Griffins eye playoff push as McCollum takes the reins in goal

The Grand Rapids Griffins open a 3-game home stand tonight against the Chicago Wolves in about 20 minutes, so here’s the Griffins’ Game Day Preview video a little late…

And WOOD TV spoke with the Griffins regarding their playoff push:

 

Articles from practice: Wings talk about ‘business as usual,’ bidding teammates farewell; Mantha learning net-front role; praise for Green; Vollman on the Wings’ rebuild

By the time that the Red Wings wrap up their latest stretch of 3 games to be played over the course of 4 nights, their roster may be markedly different from the one they iced a week ago.

After today’s optional practice, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill insisted that his message to the personnel at his disposal will not change, as he told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

“For the most part we’re going to go business as usual; that’s our job,” Blashill said. “Our job is not worry about speculation. I don’t live in a speculation world. I deal with facts, and I know the team I have available to me. That can always change. I spent three years in the minors, and it changed all the time for various reasons. But we’re able to compartmentalize and focus on the task at hand.”

Blashill is kept abreast of any possible player movement by general manager Ken Holland — a perfect example being early this week when goaltender Petr Mrazek was traded to Philadelphia.

Holland is mindful, Blashill said, of the job of a coach.

“He has the respect of anybody who has ever worked with him for 30-plus years,” Blashill said. “He has great respect in the hockey world because of the type of manager and person he is. He understands both sides of it. We have a job to do, and our job is to win hockey games and his job is manage for tomorrow and the future. I respect what his job is and he what my job is, and we go about our business.”

[edit/update: Here’s more from Blashill via Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff:

“I’ll have conversations with guys that are in that spot or in that rumor mill or in that position where they could potentially be a guy that might get traded, just make sure they’re doing all right,” Blashill said. “Last year, (Thomas) Vanek was definitely one, Smitty (Brendan Smith), where you just have conversations to make sure they’re doing OK at that point, especially if I see a guy struggling a little bit mentally.

“The one part I think gets forgotten about because they’re professional athletes is the human side of it, and it’s hard.”

/end edit]

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a clip of Blashill speaking with the media after Wednesday’s practice (the clip isn’t working presently 🙁 ), as did the Detroit News’s Kulfan…

Continue reading Articles from practice: Wings talk about ‘business as usual,’ bidding teammates farewell; Mantha learning net-front role; praise for Green; Vollman on the Wings’ rebuild

Kulfan: Mike Green still day-to-day with ‘upper-body injury’

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan updates Mike Green’s status ahead of tomorrow night’s game against Buffalo:

Defenseman Mike Green (upper body) remains a question mark for Thursday’s game against Buffalo.

 Green has missed the last three games, though he has skated this week and was optimistic he’d be in the lineup against the Sabres.
“I’ll know that answer (Thursday),” [coach Jeff] Blashill said of Green’s availability.
Green is the most likely Red Wings player to be dealt before Monday’s deadline. He’s a potential unrestricted free agent July 1, and has several teams extremely interested in him as a rental acquisition.

Blashill feels there’s no extra concern about playing, or not playing, Green with the deadline days away.

“Not for me, not for him,” Blashill said. “We’re in a business of trying to win hockey games, he’s in business to be the best player he can be, so for me and him the focus is 100 percent on winning a game against Buffalo.”

Continued

After the ‘optional’ practice…Mantha talks about hitting 20 goals, and the Wings and beat writers talk energy management

The Red Wings held an optional practice at Little Caesars Arena ahead of Thursday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, and after practice ended, the Red Wings’ players and coach spoke with the assembled media.

The Red Wings posted a clip of Anthony Mantha discussing several topics…

Coach Blashill also spoke with the media about his team’s rough stretch of scheduling…

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan also posted some Tweets of note…

Continue reading After the ‘optional’ practice…Mantha talks about hitting 20 goals, and the Wings and beat writers talk energy management

Freep: Tickets on sale for April 11th premiere of The Russian Five movie

From the Detroit Free Press, on Twitter:

 

Fox Sports Detroit chronicles Darren Eliot’s Olympic memories

Fox Sports Detroit did a lovely job of producing 3 videos in which Wings broadcaster Darren Eliot recalls his experiences at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, where Eliot competed for Team Canada:

 

 

Tweets from practice: Wings ‘take an optional’ ahead of 3 games in 4 nights

From DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji and the Free Press’s Helene St. James comes news that the Wings are “holding an optional” today:

The Red Wings said, “Hello”…

Continue reading Tweets from practice: Wings ‘take an optional’ ahead of 3 games in 4 nights

The Athletic on Tatar’s ‘fit’ with Nashville

The Athletic’s Max Bultman penned an article discussing Tomas Tatar’s possible fit with the Nashville Predators. FYI:

Just based on their general comments on the Detroit winger, it’s an interesting thought experiment to picture him joining the defending Western Conference champions. Nashville has a need for scoring on the wing, has a GM with a history of being active at the trade deadline and team poised to win. The preference may be for a winger like the New York Rangers’ Rick Nash, who is a pure rental, but Tatar certainly made his case on Tuesday. And according to The Athletic’s Craig Custance, the price tag is going to be in the same ballpark, with the Red Wings looking for a first-round pick and “A” prospect to move Tatar.

“He’s a really talented player,” said Predators center Ryan Johansen. “Competes really hard on the puck. He actually reminds me quite a bit of (Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson), who has been my linemate for a couple years now. He’s kind of a relentless player, so he’s a guy you’ve always gotta be aware of on the ice and try and manage him as best as possible.”

Continued (paywall)

HSJ on the Wings’ trade candidates include Athanasiou

The Free Press’s Helene St. James penned an article discussing the Red Wings’ probable trade deadline candidates, and she included a surprising player:

Forward Andreas Athanasiou

2017-18 stats:11 goals, 15 assists for 26 points in 48 games.

Why he might be traded:​​​​​​​ Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to Nashville saw Athanasiou score on a breakaway, battle down low to set up another goal, hit the net on another scoring chance. He’s a gifted skater with excellent hands. Inconsistency is a problem, though – he had just three assists in the 13 games prior to Tuesday, despite average 15 minutes 30 seconds per game. He’s got too elite of a skill set to go long stretches between standing out. If a really good offer materializes, either now or in the summer, such as for a high-end defense prospect, he could be ideal trade chip. Athanasiou is restricted at the end of the season, but he’s got arbitration rights this time around and the Wings have the right to pick a one- or two-year deal, so it won’t get ugly like last summer when he held out to start the season.

Continued

More talk about Mrazek and the direction of the team

The Oakland Press’s Pat Caputo suggests that the Red Wings and their fans have “nothing to celebrate” about trading Petr Mrazek away for two conditional picks. If I may be blunt, I don’t believe that anyone was celebrating a deal that essentially got rid of a goaltender for a very middling return:

The glass half-full theory is at least the Red Wings’ vets are character players, who could help with the development of younger players such as recent first-round picks Svechnikov, quickly-improving defenseman Dennis Cholowski and power forward Michael Rasmussen.

If anybody tells you, this is ideal and inevitable, they are not being truthful.

Holland and the Red Wings made their own bed with many mistakes. It’s not as simple as it catching up to all teams in the parity-driven NHL.

Trades like the one of Mrazek are not something to celebrate. But being on the road to nowhere isn’t, either.

It’s about time the Red Wings pull their head out of the sand and understand the only path out is the rocky one.

If the Red Wings had kept going in the same direction, they were going to be flying off a cliff.

Caputo continues, examining the Wings’ possible draft targets and duly noting that the Wings’ goaltending prospects are not extraordinary (though all of Keith Petruzzelli, Filip Larsson, Joren van Pottelberghe, Matej Machovsky, Kaden Fulcher and Chase Perry are still developing).

As for the direction of the team, I know that some Wings fans feel that Detroit went off a cliff a long time ago. No matter where the Wings find themselves today, I definitely believe that they have to climb the standings via a couple years’ worth of affording their top prospects bigger roles on the team, even if that involves some pain as the youngsters learn how to play at the NHL level.

While we’re at it, USA Today’s Kevin Allen has filed a set of trade “rationales,” and Allen duly notes that the Red Wings were not going to qualify Mrazek–so it could be argued that the Wings maximized their return on a player Ken Holland readily admitted that the team would not re-sign:

Feb. 19: Red Wings trade Petr Mrazek to Flyers for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2018 and conditional third-round pick in 2019

Rationale: The Flyers are third in the Metropolitan Division, now with both of their goalies injured. They were desperate for an NHL-caliber netminder, and Mrazek, while inconsistent, has flashed high-end potential. Mrazek ($4 million) is set to be a restricted free agent this offseason; the Red Wings got something for an asset they might’ve lost for nothing.