Friedman spitballs a Wings-Canes trade scenario

Among Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman’s “31 Thoughts“:

2. . Trade that might make sense only to me: something around Justin Faulk from Carolina to Detroit for Andreas Athanasiou.

It doesn’t make sense to me. Athanasiou’s ceiling is still high, and the Wings don’t appear to want to move him…yet, anyway.

Update: To make this work cap-wise, the Wings would have to send a defenseman to Carolina as well. Per CapFriendly, Faulk earns $4.83 million dollars per season through 20-21, while Athanasiou is a restricted free agent after this season, with a $1.387 million cap hit.

Late-breaking recaps from St. James, Khan

In the late-breaking recap department, the Free Press’s Helene St. James penned a Wings-Bruins recap that didn’t hit until 10 AM…

The Wings didn’t use their speed, didn’t forecheck, didn’t do much to bother Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask for two periods, beyond Martin Frk scoring a power-play goal early in the second period.

“We are not ready,” Frk said. “The whole game we are kind of sloppy. We didn’t show up here.”

Frustration simmers because when the Wings do show up — as they did last week against San Jose and in Carolina — they are often rewarded with points. And yet the Wings keep following up strong performances with soft ones. At the 52-game mark, the Wings are eight points from a playoff spot, but with four teams ahead of them.

“It’s frustrating and I really don’t have an answer,” Nielsen said. “Soon it is going to be too late if we don’t figure it out. If we play two good games again now and we stand here some time next week and you ask the same questions, it’s going to be too late. We have to figure it out now.”

And MLive’s Ansar Khan noted the coach’s frustration with his players in a 6 AM-filed piece:

“We had 20 guys going hard (the past three games) and tonight we had a handful of guys going hard,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “We weren’t good enough. We didn’t have enough guys going hard.

“We got to be better than that. You got to be way more ready to compete. … It’s a learning process for sure, especially with some young guys. It’s an every-day league.”

Blashill didn’t single out anybody but clearly was referring to young players. Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha, in particular, have had exceptional performances but have also been no-shows too many times. On this night, when the Red Wings needed their best players to step up against the hottest team in the league, Athanasiou had no points, no shots on goal and was a minus-2 in 10:57 while Mantha had no points and two shots in 17:18.

“I want these young guys to grow, so I don’t want to hide them, but they got to play better than that,” Blashill said, without naming anybody.

Prospect round-up: Walleye win big over Nailers; Sulak scores a goal; Griffins weekly press release available

In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye got 2 goals from Connor Crisp, 3 assists from David Obuchowski and 2 assists from Davis Vandane during a 6-2 win over the Wheeling Nailers. The Walleye’s website posted a recap:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Walleye win big over Nailers; Sulak scores a goal; Griffins weekly press release available

The overnight report: Red Wings-Bruins wrap-up: Wings’ frustration evident after another loss to B’s

The Red Wings ran into a brick wall in the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night, losing 3-2 over the course of a game that looked and felt closer than it really was.

Tuukka Rask stopped 15 of 16 3rd period shots as the Wings rallied from a 3-1 deficit over the course of a fast and furious second-half-of-the-period attempt to rally…

But the Wings dug a hole that was too deep to get out of against a Bruins team that has won 13 of the past 15 meetings against Detroit. Detroit came out flat, got worse, scored the game’s first goal, and then gave up 2 2nd period markers, which was really enough for the Bruins to build an unassailable lead that they added to in the third period.

Ultimately, as the Associated Press’s recap notes, Boston’s pulling away from the pack, and the Red Wings aren’t even good enough to be part of “the pack”:

Continue reading The overnight report: Red Wings-Bruins wrap-up: Wings’ frustration evident after another loss to B’s

Red Wings-Bruins quick take: Closer than it looked, but no cigar

The Red Wings attempted to snap the Bruins’ 12-1-and-1 hex over Detroit on Tuesday night. The Wings caught a bit of a break as Bruins leading scorer Brad Marchand was serving the final game of his suspension, but Tuukka Rask started opposite Jimmy Howard on a 16-0-and-2 run.

The Red Wings were “run over” early by the Bruins, who took a 2-1 lead into the 3rd period, made it 3-1 and then got out-shot like nobody’s business as Detroit made it 3-2 late but could not tie the game.

Boston played a tremendous game for at least 40 minutes, while Detroit played for 4 or 5, and the Wings’ late flourish (a 16-7 shot advantage on a night when the Wings were out-shot 24-12 over the first 40 minutes) was frustrating because the, “Too little, too late” template has almost been trademarked by the Wings this season and the last.

Nick Jensen was arguably the Wings’ best player, and he was -3; Dylan Larkin had 3 of the Wings’ 16 giveaways, and he was the best forward; Howard was excellent in the Wings’ net, getting beaten by some gorgeous Bruins goals, but he wasn’t able to deliver an otherworldly performance–or one like Tuukka Rask, who is now 19-0-and-2 over his past 21 starts.

The Wings made a game closer than it was, as Darren Eliot suggested on FSD’s post-game show, and that’s frustrating, because the Wings were outclassed at times.

Continue reading Red Wings-Bruins quick take: Closer than it looked, but no cigar

Meet Kevin Gibson

From the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe comes a profile of 28-year-old Toledo Walleye defenseman Kevin Gibson, son of baseball legend Kirk Gibson:

Growing up in an ultra-competitive household, Toledo Walleye defenseman Kevin Gibson detested losing.

Gibson and his two brothers went at it in just about every sport, never yielding an inch. As the son of Detroit Tigers legend Kirk Gibson, Kevin Gibson saw first hand what it meant to be a fierce competitor.

“I don’t know if it’s something you inherit. Maybe that makes sense,” Gibson said. “I’m an extremely competitive person. I hate to lose.”

While his father made his name in baseball as a tough-as-nails outfielder, Kevin Gibson was drawn to hockey. Gibson and brothers Cam and Kirk loved athletic competition growing up Grosse Pointe, Mich.

“During the 1990s, the [Detroit Red] Wings came to be the powerhouse [they were] and I really got into hockey,” Gibson said. “We had a backyard rink and all that. My two brothers and I were always playing something. Mini sticks in the basement, baseball, football. We’re all competitive. Whoever lost, it would almost always end in some type of altercation.”

Continued

Praise for McCollum, the Griffins winningest goaltender

WOOD TV filed a report on Tom McCollum as the Grand Rapids Griffins goalie just set a franchise record as the winningest goaltender in team history, with 110 total wins as a Griffin.

Griffins coach Todd Nelson believes that McCollum is perfectly-suited to his role:

“He’s just the ultimate team guy,” Griffins head coach Todd Nelson said. “After a big penalty kill, he makes it known when he comes to the bench and tells the guys great job on the kill (and) great job on blocking shots. If guys are getting rattled, he’s the guy that is that calming presence especially when guys are playing.”

His professionalism has improved as his career has progressed since his AHL debut in 2009.

“No matter how you’re feeling, as a pro now, I know how to get myself ready even for those games where you don’t necessarily have the energy to play,” McCollum said. “I think I’ve calmed down a lot. When I first started, I was very emotional. I’ve kind of let that affect me at times whereas now I learned how to harness that and channel it into a positive for myself.”

Continued

 

 

Battling Rask

From DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner:

[Tuukka] Rask, who will start against the Red Wings, has not lost in regulation since November 26. He is 18-0-2 in his last 21 games and is on a personal point streak of 20 games.

He’s 21-8-4 this season with a 2.09 goals-against average, .925 save percentage with two shutouts.

“He must feel like he’s in the zone. He’s been playing really well, just like their whole team,” Gustav Nyquist said. “I can’t say I’ve watched too many games of them, but obviously he must have been playing real well to be on a points streak like that. He’s been a good goalie in this league for a long time now. He’s a tough goalie to beat.”

Continued

A pair of Game-Day Preview videos

The Red Wings posted a Game-Day Preview video ahead of tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins (7:30 PM on FSD/NESN/Sportsnet/TVA Sports/97.1 FM)…

And Darren Eliot and Trevor Thompson offer a “Digital Pre-Game”:

The Athletic’s Custance on David Pope

I’ve been plugging David Pope in my prospect write-ups for some time now as the lanky University of Nebraska-Omaha winger has done a wonderful job of cranking up his offense during his senior season. Today, The Athletic’s Craig Custance wrote an article profiling Pope, discussing his evolution as a player through a lot of hard work, and discussing his future as well:

“As of right now, I’m 100 percent set on going to Detroit,” Pope told The Athletic on Monday.

There are a couple of reasons for that. For one, the Red Wings offer an option he couldn’t take if he waited until August to sign with an NHL team. When his college season is over, the Red Wings can sign him to play in the AHL this spring, potentially for a playoff run if Grand Rapids makes another one.

That’s valuable opportunity for a player who will be 24 years old at the start of training camp next season, or to put that in perspective, two years older than Dylan Larkin will be in camp. There’s likely an AHL stint ahead for Pope regardless and getting that taste in early has value. At least, that will be the Red Wings’ pitch.

“The ones who spend time in the American League right after college — it’s a great barometer for them to set where they need to be next fall,” [Wings assistant GM Ryan] Martin said. “It’s a league of men. It’s a pro league. Hopefully we’re a playoff team in Grand Rapids and he has the opportunity to come in and play games at the end of the year.”

Continued (paywall)