Custance’s ‘Stars and Stripes Showdown’ notebook includes a bit about Rasmussen

The Athletic’s Craig Custance posted a notebook-form article from the media availabilities held after the “Stars and Stripes Showdown,” and he noted this from Jeff Blashill regarding Michael Rasmussen:

One last note on Zetterberg and Plan B for the Red Wings: Michael Rasmussen, Detroit’s first-round pick in 2017, is expected to get a long look in training camp and, barring a disaster, should make the team.

He was drafted as a center, although the expectation is that he’ll ease in to the NHL on the wing. That said, Blashill didn’t rule him out as a center option for the Red Wings minus Zetterberg.

“I certainly wouldn’t say I wouldn’t consider him. That’s not the case at all,” Blashill said.

He agreed that it’s easier to break into the NHL on the wing, but the bigger reason Blashill likes Rasmussen as a winger is his ability to play in front of the net. You could tell that Blashill was eager to get the 6-foot-6 Rasmussen out there.

“He might end up being a winger in the National Hockey League,” Blashill said.

Continued (paywall)…

TSN’s Yost talks Wings, Hawks in decline

TSN’s Travis Yost penned an article titled, “Red Wings, Blackhawks paying for past glory,” and among his points:

Ten years ago, the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks ushered in a new era of hockey – one built on speed, puck possession and an incredible pool of talent that ensured playoff contention every season.

But hockey, like most things, is cyclical. The state of the organizations in Detroit and Chicago is quite different in 2018. These two historic franchises wrote the playbook on how to build a contender in the modern era. But they also are writing a sequel – one that speaks to the importance of salary cap management and continuous player development.

Detroit’s story has already been written. The Red Wings are embarking on a full-blown rebuild and it may be some time before they come out of it. The Red Wings were naturally going to dissolve first. Their core was substantially older than their Original Six brethren, and so was their window of contention.

The Red Wings now carry the league’s oldest roster by a significant margin – the average player age working against the Detroit cap is 31, which is three standard deviations from league norms these days. Players age 34 and up, a vanishing breed in the NHL, are consuming about $36-million against the cap. Not only are those players relatively unproductive (or, simply not playing, like forward Johan Franzen), but the organization hasn’t been able to replace them with competent young talent. The rebuild is ongoing and will take some time.

Yost continues, and I would argue that the Wings’ consistent misses at the draft over the past half-decade–yielding an inability to build a “next generation” defensive corps and trading away the Calle Jarnkrok and Mattias Janmark for veterans to “continue the streak”–have significantly hamstrung the team, but those are just two of the factors playing into the Wings’ struggles today.

 

Toledo Walleye, Detroit Red Wings extend affiliation

From the Detroit Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings and Toledo Walleye extend affiliation

Walleye to continue serving as Red Wings’ ECHL affiliate for three seasons

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings and ECHL’s Toledo Walleye today announced a three-year extension of their affiliation agreement. The 2018-19 season will mark the ninth year of partnership between the clubs and extends the affiliation through at least the 2020-21 season.

Continue reading Toledo Walleye, Detroit Red Wings extend affiliation

Caputo weighs in on the absence of ‘Hockeytown’ from center ice at LCA

The Red wings appear to have removed the “Hockeytown” logo from center ice at Little Caesars Arena, and the Oakland Press’s Pat Caputo has this to say about the change:

Still, in a sense, The Hockeytown moniker fits. Before the Red Wings’ developed widespread appeal by becoming championship-caliber, they had a strong nucleus of fans. Somebody, I forget exactly who or I’d credit them, said to me long ago – “There are only about 30,000 hockey fans in this town, but 20,000 of them show up for every game at Joe Louis Arena.”

Some of those hardcore hockey fans seem to have been priced out of Little Caesars Arena, but the Red Wings still drew considerably better there last season than the Pistons despite often lackluster, boring performances.

The Red Wings are an Original 6 franchise in a border city with Canada. Youth hockey remains strong in this area. Just look at all the NHL players this state continues to develop.

But a point can be made “Hockeytown” is a marketing slogan derived from the franchise’s salad days, and as such represents a constant look back rather than forward.

In that way, I don’t have a problem with it being removed for just the winged-wheel at center ice.

No sense suggesting Dylan Larkin is Steve Yzerman, Dennis Cholowski Nicklas Lidstrom, Filip Zadina Brendan Shanahan and Michael Rasmussen Sergei Fedorov. Hopefully, they will present the nucleus for a brighter future, and remove the constant urge to look back to the Red Wings’ salad days.

Caputo continues, and

Roughly translated: Henrik Zetterberg’s agent, Gunnar Svensson, and teammate Niklas Kronwall weigh in on the captain’s health

Of roughly-translated Henrik Zetterberg-related note this morning:

1. Henrik Zetterberg’s agent, Gunnar Svensson, spoke with SVT.se’s Tobias Dahlberg this morning, stating that his client still wants to play hockey, and that Zetterberg hasn’t made his final decision yet:

Agent’s response: “There is no final message”

Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill announced today that Henrik Zetterberg’s career is probably over.

But his agent, Gunnar Svensson, says that his ambition is still to play.

“Of course, that’s what he wants. There is no answer to the question,” he says to SVT Sport.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Henrik Zetterberg’s agent, Gunnar Svensson, and teammate Niklas Kronwall weigh in on the captain’s health

Stars and Stripes Showdown recaps

Updated 3x at 11:56 PM: Okay, I posted my audio from the Dylan Larkin-organized “Stars and Stripes Showdown,” and here are some initial articles regarding the event, with the first coming from the AP’s Larry Lage…

Dozens of U.S.-born NHL players paid tribute to Jim Johannson and raised funds for two of his favorite causes, his 2-year-old daughter and grassroots hockey.

Auston Matthews and Patrick Kane were among the American stars and standouts who gathered for a charity game won by the Blue over the White 14-9 Sunday.

“He was very good to me and my family,” said Matthews, who played for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program before Toronto drafted him No. 1 overall in 2016. “He gave me an opportunity to play for USA Hockey.”

Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin led the push to get many players in the league to travel, at their expense, to play an exhibition game in for 3,000-plus fans at USA Hockey Arena.

“Guys went about and beyond,” Larkin said. “All I had to do was send a couple texts.”

The event honored Johannson, who died at age 53 in January. He was a longtime USA Hockey executive and was serving as the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team general manager when he died.

“It’s a great tribute to a great person we miss every day,” said Pat Kelleher, executive director of USA Hockey

And the second coming from the Detroit News’s Nolan Bianchi:

To see all these players out there and them giving back to the sport, giving back to the Johannson family, it’s a spectacular day for USA Hockey and for hockey in our country,” executive director of USA Hockey Pat Kelleher said. “That’s what made me smile today.”

The game featured 12 Michigan natives including Chicago Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat (Farmington Hills) and Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba (Rochester). Perennial NHL All-Stars Auston Matthews (Maple Leafs), Patrick Kane (Blackhawks) and Zach Parise (Wild) also played.

Larkin was accompanied by Red Wings Jimmy Howard, Luke Glendening, Justin Abdelkader and prospect Jake Chelios, son of Detroit legend Chris Chelios.

Larkin said he was happy to be the one to help recruit the biggest names in the sport in honor of the late Johannson.

“As it got going, having Auston and Patrick Kane here is huge, Seth Jones, these guys flying in on their own expense, I can’t thank them enough for coming in,” Larkin said. “It really does speak to who JJ was.”

Kane captained Team Blue and Matthews Team White; they joined Johannson’s 2-year old daughter Ellie, wife Abby, father Ken, brother John and sister Judy for the ceremonial puck drop before the game following an emotional video tribute that Larkin said was a surreal experience.

“It’s a huge hole in a lot of people’s lives. All I could think about is, ‘There’s one person missing,'” Larkin said. “(Johannson would) be real proud if he knew what was going on today.”

Bianchi continues, and he posted a video interview with Larkin:

FYI:


And for the equipment nerds:

  1. Howard was back in his Vaughn pads after an entire summer of trying out Bauer 2S pads;
  2. And Dylan Larkin was trying out Warrior QR1 gloves with “shot blocker” protection on the backhands:

Update: Here’s USA Hockey’s 4-and-a-half-minute highlight clip from the game:

Update #2: Here’s USA Hockey’s recap of the game:

Continue reading Stars and Stripes Showdown recaps

Casting a shadow upon a hopeful weekend

I’ve been paying serious attention to the situation with Henrik Zetterberg since the first credible reports of his issues with back problems surfaced, and I was holding out hope that, somehow, Zetterberg might be able to pass his physical and keep his career going…

But listening to coach Blashill’s remarks after today’s Stars and Stripes Showdown were painful.

Everything that Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom dug up, everything that Niklas Kronwall has said to the Swedish media, all the hints and suggestions were made plain by Blashill, and the lack of optimism from Blashill, Justin Abdelkader and Dylan Larkin was palpable, as well as the sense that the team’s closed ranks around their captain, regardless of how near or far they are from the real story.

It’s bad. Zetterberg hasn’t been able to train as he would have liked this summer, and the Wings aren’t holding out a whole lot of hope that Zetterberg will be able to somehow translate a summer of not training into a fall of making up for lost time. Instead, as Blashill and Holland told the media this summer, the Wings have been drawing up two roster plans, one for what happens if Zetterberg returns, and one for what happens if Zetterberg does not.

The tone around today’s Jim Johannsson-themed “Stars and Stripes Showdown” was so optimistic, and the players and coach alike spoke about the fact that they felt honored to be able to help out Joe Kocur’s charity in its 10th annual charity softball game on Saturday, and then to start up what they hope is a yearly event on a late-August Sunday. Today was about hope…


Until the words, “Can you tell us about Henrik?” were uttered. Then things got a little quiet, faces stiffened up and issued stern expressions, and there wasn’t much hope at all.

Instead of the optimism which permeated the weekend, “I hope” and, “I think” replaced, “I know,” and, “We’ll see,” “We’re hoping,” “I’m not sure” and, “I don’t know if” became the watchwords.

Whatever the situation is, and we won’t know for sure how bad things are until Henrik Zetterberg tells us, it’s not good, and when optimistic hockey players are sticking out their jaws and furrowing their brows, that’s not a good thing at all.

Update: Here are some of Blashill’s comments, as noted by MLive’s Ansar Khan…

Continue reading Casting a shadow upon a hopeful weekend

I went to a Dylan Larkin-organized hockey game and news about Henrik Zetterberg’s health took post-game center stage

The “Stars and Stripes Showdown” at USA Hockey Arena was a tremendously optimistic event, with over 21 first-round picks paying tribute to the memory of Jim Johannsson over the course of an action-packed game…

And the aftermath was a combination of positive in the players and coaches recounting their time with “J.J.,” and negative in Dylan Larkin, Justin Abdelkader and especially coach Jeff Blashill speaking as guardedly about Henrik Zetterberg as I’ve ever heard them speak.

Things do not sound very good for Zetterberg, especially given coach Blashill’s remarks regarding Zetterberg’s inability to fully train this summer, and while the Wings are going to go through the business that is speaking with their captain and then addressing his medical concerns as completely as possible, I would not bet a cent on the prospect of Zetterberg playing this upcoming season.

The USA Hockey media department was tasked with an impossibility in bringing out a cavalcade of guests to speak with the media one-at-a-time…So they brought people out in groups. As a result, Dylan Larkin’s interview is preceded by a bit of Auston Matthews speaking with the media, including TSN and Sportsnet, which were on hand to snag quotes from the Leafs’ captain.

Larkin was more focused on the event as it came to fruition instead of his tremendous role in organizing the gathering, and whatever happens with Zetterberg, Larkin has “taken a step” this summer in the leadership department, that’s for sure:

Justin Abdelkader had a good chuckle about being out-numbered by so many Michigan players, but as a USA Hockey alum, he had a lot to say about Johansson’s legacy, the weekend’s charitable events and yes, Zetterberg’s future, though he hasn’t spoken with Z:

After his usual, “Hi, George, how was your summer?” that the coach greets me with each fall, coach Blashill got down to both the business of discussing a game in which there wasn’t much coaching, celebrating the legacy of a dear friend gone too soon in Johannsson, and at the prodding of the well-assembled media corps, addressing Zetterberg’s status in some detail.

According to Blashill, who has spoken with Zetterberg, Z hasn’t been able to train as he would like (just as Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom has reported), and it sounds like the team is going to let Zetterberg take his physical and let the chips fall where they may.

According to Blashill, the team has made plans for both a team with Zetterberg in the lineup and a team without Zetterberg in the lineup, which would likely shift Andreas Athanasiou to center, and Blashill does not believe that if Zetterberg was unable to train this summer, that he’d have any chance of making the team later in the season.

Blashill also said that Mike Green was on track to be cleared for contact play during training camp, and otherwise, he didn’t believe that anyone was injured, though he noted that now that the players are about to hit the ice at LCA for a couple of weeks’ worth of pre-training camp “Captain’s Skates,” there may be some dings here and there come September 12th.

Blashill also said that the players will probably take their physicals the morning of the team golf outing on the 13th, but some veterans may take them early, so there is that unknown as well.

That’s what I’ve got for you right now. I’ll try to cover the rest of the media stuff this evening.

 

 

 

Jeff Blashill, Kris Draper and Mickey Redmond appear on the latest ‘Red and White Authority’ podcast

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, special assistant to the GM Kris Draper and color commentator Mickey Redmond appeared with Arthur J. Regner on the latest “Red and White Authority” podcast: