Red Wings post pre-game report ahead of Monday’s game vs. NYR at the Wings’ prospect tournament ’18

The Red Wings posted a 2-and-a-half minute video setting up this afternoon’s 4 PM-starting game against the New York Rangers’ prospects in Traverse City (on Fox Sports GO and DetroitRedWings.com):

Two Things: Golfing with Ted and Witkowski on school assembly duty

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. The Red Wings’ players are taking part in a very special golf tournament today, helping raise funds for the Ted Lindsay Foundation for Autism research:

2. And the Wings posted a video of Luke Witkowski taking part in the Red Wings’ School Assembly Program:

 

Quick impressions from Monday’s morning skate at the Red Wings’ prospect tournament ’18

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects have a 4 PM EDT game against the New York Rangers’ prospects (to be streamed on Fox Sports GO and DetroitRedWings.com; if the Wings win and the Stars beat Minnesota in a 3:30-start game, Detroit’s in Tuesday’s championship game on Tuesday), so coach Ben Simon chose to hold an optional morning skate for his players.

Starting goaltender Patrik Rybar, back-ups Kaden Fulcher and Justin Fazio, forwards Nicholas Guay and Pavel Gogolev and defensemen Trevor Hamilton and Cole Fraser took part in the skate.

Rybar spent the vast majority of the skate in the south net, working with the Wings’ goaltending coaches, Brian Mahoney-Wilson and Jeff Salajko, and Rybar went off early, affording Kaden Fulcher some time to break in his brand new Vaughn pads.

Continue reading Quick impressions from Monday’s morning skate at the Red Wings’ prospect tournament ’18

Audio from the Red Wings prospects’ morning skate ahead of Monday’s game vs. NYR: Coach Simon, Kaden Fulcher, Pavel Gogolev and Cole Fraser

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects play the New York Rangers at 4 PM today, so the coaching staff chose to give the players a very, very optional morning skate.

Starting goaltender Patrik Rybar, back-ups Kaden Fulcher and Justin Fazio, and scratches Pavel Gogolev, Nicholas Guay, Trevor Hamilton and Cole Fraser skated, with Filip Zadina making a 10-minute guest appearance.

The Wings still brought out a full complement of coaches as Ben Simon, Daniel Cleary and Shawn Horcoff watched from the stands: goalie coaches Jeff Salajko and Brian Mahoney-Wilson, Griffins assistants Mike Knuble, Matt MacDonald and Brad Tapper and skill development coach Brandon Naurato all took part in drills with the Wings’ three goaltenders and four skaters.

After the “optional,” coach Ben Simon discussed his rationale in allowing the players who played (they did warm up off the ice) to skip the on-ice portion of their morning skate with a 4 PM game in the offing; Simon also discussed the work that the scratches put in to develop their skills, the fact that everybody is being evaluated at all times, regardless of whether they’re playing; he confirmed that Rybar will start as well:

Continue reading Audio from the Red Wings prospects’ morning skate ahead of Monday’s game vs. NYR: Coach Simon, Kaden Fulcher, Pavel Gogolev and Cole Fraser

Khan discusses Filip Hronek’s 2018-19 season possibilities

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the 2018-19 season outlook for Filip Hronek this morning:

2018-19 outlook: Hronek, the team’s third selection in the 2016 draft (53rd overall), had a strong rookie AHL season, following a solid OHL year in Saginaw after making the jump from the Czech Republic to North America.

Now he’s ready for the NHL. At least, the Red Wings hope so. They have four defense prospects who are close (Joe Hicketts, Libor Sulak and Dennis Cholowski the others) and believe Hronek leads the pack.

Hronek is mobile, moves the puck well, has offensive ability and shoots right. Those are elements the Red Wings’ blue line lacks.

If the Red Wings use Danny DeKeyser-Mike Green and Trevor Daley-Jonathan Ericsson as their top two defense pairings, Hronek play alongside Niklas Kronwall on the third pairing. Hronek figures to be competing with Nick Jensen for a spot in the lineup. Because he’s waiver-exempt, Hronek likely would return to Grand Rapids if he’s not playing regularly in Detroit.

Strength is usually an issue with younger players and Hronek improved last season by gaining 10 pounds. Despite his offensive ability, whether he plays and how many minutes he logs will depend mostly on how well he plays defensively.

Continued

Evgeny Svechnikov hopes to earn a spot on the Wings’ roster

The Free Press’s Helene St. James penned a profile of Evgeny Svechnikov this morning:

Much of Evgeny Svechnikov’s summer was spent chasing after a job in Detroit.

“I was at the track a lot, just getting my feet moving,” Svechnikov said after an informal skate at Little Caesars Arena. His audition heats up Friday when the Red Wings start training camp, as Svechnikov is among the leading prospects expected to push for a role. There is at least one opening up front, as captain Henrik Zetterberg is sidelined by back issues.

Svechnikov knows what he has to do to make the opening night roster.

“I want to show that I can play really good defensively and be strong in the zone, cycle the puck,” Svechnikov said. “Make less mistakes.”

St. James continues…

Duff discusses Michael Rasmussen’s desire to play ‘net-front’ hockey

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff wrote an article discussing Michael Rasmussen’s desire to make the Red Wings’ lineup by taking his 6’6″ frame to the front of the opposition net:

“I’m a big guy, so I have to play well down low and in front of the net and stuff like that,” Rasmussen said. “It takes a lot of practice, a lot of kind of feeling around in there over my hockey career, I guess.”

Ben Simon, coach of Detroit’s AHL farm club in Grand Rapids, believes net-front work comes naturally to Rasmussen due to his physique.

“He’s got such a big frame, such a big reach,” Simon said. “That’s going to be one of his attributes he’s going to have to use to his advantage, protecting the puck and not allowing guys to get inside of him. Once he gets the puck, it’s tough to get inside that wingspan.”

Those whose job it is to try to find the puck through Rasmussen’s imposing frame see a guy who is ready to do that task on hockey’s biggest stage.

“You watch him in practice tipping pucks and he’s got some of the best hand-eye,” Detroit goalie prospect Kaden Fulcher said. “Definitely around the net he’s got some unbelievable hands for a big guy, so I think he’s going to be a really big part of the Wings’ future moving forward.”

Duff continues…

Wings’ prospects spend Sunday on the charitable job

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner reports that the Detroit Red Wings’ prospects received a day off from skating on Sunday, but they put in some shifts of a different kind–charitable ones:

For the first time since the inception of the prospect tournament, the Red Wings prospects took part in the Hockeytown Cares Community tour.

On Sunday, the entire Wings prospects tournament team was treated to an interactive afternoon with firefighters, police officers and the K-9 unit when the players visited the Grand Traverse Metro Fire Station.

Players participated in equipment and vehicle demonstrations, witnessed how the K-9 unit searches for contraband and attacks sinister characters and even toured the living quarters of the firefighters, who live at the station when they’re on duty.

“It was a good experience, you get to see first-hand kind of what these guys go through on a daily basis of what they’ve got to do when they get called and the risks they take for us,” Wings defenseman Cole Fraser said. “Today gave me a good view of what they do and made me have a new respect for these guys. Obviously, I respected them before, but to see exactly what they do makes it bigger.”

Continued, and the Wings posted some Twitter videos from the prospects’ day as well:

Custance discusses an in-progress Filip Zadina

The Athletic’s Craig Custance penned an article discussing the tricky business that is assessing a prospect’s worth based upon their performances at the Red Wings’ prospect tournament in Traverse City, especially as that applies to Filip Zadina, who’s been very good, but not dominant:

In asking around about Zadina, the most important opinion right now might come from the man who will have a big part in determining his fate to start his NHL career. Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill was watching these games closely since the future of his team is playing out on the ice in front of him.

He’s looking for players who create more opportunities than they give up when they’re on the ice. If you’re an offensive player like Zadina, it’s hard to do that simply by scoring, so he wanted to see how much attention he paid to defense, how much attention he paid to managing the game. There were positives on both fronts there.

And like us all, Blashill saw the dynamic ability that made Zadina such a sought-after prospect in the draft.

“What’s impressed me is he wants the puck on his stick,” Blashill told The Athletic after the second game. “He by no means is a one-dimensional scorer. Certainly, I think he can score. He wants the puck on his stick. He wants to make plays. He’s got excellent edges, and he’s strong on his skates for a young guy. That all puts him in position to be a real good player for us at some point.”

Custance continues at length…