Red Wings-Senators wrap-up: shaking out the demons

The Red Wings’ 4-3 overtime collapse to the Ottawa Senators on Friday did not count toward anything other than a 3-2-and-2 preseason record for a Red Wings team that will head to Toronto to wrap up an astonishing stretch of 8 games played over the course of 11 nights on Saturday (7 PM on ESPN+/TSN4).

Long story long, blowing 2-0 and 3-1 leads and surrendering a very ugly overtime goal don’t count for much. The Senators’ B Team getting away with trying to push around and out-work the Red Wings’ A- team doesn’t count.

Austin Watson taking a set of penalties that ended up placing the Red Wings on the penalty kill for 7 minutes doesn’t really matter…To anybody but coach Lalonde, anyway:

But this one stung, at least for those of us for whom the Senators have become a heated and sometimes hated rival. The Sens are the young punks of the Atlantic Division, and they seem to have an uncanny ability to vex and wreck the Red Wings.

The Senators’ press corps didn’t travel to Detroit, so the Senators’ website, the Hockey News’s Steve Warne and the Ottawa Sun’s Tim Baines provide recaps from the Sens’ side of things, and I’d argue that Baines’ recap offers the real bottom line here:

Continue reading Red Wings-Senators wrap-up: shaking out the demons

Red Wings-Senators preseason quick take: frustrating collapse against the Sens, again.

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to rebound from Thursday’s 2-0 loss to Toronto as they faced the Ottawa Senators’ “B Team” on Friday night at Little Caesars Arena.

This game didn’t count, but it was incredibly frustrating to me.

Detroit blew a 2-0 and then a 3-1 lead en route to a 4-3 overtime loss, on a weird goal only 19 seconds into OT, where Noah Gregor blew past Moritz Seider, skated in alone on Alex Lyon, and fell over, the puck rolled into the net, and that goal (helped by the fact that Lucas Raymond and Dylan Larkin lost their checks) yielded a 3-3-and-1 record for the Wings…

Negating a fantastic game by Marco Kasper, who scored two goals, a great game by Lyon, who was superb despite surrendering 4 goals on 26 shots, and a Red Wings penalty-kill that had to stop a SEVEN-MINUTE PENALTY after Austin Watson got in trouble for peeling a Senators player off Moritz Seider.

The Sens were running around all night and mouthing off at the Wings and being their Ottawa-y selves, and nobody got booted from the game but Watson.

In their own weird way, the Wings never seemed to recover from losing their 12th forward, and Detroit’s own power play went 0-for-3 as Anton Forsberg was just good enough to make up for a bad goal against from Kasper and a worse goal against from Vladimir Tarasenko…

So Detroit blew another game where its “A-minus team” was playing against the Sens’ decidedly “B-minus team.”

Frustrating. Stupid, hard-working, dirty, mouthy Senators. Winning against Detroit again. Boy, have they become a rival!

Detroit closes out its exhibition season tomorrow vs. Toronto (7 PM EDT on ESPN+/TSN4).

Continue reading Red Wings-Senators preseason quick take: frustrating collapse against the Sens, again.

Red Wings land 4 players in Niyo’s ‘Top 25 Detroit pro players under 25’

The Detroit News’s John Niyo ranked the “Top 25 Detroit pro players under 25,” and here’s where the Red Wings’ stars landed:

6. Moritz Seider (23), D, Red Wings: The Red Wings worked long and hard to get their No. 1 defenseman locked up to a seven-year contract extension worth nearly $60 million this summer. And that’s fitting, because no NHL blueliner played tougher minutes last season than Seider, Steve Yzerman’s first draft pick who has yet to miss a game in three seasons.

8. Lucas Raymond (22), LW, Red Wings: Raymond, the No. 4 overall pick in 2020, made the jump straight from Sweden to the NHL a few years ago. And the dynamic young forward took a huge step toward stardom last winter, putting together his first 30-goal season and getting rewarded with an eight-year, $64.6 million contract extension.

17. Simon Edvinsson (21), D, Red Wings: The sixth overall pick in 2021 hardly looked out of place in a 16-game stint down the stretch last season, flashing some game-changing offensive ability from the blue line. But now Detroit is counting on the smooth-skating, 6-foot-6 Swede to play a reliable top-four role on defense for a full season.

25. Joe Veleno (24), C, Red Wings: The 24-year-old forward just re-upped for two more years in Detroit after posting career-best numbers in goals and assists last season. But while his position versatility is key, it’s his defensive responsibility that has made him an NHL regular, mostly as a fourth-line center for the Wings.

Among the honorable mentions:

Nate Danielson, C, Red Wings

Marco Kasper, C, Red Wings

Axel Sandin Pellikka, D, Red Wings

Sebastian Cossa, G, Red Wings

Carter Mazur, LW/RW, Red Wings

Now that Jack Campbell’s in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program, what do the Wings do about Grand Rapids’ goaltending?

So Red Wings goaltender Jack Campbell has entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. The Red Wings anticipated that the 32-year-old Port Huron native would back up and/or push Sebastian Cossa in Grand Rapids, and now the Red Wings have some decisions to make.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman and Ambika Sharma discussed the Wings’ decision-making process:

Campbell was expected to be with AHL Grand Rapids this season, likely as the backup and mentor to top prospect Sebastian Cossa. Certainly, his NHL experience was also valuable to the organization if injuries necessitated a call-up.

Now, though, Detroit will have some tough decisions to make on how to address the void in Grand Rapids. The Red Wings kept three goalies on the NHL team last season and have looked prepared to do so again, with Ville Husso, Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot all in the fold. But with Campbell now out indefinitely, Detroit will have to decide whether to stick with that trio, and promote one of Carter Gylander, Jan Bednar or Gage Alexander as Cossa’s backup, or waive one of its NHL goalies.

Husso would be the likeliest of the three to clear waivers and make it to Grand Rapids, because of his $4.75 million cap hit, but that’s also a big salary to not be on the NHL roster. — Max Bultman, Red Wings beat writer

As far as I’m concerned, the Red Wings will stick with their 3-goaltender rotation for the first 10-15 games, then probably make a decision as to whether to trade or waive a netminder, presuming that they remain healthy. I would imagine that the season will start with Gylander and Cossa in Grand Rapids and Bednar and Alexander in Toledo.

It is possible, however, that the Wings might sign a veteran goaltender to a pro try-out in order to help Cossa with some NHL veteran presence.

Power rankings: Taking care of business as Edvinsson blossoms

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a set of power rankings which include “one reason for optimism” for the NHL’s 32 respective teams, and here’s what he has to say about the Red Wings:

16. Detroit Red Wings Ultimately, the Red Wings took care of business and got both Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider signed and back in the fold well before the start of the season. Now Motor City fans can focus on watching the rise of defenceman Simon Edvinsson. 

Continued; Edvinsson isn’t going to dazzle out of nowhere, but he’s likely going to learn from his mistakes as he makes a steady ascent.

Fundraising to pay the bills

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Prospect round-up: Kiiskinen 1G+1A in HPK win; LDN 1+2 in Bjorkloven win

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the Finnish Liiga, Jesse Kiiskinen had another goal-and-an-assist performance, though he finished at -2 in 13:55 played, with 2 shots taken, in HPK Hameenlinna’s 4-3 win over KooKoo;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Liam Dower Nilsson had a goal and 2 assists, finishing at +3 with 1 shot in 15:21 as IF Bjorkloven won 7-1 over BIK Karlskoga;

Maximilian Kilpinen finished at -3 in 5:07 played as Ostersunds IK lost 5-3 to IK Oskarshamn;

And in the DEL, Kevin Bicker played 17:14 in the Frankfurt Lowen’s 4-3 win over Iserlohn Roosters.

A bit more about Albert Johansson from the coach’s point of view

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a profile of Albert Johansson today, and it’s heavy on comments from coach Derek Lalonde which merit noting this afternoon:

“He’s shown some things that we had hoped and expected from him and that’s being a puck-mover,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “That’s him being an intelligent player around the ice. The physicality part of it he needs to keep growing. You can see he’s got himself in some trouble by just losing battles where he’s giving up 40-50 pounds, 2-3 inches, so that comes with a little more experience, a little more detail in his game, defend through hands, defend quick. But I would say a positive (camp, preseason).”

As the preseason ends, it’ll be up to the Wings and Johansson to make sure the young defenseman’s development isn’t stalled. It doesn’t appear Johansson has done enough to earn a regular spot in the lineup. That’s where practices become increasingly important, so Johansson can reach his full potential.

“Practice reps are important, these exhibition games are extremely important,” Lalonde said. “Being ready. This will be new territory for him. You walk into the morning skate anticipating he’s No. 7 (a healthy scratch, most likely) and then he’s playing, so there are some challenges there. He needs to keep growing and building his game. There are a ton of positives, and his play and development path over the last couple of years has put him in and us in a situation that is positive.”

Johansson was in the lineup Friday as the Wings ended the home portion of their preseason schedule against Ottawa. He has felt better as the preseason schedule has gone on.

“It’s been good,” Johansson said. “The first couple of games, it’s always tough after a long summer. But overall I’ve been taking steps in the right direction after every game.”

Johansson has tried to stay within himself during this preseason.

“I’m just trying to play my game, I know what they want to see,” he said. “That’s something I’m trying to show them, and just play solid and be great defending and moving pucks. That’s the biggest keys for me right now.”

Continued with a slate of notes (paywall)

Tweet of note: Danny DeKeyser as Cameron Frye

This is cute. Danny DeKeyser is Cameron Frye, Daniella Bruce is Sloane Peterson and Darren McCarty is Ferris Bueller in this clip: