Two Athletic things: Disappointing Tarasenko and Chiarot on peak performance

Of note from The Athletic this morning:

  1. The Athletic asked its NHL writers to name their respective teams’ most disappointing developments this year, or signings of the 2024 offseason, this morning. We all know that Vladimir Tarasenko is so snakebitten that he might as well have a rattlesnake chasing him up and down the ice…

Detroit Red Wings

Vladimir Tarasenko: Tarasenko was supposed to be the big offensive addition this past offseason, but it just hasn’t worked out that way. He was never going to be able to replace all the offense the Red Wings lost amid a salary cap crunch, but through the first 40 games, he has just four goals and 14 points. He’s mostly playing on Detroit’s third line, and for a player with a cap hit of $4.75 million (for another season, too) the impact just hasn’t been enough. What’s more concerning: Even with those numbers, he’s still seventh in scoring among Red Wings forwards. — Max Bultman

Continued (paywall); at this point, I just hope for the best for Tarasenko–i.e. that he’ll snap out of his slump and find an offensive streak at some point this year.

2. And The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa spoke to both Boston Bruins players and Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot about the methods by which NHL players attempt to remain most effective by preparing for exertion and then recovering from game action:

Continue reading Two Athletic things: Disappointing Tarasenko and Chiarot on peak performance

Morning news: On Johansson’s first goal, ‘thinking big’ and first-line Kasper

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

  1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses Albert Johansson’s first NHL goal, which served as the 4-2 marker in last night’s 5-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks:

Raymond called it “an awesome moment. Everyone is extremely happy for him. It’s a special moment and a big accomplishment, so it’s fun to see.”

Fun, and a good step for Johansson as he tries to become a regular in his rookie season. The defenseman has been in and out of the lineup, appearing in three straight games partly because of an injury to veteran Jeff Petry. But Johansson, 24, is showing he isn’t just a fill-in. He played well in Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators, then put together another good performance against the Blackhawks.

“Over and above the goal itself, he had really good instincts to go to that hole,” McLellan said. “But I just think he’s been playing better over nine periods now — every period has gotten better for him. Confidence is growing. He’s doing exactly what he needs to do so that we understand him as a player and feel good about him. So, goal — great; confidence — even better.”

At 6 feet and 168 pounds, Johansson isn’t the biggest of guys, which is why it’s vital for him to play well positionally.

“He’s got to be real smart and know where to go and what to do,” McLellan said. “The other night against Ottawa, he and (Brady) Tkachuk got tangled up below the goal line and that’s a pretty big load. He handled himself well. As long as he’s positionally sound, he’ll have no problem.”

2. MLive’s Ansar Khan also discussed Johansson’s marker as a point of emphasis for a young, developing defenseman who’s trying to earn a permanent spot on the Red Wings’ blueline:

Continue reading Morning news: On Johansson’s first goal, ‘thinking big’ and first-line Kasper

Bultman on Kane’s resurgent play

Patrick Kane looks like he’s having fun and is fully healthy right now, which is a great thing for the Red Wings…

And The Athletic’s Max Bultman happens to have penned a late-night column in which he ruminates upon the above-listed topic that is #88’s resurgent mid-season performance:

Kane’s 36 now, and the days of him taking games over every single night may be in the past. But he still sees the ice like few ever have. And when he gets going, it’s something to behold.

Friday was a clinic in that. It started with him gliding through the neutral zone, beating his first man and then setting up Alex DeBrincat to open the scoring. Then it was Kane keeping a possession alive on the power play, disrupting a Chicago breakout, coming up with the puck and turning it into a three-on-one that Raymond finished off early in the second period.

But the real work of art was on Detroit’s third goal, at a moment when the game still felt perilously up for grabs. The Red Wings had dominated the second period but went into the third up just a goal. That’s when Kane took over, hanging onto the puck as he knifed across the offensive zone. There were four Blackhawks back, and no plays to be made. So, he waited until there was.

“He has unreal poise with the puck,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “There’s traffic, there’s people going everywhere, and guys are taking runs at him, and he’s just so calm. He can hold it a little longer, and while he’s doing that, he’s seeing things.”

That certainly applied here. Kane stickhandled and created space until defenseman Erik Gustafsson was alone up at the point. Then Gustafsson walked it in — making a couple of slick moves of his own to beat a defender and drag Petr Mrazek out of position — and then found Andrew Copp out front for a key insurance goal.

“That was all Patty Kane,” McLellan said. “Just slowing things down and creating opportunities for teammates.”

Continued (paywall)

Red Wings-Blackhawks wrap-up: a (mostly) satisfactory 6th straight win

The Detroit Red Wings took a 5-3 decision over the plucky Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night, earning their 6th straight win under coach Todd McLellan, and this one got hairy at times, but Detroit held the fort and learned…

Perhaps some difficult lessons in terms of underestimating their opponent at times. Given that Detroit remains a point behind the Canadiens for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, Detroit will have to continue battling hard as they conclude their home stand with a Sunday matinee against Seattle and a Tuesday night tilt against San Jose.

For the Red Wings, at least, there’s hope of some sort of salvaging of their 2024-2025 season, however.

The Wings stand at 19-18-and-4, which isn’t altogether that terrible, and things are looking up; for the Blackhawks, who are 14-26-and-2, they’re definitely in the middle of a rebuilding season.

As the Blackhawks head home to play the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope reports that the Hawks were feeling gloomy after Friday night’s game:

Continue reading Red Wings-Blackhawks wrap-up: a (mostly) satisfactory 6th straight win

Red Wings-Blackhawks quick take: imperfect is good enough for half-a-dozen at the Pizzarena

The Detroit Red Wings hosted the Chicago Blackhawks for an Original Six tilt at Little Caesars Arena on Friday night, with the Red Wings hoping to stretch their winning streak to six games.

On Friday night, the Wings let things get a little hairy at times, but Detroit pushed out to 1-0, 4-1 and then 5-3 leads en route to a 5-3 victory over the pesky Chicago Blackhawks. Goals by DeBrincat, Raymond, Copp, Johansson and Kasper powered the run, Patrick Kane had 3 assists, and while the Wings were loosey goosey defensively, Cam Talbot stopped 12 of 15 shots, some of them particularly hard.

Petr Mrazek deserves a lot of credit for keeping the Hawks in the game, Connor Bedard’s got a lot of skill, and the Hawks have to be respected, or they’re going to bite you in the butt…

And Detroit got bit a couple of times…

But the Wings held tough, and they won their sixth straight game under coach McLellan.

Continue reading Red Wings-Blackhawks quick take: imperfect is good enough for half-a-dozen at the Pizzarena

Parallels between Kane and Bedard

The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus spoke with Red Wings forward Patrick Kane in order to compare the start of Kane’s career to current Chicago Blackhawks phenom Connor Bedard:

Patrick Kane laughed at my premise, but not my point.

My premise was that Connor Bedard could have an identical career to Kane’s — three Stanley Cups, a Calder Trophy, a Hart Trophy, a Conn Smythe Trophy, an obvious first-ballot Hall of Famer — and there still would be some mouth-breathers in the hockey world insisting he didn’t quite live up to the hype, that he was a disappointment, that he wasn’t (here comes that word) generational.

“Who’s saying that?” Kane said with a laugh.

OK, so maybe I’m online a tad more often than he is. But my point was that the hype surrounding Bedard was so hyperbolic, so ludicrous, so unmatchable, that he’d have to be Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux or Sidney Crosby to live up to it.

That, Kane could agree with.

“It’s different with social media,” Kane said. “When I was younger, I got to be somewhat of a regular guy, you know, because people weren’t tracking every single thing that you did throughout your day, right? He’s going to be noticed. He’s probably bothered everywhere he goes. You feel for the younger kids coming in these days, because they get more hype and more attention when they’re younger. That’s just how it is, but is that necessarily a good thing?”

Continued (paywall)

Tweet of note: The Forecheck previews the Red Wings-Blackhawks game

Daniella Bruce and Ken Kal discuss tonight’s Red Wings-Blackhawks game on The Forecheck:

Tweet of note: Mazur recovering in GR

Red Wings prospect and Grand Rapids Griffins forward Carter Mazur has been recovering from an undisclosed injury which followed a bad high ankle sprain during training camp, and the Griffins posted a Tweet of Mazur actually practicing as he recovers: