Shapiro discusses coaches Maurice and McLellan with Vladimir Tarasenko

Shap Shots’ Sean Shapiro discussed coaches Paul Maurice and Todd McLellan with Red Wings forward Vladimir Tarasenko on Wednesday:

McLellan was brought in to be more of a taskmaster and an ass-kicker, bring a bit more fire. It’s been notable in a public space how much more vocal he is with players at practice, after the Red Wings loss on Tuesday, for example, he didn’t hold back publicly when asked about Justin Holl’s game1.

So I asked Tarasenko2 about it on Wednesday before the team flew to Florida for a game against his old coach that he had praised.

“(McLellan) expects a certain level from the players every night,” Tarasenko said. “If you don’t do things right, you hear (about it). It’s a pretty honest thing, it makes the whole process pretty easy.

“You have to learn how to not only hear the good things,” Tarasenko added. “And when you hear the not good things, and then he gives you a chance, you feel motivated to repay that trust he puts in players.”

None of this is to say McLellan’s hiring has “fixed” Tarasenko or made the $4.75 million cap hit more palatable, in fact it should be noted that while he’s having better results point-wise right now, he’s still getting off a similar number of shots that he did with Lalonde in charge.

But the player said he feels more energized, and believes he has a coach that knows how to push the right buttons.

Continued

Duff: Finnie on a heater

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that Red Wings prospect Emmitt Finnie is on a roll with the Kamloops Blazers:

Continuing to be the biggest surprise among recent Detroit Red Wings draft picks, Emmitt Finnie is ablaze for the WHL Kamloops Blazers. The 19-year-old center chosen 201st overall in the 2023 NHL entry draft is riding an 11-game point streak.

Finnie is counting 6 goals and 14 assists over this 11-game span. He’s producing in bunches. The 6-foot-1, 191-pounder has eight multi-point games during this hot streak. Through the entire campaign his ledger is showing 20 multi-point games.

Finnie has points in 15 of his last 16 games and 18 of his last 21 games. In fact, throughout the season, he’s never gone pointless more than one game in a row.

In 36 games this season, Finnie is showing 23 goals and 34 assists.

Continued

The Easter Eggs

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski discusses “Easter Eggs” hidden in the Red Wings and Blue Jackets‘ Stadium Series jerseys:

[NHL VP of marketing and chief branding officer Brian] Jennings said that while Stadium Series jerseys typically have “that progressive, futuristic look” in contrast to the more historic inspirations of the Winter Classic, there’s “a little bit more simplicity” for Detroit’s look, which was by design.

“Detroit being an Original Six team, that have very strong feelings, and [owner] Chris Ilitch and the team communicated that to us,” he said.

What the jerseys lack in boldness, the Red Wings’ helmets make up for it. Detroit’s buckets have a large white stripe down the middle like a football helmet — plus Red Wings logos on each side, making them look a little like Mercury when they’re skating.

“It starts with the sweater, but then it’s how you compliment it. In this case, it’s the helmet that catches that collegiate and youthful look,” Jennings said.

The Red Wings did come to the designers with one unique request: They wanted their octopus mascot represented in some small way. So on the bottom of the jersey in the back, right at the hem, there’s small loop tag with the purple octopus’s eyes on it — a cheeky new innovation for NHL outdoor game jerseys.

“We’ve never, never had this kind of treatment on the jersey before,” [Fanatics’ Dom] Fillion noted. “It’s a nice little Easter egg to discover.”

Continued;

Patrick Kane, trade bait?

Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin argues that Red Wings forward Patrick Kane is among several players who have played their way into being coveted trade deadline rentals:

Patrick Kane, Detroit Red Wings

I don’t blame any Wings fans who get their backs up seeing Kane’s name on this list. Your team is 7-2-0 since Todd McLellan took over as head coach, after all. Kane has gone Benjamin Button since the switch, too, catching fire for 13 points in eight games. But despite Detroit’s impressive surge, it still isn’t holding an Eastern Conference Wildcard spot, trailing the Columbus Blue Jackets by three points with a game in hand. So we obviously cannot forecast a surefire playoff berth for the Wings, as much as their fans want one after eight consecutive seasons without making it. If the Wings still sit on the periphery or worse a month from now, does GM Steve Yzerman begrudgingly entertain offers for Showtime? Kane’s recent explosion has demonstrated he still can be an offensive difference maker, now 19 months removed from hip resurfacing surgery. He has a full no-trade clause, but might he want to join a contender in hopes of a deep playoff run?

Continued; I don’t think that Kane is going anywhere.

HSJ in the morning: on the road ahead

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the Red Wings’ challenging 4-game road trip, which begins with a game against the Florida Panthers this evening (ESPN/97.1 FM):

A bump on the road or a sign of how rough the map still is? That’s the question the Detroit Red Wings next are tasked with answering.

They begin a four-game swing, their longest since Todd McLellan was named coach Dec. 26, by taking on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Thursday, then it’s on to play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. From there the Wings travel northwest to Dallas to play the Stars on Sunday with a final stop looming Jan. 21 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Of those opponents, the Flyers are the only team the Wings have already played this season.

“This is a huge test,” Andrew Copp said Wednesday. “Four good teams, teams that we haven’t really faced yet this year, teams that are above us in the standings. It’s going to be a really good measuring-stick road trip for us.”

…

There’s tons of runway left for the Wings (20-19-4), but their schedule the rest of the way is pretty daunting: Twenty-three of their remaining 39 games are on the road and the road games include a trek to Western Canada and Seattle. Most immediately, this coming trip figures to be a challenge, as the Wings have lost 10 of their last 12 games in Florida, lost 11 straight at Dallas and lost 20 of the last 22 in Philadelphia. (They have won four of the last six in Tampa after dropping 17 straight there).

“It’s always a new challenge for us, but I think we can beat any team in the league,” defenseman Moritz Seider said. “Why not start in Florida with a good start for the road trip, set ourselves up and feel good about ourselves and then go to work in the other cities as well. 

“I think (the loss to San Jose) is just a bump in the road and we’ll fix that and get ready for a good road trip.”

Continued (paywall)

Tweets of note: Fanatics hypes NHL Stadium Series jerseys

Per Fanatics on Twitter:

Press release: NHL unveils Stadium Series uniforms

Per the NHL:

NHL and Fanatics Debut Uniforms for 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series

Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings face off at legendary Ohio Stadium on March 1

COLUMBUS / DETROIT (Jan. 16, 2025) – Today, the National Hockey League (NHL) and Fanatics, the League’s authentic outfitter, unveiled the uniforms for the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series™ between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings. The marquee event, marking the League’s 43rd regular-season outdoor game, will be played at the iconic Ohio Stadium, Home of the Buckeyes, on March 1, 2025. The uniforms, designed by Fanatics with input and alignment from both teams and the League, highlight the distinct cultural and historical identities of both Columbus and Detroit.

Starting today, 2025 NHL Stadium Series jerseys will be available for pre-order exclusively at all Blue Jackets and Red Wings team store locations. In addition, Blue Jackets fans can pre-order their jersey via the team’s official online store.

The Blue Jackets’ uniform pays tribute to the rich history of Ohio and Columbus. The design draws inspiration from the uniforms worn by the Union Army, with the jersey featuring several military-like details, including:

  • A chevron sleeve stripe denoting the rank insignia of the era.
  • Shoulder featuring a new “CBJ” mark surrounding two crossed hockey sticks, a nod to the unit designation pins worn on the front of soldier’s slouch caps.
  • A front crest featuring “The Cannon,” derived from the Blue Jackets alternate logo and key element of any Columbus Blue Jackets home game, colored with new metallic silver and red accents.
Continue reading Press release: NHL unveils Stadium Series uniforms

Coach McLellan wants his Red Wings team to embrace the challenges ahead

Red Wings coach Todd McLellan told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan that the Red Wings are embracing the challenges which lie ahead of them on their upcoming 4-game road trip:

“We had a good practice, didn’t expect anything different,” McLellan said. “I would have been disappointed if it went the other way. They came and worked. They’ve done that every day since we’ve been here. Now we got to translate that into a good effort in Florida.”

McLellan didn’t point to any one area to focus on during practice.

“Getting our mindset to where it was,” McLellan said. “Habits are hard to break and tend to creep in now and then. We were trying to break some habits and trying to change a few things. We were focused on that and improving our overall game.”

The Panthers will be a stern test to lead off the trip.

“They’re the Stanley Cup champs, so there you go,” McLellan said. “We just played in Winnipeg, a tough place to play and No. 1 in the league right now, and we responded well (4-2 victory).

“We’ll learn if we can recover and manage a game a little bit better. We didn’t do a good job (Tuesday), with the timing of the goals (allowed), the beginning of the periods and momentum swings of grabbing it and giving it right back. Did we learn anything from that? We know the task in front of us is a tough one, this whole trip.”

Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider’s even more enthusiastic about what might happen:

“We can beat any team in the league,” Seider said. “Why not start in Florida with a good start for the road trip? Set ourselves up, feel good about ourselves and then go to work in the other cities as well.”

Justin Holl’s rolling with the punches

Red Wings defenseman Justin Holl was benched for the last half of the 3rd period in yesterday’s 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks, and he told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan that things…happen:

Holl was one of the players McLellan singled out postgame Tuesday who needs to play better. Holl agreed.

“You want to play the next game and get that bad taste out of your mouth,” Holl said. “If you’re going to be a defenseman in the NHL, you’re going to look dumb sometimes. That’s just how it goes. You don’t want to be that guy, but all you can do is stay confident and get right back at it.”

Continued

It’s ‘one shift at a time’ as the Wings face a difficult schedule

The Red Wings’ beat writers have repeatedly informed us of the difficulties which the Wings face in their upcoming 4-games-in-6-nights road trip, as well as their remaining schedule. Detroit’s players and coach are looking forward to a rough schedule and playing teams that they never seem to defeat, as they told Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

“This is a huge test,” admitted Red Wings forward Andrew Copp. “Four good teams, teams that we haven’t really faced yet this year, teams that are above us in the standing. So this is going to be a real good measuring road trip for us.”

In truth, it’s just the first of many difficult challenges ahead for this team. According to the website Tankathon.com, Detroit is grading out with the most difficult remaining schedule in the NHL. The opponents ahead for the Red Wings show an average winning percentage of .588.

“We play really good teams now,” Detroit defenseman Moritz Seider said. “I think we just should be excited.”

Detroit has four games remaining with Tampa Bay, and three each against Florida and Carolina. Home-and-homes await with the Stars, Minnesota and Vegas. There’s also two remaining games on the slate with surprising Washington and surging Montreal. Single games include Toronto, New Jersey, Colorado and Edmonton.

The Red Wings will be finishing the regular season with four of five on the road. They close with games against the Devils and Maple Leafs.

Coach McLellan will have none of it:

“I want them to live in the moment and just worry about that,” the Detroit coach said. “It can be hard if you get caught up in all of that stuff. It can take you down or it can put you too far up. Put the equipment on and let’s deal with things between Minute 1 and Minute 60 and we’re fine.”