The Athletic surveys Wings, Griffins regarding Jan Mursak’s Olympic success

The Athletic’s Max Bultman asked Slovenian Olympic hockey forward Jan Mursak’s former Red Wings and Griffins teammates to weigh in on Mursak’s Olympic success (Mursak scored 2 goals as Slovenia upset Team USA 3-2 on Wednesday):

Mursak, 30, spent time between Grand Rapids and Detroit from 2007 to 2013 (though he spent the 2007-08 season in the OHL), including winning the Calder Cup with the Griffins in 2013. He was second on the team in both goals (11) and points (17) in those playoffs, behind only Tatar.

If Red Wings fans have foggy memories of Mursak, they could be forgiven. His NHL totals include just 46 games and two goals.

But that’s part of what makes his showing on Wednesday special. NHL players have made no bones about their desire to be playing in these Olympics, but with them back in North America, there’s more spotlight for someone like Mursak — now in the Swedish Hockey League — to shine on the world stage.

That’s not to say he wouldn’t have been on Team Slovenia regardless — he is one of two Slovenian-born players to play in the NHL — but the lack of traditional star power helped open the window for this sort of moment. Slovenia may not have been in position to even tie the U.S. with NHL inclusion.

“There’s positives either way,” said Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, who coached Mursak in Grand Rapids. “You can debate what you prefer, and I get that, but … today’s a moment for Jan Mursak, who might not have got that moment.”

Continued

Wings, Warrior Hockey help the Motor City Stars with new gear

The Red Wings’ Warrior Hockey gear-wearing players gave new Warrior gear to the Motor City Stars hockey team (a team for players with disabilities) as part of Hockey Is For Everyone month, as chronicled by WXYZ…

And Michigan Hockey:

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner also penned an article about the event:

In conjunction with the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association, the Red Wings launched their numerous activities celebrating Hockey is for Everyone Month on Wednesday by hosting the Stars players, their parents, family, friends and coaching staff to a day they’ll never forget at the BELFOR Training Center.

The festivities began with the Stars watching the Wings practice and culminated with the team skating on the practice ice where many of the players showed off their on-ice skills.

But it was what occurred between the Wings practice and the Stars’ on-ice experience that made everyone’s day.

Several of the Red Wings met with the Stars, including captain Henrik Zetterberg and Hockey is for Everyone ambassador Justin Abdelkader.

As the players were awestruck meeting the Wings, Abdelkader escorted the Stars into an adjoining locker room where the team was surprised with $12,000 worth of new hockey equipment donated by Michigan-based Warrior Hockey. Not only were the Stars overwhelmed at this point, their reaction touched the Red Wings players.

“This is awesome,” Zetterberg said. “What the Wings are doing with Warrior and the league, especially this month with Hockey is for Everyone, meeting these guys, to have them come down here to watch a practice and to see them pick out their own sticks and see them skating around, flying around here right now, it’s awesome for the players to be part of it.”

Continued

Athanasiou and the chicken or the egg

CBS Detroit’s Will Burtchfield penned an article wondering whether the latest benching of Andreas Athanasiou. Burtchifeld wonders aloud whether the relationship between coach Jeff Blashill and Athanasiou, who has handled his benchings with team-first answers, is already beyond repair:

“There’s other guys that some nights their minutes are diminished a little bit and we don’t talk tons about it,” said Blashill, “… but obviously because of the profile of Double-A we talk lots about it.”

The erratic nature of things fuels further frustration, as does this: Athanasiou’s pending free agency. The Red Wings might consider him a key piece of their future, but is the feeling mutual? Athanasiou’s numbers the past two seasons have no doubt been suppressed by inconsistent playing time. He might decide this summer — or maybe he already has — that he’d be better off in a new environment under a different coach.

The Red Wings’ fledgling rebuild is desperate for players of Athanasiou’s ilk. His talent is that of a 30-plus goal scorer. But the strained relationship between the two sides doesn’t bode well for a long-term partnership. Even in the short term, Athanasiou’s status as a restricted free agent matters little if he already has designs of leaving. A change in the GM’s office, where Holland’s contract expires after this season, and/or behind the bench, where Blashill is under contract through next season, may be the only way to salvage the situation.

For now, Athanasiou will “get back on the horse,” as Blashill said Wednesday, and put Tuesday behind him. The coach believes he’s played well over the past month, even if points have been hard to come by and ice time has been as volatile as ever. Athanasiou was bumped back up to the second line with Dylan Larkin and Tomas Tatar Wednesday at practice, and Blashill plans to call his number often Thursday night.

“He’ll get another chance against Tampa to have a big impact,” said Blashill.

Burtchfield continues…

I’m probably in the minority here, but I don’t think that Blashill’s relationship with Athanasiou is unusual given Athanasiou’s potential…

And I don’t believe that Athanasiou’s talent, nor his pre-season, end-the-hold-out discussions with Ken Holland or Jeff Blashill have somehow earned him deference from the coach. I fall in the, “If you perform well, you’ll play more” side of the argument as to whether ice time merits performance or performance merits ice time. As such, and as far as I’m concerned, AA’s inconsistencies in terms of his performance merit the occasional kick in the ass by planting his ass on the bench.

Mind you, I wish the entire team was treated in a more egalitarian manner, but given that Athanasiou tends to respond to these benchings with bursts of performance, I can’t suggest that Blashill is doing something that doesn’t work in #72’s case.

 

Prospect news: Lindstrom scores for Almtuna; Rasmussen scores in Tr-City win

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Gustav Lindstrom scored the 2-0 goal in Almtuna IS’s 2-1 win over Vasterviks IK. Mattias Elfstrom played on the fourth line and took a penalty for VIK, and Red Wings prospects on Twitter posted a clip of Lindstrom’s goal:

Malte Setkov played on IK Pantern’s second defensive pairing and took a penalty in IK Pantern’s 5-4 OT win over BIK Karlskoga;

In the OHL, Givani Smith had 3 shots and went 0-for-3 on faceoffs in the Kitchener Rangers’ 3-2 win over Mississauga;

Jordan Sambrook finished at -1 with 2 shots in the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds’ 6-5 shootout loss to the Saginaw Spirit. Reilly Webb finished at -2 with 1 shot for Saginaw;

In the WHL, Michael Rasmussen scored a goal but finished at -2 with 2 shots and a 4-for-13 faceoff record in the Tri-City Americans’ 4-3 win over Calgary;

Dennis Cholowski finished at -2 with 3 shots in the Portland Winterhawks’ 4-2 loss to Vancouver;

Lane Zablocki finished at -1 with 2 shots and an 8-for-12 faceoff record in the Victoria Royals’ 7-6 shootout loss to Edmonton;

In the USHL, Filip Larsson stopped 23 of 24 shots as the Tri-City Storm lost 1-0 to Omaha;

And in NCAA hockey, Patrick Holway finished even with 3 shots in the University of Maine Black Bears’ 4-3 win over New Hampshire. Chase Pearson is out with an undisclosed injury.

Red Wings-Lightning set-up: Wings are 0-and-10 vs. Bolts of late

The Detroit Red Wings open up a difficult two-game road trip against what is arguably the team’s arch-rival at present.

The Wings will play the Tampa Bay Lightning this evening (7:30 PM on FSD/FS Sun/97.1 FM) having lost 10 straight games against Tampa Bay, and they’re going to face an ornery opponent.

Our friends from Florida find themselves in a dogfight for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, thanks to surges by the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, and the 38-16-and-3- Bolts have hit a rough patch, losing 3 of their past 5 games, including 2 losses in 2 days to Toronto (on Monday) and Buffalo (on Tuesday).

Tampa Bay did not practice on Wednesday, so we must examine their 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday to provide context for tonight’s game–and the Bolts were mighty peeved after losing to Buffalo, as the Tampa Bay Times’ Joe Smith noted:

Continue reading Red Wings-Lightning set-up: Wings are 0-and-10 vs. Bolts of late

NHL.com’s Vollman examines Mike Green’s trade value

NHL.com’s Rob Vollman used advanced statistics to examine whether 32-year-old Mike Green’s trade value could be compared to last year’s belle of the deadline ball, now 28-year-old New York Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. Here’s Vollman’s conclusion:

Green was transitioned into the No. 1 role in Detroit as the roster started to change. During the past two seasons, he has averaged 20:01 per game at 5-on-5, which ranks sixth among NHL defensemen.

This tougher role has taken a toll on Green’s shot-based metrics. In 2015-16, Detroit outshot opponents 1,097-891 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, for an SAT of plus-206 that ranked No. 13 among NHL defensemen. In percentage terms, Detroit’s share of shot attempts rose from 50.57 percent to 55.18 when he was on the ice, for a Relative SAT of plus-4.61 that ranked No. 17 among defensemen who played at least 20 games.

Since Green was moved into the No. 1 role, his SAT of minus-199 is tied for No. 239, and his Relative SAT of minus-1.02 is tied for No. 158 among defensemen who played at least 20 games.

These results suggest that Green can handle a No. 1 role when necessary but is most effective when assigned a scoring-focused role like Shattenkirk. In that capacity, he should match Shattenkirk in every regard, except power-play scoring.

Shattenkirk’s trade also provides a clue as to what Detroit may be expecting in return for Green. St. Louis received forward Zach Sanford, a first-round pick, plus two conditional picks for Shattenkirk.

That package isn’t without precedent; it’s almost exactly what the Toronto Maple Leafs obtained from the Boston Bruins for defenseman Tomas Kaberle at the 2011 NHL Trade Deadline.

Vollman continues…

ECHL hands out suspensions in Toledo Walleye-Kansas City Mavericks brawl

Per the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe, the ECHL finally handed out supplemental discipline from Saturday night’s brawl with the Kansas City Mavericks:

Kansas City’s Klotz and Freschi fined, suspended

Kansas City’s Garrett Klotz has been suspended for eight games and Eric Freschi has been suspended for two games resulting from their actions ECHL Game #641, Kansas City at Toledo, on Feb. 10. Both players have also been fined an undisclosed amount.

Klotz was assessed a match penalty for cross checking under Rule #59.4 at 12:14 of the third period. He is fined and suspended under Rule #28 – Supplementary Discipline.

Klotz will miss Kansas City’s games vs. Indy (Feb. 16 and Feb. 17), vs. Florida (Feb. 18), vs. Allen (Feb. 23 and Feb. 24), vs. Rapid City (Feb. 27) and vs. Fort Wayne (March 2 and March 3).

Freshci was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for cross checking under Rule #59.5 at 19:30 of the third period. He is fined and suspended under Rule #28 – Supplementary Discipline.

Freschi will miss Kansas City’s games vs. Indy on Feb. 16 and Feb. 17.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the ECHL and the Professional Hockey Players’ Association, player fines collected by the ECHL are given to the PHPA for its ECHL Player’s Hardship Fund.

Griffins stuff: Theme nights to come, ‘candids’ from practice and the weekly press release

Here’s a little free advertising (as it were) for the Grand Rapids Griffins, who are holding their “Take Your Dog to the Game” game on Sunday, February 25th…

The Griffins are also holding their “Purple Game” to benefit the Van Andel Institute on March 2nd…

During practice today…

And here is the Griffins’ weekly press release:

Continue reading Griffins stuff: Theme nights to come, ‘candids’ from practice and the weekly press release

Three Things: A Wings-Bolts game preview, Eliot’s Olympic journey and Wings reaching out to disabled athletes

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. The Tampa Bay Lightning website’s Elisabeth Dichiara penned a Wings-Bolts game preview:

Thursday’s Matchup
The Lightning are playing their last of four meetings this season against Detroit. Tampa Bay earned a 5-2 win in its matchup earlier this season on Jan. 7, Louis Domingue made 34 saves in his debut for the Lightning…He had not played in the NHL since Oct. 28 for the Arizona Coyotes…Defenseman Dan Girardi had a goal and an assist, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov scored, and Ondrej Palat and Vladislav Namestnikov each had two assists for Tampa Bay…Tyler Johnson has points in eight of his last nine regular season games vs. DET…The Lightning have won 10 in a row in the regular season overall against the Red Wings, their longest active win streak versus any team and fourth-longest win streak versus any opponent all-time…Andrei Vasilevskiy has never lost in his career vs. DET, going 5-0-0 with a 1.86 GAA and .940 save percentage…Cedric Paquette has more goals (4) and points (5) vs. DET than any other NHL team and recorded his only career hat trick Jan. 29, 2015 vs. DET…Nikita Kucherov has more regular season goals (11) against the Red Wings than any other NHL team and has recorded points (7-3–10) in five-straight games vs. DET.

Continue reading Three Things: A Wings-Bolts game preview, Eliot’s Olympic journey and Wings reaching out to disabled athletes

Articles from practice: Athanasiou discusses his ‘benching’; on the Bolts, the Fathers’ Trip and Tatar’s Olympic excitement

The Red Wings practiced at Little Caesars Arena ahead of a road trip to Tampa Bay and Nashville on Wednesday, and several topics emerged from the team’s pre-flight media availability.

First, Andreas Athanasiou addressed the fact that he was “benched” during the third period of the Wings’ win over Anaheim, as noted by the Free Press’s Helene St. James…

Athanasiou played just one shift in the third period of Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over Anaheim, the result of the Ducks opting to play just three lines and Athanasiou not generating enough offensively through 40 minutes. Blashill made sure Wednesday that Athanasiou knew it was a short benching.

“I talked to him real quick, just said I didn’t think he was going last night, and he’s going to get a chance to go in Tampa,” Blashills said. “I told him get right back on the horse against Tampa. We need him to be a real good player so hopefully he comes out and he’s flying against Tampa.

 “There’s other guys, some nights their minutes are diminished about it and we don’t talk tons about it. But because of the profile of AA, we talk lots about it. My job is to make sure they know where they stand, so I made sure and told him that.”

Continue reading Articles from practice: Athanasiou discusses his ‘benching’; on the Bolts, the Fathers’ Trip and Tatar’s Olympic excitement