WDIV’s David Bartkowiak Jr. wonders aloud whether Filip Zadina’s Quebec League success won’t immediately translate to high NHL productivity, suggesting that Zadina may turn out to be Anthony Mantha 2.0–a player worth waiting for, but requiring some developmental time:

The Red Wings, as a club, are known for having prospects “marinate,” if you will, in the minor leagues before slotting them into the NHL lineup. Case in point is Anthony Mantha, who led the Red Wings with 24 goals this past season, his second full season with the NHL team.

Mantha’s road to NHL-level production is about four or five years in the making. Remember, it was Mantha, the 20th overall pick in the 2013 draft, who scored 57 goals and another 63 assists in his final year in the QMJHL. That was after two full seasons with the QMJHL’s Val d’Or Foreurs. He scored 51 points in his first season, 89 points in his second and then finished with that monster 120-point season. He was destined for NHL success.

And he’s found it, but it took two full seasons in the AHL and growing pains in the NHL before Mantha could be considered a real threat to opponents. He had to find a way to use his big 6-foot-5 frame and learn what tracking down the NHL’s fastest players is like. The jump from juniors to the pros isn’t exactly a walk in the park.

Of course, Zadina is not Mantha, and it’s not necessarily fair to compare any players, especially two players with such different backgrounds. But one thing the Red Wings might be looking for is whether Zadina can show consistent growth at another level. He only played one season in Canada juniors, so there’s no way to really measure his growth at that level.

Bartkowiak Jr. continues, and Zadina’s spot in the lineup (or the lack thereof) will be determined over the course of the next couple of weeks…

The Red Wings have been holding informal practices at Little Caesars Arena for some time now, but the media was let in for the first official “captain’s practice” today, as noted by the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

Here we go…another season of #RedWings hockey set to begin pic.twitter.com/FfcyeMIkTw

— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) September 6, 2018

The Red Wings then said, “Hello from LCA”:

? pic.twitter.com/qLvuQCYL5f

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 6, 2018

More to come, obviously.

Update #1:

Continue reading Tweets from practice: “Captain’s practices” officially begin at LCA →

Grand Rapids Griffins forward Dominik Shine fired a “first pitch” right through the strike zone at the West Michigan Whitecaps’ Grand Rapids Griffins-themed evening–while shooting the ball with a hockey stick:

The Athletic’s Corey Pronman has penned a list of prospects that he will be watching intently from each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams, and Joe Veleno earns his nod as the Wings’ prospect-to-watch:

Detroit: Joseph Veleno, C

Michael Rasmussen, Filip Zadina, and Filip Hronek are the Wings’ top prospects with realistic chances of making the opening day roster. The reason I’m mentioning Veleno is due to the fact he slid on draft day over concerns about his offensive potential, with many scouts I’ve talked to labeling him a third-line center at best. I think there’s a little more there, though. He’s shown it to be in flashes, and he’ll have a chip on his shoulder after what’s transpired in the summer. I’ll be curious to see if he can light the lamp a few times in the preseason.

Continued

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a list of 10 prospects who bear watching during the Red Wings’ prospect tournament, and aside from the star players, I’m curious to find out whether this prospect can round into form after battling multiple knee injuries…

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with Red Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin regarding the Red Wings’ annual prospect tournament, which begins on Friday in Traverse City, MI:

“For sure it’s an evaluation camp,” said Ryan Martin, Red Wings’ assistant general manager. “It’s an excellent opportunity for players to show what they can do, in front of the front office, coaching staff, the eight teams competing at the tournament, and representatives from all 31 teams who will be there.”

For the Red Wings, and their curious fan base, this tournament will be a chance to see recent first-round draft picks Dennis Cholowski, Michael Rasmussen, Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno all on the same team, and playing against top-tier talent from other NHL organizations.

Rasmussen and Zadina are two forwards who have a path to making the Opening Night NHL roster, while Cholowski has more of a crowded battle with several other defensemen for an available roster spot on the blue line.

“There will be a lot of evaluation, there is training camp and exhibition games and (intra-squad) scrimmages, but this is a first chance to make an impression and show they deserve to be in the NHL,” Martin said.

The 8-team tournament takes place on Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday at Centre ICE Arena, and jobs on the Red Wings’ roster aren’t necessarily in play, but the pecking order for call-ups and nods for later-in-the-year promotions are definitely part of the equation…and the free agents get recruited by teams all over North America.

With something like 200 scouts in attendance, this is a place to get noticed, and as Martin tells Kulfan, the teams involved believe that the tournament offers elite-level play:

“I love this tournament,” said Martin, who believes the community involvement from Traverse City, makes this one of the better such tournaments around the league this weekend. “When you consider the over 200 volunteers, the rink, the setting, the talent in this tournament, the weather, it’s a great week (of hockey).

“It’s great, great hockey, and with games being staggered and going on at both rinks, for a hockey fan it doesn’t get much better.

“You’re going to see the top three, four or five top prospects from each of the eight organizations. For most of these players it’s the best quality of hockey they will have played in during their career (to this point).”

Kulfan continues, and you can access the tournament schedule here on Centre ICE’s website.

Of somewhat offbeat note this evening:

1. The AHL has launched a new streaming service that is way, way more affordable than its previous version, and AHL TV promises…big things. Here’s the press release the Griffins sent me:

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE PARTNERS WITH HOCKEYTECH TO LAUNCH NEW STREAMING PLATFORM

AHLTV to debut this fall on all-new platform designed to optimize the viewing experience

The American Hockey League today announced an enhanced partnership with HockeyTech and the launch of a brand-new streaming platform, AHLTV.

The creation of AHLTV marks the latest expansion of the American Hockey League’s long-standing relationship with HockeyTech, which also provides real-time scoring and statistical services for the AHL and its 31 teams and hosts the AHL’s official website and mobile app.

“We are extremely excited to introduce AHLTV beginning this fall,” said David Andrews, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Hockey League. “AHLTV reflects the high standards that our fans and stakeholders have come to expect from the American Hockey League, and HockeyTech shares our vision of bringing the excitement of AHL hockey as an enhanced digital experience to fans who can’t make it to the rink.”

“HockeyTech is proud to launch AHLTV in a true partnership with the American Hockey League,” said HockeyTech founder and CEO Stu Siegel. “Using the most advanced, cutting-edge digital technologies, AHL fans will have the most innovative multimedia hockey viewing experience available worldwide.”

Available at http://www.theahl.com/AHLTV, AHLTV will feature live streaming of every AHL game in high definition on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices, as well as over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and Android TV. AHLTV subscriptions, which include live and archived games, will begin at just $79.99 (US) for the entire 2018-19 regular season.

2018-19 Regular Season Subscription Packages
(All prices USD)

All teams, all games — $79.99
One team, all games — $59.99
One team, home or away — $39.99
All games, one month — $19.99
All games, one day — $6.99

2. In the “local hockey” department, the U.S. National Team Development Program is selling single-game tickets for its upcoming season, and the prices are ridiculously affordable:

PLYMOUTH, Mich. – Single-game tickets for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program 2018-19 home schedule are now on sale as the team enters its fourth season at USA Hockey Arena.

Tickets are $12.00 for center ice seating, with executive reserved seating tickets priced at $10. Students and active/retired military receive a $2 discount with proper I.D. when tickets are purchased in-person at the USA Hockey Arena Box Office.

The 2018-19 Team USA schedule is highlighted by a six-game collegiate schedule that includes Minnesota, Maine, Lake Superior State, Bowling Green, Holy Cross and Adrian College.

Fans can purchase single-game tickets through the USA Hockey Arena Box Office from 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays as well as 11 a.m. through the end of event on game days. Single-game tickets are also available by calling the box office at (734) 453-8400 or by visiting USAHockeyNTDP.com/Tix.

WDIV’s David Bartkowiak Jr. offers an interesting take on the Red Wings’ potential 2018-19 season expectations, suggesting that the Wings’ present lineup is best-served by trying to win despite the team’s personnel issues:

If we’re going to be realistic about this squad right now, they aren’t making the playoffs this season. The Red Wings are a team in some kind of transition — whatever kind it is — whether fans like it or not. The franchise has aging contracts to wait out, and young, unproven prospects to find out about. Growing pains will continue — keyword “growing.”

Ideally, they are a team that is able to stay competitive all season and is not getting blown out 5-1 on a nightly or weekly basis. Hopefully they are able to perform well against some of their divisional rivals — the Leafs, the Sabres, the Canadiens, the Bruins, the Lightning, etc. — but don’t expect them to be beating up on anyone more than once. There are just too many teams with better, more proven talent.

With the salary cap and draft lottery rules, “tanking” for draft picks in the NHL isn’t a real option anymore. Sure, it could help you land a Connor McDavid, but those types of players are few and far between. No, the Red Wings are better off trying to be the best they can be with the lineup they have. They will want to continue growing young players like Larkin, Bertuzzi and Mantha while filtering in new ones. And maybe they’ll surprise some people on some nights. But the fact is there are at least eight or nine other teams in the Eastern Conference who likely will look much better than the Red Wings this season.

Bartkowiak Jr. continues, and I don’t disagree with him, though my rationale is a bit different.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s almost impossible to expect a team of competitive professional athletes to go out and “tank.” While the Red Wings may continue to find themselves on the losing end of close games more often than not this upcoming season, settling for a likely middling finish doesn’t help the Wings’ young players learn to play competitive hockey.

One could argue that, at this point, fostering the Wings’ youth movement should be the team’s goal, and making genuine attempts to win games while giving “the kids” bigger and more integral roles will benefit the team in the long run.

As Bartkowiak Jr. suggests, the Wings are playing in a particularly competitive division, so it may not be realistic to expect them to prevail more often than not, but the Wings simply aren’t going to fold for the sake of earning higher draft picks, and that’s okay.

As I like to say, “Water will find its level,” and the ultimate talent levels of the Wings’ roster will prevail this season (and the Wings will probably struggle more often than not), trying or not trying.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji examines defenseman Filip Hronek’s 2017-18 season “numbers” this morning, and her review is anchored by Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin’s assessment of the slightly-built-but-fearless defenseman:

Quotable: “To start the year in Grand Rapids, we had Fil and and Vili Saarijarvi down there as first-year defensemen and we wanted to give them opportunity in terms of the power play but at the same time, we didn’t want to hand them jobs. Todd Nelson had decisions to make, too, coming back from the Calder Cup championship. He had all his defensemen back but I think to Filip’s credit, he was able to lock down a full-time, everyday job probably five or six games in.

He beat one of our veteran defensemen to run the power play and that’s how Fil got his opportunity, when he beat out Robbie Russo and Ryan Sproul, who we ended up trading to New York. When that spot opened up for somebody to be on the power play, that’s a real credit to Fil, he obviously had a really good year down there. In the short term it does look like Fil – our expectation and I think Fil’s expectation, too – is that he’s coming in here to compete for a job in Detroit and certainly his ability to run the power play adds a dimension to his game.” — Ryan Martin, Red Wings assistant general manager and Griffins general manager

Wakiji continues. As she notes, Hronek’s not exactly big at 6′ tall and a whopping 178 pounds, but Hronek isn’t intimidated by bigger, stronger players at all, and he’s got a sneaky mean streak to him. He’s probably the favorite of the Wings’ potential defensemen to land a spot on the regular-season roster.

MLive’s Ansar Khan examines the 2018-19 season outlook for goaltender Jonathan Bernier this morning:

2018-19 outlook: The Red Wings signed Bernier to bolster a back-up goaltending position that went 8-12-4, with a 3.22 goals-against average and .899 save percentage between Petr Mrazek and Jared Coreau in 2017-18. But the eight-year veteran has designs on the starting job and expects to push long-time No. 1 goalie Jimmy Howard for playing time.

Quotable: “I didn’t want to be in a position where I played 15-20 games, I want to come in and have a chance to play as much as possible. Obviously, depending on my play, but I just thought it was a great opportunity that me and Jimmy (Howard) can battle for games.” — Bernier

Key question: Will Bernier make a serious push for the starting job?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Bernier plays in 20-30 games as Jimmy Howard’s has suffered injuries on an every-year basis over the past couple of seasons.