we all know, but few have said aloud: after two years’ worth of spending a significant amount of money on their goaltending, the Wings are in a situation analogous to the sign-Franzen-or-Hossa situation–the first guy they can trade will be gone, regardless of the name of said goaltender.

I don’t know if Howard or Mrazek will get traded before the trade deadline, either, but every indication since the New Year has suggested that the Red Wings are going to move a goaltender before the start of the 2018-19 season.

I don’t know what exactly the Wings’ back-up plan is–literally or figuratively, as Jared Coreau may or may not be ready to back up Howard or Mrazek, but I fully expect one or both goaltenders to be gone (seriously) before next October.

 

 

Prospect round-up: Svechnikov’s return powers Griffins over Moose; Cholowski posts 2 assists for Portland; Sambrook fitting in with Sault

In the AHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins welcomed Evgeny Svechnikov back into their lineup, and he contributed in a big way, registering a goal and 2 assists in the Griffins’ 4-2 win over the Manitoba Moose.

Filip Hronek, Robbie Russo and Matt Lorito also scored for Grand Rapids, and Jared Coreau stopped 25 of 27 shots. The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Svechnikov’s return powers Griffins over Moose; Cholowski posts 2 assists for Portland; Sambrook fitting in with Sault

Three Things: On ‘figuring it out,’ a review of Little Caesars Arena and a Red and White podcast

Of Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an off-day notebook which discusses the team’s frustrating inconsistency as the Wings’ playoff hopes fade. Kulfan focuses on the comments that the Wings made after their 3-2 loss to the Bruins:

The Red Wings didn’t give the Bruins any pushback until the third period, and by then, it was too late.

“There are no moral victories,” forward Henrik Zetterberg said. “We have to be better from the start if we want to win games. We weren’t good enough.”

 What made it further strange was that the Red Wings played so competitively on the road, winning convincingly in Carolina and losing in the final seven seconds on a controversial goaltending interference penalty in Florida.
“We were shooting pucks, competing, we were tough to play against,” forward Frans Nielsen said. “Then we come out (Tuesday) and no response at all. It’s just frustrating. It’s been like that for a long time. It’s going to be too late if we don’t figure it out. If we stand here and next week sometime and you’re asking the same question, it’s going to be too late. We have to figure it out now.”
Kulfan continues, noting that coach Blashill was disappointed in the team’s younger players;
2. Arena Digest’s Zach Spedden weighed in on the “fan experience” at Little Caesars Arena:

Continue reading Three Things: On ‘figuring it out,’ a review of Little Caesars Arena and a Red and White podcast