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Of prospect-related note in Europe this afternoon:

In the SHL, Mathias Brome had a goal and an assist, finishing at -1 with 1 shot in 16:59 played as Orebro Hockey won 5-2 over Farjestads BK. Farjestad played without Albert Johansson.

Here are Brome’s assist and goal, respectively:

Linus Öberg gör 2-0 till Örebro. #SHL #OrebroHK #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/3UVVgzrQj1

— Anton (@antonj85) December 13, 2020

Mathias Bromé gör mål för Örebro. #SHL #OrebroHK #LGRW #RedWings pic.twitter.com/8f2uVgoyRM

— Anton (@antonj85) December 13, 2020

In the ICE Hockey League, Jesper Eliasson served as the back-up as his Red Bulls Salzburg lost 4-1 to Calvin Pickard’s Vienna Capitals;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Vasteras IK won 6-2 over Vasby IK without Gustav Berglund;

In the Czech Extraliga, Filip Hronek had 2 assists, finshing at +2 with 4 shots in 24:38 played as Mountfield HK won 5-2 over Madeta Motor Ceske Budejovice;

Filip Zadina finished at -1 with 1 shot and 1 penalty taken in 16:39 played as HC Ocelari Trinec won 3-1 over HC Kometa Brno;

Later today, in the USHL, Chase Bradley’s Sioux City Musketeers will battle Omaha;

In NCAA Hockey, Patrick Holway and Merrimack will tangle with Northeastern;

Cooper Moore and the University of North Dakota will battle St. Cloud State;

And Ryan O’Reilly and Arizona State University will tangle with Penn State.

Update: Chase Bradley’s Sioux City Musketeers had their game vs. Omaha postponed;

In NCAA Hockey, Patrick Holway had 2 assists, finishing at -1 with 2 blocked shots in the Merrimack College Warriors’ 6-3 loss to Northeastern;

Seth Barton had an assist and a penalty, finishing at -1 in the UMass-Lowell River Hawks’ 4-2 loss to Providence College. Jack Adams didn’t play for Providence;

Cooper Moore finished even with 1 blocked shot in the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ 6-3 win over Western Michigan;

Ryan O’Reilly finished at +1 with 3 shots in the University of Arizona Sun Devils’ 5-4 overtime loss to Penn State.

Ahead of the Quinnipiac Bobcats’ 2020-2021 season, Q30 TV’s Tom Krosnowski posted a profile of Red Wings prospect and current Quinnipiac starter Keith Petruzzelli:

Last year, with the crease all his, Petruzzelli thrived, finally cashing in on the potential that had surrounded him since his draft year. He was named Quinnipiac’s Most Valuable Player after starting all 34 games, winning ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors three times, establishing career-bests in goals-against average (2.01), save percentage (.920), wins (21), and tying a career-high with three shutouts.

Petruzzelli was an absolute workhorse for QU and was no worse for wear as the season went along. In fact, he got better with more work. He went 7-2-1 over the final 10 games of the season with a 1.40 GAA, .943 save percentage and two shutouts over that span. Going into the playoffs, he was Quinnipiac’s best and most important player.

Petruzzelli wasn’t done many favors by Quinnipiac’s defense at times last year. The inexperienced group turned the puck over plenty, forcing Petruzzelli to bail them out with highlight-reel saves.

While it was good for his confidence, a more steady path to success for Quinnipiac involves less rubber thrown at Petruzzelli’s crease. The new recruits on defense should help with that.

Petruzzelli’s Quinnipiac career was put on pause right at what was sure to be its defining moment – his third-year playoff run. Instead, Petruzzelli will have to pick up where he left off as he tries to go out as a Bobcat on top.

Continued

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted answers to two reader questions in a mailbag feature, including answering why GM Steve Yzerman has kept Jeff Blashill on as the Red Wings’ coach, as well as discussing Blashill’s future:

As for the second part of the question: Blashill is on the hot seat. He is entering the last year of his contract and will be in charge of an improved roster.

Yzerman has made multiple changes, bringing in forwards Vladislav Namestnikov and Bobby Ryan, defensemen Marc Staal, Jon Merrill and Troy Stecher, and goaltender Thomas Greiss. With the caveat that injuries can change things, the perception is the Wings can put together three scoring lines, solid defensive pairs, and have two goaltenders who’ll give them a chance to win.

They don’t look like a playoff team, but they will be expected to be more competitive.

Continued

Red Wings prospect Cooper Moore has just embarked upon his freshman season at the University of North Dakota, but the defenseman is currently playing “pod hockey” in Omaha, Nebraska, and he spoke about his experiences “in the pod” with the Grand Forks Herald’s Brad Elliott Schlossman:

Q. How does it feel to be getting in your first college games?

A. It’s pretty awesome. It’s something I’ve always looked forward to and dreamed of doing, so it’s pretty cool to kind of start playing my first games. I think the coaches have done a pretty good job of easing me into it and getting me going and getting my confidence. I’m pretty excited to continue going and playing.

Q. Do you feel more confident yet?

A. Obviously, the first couple games, I’m going to be a little nervous. I’m kind of starting to feel the league out. I think as I keep playing, I’m getting a bit more comfortable and gaining confidence. It’s growing and getting better every game. It’s going to be really important for me.

Q. You carried a puck all the way to the goal line and almost scored Thursday against Minnesota Duluth. What happened on that play?

A. I saw Gavin Hain coming up the wall and I thought I could go back door and find a seam. He made a really good play to me. I tried to cut across the crease and go five-hole. The goalie got his stick on it and made a pretty good play.

Continued

Updated at 1:43 AM: Of prospect-related note:

In Belarus, Kirill Tyutyayev finished at +2 with 1 shot in Yunost Minsk’s 4-3 overtime loss to Lokomotiv-Orsha;

In the ICE Hockey League, Calvin Pickard stopped 18 of 20 shots in the Vienna Capitals’ 3-2 shootout win over HCB Foxes;

Michael Rasmussen scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 4 shots in the Graz99ers’ 5-4 loss to Fehervahr AV19;

In the SHL, Matias Brome finished even with 1 shot in 17:50 played as Orebro Hockey won 4-2 over HV71;

Continue reading Prospect Round-Up: Pickard wins in ICE HL; Rasmussen, Veleno score goals; Seider picks up a helper

Per TSN and MLive’s Ansar Khan, the World Junior Championship-participating teams named their rosters (albeit extended rosters in some cases), and seven Red Wings are on the preliminary lists:

Sweden: Lucas Raymond, Theodor Niederbach, Elmer Soderblom (currently sidelined with a foot injury), Albert Johansson, Gustav Berglund;

Finland: Eemil Viro;

Czech Republic: Jan Bednar.

It should be noted, per the IIHF’s website, the Czech Roster is still an “extended roster.” The Swedes made their final cuts on Saturday, however, so all five Wings made their 25-man roster.

Hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin wrote a lengthy article discussing Red Wings signing Matias Brome’s decision to remain with Orebro Hockey of the SHL while awaiting his rookie NHL season. What follows is a roughly-translated version of Bodin’s article:

More than halved his salary: “I wanted to show my appreciation”

Mathias Brome left money on the table to stay in Orebro

Mathias Brome’s time with Orebro is running out. With the NHL season on the horizon, it’s only a matter of time before he leaves the SHL. He will leave behind not only a big void as a player, but also a financial gesture that’s been important to his team.

“I went down quite a bit in terms of my salary,” the forward says to Hockeysverige.se.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Mathias Brome discusses his SHL-NHL status with Hockeysverige.se

The Free Press’s Ryan Ford posted a column in which he discusses four theoretically possible division alignments for the 2020-2021 season:

The ‘Original 8’

The idea: The NHL loves playing tribute to the “Original Six,” and games between them just feel a little more special (especially when Leafs fans who couldn’t get a ticket in Toronto flood downtown Detroit for a weekend visit). So let’s put them all in a division. Oh … except for the two in Canada. Still, four of the 1967 expansion teams — the “Second Six — are still in their original cities. That’s enough history for one division. Next, we’ll take the Stars, a ’67 team which relocated to Dallas in the ’90s, and the seven U.S. teams that joined the league from 1970-79. Boom, another division. That leaves us with eight U.S. teams which joined the league from 1991 on.  Boom. That gives us:

Original 8 Division: Boston, Chicago, Detroit, N.Y Rangers, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis.

That ’70s Division: Arizona, Buffalo, Dallas, Carolina, Colorado, New Jersey, Washington, N.Y. Islanders.

Bettman Division: San Jose, Tampa Bay, Florida, Anaheim, Nashville, Minnesota, Columbus, Vegas.

How it shakes out: OK, the ’70s division is a little light on star power, though it’s got a former MVP in Buffalo (Taylor Hall), a Stanley Cup finalist (Dallas) and the 2018 Cup winners (Washington, featuring Alex Ovechkin). And yeah, the Red Wings might be a bit overmatched in their division, featuring six 2020 playoff teams, but if we let the Wings’ chances of winning be a concern, we’re going to be here a while. There’s only two Cups in the third division — and both of those belong to Tampa Bay — but hey, we gotta make commissioner Gary Bettman happy, and most of these teams are his babies.

Ford continues (paywall)…

This is not a surprise, per the Wings’ PR department:

RED WINGS TRADE RIGHTS TO TIMASHOV TO ISLANDERS FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS … Winger Skated in Five Games with Detroit in 2019-20

…DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today traded the rights to left wing Dmytro Timashov to the New York Islanders in exchange for future considerations.
Timashov, 24, appeared in five games with the Red Wings in 2019-20 after the team claimed him off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 24. In 44 career NHL games between Detroit and Toronto, the 5-foot-10, 192-pound forward has totaled nine points (4-5-9) and 16 penalty minutes. Originally a fifth-round pick (125th overall) of the Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Timashov won a Calder Cup championship in 2018 with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, notching 107 points (38-69-107) and 117 penalty minutes in 202 games with the team from 2016-19. Prior to turning professional, the Kirovograd, Ukraine, native racked up 175 points (41-134-175) and 133 penalty minutes in 123 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League games with the Quebec Remparts and Shawinigan Cataractes from 2014-16. 

Red Wings beat writer Ted Kulfan discusses the impact of the NHL’s economic issues on the Wings and their ownership, and he interviews former NHL referee Paul Stewart (who is no fan of Steve Yzerman) over the course of the Detroit News’s latest OctoPulse podcast: