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Getting tired of the condescending tone with which NHL pundits are issuing platitudes about the Red Wings being destined to stink this upcoming season? I am.

It’s aggravating to be patted on the head and told, “There there, hockey partisan, your team will be fine in a couple of years, presuming that Steve Yzerman isn’t the total managerial moron that I suggested during my summertime columns.”

Well, that tone almost continues today as The Athletic’s ever-prolific Sean McIndoe offers “Hope for the NHL’s 10 most hopeless teams in 2023-24,” though I’ll readily admit that McIndoe offers a sympathetic ear toward the fact that the fans of teams that aren’t projected to do well are pretty tired of hockey predictions by now:

Detroit Red Wings

The projections say: 85 points, and a 14 percent chance of making the playoffs.

Why they’re probably right: The Red Wings should be better than last year, with Alex DeBrincat on the top line and other reinforcements added. But the Atlantic is stacked, with four established teams meaning there may only be one playoff spot available. The model likes the Senators and Sabres better, and it’s hard to argue. The Red Wings just don’t seem to have the ceiling that Ottawa or Buffalo do, leaving a disappointing seventh-place finish as the most likely outcome.

But hear me out: You don’t have to squint all that hard to see the Wings being the best of the three young Atlantic teams. Both Ottawa and Buffalo have questions in goal, and while there’s a gap in upside talent, it’s not necessarily huge. If DeBrincat finds his 40-goal scoring pace again, and Moritz Seider moves back into the Norris discussion without Ben Chiarot dragging him down, then the Wings are right there. Mix in some luck when it comes to injuries and goaltending, and Detroit could be the team leading the way for that one spot.

But wait — are we sure there’s only one spot in the Atlantic? The Panthers weren’t very good last year until the playoffs, and their blue line is hurting. The Bruins lost Patrice Bergeron and should take a big step back. The Maple Leafs are the Maple Leafs. And the Lightning losing Andrei Vasilevskiy for two months could shake up the entire division. Maybe this is the year of a big shift in the division, and if so the Wings are well-positioned to slide in and take advantage.

Convincing? Hopefully, because it only gets tougher from here.

Continued (paywall); I know that McIndoe means well. I appreciate the fact that he means well. I’m just a little weary of the, “Well, if all goes well, your team’s destined to be a ‘mushy middle’ team that’s first-round fodder” spiel. That’s not Sean’s fault.

According to Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff, Red Wings prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov won’t be playing for SKA Neva St. Petersburg any more, because he’s moving almost as far east as you can go in Russia.

Duff reports that Buchelnikov is leaving the Baltic coast for the naval port city of Vladivostok, which is northeast of North Korea and sits at the northern end of the Sea of Japan:

Following the outcome of a blockbuster and extremely complicated trade, Buchelnikov is moving to Admiral, a KHL club playing in the Far East Russian city of [Vladivostok]. His shift is just one element in a complicated procedure that is landing Admiral goalie Nikita Serebryakov with struggling SKA.

In exhange for Serebryakov, Admiral is receiving Buchelnikov and goaltender Sergei Ivanov on season loan from SKA. Forward Nikita Anokhovsky and the rights to Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Daniil Miromanov were dealt to Admiral to complete the transaction.

Buried with SKA Neva of the Russian second division with SKA, Buchelnikov figures to be getting an outstanding opportunity, slotting into a key role with Admiral.

“Dmitri will fit perfectly into the top six (forwards),” noted Mikhail Skryl of SportExpress.ru. “Admiral clearly lacked creative forwards.”

Continued; the Admiral Vladivostok play in “Fetisov Arena,” a rink that former Red Wing Vyacheslav Fetisov helped build when he represented the Primorsky Krai in the Russian Duma. Fetisov is still in politics to this day.

New Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry is 35, and I think that Wings fans’ expectations of Petry have been pretty realistic.

Petry doesn’t skate as fast as he used to, and he’s probably not going to post 45+ points any more, but a realistic 25-30 points in a second or third-pair, power play specialist’s role would be fantastic for a Wings team that has struggled to score from the blueline.

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson notes, Petry also seems to be a pretty chill dude (a far cry from the rumors of a twitchy, itchy, high-maintenance guy with “many allergies” that the Montreal Canadiens’ French-speaking fan base spread late this summer):

Petry has been busy preparing for his first season as a Red Wing after coming to the team from Montreal over the summer.

“Feeling better and better every day,” he said. “Obviously, coming in, stepping into a new system, that takes a little bit of time and I felt better as that first preseason game went on and the next one kind of built off of that.”

Petry has made a good impression on his new team.

“He’s a veteran solid player,” fellow defenseman Jake Walman said. “He takes command out there. It’s nice having him. It feels steady. Off the ice he’s got a lot of wisdom as well. He’s been places that we all want to be, those games late in the season, so we can lean on him a little bit. ”

The Red Wings and coach Derek Lalonde expect to lean on Petry for his skills, too.

“He’s an experienced guy (and) he’s a pro,” Lalonde said. “He comes every day to work, but he also knows what he needs to get out of the exhibition (season).”

Continued; Petry may or may not be allergic as all heck given the unseasonably warm weather that Metro Detroit is experiencing, but he’s definitely appeared calm and collected on the blueline so far, and he’s likely going to get better as he finds his hockey “comfort zone.”

Per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reported to the league’s Board of Governors that, should all circumstances remain the same, the salary cap may rise significantly next summer:

Bettman said that by the end of the season the players will have paid back the owners in full to make up the approximate $1.5 billion escrow debt they incurred in the 2019-20 season. He said the remaining debt is down to about $50 million.

“Very preliminary projection, but we believe the escrow will be paid off in full and the cap will be somewhere between $87 (million)-$88 million for the following year,” Bettman said.

That would represent an increase of up to $4.5 million. The cap is $83.5 million this season. The projected revenue for this season is expected to be about $6.2 billion, but Bettman said a more comprehensive projection will be given to the Board of Governors when they meet in Seattle on Dec. 4-5.

“Things are good,” Bettman said. “Vital signs are good. Revenues are growing. Everybody thinks the game is in great shape as we head into another season.”

Continued; the higher the cap, the better the Red Wings can compete for talent, even in a “hard cap with linkage” world.

The Detroit Red Wings and several other NHL teams are particularly concerned about losing one of their goaltenders on waivers because the salary cap-strapped Tampa Bay Lightning need an interim replacement for Andrei Vasilevskiy. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has a thought about the situation that Detroit finds itself in:

When it comes to waivers, everyone’s waiting on the goalies. Teams to watch: Buffalo (Mike Comrie or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen); Detroit (Alex Lyon and James Reimer); Montreal (Cayden Primeau); Philadelphia (Felix Sandstrom); Toronto (Martin Jones). Some teams say they might carry three goalies, but no one ever believes them until it actually happens.

Columbus claimed Spencer Martin. Colorado and Tampa Bay have short-term injury needs. (One executive mentioned St. Louis’s Malcolm Subban for the Lightning, because he was outstanding against their AHL team, Syracuse, in the playoffs.) Will Buffalo keep the veteran Comrie or the higher-ceiling of Luukkonen? (Comrie had a very good pre-season start against Pittsburgh.) Lyon saved Florida’s season late last year. The Red Wings got him with a guaranteed second year, would they risk it on waivers?

Continued; I would not be shocked if the Wings keep three goaltenders on their regular-season roster until the Lighting alleviate their goaltending concerns. It would really stink to see Alex Lyon on the Bolts.

The Detroit Red Wings won a 2-1 decision over the Pittsburgh Penguins in preseason hockey on Wednesday night. Daniel Sprong and Simon Edvinsson scored goals, and James Reimer was excellent in stopping 21 shots for the Wings, who played a gritty, grimy, greasy game against an undermanned Penguins team.

The Wings will conclude an unprecedented slate of 3 games to be played over the course of 3 preseason nights on Thursday, when they head to Toronto to play the Maple Leafs (7 PM EDT on ESPN+/TSN4).

In the interim, we’ll examine the media’s takes on Wednesday night’s win for the 4-and-2 Wings, whose preseason concludes with this weekend’s home-and-home games against the Leafs.

NHL.com posted a succinct recap of the Wings-Pens game:

Continue reading Red Wings-Penguins preseason wrap-up: It wasn’t pretty, but it was an ’emotional game’ and a gritty, muck-and-grind-y win

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in North America:

In the OHL, Andrew Gibson scored a goal, finishing at +2 with 2 shots in the Soo Greyhounds’ 3-2 shootout win over the London Knights;

And in the WHL, Nate Danielson’s Brandon Wheat Kings lost 6-2 to the Swift Current Broncos.

The Detroit Red Wings played their second of three exhibition games to be played over the course of three nights in Pittsburgh Wednesday, winning an ugly, mucky, grind-y 2-1 affair over the Penguins.

This game was really kind of a muck-and-grind mess, and Pittsburgh opened the scoring with a Xavier Ouellet goal at 17:38 of the 1st…

But Detroit would push back and tie the game 5:32 into the 2nd, as Daniel Sprong found the back of the net from Petry and Compher…

And with Alex Nedeljkovic seemingly hexing the Wings, Simon Edvinsson would solve things in the third period:

A pretty Swede goal from Simon Edvinsson! pic.twitter.com/vmIicGfvBi

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 5, 2023

The 1st period began with rather pedestrian hockey for the first couple of minutes. The Penguins’ “B Team” was surprisingly tenacious on the puck, but Detroit’s top two lines and top defensive pairing were dressed, and the Wings slowly but surely generated shots on Alex Nedeljkovic, who was quite good early.

At 4:45, Simon Edvinsson was taken down by Chad Ruhwedel, and the Red Wings went to the game’s first power play.

Continue reading Red Wings-Penguins preseason quick take: Tweetcap of Detroit’s 2-1 win over the Pens

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a notebook article which mostly focuses on Joe Veleno’s attempt to add more offense to his game, but the most noteworthy part of Kulfan’s article is this:

Defenseman Jeff Petry momentarily slipped up when talking about Wings teammate David Perron.

The two were actually teammates before, way back in 2013 with Edmonton. Yes, a decade ago.

“I’m dating myself,” said Petry, who is 35 (so is Perron).

Petry has been through many training camps and preseasons. The one thing he finds vital to get out of them is playing some games to get comfortable on the ice with his teammates and system the team plays.

“As much as you can get done in practice, those reps against a different opponent that doesn’t necessarily know the system as well as the guys on your team, it’s good to put everything in place,” Petry said. “It’s important to get those game reps. It’s what you need to work on to get better and just work on the system differences from one team to another.

“No matter how much you skate over the summer and do things in practice, getting in those battles again and competing against somebody that is not on your team, you just can’t replicate those game reps.”

Continued; before they called getting repetition of game situations “reps,” shifts “reps,” and playing time “reps,” the idea was that you have to play to shake off rust.

The Hockey News’s Jason Chen kicks off the 2023-2024 season’s power rankings with a slate of late preseason rankings, and the Red Wings sit in “prove it” territory:

22. Detroit Red Wings (35-37-10, -39. CF%: 26, xGF%: 26)

Key addition: Alex DeBrincat, and just about every middle-six forward and bottom-pairing defenseman who was available in free agency. GM Steve Yzerman is trying to spend his way out of a team that’s been stagnant, and another disappointing season and the Yzerplan is in danger of being Yzerscrapped.

Continued; that’s an Yzerignorant thing to Yzersay.

It’s not Pig Latin, either.