Roughly translated: Team Sweden coach Tomas Monten expects the Wings to say, ‘No’ to lending Raymond to the Swedish WJC team

Team Sweden head coach Tomas Monten spoke with VMHockey.se’s Hampus Kjellberg today, and he was asked whether the Swedish Ice Hockey Association would ask whether Lucas Raymond or Alexander Holtz would be made available for the World Junior Championship in Edmonton:

“We haven’t actually made that contact yet, with any of the teams. We had contact during the summer and I’ve had contact with the players. And, it’s just like always, the players are interested in playing in the World Junior Championship, but if they play in the NHL, they want to play there, that’s how it works. The contact hasn’t been made yet, but we will take it from there at the end of the month,” says the national team coach.

Tomas Monten and his management team have thus not begun contact with the NHL teams yet regarding Raymond and Holtz’s availability for the WJC. But if the national team coach were to guess wildly, Detroit will hold on tight to its new crowd favorite, Lucas Raymond.

“Detroit will probably say that, ‘Yes, we understand that you want us to lend him, but we do not want to lend him.’ [With the Red Wings] I probably think that will be more of a formality,” says Monten.

Regarding Alexander Holtz [who’s playing in the AHL], the team coach feels a little more hopeful about finding a solution. Although it’s hard to predict right now, a lot can happen in the near future.

“With New Jersey, I don’t really know how they think and how they’re divided going back and forth. They may not know themselves right now, either, to some extent,” he says.

Tweets from Friday’s practice: Seider’s skating

From the Red Wings’ Friday practice in Arizona:

Mo Seider skating at practice today!! Hallelujah #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Carley Johnston (@carleykjohnston) November 19, 2021

Moritz Seider skating at practice today in Arizona. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/dUlwkTLaTf— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 19, 2021

It’s rare you have both teams practicing at the same time on two separate sheets of ice in one building. Getting the lowdown on the Coyotes first. pic.twitter.com/wcYuWiKE1i— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) November 19, 2021

Goalie Scott Wedgewood is taking a maintenance day after a heavy workload last night.
I’m told that Alex Taylor, the Coyotes old ebug, is on the ice in Scottsdale.— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) November 19, 2021

Coyotes open practice. pic.twitter.com/CKsQerROeQ— José M. Romero (@RomeroJoseM) November 19, 2021

Jakob Chychrun also not practicing. https://t.co/z07tzGSzck— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) November 19, 2021

Moritz Seider looking all good at Red Wings practice today in Scottsdale pic.twitter.com/dcFI5Cybln— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) November 19, 2021

Duff on Detroit’s issues on ‘d’

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted an article discussing the Red Wings’ struggles on defense of late:

Only the Montreal Canadiens (67) have allowed more goals than the 65 given up by the Red Wings. Detroit’s 3.42 goals-against average ranks 28th overall in the NHL. The Wings are allowing 34.1 shots against per game. That’s 30th in the NHL.

“Statistically we’re one of the worst defensive teams in the league and we have to become a better defensive team,” Jeff Blashill said. “When you give up that many goals you’re just never going to be able to overcome that. We gotta get our structure back, we gotta get our habits back, specifically in D-zone coverage and track, sorting back into our end.”

Last season, while they were clearly suffering from a lack of scoring punch, as the season was progressing, the Wings were carving out an identity as a team that wasn’t giving up a ton. This season, with player personnel upgrades in goal, along the blueline and up front, the thinking was that the team would continue to take forward strides in this area of the game.

Instead, they’re getting further away from the objective of becoming a responsible defensive team.

Ongoing issues aren’t being cured. The Red Wings are still struggling mightily to make smooth clearances from their own end. They continue to allow free passage to opposing players through the neutral zone. Understanding defensive zone coverages seems to puzzle some of them.

In the loss to Vegas, three goals were the result of missed defensive zone assignments. One came directly from a lost defensive-zone faceoff. The opening for another goal came from a feeble clearance attempt by defenseman Danny DeKeyser.

“We’re getting good goaltending, so it’s a scenario where we have to be better defensively,” Sam Gagner said. “It comes down to executing. With our puck touches in our own zone, make sure we’re cleaner and when we are in our own end, finding ways to stop the cycle and keep them to the outside, not give up chances. We have a structure and we’ve got to stick to it and make sure we’re on the same page.”

Continued

Coach Jeff Blashill talks analytics with NHL.com’s Cotsonika

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill delved into the sometimes still-controversial topic of hockey analytics in a lengthy conversation with NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika:

Jeff Blashill receives a report the morning after each Detroit Red Wings game. The information ranges from raw data to sophisticated statistics, and what the coach cares about most is scoring chances, a metric that is more complex than it might seem.

The first place his eyes go is the total scoring chances for each team. If he’s looking at players, the first place his eyes go is the even-strength plus-minus in terms of scoring chances for each individual. Digging deeper, he can see breakdowns of scoring chances by situation (such as 5-on-5, power play and penalty kill), type (such as forecheck, rush and face-off) and grade (A or B).

“It is the No. 1 thing I go back and look at,” Blashill said. “Did we out-chance them, or did they out-chance us? Did a certain player create chances or give up chances, and to what degree? Ultimately, that’s really what the game is about.”

Put aside the result. How was the process?

“The emotion of wins and losses cloud your judgment, and they cloud how you feel about how the game went,” Blashill said. “I’ve used scoring chances lots to tell our team, ‘Listen, we lost last night, but here’s what the scoring chances were. If we do that [in the future], you’re winning for sure,’ and vice versa, ‘Hey, we’re winning right now, but we’re getting out-chanced. If we keep doing this, we’re not going to keep winning.’

“It’s an easy way to make sure your team is focused on how you’re actually playing, not on how the results have gone. You’re taking away the frustration of losing or the joy of winning. I believe it’s helping you make a clearer decision on how you played and what you have to correct.”

Continued; this is a very good read…

Of brief note from Rakapuckar’s Lehman: Soderblom net-front, Edvinsson ’50-50′

While we wait for the Red Wings to practice around 3 PM EST to get an update on Moritz Seider’s status:

Rakapuckar’s Henrik Lehman covers Frolunda HC very closely, and he reports this morning that:

  1. Elmer Soderblom is being used as a net-front presence on Frolunda’s power play for the first time this season, playing the same position he did during last year’s World Junior Championship;
  2. And Lehman reports that Simon Edvinsson is “50-50” to play vs. the Vaxjo Lakers tomorrow per coach Roger Ronnberg, but Edvinsson is “not doing media” right now after having suffered an injury at the World Junior Championship team’s Four Nations Cup. He apparently took a stick to the mouth area during yesterday’s practice as well (Edvinsson missed Frolunda’s game on Thursday due to that WJC camp injury).

Back to abnormal in The Athletic’s power rankings

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn and Sean Gentille are back at it again with their power rankings, and the Red Wings dropping to 8-9-and-2 means that it’s time to pile on the draft lottery jokes:

25. Detroit Red Wings

Record: 8-9-2
Last Week: 23
Dom rank: 25
Sean rank: 25

Dom: It was nice while it lasted thanks to sizzling starts from rookies Lucas Ramond and Moritz Seider, but it looks like reality is starting to set in for the Red Wings who have dropped back below .500. Detroit has lost four of its last five and the team’s only win was against Montreal in overtime, which barely counts. The underlying numbers remain solid, but the talent outside the team’s top line remains sparse.

Sean: Yeah, weren’t just saying that Wings fans should just try to enjoy whatever was going on and not worry about lottery placement? Might’ve been a little early there. Rack up those ping-pong balls, baby!

Continued; ah, yes, wins that don’t count as wins and, “Now we suck again!” Charming.

Tweet of note: Grand Rapids Griffins to hold annual Teddy Bear Toss game on November 26th

FYI from the Grand Rapids Griffins:

Bultman on Larkin’s early-season success

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a late-night column discussing Dylan Larkin’s early-season successes with the Red Wings despite dealing with adversity in the form of a one-game suspension, a family emergency and a false positive COVID test:

It’s certainly early, less than 20 games into the season, and his 16 percent shooting percentage is by far the highest it’s been in his career. But Larkin’s eight goals and 15 points in 15 games have him off to exactly the kind of bounce-back start he sought coming into the season, after a down campaign by his standards last year.

To do that with everything that’s been going on in the periphery makes it all the more impressive. And if you ask Larkin, part of the way he’s achieved that start is precisely by managing that turbulence — whether it be on-ice bounces, or some of the weightier experiences of recent weeks.

“I think the highs and lows of this league, they’re pretty dramatic at times,” Larkin said Thursday morning. “And especially if you let them. And at times I feel like I’ve really let them get to me, and this year I really worked on not letting that happen, whether it’s going well or it’s not. Whether things come into your life and take you out of the lineup for a week, or you can’t play a third period, I’m really just trying not to let it get to me and be grateful that I’m here.”

Certainly, managing highs and lows is not an idea unique to Larkin. It’s a quintessential pro sports talking point that has long since become cliché.

But its ubiquity in the hockey lexicon doesn’t invalidate its meaning, either.

“I imagine a lot of guys are like that,” Larkin said. “There’s a lot of pressure. But I’ve always felt that I put the most pressure on myself. And this year I’m just trying to play hockey.”

Continued (paywall)