The Free Press’s Helene St. James wrote a subscriber-only article this morning, discussing five “top questions” which the Red Wings face heading into training camp. Among them:

Seider time: The other SHL alumnus is defenseman Moritz Seider, the sixth pick in 2019. Seider had a terrific 2020-21 season — he was loaned to Rögle, and played so well he was named defenseman of the year. Seider, 20, recorded seven goals and 21 assists in 41 games, followed by five points in 13 playoff games. He contributed five assists in 10 games for his native Germany at the World Championships. He’s a lock to make the Wings — the question is how many minutes he can handle, and whether he plays both special teams. At the very least he should be running one of the power play units.

The letter A: The Wings lost their alternate captains when Luke Glendening signed with the Dallas Stars in free agency and Frans Nielsen was bought out. Veteran defenseman Marc Staal wore an A at times last season, and served as an alternate with the New York Rangers for a decade. Veteran forward Sam Gagner is also an option; like Staal, he’s great in the locker room and an excellent role model for the young players. Veteran defenseman Danny DeKeyser could also be a fit. The Wings could opt to have three alternates and rotate one of the ‘A’s’, like Nielsen and Larkin did in 2019-20.

Continued (paywall)

Among Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen’s “5 Takeaways” from the Red Wings’ 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the prospect tournament:

Defenseman Donovan Sebrango, a third round pick in 2020, just keeps forcing the Red Wings to view him as being part of their rebuild. Last season, the Red Wings gave him a tryout contract in Grand Rapids because the Ontario Hockey League wasn’t playing because of Covid-19. He rose to the level of American League competition and became a valuable player on the Griffins.

At the NHL Prospects Tournament, he’s been solid and dependable in his first two games. And when the Blues were pushing the Red Wing around, it was Sebrango who stood up for his teammates by fighting Brayden Guy.

“He’s a hard-nosed defenseman,” Veleno said. “…He impressed me with the fight.”

Continued; Sebrango is far too young to know what “Wango Tango” means, but I think that’s a fine nickname for him.

Oh, man, this was a frustrating one.

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects dropped a 5-2 decision to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night, and it was a difficult night all around for the Red Wings’ youngsters, who stand at 1-and-1 going into tomorrow’s tournament finale opposite the Columbus Blue Jackets (6 PM EDT on the Red Wings’ YouTube channel).

Despite Lucas Raymond’s pair of goals, Sebastian Cossa, perhaps as expected, had a bit of a bumpy outing as the big, mean and talented Blues pounded upon the Wings from the opening faceoff, and the Blues built up a 3-1 first-period lead that they would never relinquish as Cossa found his sea legs.

Things got worse for the Wings in the injury department as Jonatan Berggren and Patrick Curry took heavy hits and left the ice in pain, with Berggren finishing out the first period and then sitting out the rest of the game. Joe Veleno at least told the media that he was going to speak with Berggren post-game, but coach Ben Simon had no updates on the prized center…

Continue reading Impressions from the Red Wings’ 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the 2021 prospect tournament →

The Detroit Red Wings lost a hard one, dropping a 5-2 decision to the St. Louis Blues at the Red Wings’ 2021 prospect tournament on Saturday night.

The Wings also lost Jonatan Berggren to injury after he took a hard hit behind the Blues’ net in the first period. He got up funny, finished the period, but did not return.

Sebastian Cossa gave up 5 goals on 30 shots against; Lucas Raymond (unassisted, and from Joe Veleno and Jared McIsaac) scored for Detroit.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a profile of Red Wings prospect and Grand Rapids Griffins center Chase Pearson, noting that Pearson has a “sounding board” in his father, long-time NHL’er Rob Pearson:

Every so often amidst the heat of action, a figurative light bulb will go on over Chase Pearson’s head. A moment he’s been drilled for is unfolding and thanks to the experienced advice of his father, Pearson’s preparedness enables him to deal with the matter at hand.

“Yeah, he’s pointed quite a few things out,” notes Detroit Red Wings center prospect Pearson, the son of former NHL forward Scott Pearson. I won’t go into specifics, but there are times, maybe in a shift, where a play comes along and I go, ‘He told me this might happen.’

“Every game is different but that’s happened a few times. It’s almost an ‘Ah ha!’ moment if you will.”

When people utter the expression “been there, done that,” this is what they mean.

Continued

Of prospect-related note from Europe today:

In the Swedish J20 league, William Wallinder didn’t register a point in Rogle BK’s 7-3 win over Farjestad, but he finished at +1 with 3 shots;

In the SHL, Albert Johansson had an assist, 2 shots and finished at -1 in 15:51 played as Farjestads BK won 5-3 over the Malmo Redhawks. Jesper Eliasson backed up starter Henrik Haukeland.

IceHockeyGifs snagged Johansson’s assist…as well as some discussion of Johansson’s potential…

Albert Johansson picks up his first point of the season in Färjestad’s second game, assisting on the 1-0 goal early in the 1st period. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/lneQRpCp8J

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 18, 2021

Sanny Lindström and Staffan Kronwall break down some of Albert Johansson’s strength and weaknesses ahead of today’s game. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/CoNn2XAY6j

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) September 18, 2021

Elmer Soderblom scored the game-winning goal, finishing at +1 in 8:32 played as Frolunda HC won 2-1 over Lulea Hockey.

Simon Edvinsson had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots in 15:32 played, and Theodor Niederbach finished at +1 with 1 shot in 8:34 played.

As you might imagine, IceHockeyGifs had some clips from the game:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Frolunda trio connects for a goal; Johansson, Kivenmaki post assists in SHL, Liiga →

From the Red Wings, regarding tonight’s game vs. the St. Louis Blues (7 PM EDT on The Red Wings’ YouTube channel):

So, for the Red Wings, that’s:

Forwards:

Lucas Raymond–Joe Veleno–Jonatan Berggren

Cross Hanas–Chase Pearson–Kirill Tyutyayev

Patrik Curry–Pasquale Zito–Cameron Butler

Luke Toporowski–Cooper Walker–T-Bone Codd

Defense

Jared McIsaac–Alex Cotton

Donovan Sebrango–Mason Ward

Adam Brubacher–Oscar Plandowski

Goaltenders:

Sebastian Cossa

Jan Bednar

Good stuff from NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz here:

Best-Case Scenario: This still is not going to be a playoff team. Not with that roster. Not in this division. But they can take some steps. The ideal situation for the Red Wings this season is that Nedeljkovic proves he can be a consistent starting goalie in the NHL and they see significant progress from players like Filip Zadina, Filip Hronek, Jakub Vrana, and Seider. The playoffs are still an unrealistic expectation right now, but this many years into a rebuild there should be some progress toward that.

Worst-Case Scenario: It would be a lack of progress and another finish near the bottom the league standings. This still is not a particularly deep roster but there are some players that need to start establishing themselves as core building blocks. The worst case scenario would be a lack of progress on that front. It would be Nedeljkovic failing in his new role, Zadina not progressing, Vrana not playing like he did after the trade last year, and all of it adding up to another awful year in the standings.

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects will take on the St. Louis Blues’ prospects tonight at 7 PM EDT (to be streamed on the Red Wings’ YouTube channel), and ahead of a 2-games-in-2-nights schedule, Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon chose to take an efficient, energy saving route this morning:

Today’s morning skate lasted all of 20 minutes, from 10:01 AM until 10:31 AM, pre-practice and post-practice stretching included. The players engaged in a brief but spirited set of drills, emphasizing efficient puck movement through the neutral zone, retrieving dump-ins and breaking out with the puck.

There were also some situational power play-vs-penalty-killing drills, maximizing the brief window with which Simon and fellow Griffins coaches Mike Knuble, Todd Krygier and Matt MacDonald had to reinforce fundamentals of play. Everything was done crisply and sharply, with a heavy emphasis on game-level pace.

In terms of the goaltenders, Sebastian Cossa had his own net to work in this morning, indicating that he will start tonight’s game, and that means Jan Bednar will likely start vs. Columbus on Sunday (6 PM ET start).

Continue reading Red Wings prospect tournament, Day 3: Morning skate report →

The Detroit Red Wings will air tonight’s prospect tournament game vs. the St. Louis Blues on YouTube. If you can’t watch it via the embed code, head to their YouTube page.