FYI: Fox Sports North, the Minnesota Wild’s Fox Sports affiliate, states that the entirety of the Red Wings’ prospect tournament will be streamed on Fox Sports GO.
The application can be accessed via the internet, downloaded for Apple, Amazon, Android and Windows devices, and works for just about everything else, but you have to sign up for a Fox Sports GO account (usually linked to your cable or satellite subscription) to access the streams.
The Free Press’s Helene St. James confirms something strongly suspected by Wings followers: Henrik Zetterberg will consult with Dr. Frank Cammisa, the back specialist who performed the discectomy on Zetterberg in 2014, in order to help determine whether he can continue playing:
Zetterberg is expected to see Dr. Frank Cammisa next week, if not sooner. Cammisa was the doctor who performed back surgery on Zetterberg in the spring of 2014.
“He knows his back as well as anybody,” general manager Ken Holland told the Free Press on Tuesday. “We’ll see what he says, then determine if we need another opinion.”
Also of note from Holland:
With Zetterberg unavailable for camp, the Wings have 10 NHL regulars up front, along with the booming right-handed shot of Martin Frk.
Michael Rasmussen, a center drafted ninth overall in 2017, is expected to be ready to grab a job after a standout performance in the 2018 WHL playoffs (14 goals and 17 assists for 33 points in 14 games).
Holland named the other top forward prospects as Filip Zadina, Evgeny Svechnikov and Dominic Turgeon. Zadina is a scorer drafted sixth overall in June, and Svechnikov is a big winger acquired in the 2015 first round. Turgeon could perhaps serve as fourth-line center, while a guy like Luke Glendening jumps up to center the third line, and Frans Nielsen and Dylan Larkin center the top two lines.
“Jeff Blashill and I have talked all summer about what our lineup would look like with Z in the lineup, and what it would look like without him,” Holland said. “We know he won’t be ready for the start of the season. And we know there’s a chance it’s worse than that.”
Of Red Wings-related note over the course of the past week, on a source-by-source basis (if you missed the Zetterberg post, I caught you up on the Swedish and English news regarding the Wings’ captain as well):
A. MLive:
B. The Athletic:
C. Detroit Red Wings:
ICYMI: Join us TOMORROW, Sept. 5 at @LCArena_Detroit for your opportunity to secure great seats for the 2018-19 #RedWings season! #LGRW
Sign up –> https://t.co/E4WhX4krWJ pic.twitter.com/7a0rQKPrCp
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 4, 2018
D. NHL.com:
1. NHL.com suggested that Filip Zadina is the 6th-best NHL prospect available for the 2018-19 campaign, and Michael Rasmussen finished 46th out of 50 prospects. Zadina got talked up by Mike G. Morreale on the NHL Network:
1. The Hockey News’s Sam McCaig also praised Zadina and Rasmussen as potential Calder Trophy candidates.
F. Toledo Walleye:
1. The Walleye announced that they will play a preseason game against Kalamazoo on October 6th;
2. The Walleye also signed forward Hayden Hodgson and re-signed defenseman Ryan Obuchowski.
G. Grand Rapids Griffins:
1. In the alumni department, Kyle Quincey signed a contract with IFK Helsinki of the Finnish Liiga for the 2018-19 season.
After a week on the IR, TMR is finally back up and running.
1. I’d like to apologize for my absence first and foremost. Being sick is particularly challenging when you’re the owner/operator of a blog. What I thought was just a sinus infection threw a nasty stomach bug my way, so I had little choice but to sit on the sidelines late last week…which wasn’t particularly enjoyable.
I want to facilitate content and get some of my own stuff out here, and not being able to do so was extremely difficult. Every day I missed was difficult, but I was truly “kaput.”
2. I’ll try to get a catch-up post up today. This is going to be a busy couple of days as I’m leaving for Traverse City on Wednesday, so I’ve got a litany of errands to take care of after missing a week’s worth of preparations, but I’ll grind out something today.
3. Speaking of the trip, I kind of sort of still need to raise another $1,000 to completely cover things. It’s not ideal to be going up while still fundraising, but life happens. So https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport and https://patreon.com/TheMalikReport are up and accepting donations of any amount. Thank you for your support!
4. Now we move forward. I’m sorry for the interruption in service, and I’ll do my best to get as healthy as possible for the prospect tournament and main training camp. It’s almost “go time!”
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan discusses the person or persons under the most pressure for each NHL team as we approach the 2018-19 season.
She suggests that the Red Wings’ coach will have to shoulder the burden of responsibility if the team struggles again:
Head coach Jeff Blashill
This really should be Ken Holland, considering no team in the league is as hamstrung with bloated, poorly aged contracts as the Red Wings. But the GM has built a lot of equity due to past glory, and ownership kept him around with a two-year extension this spring. So now the bull’s-eye is on Blashill, who has a winning percentage below .500, and just one playoff win in three seasons.
Kaplan continues, and there’s no doubt that Blashill will face pressure to perform this season, but I’d argue that the Wings’ blueliners are in the spotlight as the team prepares for training camp.
MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses Mike Green’s 2018-19 season outlook this morning:
2018-19 outlook: The Red Wings re-signed Green due to their need for offense from the back end and his right-handed shot. It was a thin free-agent market on defense and, in all likelihood, only one defenseman from Grand Rapids (Filip Hronek) will be ready to start the season in Detroit. The Red Wings are rebuilding but want to dress a competitive lineup and believe Green will help in that regard.
In addition to his offense, Green is a good skater who moves the puck well but has been prone to turnovers.
He should be the point man on the top power-play unit under new assistant coach Dan Bylsma, whose primary task is improving a man-advantage that ranks last in the NHL over the past two seasons combined (16.3 percent).
Green is expected to be ready for the regular season opener but might be limited in training camp and the preseason following neck surgery in April.
Khan continues; coach Jeff Blashill suggested that Green won’t be cleared for contact until the preseason begins when Blashill spoke at the “Stars and Stripes Showdown.”
Green may have some defensive hiccups, but the Red Wings need his offensive abilities, so I would anticipate that Green will be used as the Wings’ default #1 offensive defenseman.
MLive’s Ansar Khan examines the 2018-19 season outlook for Dylan Larkin this morning:
2018-19 outlook: The franchise cornerstone signed a five-year, $30.5 million contract last month and is driven to improve as a player and a leader, likely the next team captain.
He improved significantly following a disappointing second season, adjusting well in his first full season at center. With Henrik Zetterberg not likely to play again due to back issues, Larkin will assume first-line center duty. The challenge is to continue improving offensively (scoring more goals, produce more on power play) while becoming a better defensive player. He needs to be more on the inside instead of using his speed to carry the puck around the perimeter in the offensive zone.
His drive and desire can’t be questioned. His motor is always on high and he is highly motivated to maximize his potential.
It remains to be seen who his wingers at the start of the season will be, but Anthony Mantha and 2018 top pick Filip Zadina are possibilities.
Khan continues, and I’m wondering whether Larkin will in fact be utilized as the Wings’ #1 center in all situations. I still see the coaching staff choosing to tab Frans Nielsen as the Wings’ shut-down center in defensive situations.
Henrik Zetterberg’s broke his silence regarding his back issues while I was away from the blog, and while time has passed, I’d like to review what Zetterberg had to say in Swedish and English, if only to try and sort things out for myself.
Zetterberg first spoke with Aftonbladet’s Pet Bjurman, the New York-based correspondent for Sportbladet, and here’s a rough translation of what Zetterberg had to say:
Continue reading Trying to sort out Henrik Zetterberg’s situation
DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner examines Joe Hicketts’ 2018-19 season outlook as based upon his 2017-18 “numbers” and comments, and Regner notes that Hicketts has spent his summer trying to improve his skating and conditioning–two things he needed to address.
Hicketts says this about year two of his AHL career…
Quotable: “It was exciting. I knew a little bit more about the league (AHL) and in that regard the league knew a little bit more about me. I wasn’t that small defenseman that people take for granted. I had some big hits last year and kind of put a number on my back, especially the amount of times we play each other in our division. Maybe a slump (last season), but I thought it was good, I progressed nicely. Getting that chance in Detroit was really exciting. I thought I played really well considering the time of year it was and how the team was doing, but it was very exciting for me.
And this about his summertime to-do list, which involved utilizing a skating coach and working out with NHL’ers in his hometown of Kamloops, British Columbia:
“Everything I did this summer was going towards making Detroit as a full-time roster member. Last year I wanted to make the team but knew in the back of my head, it was going to be another year in Grand Rapids with the reputation Detroit has of developing players. With that being said, they’re definitely in a rebuild. Coming into this summer I knew there was going to be a really good opportunity to open the door and get my foot in. It started last year when I got my five games, but again everything about this summer was getting myself in the best possible shape and mindset to play a full 82-game schedule in the National Hockey League. I’m going to get my work done in the summer and I’m going to make sure that I am coming to training camp ready to earn a job.” – Hicketts
My apologies for the interruption in service. I’ve been battling a really nasty sinus infection for the past three days, and I’ve been flat on my back as a result.
I know I missed the big Zetterberg news, and I’ll try to recap it in English and Swedish when I return.
Again, I’m sorry things got screwy…I’ve got some errands that have to be taken care of before the trip, and I’m hoping that I’ll still have some energy when I get home. I’ve just been really sick.
