The Athletic’s Custance talks about the Griffins’ crowded blueline, reports a Svechnikov call-up is in order if Nielsen is out

The Red Wings’ inability to trade Mike Green, Xavier Ouellet and (apparently) Nick Jensen has negatively affected the team’s log-jam of prospects in Grand Rapids, as The Athletic’s Craig Custance notes:

Griffins coach Todd Nelson has been playing seven defensemen, similar to Jon Cooper in Tampa, which may be a good way to win games. It’s not a great way to develop young defensemen.

“Last game we played six, which is nice for the D,” [Joe] Hicketts said. “You also don’t want to see guys getting sat. But it allows you to get in a groove and you’re playing with the same guy consistently. You’re not getting shortchanged on special-teams stuff. Obviously, six D is a lot better.”

And, because Nelson is trying to get in the playoffs, when he’s sitting a player, it’s likely going to be a younger player who is still adapting to the league. In this case, it was 20-year-old Vili Saarijarvi taking a seat.

Again, not ideal for player development. Saarijarvi is the Red Wings’ third-best defensive prospect. He needs to be playing.

Custance continues at length (paywall), and he suggests that the Red Wings will have to use their 3rd of 4 post-trade deadline call-ups on Evgeny Svechnikov, assuming that Frans Nielsen is injured.

Griffins: Winning the AHL’s playoff MVP award is (usually) an indicator of NHL success to come

Griffinshockey.com’s Mark Newman posted an article regarding the “springboard” that the AHL’s playoff MVP trophy, the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy, can provide for players looking to stick in the NHL:

There are many paths to the NHL, but most players pass through the AHL on their way to the world’s foremost hockey league. In fact, 88 percent of all NHL players last season were graduates of the AHL.

One sure ticket to the NHL – or as close as one can get to a golden pass – is the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy, the award given annually to the Most Valuable Player of the Calder Cup Playoffs (and named in honor of the man who had the longest tenure of any AHL executive in history, 28 years).

First awarded in 1984, the Butterfield Trophy is no guarantee of NHL stardom, but the list of past winners is peppered with a number of solid NHL performers, including Olaf Kolzig, Derek Armstrong and Dixon Ward, among others.

Two of the past five winners are current Red Wings. Tomas Tatar was the MVP of the 2013 playoffs when he helped the Griffins win their first Calder Cup by tallying 16 goals in 24 games. Tyler Bertuzzi won the postseason MVP honors last spring when he had 19 points (9-10-19) in 19 games to power Grand Rapids to its second Cup.

Although both players can cite the playoffs as their stepping stone to the NHL, their experiences were actually quite different.

Continued

Griffins news: The Athletic profiles Matt Puempel, plus the Griffins’ weekly press release

The Athletic’s Katie Strang profiles Grand Rapids Griffins forward Matt Puempel today:

Tangradi, along with Ben Street, has forged chemistry on a line with Puempel. And though the 25-year-old Windsor, Ontario, native may come across as carefree and guileless when he arrives at the rink, there is a tenacity he plays with on the ice.

“A lot of guys when they’re in the NHL, on one-way contracts, they come down here and want to just flow through the motions. I think when he came down here, he had a little bit of a chip on his shoulder,” said Tangradi, who leads the American Hockey League with 16 goals since Jan. 1. “I know, from experience, when you get put on waivers and sent down for the first time, it’s very humbling and it can be tough. You see it in his work ethic. Instead of ‘poor me’ it’s ‘get out there and prove somebody wrong.’

“I think we’ve had great chemistry as a line; me, him and Street, because of that. I think all of us believe we can play in the NHL and there’s a little bit of hunger in every single game. I think you’re seeing him play at a whole other level because of that.”

With the Griffins battling for a playoff spot, Puempel is producing at more than a point-per-game clip in the AHL. He has 20 goals and 27 assists in 45 games this season; he earned 44 of those 47 points in 40 games with the Griffins.

Continued (paywall), and here’s the Grand Rapids Griffins’ weekly press release:

Continue reading Griffins news: The Athletic profiles Matt Puempel, plus the Griffins’ weekly press release

Not bad, Cholo: Dennis Cholowski hits 50 assists

Posting daily prospect updates yields a tendency to overlook the statistics of each and every one of the players taking part in games–especially given that there are as many as 26 teams that have one or more Red Wings prospects on them–but DUB Network’s Brandon Rivers took note of a significant milestone hit by Dennis Cholowski during last night’s Portland Winterhawks win over Prince George:

Dennis Cholowski suited up for 37 games for the Prince George Cougars earlier this season. Then he was dealt in a big deal along with the WHL rights to goalie Ty Taylor to the Portland Winterhawks for Ilijah Colina, Connor Bowie and some draft picks.

Tuesday marked Cholowski’s return to Prince George for the first time since being dealt and he marked the occasion by assisting on two of Portland’s first three goals to his the 50-assist mark for the year in their 4-3 road win in Prince George.

Cholowski has posted 14 goals and 50 assists for 64 points registered over the course of 63 games played. That’s pretty damn good.

 

Willing to play a ‘dangerous game?’

TSN’s Insiders took part in their latest episode of Insider Trading last night, and TSN’s staff provided a partial transcript of the episode, including the following:

Potential big names avaiable for Seattle’s front office

Dreger: The next step [for Seattle’s expansion franchise] is to get final approval from the National Hockey League that accepts Seattle as a full-on expansion team and then beyond that, you look at Seattle ownership. Jumping forward in hockey operations, there are three names that seem to be out there – just out there loosely in the moment – first being Ken Holland. It seems unlikely he would leave the Detroit Red Wings, but he doesn’t have a contract, so Detroit is playing a dangerous game in leaving that situation in the position that it’s in. And another is Kelly McCrimmon of the Vegas Golden Knights – talk about a wealth of experience that he would bring to the expansion process. And how about power agent Pat Brisson? Again, a bit of a long shot, but those are some of the names that we might be discussing moving forward.

Something tells me that Red Wings fans have no problem with this “dangerous game.”

David Backes to have hearing for Nielsen hit

From Sportsnet’s Steven Young:

 

Prospect round-up: On a scrappy night, Cholowski posts 2 assists, Rasmussen scores and Smith gets in trouble

In the KHL, Alexander Kadeikin finished at -1 in 11:47 played as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl won 3-2 in overtime over Torpedo Nizhny Novogorod. Lokomotiv leads the best-of-7 series 3 games to 0.

In the Finnish Liiga, Julius Vahatalo won 11% of his faceoffs in 9:29 played as Jukurit won 2-1 in overtime over Lukko;

In the SHL, Christoffer Ehn had an assist and finished at +1 with 2 shots, winning 28% of his faceoffs in 15:49 played during the Frolunda Indians won 2-1 over the Vaxjo Lakers;

In the OHL, Givani Smith scored a goal on 7 shots and got into trouble for shoving a linesman during a fight as his Kitchener Rangers won 5-2 over Sarnia;

In the WHL, Lane Zablocki did not play in the Victoria Royals’ 7-3 win over Spokane;

Michael Rasmussen scored a goal but finished at -1 with 8 shots, 8 minutes in penalties (4 for slew-footing, 2 for embellishment and 2 for unsportsmanlike conduct) and an 8-for-13 faceoff record in the Tri-City Americans’ 4-3 loss to Seattle;

And Dennis Cholowski had 2 assists and finished at +1 on 4 shots in the Portland Winterhawks’ 4-3 win over Prince George. Cholowski, who was the Cougars’ captain before he was traded to Portland, was named the game’s first star.

Prospect news: It looks like Givani Smith may be in some trouble after pushing a linesman

This entry is a composite in that it comes from a couple of different sources. Winging It in Motown’s Kyle McIlmurray posted a .gif of Wings prospect and Kitchener Rangers forward Givani Smith doing something very stupid during a fight–pushing a linesman…

I pulled up the box score of the Rangers’ 5-2 win over Sarnia, and somewhat ironically, Smith scored a goal in the game, and got 2-and-5 for roughing and fighting, with no penalty given for abuse of officials…

But a Tweet from Sportsnet’s Neate Sager led me to the Kitchener-Waterloo Record’s Josh Brown’s blog, where I found this…

– One minus: Expect Givani Smith to get a suspension for shoving linesman Dustin McCrank in the last minute of the second period. Things that may help Smith’s case – he didn’t try to hurt McCrank, the linesman was getting in the middle of a fight and may have slipped a bit on the play. But contact is contact and, under the rules, it carries a minimum 10-game suspension.

And after the game, Rangers coach Jay McKee spoke with Brown about the incident–and this is where things get complicated:

Continue reading Prospect news: It looks like Givani Smith may be in some trouble after pushing a linesman

Red Wings-Bruins wrap-up: Wings do a whole lot of learning in comeback against, OT loss to B’s

The Detroit Red Wings were unable to snap the Boston Bruins’ hex over them, losing 6-5 in overtime on Tuesday night…

But the Red Wings displayed a hell of a lot of pluck over the course of the second 30 minutes of play, and Detroit rallied from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits to ultimately tie the game at 5-5 halfway through the 3rd period.

To the victors go the spoils–and the good feelings, as you’ll eventually read–and the Bruins spoke proudly of their efforts, as the Patriot-Ledger’s Mike Loftus noted:

Continue reading Red Wings-Bruins wrap-up: Wings do a whole lot of learning in comeback against, OT loss to B’s

So, was David Backes head-hunting here?

Video via KK: I’m not sure what to think about this one. David Backes, something of a notorious head-hunter in Wings-Blues history, caught his shoulder on Frans Nielsen’s chin with this hit, and Nielsen left the game:


Per DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji:

It started out as a pretty good night for Red Wings center Frans Nielsen.

Nielsen cut the Boston Bruins’ lead to 2-1 at 2:16 of the first period when captain Henrik Zetterberg found him in the slot. Nielsen beat Boston goaltender Anton Khudobin glove-side. It was his 14th goal of the season and 150th of his career.

Unfortunately, Nielsen was not able to build on that as David Backes hit him in the Detroit end along the boards with 11.2 second left in the first period.

Detroit athletic trainer Piet Van Zant rushed to Nielsen’s side and helped him off the ice.

Update:

Update: Here’s more from St. James:

Continue reading So, was David Backes head-hunting here?