Stuff you can only post when it’s your own blog: a sentence with a link to a website and no actual content on yours.
Mickey Redmond spoke to Michigan Sports Now’s John Bucek prior to serving as the grand marshal of Traverse City’s Cherry Royale parade earlier this month, and MISportsNow.com posted a non-embeddable 6:45 video of Mickey talking about the parade, Steve Yzerman’s return to the team as the Wings’ GM, the rebuilding timeline given the Wings’ youth movement and the tumult taking place in the Eastern Conference, his opinion as to when Dylan Larkin will assume the captaincy, and Jeff Blashill’s job as a player development catalyst.
Cholowski was back at Little Caesars Arena on Monday to help out with the Wings’ youth hockey camp, and addressed his rookie season.
“Having to go down to Grand Rapids was a disappointment a little bit; I guess it would be for anybody,” Cholowski said. “In order to play you have to be good defensively and then that generates the offense. So I’m working on the D-zone and hopefully I take those things I learned into camp this year.
“Just the d-zone stuff, fishing the puck out my net, basically is the biggest thing.”
Cholowski played 52 games with the Wings last season and had a team-worst plus-minus of minus-20. He said he’s focused on getting better at reading plays and “sensing danger — just knowing when to pull out and when to jump in. It’s kind of a balance and in order to play at the highest level, you have to have that.”
Cholowski played in 52 games with the Wings, with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) and an eyebrow-raising minus-20 rating, a signal of poor defensive play.
With Grand Rapids, Cholowski played 25 games with 12 points (all assists) and an even plus-minus rating.
It was his defensive play that led to Cholowski’s demotion. He was getting lost in coverage too often, the confidence was slipping, and opponents were outmuscling him around the net.
“In order to play you have to be good defensively,” said Cholowski, of the message sent to him upon his demotion. “That generates the offense. Just working the defensive zone and taking the things I’ve learned (last season) to camp this year.”
The NHLPA posted a set of videos in which Ted Lindsay discusses various topics pertaining to the creation of and qualities necessary to win the Ted Lindsay Award as the NHLPA’s MVP, and today, they wrap up their series with a video in which Lindsay discusses the topic of “fearlessness”:
Last year’s stats: 29 games, 2 goal and 4 assists with Adler Mannheim (Germany)
What they’re saying: “Steve Yzerman’s first draft as Red Wings GM went relative well for a guy who was armed with double-digit picks at his disposal. Overall, he could have done better, but he also picked up a half-dozen quality prospects with legitimate potential for NHL success. Although his weekend began with his surprising selection of big-bodied puck mover Mortiz Seider at sixth overall, Yzerman went on to overdraft another physical presence in Finnish blueliner Antti Tuomisto (35th).” — Sporting News’ Steve Kournianos
“Still, you can’t help but wonder: could the Red Wings have traded down in the draft and still gotten their guy in Seider? Sometimes, it’s not just about judging the quality of draft selections, but also “reading the room” and managing assets properly. At this very moment in time, the Red Wings opened themselves up to a ton of questions.” — NBCSports’ James O’Brien
3. Finally, the Red Wings posted a slightly hammy video in which Alec Regula, Jack Adams and Ryan Kuffner played, “What’s In the Box?”
Update: The Griffins posted something of a blooper reel as well:
Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff ponders the possible playing locations for Moritz Seider this upcoming season:
Unlike the majority of prospects in the Detroit system, there are a number of options available to the 6-foot-4, 207-pound Seider. The most obvious, of course, would be that he comes to training camp with the Wings in the fall, knocks everyone’s socks off and makes the big club.
If not, Seider could be assigned to AHL Grand Rapids. He was selected by the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack in the CHL Import Draft, so that’s another possibility but a remote one at that. If he goes there, under CHL rules Seider could not be recalled to the pros until the conclusion of his junior campaign.
He can go with the status quo and return to play in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with Adler Mannheim, the team he played for last season. They are defending league champs. Seider is currently back in Mannheim training with the team, and seems to favor this option if he’s not going to be with the Red Wings next season.
Duff continues, and I’m fairly certain that Seider will play with Mannheim for one more season.
Detroit Red Wings, second round, 54th-overall pick
Mastrosimone, ranked 55th in the Hockey News predraft prospect rankings, comes off a prolific year with the Chicago Steel of the USHL, where he finished second on the team in points, with 60 (31 goals, 29 assists). The NHL website calls him one of the most underrated prospects in the draft in its recap of day five of the NHL Scouting Combine. The East Islip, N.Y., native can play across the front line, and his new coach touts his offensive ability.
Detroit Red Wings, fourth round, 97th-overall pick
Mastrosimone’s future BU and Red Wings teammate Ethan Phillips was the other BU draftee who did not play for the NTDP, but he helped his USHL team, the Sioux Falls Stampede, to the league championship. The right winger had 43 points in 50 regular season games and 5 five points in 6 six playoff games. The Red Wings selected Phillips with the 97th-overall pick. O’Connell says Phillips will give the team a threat on the right side while also providing offensive versatility and a great competitive nature.
This second-rounder (acquired from Arizona in Pavel Datsyuk contract trade) is emerging as top-four material with potential to be a significant factor offensively. Ranks fourth among defensemen in his draft class with 23 points in 46 games (everyone ahead of him has played at least 100 games).
St. James continues, and I’m a little confused as to what the arbitrary dates coincide with (they span both the Jim Nill/Joe Mcdonnell draft administration and the Tyler Wright administration), but her article’s interesting nonetheless.
