Cup of Khan: Zetterberg’s far from finished

After last night’s 4-3 OT loss to the New York Islanders, Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg told the media that the realities of the Red Wings’ “rebuild on the fly” have hit the players…

And, as MLive’s Ansar Khan notes, it appears that Zetterberg wants to be a part of the rebuild, despite his back issues:

Zetterberg, who will turn 38 at the start of next season, made it clear that he’s coming back for at least one more year. He has played all 82 games three years in a row and missed only five games the season before that. Even he couldn’t have predicted that after major back surgery in 2014.

“I didn’t practice since January,” Zetterberg said. “I wish I could practice every day and go out and fly around like some other guys do in here, but I know that I can’t do it,” Zetterberg said. “But you never know, have a good summer and I might be flying around.”

Zetterberg finished second on the team in scoring with 56 points (11 goals, 45 assists). He is 40 away from 1,000, a milestone reached by only four Red Wings (Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Alex Delvecchio and Nicklas Lidstrom).

“There were days where I wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to play,” Blashill said. “He’s as tough a person as you’ll ever be around, like true toughness, being able to handle pain and endure that. Lots of days he’s good, so I don’t want to overdo it, but I think that the impressive thing isn’t that he’s played the games, but it’s the level at which he’s played. He’s still lots of nights an elite two-way player.”

Khan continues, and he posted a video of Zetterberg’s post-game comments:

 

ESPN tells Ken Daniels son’s fatal struggle with prescription painkillers

ESPN’s John Barr and Mike Farrell tell a difficult tale this morning, relating the difficulties that Ken Daniels’ son, Jamie, had with the prescription painkillers that took his life.

This is part of an “E:60” documentary that will air this evening at 11 PM EDT:

Jamie died of an overdose of heroin that had been laced with fentanyl, a synthetic and far more potent form of the drug, according to an autopsy report and death certificate. For Ken, understanding how Jamie could overdose in a sober home environment meant exploring the dark path Jamie had traveled in the final weeks before his death, a journey that opened Ken’s eyes to something he had never before considered: the existence of a corrupt side to the billion-dollar rehabilitation industry in South Florida, where federal laws can be exploited by people who actually have no interest in keeping recovering addicts clean. Jamie, his father came to realize, got caught in an insurance scam known as “The Florida Shuffle.”

“It’s one thing to have an addiction and not being able to overcome it because the addiction overtakes you … but then when bad people get involved and they contribute to it, it makes you sick,” Ken says.

The story continues, and this is the kind of topic that we need to discuss because it’s not easy to talk about the most widespread addiction problem in the U.S. and Canada. We are countries struggling with everyday people addicted to prescription drugs, and it sucks, but the this stuff happens to everyday people like you and me, and the more we de-stigmatize addiction as an illness and a disease, not a sign of personal weakness, the better we can help people treat their illnesses.

 

 

Prospect round-up: Tangradi’s goals lead Griffins over Roadrunners; Walleye win final regular season game in OT

Of prospect-related note in regular season action:

In the AHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins clinched a playoff spot via a 4-1 victory over the Tuscon Roadrunners. Grand Rapids received a pair of 1st period goals from Eric Tangradi (his 30th and 31st of the season), 2nd-period markers from Turner Elson and Dan Renouf and a 22-save performance from Tom McCollum.

Edit/update: Here’s the Griffins website’s recap:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Tangradi’s goals lead Griffins over Roadrunners; Walleye win final regular season game in OT

Prospect playoff round-up: Rasmussen 3G+1A for Tri-City; Fulcher backstops Hamilton to OT win

In playoff action, in the OHL, Kaden Fulcher stopped 21 of 23 shots in the Hamilton Bulldogs’ 3-2 OT win over the Niagara IceDogs. Hamilton leads Niagara 2-0 in the teams’ second-round series;

In the WHL, Dennis Cholowski and his Portland Winterhawks had off nights. Cholowski finished at -3 in Portland’s 6-0 loss to the Everett Silvertips, and Portland and Everett are now tied 1-1 in the teams’ second-round series;

And Michael Rasmussen had a heck of a night during a heck of a playoff run, scoring a hat trick and adding an assist, going +3 with 4 shots and a 3-for-3 faceoff record in the Tri-City Americans’ 4-1 win over Victoria.

Tri-City now leads Victoria 2-0 in the teams’ second-round playoff series, and Rasmussen has posted 9 goals, 10 assists and 19 points over the course of 6 games played for Tri-City.

Lane Zablocki finished at -1 with 2 shots and a 4-for-5 faceoff record for Victoria.

The WHL’s Twitter account posted two of Rasmussen’s goals:

 

Red Wings finish 27th overall

The Detroit Red Wings’ 2017-18 campaign concluded with a 4-3 OT loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday night, giving the Red Wings a 30-39-and-13 record for 73 points registered over the course of 82 games played. That’s good for 27th place in the NHL. As it stands today, the Red Wings would pick 5th overall in the 1st round, barring the results of the NHL’s draft lottery on April 28th:

 

Red Wings-Islanders wrap-up: Wings, Islanders look forward as 2017-18 campaigns end with an Islanders OT win

The Detroit Red Wings’ 4-3 OT loss to the New York Islanders wasn’t a microcosm of the Red Wings’ season in the way it unfolded–instead of struggling to score goals, Detroit raced out to a 3-1 lead over New York…

But the Wings’ 3rd period unraveling thanks to defensive errors and poor special teams play were right from the 2017-18 season playbook, as was the Wings’ OT loss and loss on home ice.

The captain spoke for the team after the game, as noted by DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji:

The Red Wings were unable to finish on a high note, but they face considerably less uncertainty going forward than the Islanders, as Newsday’s Andrew Gross noted:

Continue reading Red Wings-Islanders wrap-up: Wings, Islanders look forward as 2017-18 campaigns end with an Islanders OT win

Grand Rapids Griffins win in Tuscon, clinch playoff berth

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins, who just defeated the Tuscon Roadrunners 4-1 (on Eric Tangradi’s 30th and 31st goals of the season, goals by Turner Elson and Dan Renouf, and a 22-save performance from Tom McCollum):

I know where I’ll be spending most of April, and, hopefully, May and June…

Update: The Griffins posted a press release. Tickets will go on sale Friday at 10 AM:

Continue reading Grand Rapids Griffins win in Tuscon, clinch playoff berth

Krupa’s free to disagree with Wings’ coaching choice, Jeff Blashill

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa pulls off a rare feat in praising a coach who he does not believe should coach the team he will be coaching.

Say that three times fast, and then stick around for Krupa’s column regarding Jeff Blashill:

Things are not going well, by almost any measure.

The performance of the Wings, in decline for years, diminished again through the course of the third season of Blashill’s four-year contract.

But Blashill has not let them see him sweat.

That is a bigger deal for the Red Wings than it might seem. Because, as looks nearly certain at this writing, Blashill will be back for the fourth year of his contract.

Owner Chris Ilitch announced Saturday Ken Holland will return for two years, at least. Holland said Blashill’s status will be made public Tuesday. But the 44-year-old coach is expected to return.

And that means he will need to tough it out for another season, perhaps more.

The Red Wings’ course for rebuilding the roster seems to navigate somewhere between defying long odds by trying to squeeze into the playoffs and more vigorous tactics that are somewhat short of blowing it all up.

Krupa continues…

St. James talks off-season priorities

The Red Wings won’t clean out their lockers until Tuesday, when they assemble for their team picture and one final set of press conferences and scrums, but the Free Press’s Helene St. James notes that the Wings’ off-season plans–be they scouting potential draft picks, prospects near (with the Griffins or Walleye) or afar, or preparing for the draft lottery, combine and the draft itself–are well underway:

The Detroit Red Wings head into a second-straight offseason having missed the playoffs, encouraged by the growth of their young players but in need of more.

To that end, general manager Ken Holland and assistant to the general manager Kris Draper are among the team personnel who have visas to go to Russia for the IIHF U18 World Championship that runs April 19-29. There are also junior hockey playoff games to scout in advance of meetings to finalize plans for the draft and free agency.

“We’ve got some busy weeks ahead,” Holland said. “This is the time when our people are working on final rankings, we’ve got our pros out watching playoff games, and then we’ll have our year-end meetings.”

Among St. James’ list of off-season points of emphasis:

The NHL will hold its draft lottery April 28, revealing which lucky team will be able to add Dahlin to its lineup. He is the prize of the 2018 draft, but it’s considered a very good year overall, with high-end defensemen and high-scoring forwards available.

The Wings will pick somewhere inside the top 10, and have four picks overall inside the first 40 selections thanks to trades that brought in Vegas’ first-round pick and Ottawa’s second-round pick (via the New York Rangers).

Hence the exodus of team scouts to the Under-18 tournament, where, for example, Swedish defensive draft prospect Adam Boqvist will get a chance to raise his stock after a disappointing showing at the 2018 Five Nations tournament in Plymouth in February.

St. James continues…

Sportsnet’s Saturday Headlines crew talks Holland, Blashill and Zetterberg

Sportsnet’s Headlines segment aired on Saturday night, and Nick Kypreos, Chris Johnston, Elliotte Friedman and Ron MacLean opened the segment discussing Ken Holland’s 2-year contract extension.

Johnston says that meetings in the last month produced the agreement, and the Wings feel that they’re on the right track with 4 of the top 40 picks this year and 11 to come…

Nick Kypreos says that Jeff Blashill is likely to earn another chance to coach the Red Wings, who Kypreos suggests may be in the market for a free agent center (Tavares?) this summer…

And Elliotte Friedman suggests that Henrik Zetterberg’s, “I’ll return if I’m healthy” statement indicates that he’s probably going to return, despite the tremendous amount of preparation he has to take part in to play due to his back issues.