Fare thee well, Steggy

Per Grand Rapids Griffins equipment manager Brad “Dogg” Thompson, Griffins assistant equipment manager Andrew “Steggy” Stegehuis has moved on to become the Rochester Americans’ equipment manager:

Steggy’s ever-positive and affable demeanor will be missed!

A ‘Stars and Stripes Game’ personnel update from Chicago

NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis offers a personnel update regarding next weekend’s “Stars and Stripes Game” at USA Hockey Arena:

In honor of the late executive Jim Johannson, who died unexpectedly in his sleep in January at the age of 53, USA Hockey is hosting a Stars and Stripes Showdown at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan on Sunday, Aug. 26 and three Blackhawks will be participating in it: Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane and Connor Murphy.

Kane served as USA’s captain at the 2018 IIHF World Championship in Denmark this past May and set a new American record with 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 10 tournament contests, which earned him MVP honors. DeBrincat had one goal and eight assists while Murphy led USA with a plus-7 rating.

Other star-studded headliners participating: Connor Hellebuyck, Seth Jones, Dylan Larkin, Auston Matthews, Charlie McAvoy, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, James van Riemsdyk and Zach Werenski. It’s a great group getting together to celebrate the life of Johannson, who was an instrumental part of USA Hockey’s program for the last 18 years.

Tickets are being sold for $10 and $15, which you can purchase here. Doors open at 1 p.m. ET with the game starting at 2 p.m.

Dylan Larkin leads The Athletic’s ‘Top 25 Under 25’ list

The Athletic’s Max Bultman wrote a lengthy article in which The Athletic’s scribes determined their Top 25 Detroit athletes under 25 years of age.

Dylan Larkin finished #1, Filip Zadina finished #4, Anthony Mantha was tied for #5, Michael Rasmussen came in at #10, Andreas Athanasiou ranked #15, Filip Hronek came in at #17, Joe Veleno finished in a tie for #20, and Dennis Cholowski finished at #25.

Craig Custance also penned an in-depth interview with Dylan Larkin as The Athletic’s “lead” for today:

“I want to be the guy like Nathan MacKinnon who helps the team get there. We have a group of players who can be better than their young core of players,” Larkin said in comparing the Red Wings to the Avalanche.

How does that happen?

“You have to get better in every aspect,” Larkin said. “(MacKinnon is) explosive offensively. That’s where I can improve. Where we’re down or up by a goal and be the guy. He most definitely was.”

As he talks, Larkin is sitting in the family lounge overlooking the practice ice at Little Caesars Arena. You can tell, as the talk extends, he’s getting antsy. It’s the middle of the summer and he has a film session at the top of the hour. He’s hitting the ice after that for some informal training with teammates. You don’t get better by talking about it.

“I’ve been skating for three or four weeks now,” he said, explaining a bit of a shift in his typical summer schedule. He allowed himself more time to rest this summer than in the past. “This year, a full month. It’s been great. That mental side of it, just to get away a little bit and rest.”

The interview continues (paywall)…

Khan examines Frans Nielsen’s 2018-19 possibilities

MLive’s Ansar Khan takes a look at Frans Nielsen’s 2018-19 season possibilities this morning:

2018-19 outlook: After playing on the third line last season, Nielsen likely will center the second line if Henrik Zetterberg doesn’t play. His ice time should increase slightly, and he’ll probably get more power-play minutes, which should lead to more production.

Nielsen fills many roles. He can play on scoring line or a checking role. He can play on the second power-play unit and the top penalty-killing unit. He is a go-to guy on the shootout as the NHL’s all-time leader in that specialty.

Continued

Wings prospect Lane Zablocki discusses his nomadic 2017-18 season

Red Wings prospect Lane Zablocki lived something of a nomad’s life during the 2017-18 season, being traded from the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, where he was then traded to the Victoria Royals. As a result, Zablocki had an up-and-down campaign, and he discussed his season with Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff:

“It was an interesting season,” Zablocki said. “Bounced around a little bit, but I feel like at the end I kind of got back to myself and more the way I could play.”

All that moving took a toll on his totals. Zablocki, 19, selected 79th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2017 NHL entry draft, finished with 12 goals and 31 points in 65 games.
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“Throughout the year it wasn’t the best year I’ve had,” Zablocki said. “Obviously you could see that.”

He tried to take the approach that the constant change of address can be a learning experience.

“Every time it’s a new place, new rink, new coaches,” Zablocki said. “You’ve got to take it in as much as you can. Each team, each coach has a lot that you can learn from. I think maybe that’s a good thing about it. Maybe the only good thing, but it was good. I learned a lot from all the different coaches I had.”

Duff continues

Kulfan discusses the Wings’ depth in goal (or the lack thereof)

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan discusses the Red Wings’ goaltending position this evening, noting that the Wings’ depth in goal–behind Jimmy Howard and Jonathan Bernier tends to fall into the “works in progress prospect” category:

Replacing [Jared Coreau and Tom McCollum] in Grand Rapids will be Harry Sateri (signed out of the Florida organization) and Patrik Rybar (European free agent).

Where there’s hope is in the past several drafts, and a group of goaltenders who could offer promise in the future. Jesper Eliasson (2018, third round) and Victor Brattstrom (2018, sixth round) were selections in June with plenty of upside.

Brattstrom, 20, (6-foot-5, 198 pounds) was rated higher in several mock drafts, and had a .919 save percentage playing Swedish junior last season.

“They’re great workers,” said Hakan Andersson, the Wings’ director of European scouting, of Brattstrom and Eliasson. “We’re hoping we have two good goalie prospects.”

Joren van Pottelberge (Switzerland), Filip Larsson (USHL goaltender of the year/will play at University of Denver), Keith Petruzzelli (Quinnipac University) and Kaden Fulcher, who was signed as an undrafted free agent and will either play in Toledo (ECHL) or play more year of junior, are all in the organization.

Each has had positive moments in their amateur careers, but none has yet to perform at the pro level.

“They’re good, young players trying to establish themselves at their level,” Holland said. “When they do that, you have to prove yourself all over again. We have some good goaltenders who are prospects but the reality is, when you draft a goalie, he’s probably five or six years away.”

Continued, and much depends on how “ready” Harri Sateri (who was great in limited action with Florida last season), Patrik Rybar and Kaden Fulcher turn out to be.

Ted Lindsay Foundation Celebrity Golf Outing to take place on September 10th

The Detroit Red Wings have announced the details of the Ted Lindsay Foundation Celebrity Golf Outing, which will be held on September 10th, 2018 at the Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, MI:

Here’s Patrik Rybar’s 2018-19 season goalie mask

Here’s Patrik Rybar’s 2018-19 season goalie mask, as painted by Peter Wolf:

Centre Ice Arena auctioning off a playing spot in annual ‘Celebrity and Alumni’ game

Centre Ice Arena is holding a charity auction whose prize is a playing spot in the facility’s annual training camp “Celebrity and Alumni” game: