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Red Wings spent Saturday night, Sunday morning in Friendly Manitoba

The Free Press’s Helene St. James reports that the Red Wings spent a little more time in the prairie province of Manitoba than they’d hoped to after Saturday night’s 4-2 win over the Jets:

It happened to the Detroit Red Wings over the weekend, as a mechanical issue with their airplane prevented their scheduled Saturday night departure from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where they had just downed the Jets, 4-2. Instead of getting home around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, the Wings landed, per coach Todd McLellan, around 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

“Things like that happen,” McLellan said Monday. “You control the things you can control and react to the other. The group was good. It was a bit of a test today because they spent their scheduled day off in Winnipeg; it wasn’t ideal, so how are they going to react in practice? They reacted well.”

The only players not at practice were defensemen Jeff Petry, who is being evaluated for an undisclosed injury suffered Jan. 2 in the game at the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Justin Holl, who was excused for personal reasons. McLellan said Petry will miss Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators at Little Caesars Arena, but expects Holl to be available.

The rest of the players went through a nearly hour-long practice that culminated with a spirited four-team shootout contest.

“They came and worked hard,” McLellan said. “We tried to work on a few concepts and they put them into play, gave us their time, gave us their best. Hopefully that translates into the game tomorrow. Because we had to stay in Winnipeg a few extra hours long doesn’t affect anything we did today or tomorrow or moving forward.”

Continued

Tweet of note: ECHL names Carter Gylander their goaltender of the week

Per the ECHL:

Here’s the ECHL’s press release:

Carter Gylander of the Toledo Walleye is the Warrior Hockey ECHL Goaltender of the Week for Dec. 30-Jan. 5.
 
Gylander went 3-0-0 with one shutout, a 1.67 goals-against average and a save percentage of .952 in three appearances last week.
 
The 23-year-old stopped 30 shots in a 3-2 win at Cincinnati on Tuesday, made 44 saves in a 4-3 victory at Fort Wayne on Friday and turned aside all 26 shots in a 3-0 win over the Komets on Saturday.
 
Under a National Hockey League contract with Detroit, Gylander has appeared in 13 games with the Walleye this season going 9-2-2 with two shutouts, a 2.22 goals-against average – which ranks seventh in the ECHL – and a save percentage of .921, which is eighth in the league.
 
Prior to turning pro, Gylander saw action in 106 career games at Colgate University where he went 46-46-13 with five shutouts, a 2.69 goals-against average and a save percentage of .907.

Videos: Kane, Lyon and coach McLellan speak after Monday’s practice

The Detroit Red Wings practiced at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center this morning, preparing for Tuesday night’s game against Ottawa.

Jeff Petry and Justin Holl did not participate in Monday’s practice, and the Wings’ media corps reported that Petry remains sidelined with an injury, per coach Todd McLellan.

The Red Wings posted a 15:36 clip of Patrick Kane and coach Todd McLellan speaking with the media today…

And the Free Press’s Helene St. James also posted a clip of comments from Kane, Alex Lyon and coach McLellan:

Allen assesses the Wings’ World Junior Championship participants

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a summary of the performances of the Red Wings’ four World Junior Championship participants, and here’s what he has to say about Finnish forward Jesse Kiiskinen:

Jesse Kiiskinen, Right Wing,  HPK Hameenlinna (SM-liiga)

Kiiskinen finished with six goals and seven points in the tournament. He scored Finland’s first goal in the gold medal game against USA.

He’s enjoyed an exceptional season (22 points in 26 games) in the Finnish Elite League. He a consistent player, doesn’t take any nights off is what scouts say. He’s a strong skater.

Kiiskinen is the most productive teenager in the Finnish League. He leads his team in scoring.

The Red Wings haven’t tipped their hand about what their plans are for Kiiskinen, but it would make sense to bring him over to play in Grand Rapids next season.

Continued (paywall)

Post-practice Tweets: Petry out vs. Sens on Tuesday; Holl available

The Red Wings prepared for tomorrow night’s game against the Ottawa Senators (7 PM start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/TSN5/RDS/97.1 FM) by practicing at the BELFOR Training Center on Monday. Jeff Petry and Justin Holl did not take part in Monday’s skate.

After Monday’s practice, the Red Wings’ coach and players spoke with the media:

Continue reading Post-practice Tweets: Petry out vs. Sens on Tuesday; Holl available

The Atlantic Division is a crowded place

Among Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon’s “Weekend Takeaways“:

• Speaking of the bottom, Detroit is making a now-or-never push to get back in the Eastern Conference playoff chase under new bench boss Todd McLellan. Saturday’s 4-2 triumph in Winnipeg might have been the win of the year for the Red Wings, who’ve suddenly strung together four straight victories and have dropped just one game — McLellan’s first with the squad on Dec. 27 — since making the coaching change.

• Speaking of the Atlantic, that division has become exceptionally bunched — even by, loser-point, salary cap-parity standards — thanks to Detroit’s surge and the small swoon of another team that made a coaching switch, the Boston Bruins. The B’s dropped two games on the weekend to Toronto and the Islanders and have suddenly lost five of six to hit their first real rough patch since Joe Sacco took over behind the bench. Boston currently ranks third in the Atlantic with 45 points and seventh-place Detroit checks in at 38 points. That means five teams — Boston, Tampa, Ottawa, Montreal and Detroit — are separated by just seven points and each of the four squads right behind Boston hold games in hand on the B’s.

Continued

Praise for Sandin Pellikka and Augustine

FloHockey’s Chris Peters posted an article which discusses 10 players who “defined the 2025 World Junior Championship 2025,” and two of Peters’ picks are Red Wings prospects:

Axel Sandin Pellikka, D, Sweden (DET)

Sweden left empty-handed, but Sandin Pellikka was named defenseman of the tournament for the second straight year. He also made the media all-star team and was utilized five times in the bronze-medal game shootout. There’s no question that he is among the more intriguing offensive talents on the back end. But this tournament will also be remembered for the disappointment for Sweden, which maybe had its best path to a gold medal in recent memory, went undefeated in the prelims once again but failed to win the biggest games. 

Trey Augustine, G, USA (DET)

Now USA’s all-time wins leader at the World Junior Championship with 12 career wins, Augustine is also now the only goalie to win back-to-back gold medals at this tournament for Team USA. He has had a historic run and will go down as one of USA’s most successful international goalies ever on the men’s side. What made this run a bit more unique is I don’t think we saw Augustine play his best games in this tournament, but he was good enough. His ability to win the big games for his team and make key saves in big moments is such a factor. He still has more development time ahead and will need some refining before he’s ready for the big time, but when the lights shine brightest, he wins.

Continued; Sandin Pellikka wore the captain’s “C” for Sweden, and he showed up after their Semifinal and Bronze Medal game losses to speak with the media bluntly and honestly, and yes, Augustine was not super-dominant, but he fought through any difficulties in his game to win and win some more.

Tweets from Monday’s Red Wings practice: Petry, Holl absent ahead of Wings-Sens game on Tuesday

The Detroit Red Wings find themselves on a 4-game winning streak heading into tomorrow’s game with the 19-17-and-2 Ottawa Senators, who sit two points ahead of the Red Wings in the Atlantic Division standings.

The Senators are trying to make due without Linus Ullmark, who is week-to-week with back spasms, and Ottawa has lost 2 straight and 4 of their past 5 games.

Ottawa always shows up for Red Wings games, however, so Tuesday’s affair (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/TSN5/RDS/97.1 FM) should be a spirited battle.

The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center around 11:15 AM:

Meanwhile, in Ottawa:

Continue reading Tweets from Monday’s Red Wings practice: Petry, Holl absent ahead of Wings-Sens game on Tuesday

Daily Faceoff’s Ellis assesses every World Junior Championship participant

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis joins The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler in reviewing the performances of each and every one of the World Junior Championship’s participants, including the Red Wings’ four representatives in Ottawa:

Axel Sandin-Pellikka, D (Sweden): At his best, ASP was a star at this tournament once again. It all started with a four-point effort against Slovakia and another three points against the Swiss. He generated a lot of shots, and when Sweden needed him to perform, he often did. The one knock against him was some of the mistakes he made in transition. But on the flip side, he was always one of Sweden’s best shot-creators and was rarely not one of Sweden’s best individual players every single night. So even if scouts wanted to see a bit more from him, they still had a lot to like. It’s hard to truly explain, but basically: he was good, but I – and many others – wanted to see him dominate more than he did.

I guess the “recency bias” of watching Sandin Pellikka play so well in the SHL made scouts and others expect ASP to absolutely dominate among younger players, ignoring the fact that Sandin Pellikka is in fact a young player himself at 19, prone to ups and downs in performance.

I’m really disappointed in the fact that he finished second in tournament scoring, while clearly weighed down by wearing the captain’s “C” for Sweden, but nobody seems to recognize his status as the tournament’s best defenseman for a second year. Nothing’s enough.

Trey Augustine, G (USA): Augustine struggled after allowing eight goals over his first two games but quickly turned the tide. But after that, Augustine was rock solid, stealing the show in the games against Canada and Czechia. He’s now the winningest American goaltender in tournament history, and it’s easy to tell why. Sure, it’s his third tournament, but he covers the bottom of the net so well and remains so relaxed and focused in the crease.

As I said earlier this morning, Augustine’s “glove problems” involve the fact that he’s not wearing the catch glove which he prefers due to sponsorship issues. He’s still adjusting to the new catch glove.

Jesse Kiiskinen, RW (Finland): Kiiskinen started the tournament with a quiet showing against Canada before registering goals in each of the next three round-robin games. He had his best game against Slovakia in the quarters when he had two points, but he also had his best backchecking game that day, too. Kiiskinen was noticeably vibrant in the final, too. I really liked Kiiskinen’s play away from the puck – I thought he was always moving and making something happen. Overall, he got better with every passing game.

Kiiskinen is a spunky fellow who likes to score goals and go to the front of the net. He was impressive there. His defense needs work, though.

Max Plante, LW (USA): Plante had a solid showing with three points, but he also rarely lost a battle on a shift. That’s because he’s always moving and forcing you to make quick decisions on the fly. He’s a high-end playmaker who should play serious minutes next year – his ability to play with anyone and generate opportunities makes him solid.

Plante’s still only 18 and stands around 5’10” and 170-ish pounds, but he’s a plucky fellow who makes strong plays.