Caputo: Wings need to reassess the ‘rebuild on the fly’

The Oakland PRess’s Pat Caputo suggests that the Red Wings require a change in philosophy to get themselves out of their “rut”:

The thought process of striving merely to make the playoffs has to go. More important is building a team that can ultimately contend for a Stanley Cup championship.

It takes more than draft picks and astute trades. It takes properly accessing the value of players and leaving enough cap room to smartly fit in the pieces when a solid nucleus is formed.

Caputo continues at length…

 

Prospect round-up: Griffins lose in shootout; Sulak registers an assist; Fulcher stops Petes

In the AHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins got goals from Eric Tangradi and Dominic Turgeon and 31 saves from Jared Coreau en route to a 3-2 shootout loss to the Cleveland Monsters. Cleveland’s Nathan Gerbe scored the only shootout goal.

The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Griffins lose in shootout; Sulak registers an assist; Fulcher stops Petes

The Fourth Period’s Pagnotta discusses Mike Green trade scenarios

Per The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta:

Detroit Red Wings blueliner Mike Green is getting a lot of attention these days, with several teams very interested his services.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals, Los Angeles Kings, Winnipeg Jets and Pittsburgh Penguins are among the teams, and there are a few more, believed to have serious interest, and some teams may be more inclined to make a move sooner than later.

Green will become an unrestricted free agent this summer and the Red Wings are willing to take on a portion of his salary to help facilitate a trade. I don’t believe a move is close, just yet, but I can see something being ironed out well before the deadline.

Red Wings-Hurricanes set-up: Wings hope to gain ground on Canes

The Detroit Red Wings begin a set of back-to-back road games with a match-up against the Carolina Hurricanes this evening (7:00 PM EST on FSD/FS Carolinas/97.1 FM), and the Red Wings will be looking to close the gap upon a team that they trail by 8 points in the Wild Card standings.

The 24-19-and-8 Hurricanes find themselves sitting a tiebreaker short of the second Wild Card spot after having defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 on Thursday.

Carolina’s earned 3 straight wins and has won 4 of their past 6 games, and they’ve scored 10 goals over the course of their 3-game winning streak.

Continue reading Red Wings-Hurricanes set-up: Wings hope to gain ground on Canes

Articles from practice: on shot production, the hot goaltending hand and Tatar’s ‘sick move’

The Detroit Red Wings held a light practice on Thursday, hoping to build upon their win over San Jose as the Wings prepared for a two-game road trip against a pair of teams that the Wings must catch and hold off, respectively, to earn a Wild Card spot.

The Wings sit 6 points behind the Carolina Hurricanes, who will host the Montreal Canadiens this evening, and Detroit leads the Florida Panthers by 2 points (and the Panthers play in Buffalo tonight).

The Free Press’s Helene St. James reported that Henrik Zetterberg “took a maintenance day” on Thursday, but it’s assumed that Zetterberg will play on Friday; St. James also confirmed that Petr Mrazek will start against the Hurricanes.

After practice, the Red Wings posted Twitter videos in which coach Jeff Blashill and forward Tomas Tatar spoke with the media…

Continue reading Articles from practice: on shot production, the hot goaltending hand and Tatar’s ‘sick move’

Griffins game-day preview: GR prepares for 3 straight vs. Monsters

Grand Rapids Griffins announcer Bob Kaser sets up the Griffins’ 3-game slate against the Lake Erie Monsters in today’s game-day preview video:

FYI:

More Wings trade talk from TSN

Via Kukla’s Korner, TSN’s Scott Cullen penned a set of “trade deadline playbooks” for the Eastern and Western Conferences, and Cullen’s Eastern Conference Playbook discusses the Wings’ outlook as we head toward the February 26th trade deadline:

DETROIT RED WINGS
UFA in 2018: LW David Booth, D Mike Green
RFA in 2018: LW Andreas Athanasiou, C Dylan Larkin, RW Anthony Mantha, RW Martin Frk, G Petr Mrazek
No-Trade Clauses: C Frans Nielsen (modified), RW Gustav Nyquist, RW Justin Abdelkader, C Darren Helm, D Mike Green, D Niklas Kronwall (modified), D Trevor Daley, G Jimmy Howard (modified)
Others of Interest: LW Tomas Tatar, D Xavier Ouellet

Continue reading More Wings trade talk from TSN

Thursday’s practice: Zetterberg takes a maintenance day, Mrazek starts Friday, Canes in tough

Updated with videos of Blashill and Tatar speaking with the media at 2:07 PM: The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena just after 12 PM on Thursday.

Detroit hoped to build upon Wednesday’s win over the San Jose Sharks as the Wings prepared for back-to-back road games in Carolina (on Friday) and Florida (on Saturday):

That was the last practice-related Tweet that anyone posted for over an hour, save a Grand Rapids Griffins giveaway plug:

Continue reading Thursday’s practice: Zetterberg takes a maintenance day, Mrazek starts Friday, Canes in tough

TSN’s Seravalli ‘picks a team’ for Mike Green

TSN’s Frank Seravalli believes that the Vegas Golden Knights are the best fit for Mike Green…

Vegas Golden Knights: No one really knows how GM George McPhee will tinker with his long-range plan for the Golden Knights after their superlative-exhausting start to the franchise. Will he pay the price for a rental? Maybe if that price is offset by also shipping one of his out. If there’s one area Vegas could use help, it’s on their 22nd-ranked power play, where Green has generated half his points last year. McPhee knows Green better than just about anyone out there.

Seravalli also suggests that the Lightning, Maple Leafs and Capitals (the hot rumor team) are possible landing spots for Green.