Three things from the Wings: KH on the NHL Tonight, plus a prospect tournament video and a profile of Kaden Fulcher

Of Red Wings-related note from the Wings’ website and Twitter account:

  1. Red Wings GM Ken Holland appeared on, “The NHL Tonight” yesterday to talk about the Wings’ prospects, and here’s the Twitter video thereof:


2. The Wings also posted a video highlighting morning skate remarks from the prospect camp up here in Traverse City…

3. And DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner and Dana Wakiji penned a profile of goaltender Kaden Fulcher:

Continue reading Three things from the Wings: KH on the NHL Tonight, plus a prospect tournament video and a profile of Kaden Fulcher

Impressions from Saturday’s morning skate at the Red Wings’ prospect tournament ’18

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects engaged in a short but spirited morning skate ahead of tonight’s game against the Dallas Stars’ prospects (7:00 PM on FSD GO and DetroitRedWings.com).

Kaden Fulcher will start this evening, and Vili Saarijarvi is good to go despite missing the third period of last night’s game with cramps.

Coach Ben Simon suggested that the Texas Stars play a speedy, high-scoring game, so ahead of tonight’s tilt, Simon made sure that his players spent the majority of their 25-minute morning skate working on attacking the net, moving the puck with pace in all situations and skating hard and fast.

While the almost-full complement of players participated in their morning skate, a couple of players looked be distracted, if not plain old tired as they embraced the grind of playing until 10 PM, not getting back to the hotel till 11 and having to get up early to head to the rink. As such, here are my player impressions:

Continue reading Impressions from Saturday’s morning skate at the Red Wings’ prospect tournament ’18

Audio from Saturday’s morning skate at the Wings prospect tournament ’18

Of brief audio-related note from the Red Wings’ pre-game skate ahead of tonight’s game vs. Dallas at the Wings’ prospect tournament:

    1. Kaden Fulcher spoke with myself and DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner, speaking fairly in-depth regarding his approach to starting tonight’s must-win game for the 0-and-1 Wings, addressing the lessons he learned from last year’s OHL title and Memorial Cup appearance with the Hamilton Bulldogs, and he was kind enough to continue chatting as the Wings’ equipment staff placed a brand new set of Vaughn pads at his feet:

Continue reading Audio from Saturday’s morning skate at the Wings prospect tournament ’18

Quickie updates from Saturday’s morning skate at the Wings’ prospect tournament ’18

The Detroit Red Wings (0-and-1) face a near-must-win situation when they play the Dallas Stars’ prospects this evening at Centre ICE Arena (7:00 PM on FSD GO and DetroitRedWings.com).

The Wings prospects’ engaged in a spirited morning skate today, and Vili Saarijarvi (cramps) will play tonight, as will Kaden Fulcher, who has a brand-new set of Vaughn pads to consider using as the mail came early today…

The internet’s not good at the rink right now, so I’ll post audio from the morning skate when I get back to my hotel.

Red Wings post video of Ken Kal’s interview with Ken Holland

The Red Wings have posted a video of Ken Kal’s 13-minute interview with Red Wings GM Ken Holland, which occurred during last night’s Wings-Wild prospect tournament game:

 

Three things: Two prospect tournament articles and a Wings ‘community tour’ press release

Of Red Wings-related note early on a Saturday morning:

  1. The Traverse City Record-Eagle’s Jake Atnip spoke with Red Wings prospect Dennis Cholowski and Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon regarding the expectations for Cholowski at the prospect tournament:

“This tournament gives you confidence,” the Canadian defenseman said. “Being around all of these guys and playing a few games gets you ready for training camp.

“This hockey is really good hockey. It definitely gets you ready. The NHL preseason games are not going to be much different from this hockey. If you are able to come out here and play well it gives you a lot of confidence rolling into the preseason.”

Cholowski participated in the NHL Prospect Tournament last year and sees it as an opportunity to head into training camp trending in the right direction. His new coach agrees.

“It is important for them to get to know me a little bit and get off on the right foot,” first-year Griffins head coach Ben Simon said. “Good habits, practice habits and leaving a good impression. They want to leave a good impression with the NHL team first and foremost. Then throughout that process if they leave an impression with Detroit it will obviously reflect well with me as well.”

2. Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff spoke with Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin regarding the tournament and the Wings’ top prospects taking part in said event:

Continue reading Three things: Two prospect tournament articles and a Wings ‘community tour’ press release

Wings and Wild recaps of Friday’s 4-2 loss at the prospect tournament ’18

I’ve weighed in on the Red Wings prospects‘ 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild at the prospect tournament on Friday night, and here are the official takes, per MinnesotaWild.com’s Dan Myers…

Minnesota overcame a massive disparity in the power play column; the Wild had just one power play to the Red Wings’ seven at one point in the third period. But thanks to its tremendous kill, led by goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, Minnesota was able to weather the storm.

Overall, the Wild killed seven of Detroit’s eight power play chances. The only goal against came off the stick of 2018 sixth-overall pick Filip Zadina on a one-timer from the right circle that nobody in the world was stopping.

Kahkonen, who is expected to battle for regular time in Iowa this season, made 28 saves.

“You always need to have good goaltending to have good penalty killing,” said Iowa coach Tim Army. “The penalty killing units were great. They really dug in.”

Myers continues, and DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji picks up the story from there via a “trending” recap:

Filip Zadina: Zadina’s shot is a known commodity and he used it effectively, scoring just 10 seconds into the Wings’ fourth power play at 18:45 of the first period. The goal tied the game at 1. Zadina had other opportunities on the power play as the Wild took several penalties during the game but he was not able to convert again.

Quotable: “It was pretty good situation on the ice. Cholo passed me the puck well and I hit it and I scored. It was good, but we lost, so I’m kind of disappointed with myself that I didn’t have more on the ice but we got to be ready for tomorrow’s game.” – Zadina

Quotable II: “He’s a pure goal-scorer. I played with him all last year, I think I’m pretty well used to seeing that by now. I think that’s what everyone expects of him. He’s got a lethal shot and when he’s able to get away, it’s the velocity on it is pretty good.” – [Jared] McIsaac

Quotable III: “Overall I thought he played very well. The expectations for him are so high, we’re holding him to a high standard, so it’s going to be tough for him to fulfill that every day. But obviously his goal was a nice shot. He wants the puck, he wants to compete and that’s one thing you notice right away is that he cares, he competes. There’s some things that he’s got to get out of his system a little bit moving forward but overall, I thought he settled in as the game went on nicely.” – Ben Simon, Grand Rapids Griffins head coach

Wakiji also continues, and the Wings posted some post-game videos on Twitter:


 

Impressions from the Red Wings’ 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild at the prospect tournament ’18

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects dropped a 4-2 decision to the Minnesota Wild’s prospects on Friday night in Traverse City.

As a result, the Wings will focus on Saturday’s game against the Dallas Stars’ prospects (7 PM EDT on FSD GO and the Wings’ website) as a must-win affair.

All was not lost on Friday, despite the Wings going 1-for-8 on the power play and surrendering 35 shots to an opportunistic Wild team; as stated in the audio post, the Wings received strong performances from their stars, with Filip Zadina scoring a trademark one-timer goal, Dennis Cholowski and Joe Veleno registering 2 assists apiece, Jared McIsaac scoring and Patrik Rybar stopping 32 of 34 shots in his North American debut.

Continue reading Impressions from the Red Wings’ 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild at the prospect tournament ’18

Audio from the Red Wings prospects’ 4-2 loss to Minnesota at the prospect tournament ’18

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects were just a little too fancy and just a little too fine on Friday night, going 1-for-8 on the power play and losing 4-2 to the Minnesota Wild’s prospects.

The Wings started strong and their top players were good-to-great, but the Wings’ prospects seemed to be missing a little cohesion and a lot of net-front drive, and between getting out of flow due to the 12 special teams situations (8 PP’s and 4 PK’s) and the loss of Vili Saarijarvi (undisclosed) for the third period, the Wings were just unnerved enough to be kept on their heels by an opportunistic Wild team.

Continue reading Audio from the Red Wings prospects’ 4-2 loss to Minnesota at the prospect tournament ’18

Frk hopes to find a spot on the Wings’ forward lines (again)

According to the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan, Martin Frk aims to earn a roster spot for the second straight season as Frk finds himself among stiff competition for one of the last spots on the Wings’ forward lines:

“I have to show them I deserve to be here,” said Frk on Friday, after another informal team workout. “I worked real hard in the summer to make sure I’m ready for this season. I was kind of in this spot last year. I had to come in here and earn a spot, and I stayed the whole year.

“I don’t think I have a spot here. I have to work real hard for it and make sure I show them I can play here. I want to do everything I can for it to make sure I start the season here.”

The fact Henrik Zetterberg (back) will not start the season — Zetterberg’s career could be in jeopardy — gives Frk a better chance of landing a roster spot that is suddenly open.

But forwards Evgeny Svechnikov and Dominic Turgeon are looking for NHL jobs. Then there is Luke Witkowski, who is a versatile player and can play either forward or defense. He’s also the team’s physical presence and Witkowski’s spot is uncertain.

Continued