Very briefly on a late Friday night/early Saturday morning in July:

NHL.com’s Rob Reese penned a list of “fantasy (hockey) deep sleeper candidates for 2019-2020,” and Filip Hronek counts as a deep sleeper:

Filip Hronek, D, DET
NHL.com rank: 188

The Detroit Red Wings defenseman led the position with 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 10 games with Czech Republic at the World Championship and could be a fixture on Detroit’s top power play next season. Hronek was a part of the Red Wings’ strong finish to the season, scoring seven points (two goals, five assists), two on the power play, over the final six games. With Mantha, Hronek, Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Andreas Athanasiou, Mike Green and Jimmy Howard all ranked in NHL.com’s top 250, the Red Wings are a potentially overlooked team that can pay fantasy dividends.

Continued, and I hate to admit it, but I’m a horrible fantasy hockey player. I will pick my favorite players and play them to death.

The Toledo Walleye signed forward Brett Boeing and defenseman Connor Schmidt to one-year contracts on Friday, and Boeing, who graduated from UMass-Amherst, had good things to say about the Walleye, as noted by the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s John Walfish:

“I had a bunch of opportunities and I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Boeing said. “If I wanted to go to Europe or if I wanted to stay in the States, so I looked at everything and figured out what would be the best for me.

“Toledo is obviously one of the top organizations in the ECHL. Their GM (Neil Neukam) just won back-to-back executive of the year awards and they’ve had a lot of success over the past couple of years.”

What the Walleye saw in Boeing was the same thing that coach Greg Carvel said made Boeing so critical to UMass’ success this season — versatility. In addition to sliding up and down the lineup based on injuries, Boeing was the Minutemen’s best penalty killing forward and a capable substitute on the power play.

He’s an ideal forward for a league like the ECHL where most teams play only three lines in order to develop players for the next levels of the pro system.

“This year you saw me play power play, penalty kill, all situations, so that was one thing they liked that they said,” Boeing said. “Even my agent (Michael Gionta) said just to be so versatile in the pro game … with the constant turnover, they see me as being able to fill in all different roles and work my way up eventually.”

Continued

The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman penned an article examining Tyler Wright’s draft record as the former Red Wings director of amateur scouting assumes the same role for the Edmonton Oilers…

And, for the sake of stirring the pot a little bit, I found his take on Michael Rasmussen’s development thus far to be intriguing:

Michael Rasmussen, ninth, 2017

It’s unfair to criticize a player who appeared in 62 NHL games as a 19-year-old. He’s one of only 28 players in his draft class to skate in a regular season or playoff contest. But the knock on Rasmussen is his skating and there are concerns about his ceiling. There are also questions if he can develop as a centreman or if he’s better suited for the wing. It’s too early to tell how it’ll all shake out, but there were some pretty good prospects selected after him like Martin Necas, Nick Suzuki, Erik Brannstrom, Robert Thomas and Filip Chytil.

Where do you think Rasmussen fits into the Wings’ lineup as he develops?

Nugent-Bowman continues (paywall)

The Grand Rapids Griffins posted a press release which lists the dates and details of the team’s youth hockey camp and charity golf outing:

GRIFFINS’ YOUTH HOCKEY CAMP AND GOLF OUTING TO RETURN THIS SUMMER

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins are inviting fans to take part in two long-standing West Michigan summer traditions: the Griffins Youth Hockey Camp that will be held July 22-26 at Griff’s IceHouse at Belknap Park and the 25th annual Griffins Youth Foundation Golf Classic at Egypt Valley Country Club on Monday, Aug. 26.

The TC Times’ David Troppens spoke with Red Wings summer development camp try-out Drew DeRidder, discussing the Michigan State University goaltender’s experiences as a free agent try-out at last month’s camp:

“It was a dream come true for me,” DeRidder said. “Of course the Red Wings were my hometown team growing up since I lived in Fenton. It was a dream come true putting on the jersey.”

DeRidder was asked if he wanted to join the camp about a week prior to its start.

“Their goalie coach just called me and said, ‘We’d love to have you at this camp. What do you think?’ Obviously, I said yes,” DeRidder said. “I think it was a little more than a week before the camp.”

The week was spent doing a lot of training and learning a lot of other lessons beyond those on the ice.

“We had workouts and instruction time,” DeRidder said. “They were showing us how to take care of ourselves at the professional level. It was a lot of the same stuff we do at Michigan State. … It’s good to hear information like that from different people. It helps you figure out what works for you.”

Continued

From the Toledo Walleye…

? PLAYER ANNOUNCEMENT(S) ?

Fresh off a career season with @UMassHockey, forward Brett Boeing has agreed to terms with us for the 2019-20 season!

MORE ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/qmaKXnnRYT— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) July 12, 2019

After 27 games with the Fish last year … defenseman Connor Schmidt is set to return!

Read allllll about it ➡️ https://t.co/g1c4nS2TZz pic.twitter.com/7gseumw2jm— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) July 12, 2019

Here’s the Walleye’s press release:

Today, Elite Prospects’ Christoffer Hedlund profiles Red Wings prospect and 2019 draft pick Albin Grewe, going in-depth and using video to highlight Grewe’s strengths:

The aspects of Grewe’s game that really jump off of the screen are his aggression, high-end competitiveness, and strength. He’s a fierce competitor that brings a lot of energy to his team, bringing a full effort on every shift — Grewe will run himself through a wall (or an opponent, preferably) without thinking twice.

Grewe’s nose is always dirty, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. When the game gets tough, Grewe gets tougher. He doesn’t hesitate to use his body to block a shot or take a hit if it helps his team out. When play is headed in the wrong direction, Grewe is a determined back-checker. He fights hard along the boards in his own zone and puts in a lot of effort when he is looking to win the puck back for his team.

Grewe’s competitiveness is not limited to his own zone; he is a hard worker around the opposing net and along the boards in the offensive zone as well. He can throw big hits to punish his opponents or to open up space for his teammates. Even when he has the puck himself; he can be the one to initiate the contact for a hit. He is not shy in his physical game and almost instantly presented himself with a big hit when he got the chance to play in the SHL.

Continued

Per Edmonton Oilers radio analyst Bob Stauffer:

The @EdmontonOilers officially name Tyler Wright Director of Amateur Scouting and Archie Henderson Director of Pro Scouting— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) July 12, 2019

Here’s part of the Oilers’ press release:

Here’s an FYI from Centre Ice Arena’s “Detroit Red Wings Events in Traverse City” Facebook page:

Or, in text form:

Prepare to order your tickets for Detroit Red Wings Training Camp and NHL Prospect Tournament on TUESDAY, JULY 16 starting at 10 am. Online ticket sales only – no calls, no walk-ins during the first two days of ticket sales. When the order site goes live, you’ll have the chance to fill in your ticket preferences. We number all incoming orders and fill them first come, first served and try to fill requests as best we can. Here’s the link for details and to order tickets: https://www.centreice.org/drwtickets.

Grand Rapids Griffins forward Wade Megan hails from upstate New York, and North Country Now reports that Megan and several of his colleagues are holding a hockey camp for kids from July 29 to August 9th in Canton, New York:

Canton natives Wade Megan, Kyle Flanagan and Mark Phalon are preparing once again to bring their advanced hockey knowledge to the young players of the North Country at NoCo Hockey Camp at SUNY Canton beginning July 29.

They each bring knowledge of the game from the professional ranks to share with youth players at the camp. Megan spent 11 games this past season in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings, while also recording 48 games with Detroit’s American Hockey League affiliate, Grand Rapids.

…

Megan was recently a guest on the Blue Line Hockey Club, a hockey podcast run by local hockey buffs Pat Sullivan, Derek Hetu, Marc Morley and Rob Peters.

“We have just tried to step it up every year. We try to get better and better,” Megan said on the podcast. “This year is going to be a huge step forward. We really put a lot of time into the practice plan and we really just try to teach some of those skills that maybe you don’t get a chance to work on all the time throughout the season and throughout regular practice time.”

Continued