An ‘All in 4 ALS’ post-script

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills adds a post-script to last weekend’s “All in 4 ALS” game in Windsor:

Last Saturday, several members of the Red Wings organization convened at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ont., for a good cause.

Current Red Wings players Robby Fabbri, Andrew Copp, Michael Rasmussen, captain Dylan Larkin, DeBrincat and Walman, along with prospect Andrew Gibson, were among those who participated in the “All In 4 ALS: Jonesy’s Game” to support Ottawa Senators assistant coach Bob Jones in his battle against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Larkin scored a pair of goals for Team Brady Tkachuk in a 10-6 victory over Team Adam Henrique.

“We know how loved the Red Wings are here in Detroit, but there’s a huge fanbase over there (in Windsor),” Red Wings associate coach Bob Boughner recently told DetroitRedWings.com. “I thought it was a real treat for our fans to see our guys up close. Even though it was a charity event, it was nice to see them take the time out of their busy schedules to make a commitment in Windsor for a great cause.”

In addition to Boughner, Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde, assistant coach Jay Varady and goaltending coach Alex Westlund also served various coaching duties at the charity hockey game.

For Boughner, helping establish the charity game was a meaningful endeavor.

Continued; coach Varady and Westlund walked into the rink at the same time I did.

Via A2Y: Recalling the Yashin-for-Yzerman trade rumors

Via Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman comes this from the Hockey News’s Steve Warne, who recalls the trade rumors surrounding Alexei Yashin and Steve Yzerman in 1995-1996:

Alexei Yashin remains the only Ottawa Senator to finish as a Hart Trophy finalist. He was that good, the club’s first superstar. But in 1995, the Senators felt like they needed a bigger name to help them fill their new arena, which was nearing completion at the time. Who better than Nepean native Steve Yzerman?

Sens GM Randy Sexton made the pitch to the Wings and reportedly offered up Yashin, who was still in fairly good standing with the Senators at the time.

The Wings, meanwhile, had begun to wonder if the 30-year-old Yzerman, despite his gaudy offensive numbers, would be able to lead them to the promised land. GM Scotty Bowman entertained the idea for a while, letting it known Yzerman was indeed available, much to Yzerman’s chagrin.

So both sides were interested, but it’s believed things eventually fell apart at the ownership levels. The late Mike Ilitch loved Yzerman and Sens ownership was having money issues.

It may have lit a fire under Yzerman, who played 11 more years in the NHL, becoming a more balanced player, a truly great leader, and a winner of three Stanley Cups. 

Continued; it was Yashin and a 1st round pick, I believe, and the Red Wings thankfully said “no.”

Duff discusses Gustav Lindstrom’s shortcomings

The problem with prospect development is that it’s bloody hard. Players have to develop their skill sets, they have to develop physically and they have to develop mentally into professional athletes who are dedicated to their craft…

And all three of those developmental curves have to intersect at the same time for a player to succeed at the professional level.

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff suggests this morning, 24-year-old Gustav Lindstrom just never quite developed into the middle-pair defenseman that the Red Wings hoped he’d become, and that’s why the Wings chose to trade Lindstrom to the Montreal Canadiens in the Jeff Petry trade:

Though he was never going to be an NHL star, there was a sense that Lindstrom could develop into a servicable NHL rearguard when he was first given the call to Detroit during the 2019-20 season. He competed, played within his abilities and seldom was caught out of position.

“(I) just try to play a simple game, move the puck quick to the forwards and make it easy for them,” Lindstrom said. “I’ve been that same player my whole career.”

However, it didn’t take long for NHL opponents to unearth the weakness in Lindstrom’s game, mainly his below-average footwork on his skates. Soon, they were exploiting his shortcomings.

Last season, it all came to a head. The wheels completely came off Lindstrom’s game.

After playing 63 games for Detroit in 2021-22, he played only 36 last season. He was -16 in those games. His average playing time fell from 16:07 in 2021-22 to 14:10.

Continued; Lindstrom is one of those defensemen who can get caught “turning” on his skates to retrieve pucks instead of skating into them, and while skating can always be taught, I’ve felt that Lindstrom’s upper-body strength never reached an NHL level.

If you’re not a great skater and you’re not strong enough to deal with the physical contact that’s going to come from your inability to out-skate opponents to the puck in your own zone, you’re going to turn the puck over with regularity, and that’s not ideal.

Now I fully believe that Gustav can develop into a steady NHL defenseman, but it’s going to take hard work for him to find his eventual form.

NHL.com’s Stubbs explains a Howe reunion with the Stanley Cup…of a sort

I can only tell you this: as someone who’s outlived both his parents, this might sound weird to you, but it doesn’t sound weird to me. NHL.com’s Dave Stubbs tells us how Gordie Howe got close to the Stanley Cup in a sort of roundabout way recently:

Gordie Howe won the Stanley Cup four times during his illustrious career with the Detroit Red Wings.

On Wednesday, the legendary Mr. Hockey was in the company of professional hockey’s priceless sterling trophy once more — in spirit and, in a very small way, in body too.

As part of its summer tour with members of the 2022-23 championship Vegas Golden Knights organization, the Stanley Cup was in Glastonbury, Connecticut for a portion of the day with Keith Veronesi, the team’s director of scouting operations.

For the occasion, Marty Howe brought a small sharing urn of his father’s ashes to a quiet celebration at the home of Steve and Linda Veronesi, Keith’s parents, “so that Gordie could get next to the Stanley Cup one more time.”

Continued; you’d be surprised what people do with their loved ones’ ashes sometimes. It may sound strange, but it is usually very meaningful for the bereaved.

A game of injuries

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen goes into detail breaking down the Red Wings’ defensive pairings as they might apply to the seven healthy defensemen on the roster, but I think the most important part of his article to note is the introduction, because it’s the blunt truth:

The Detroit Red Wings probably aren’t concerned today about sorting out who the odd man out is on their defense because they understand the game will likely do it for them.

After the Jeff Petry acquisition, the Red Wings have seven defensemen with noteworthy NHL resumes. If Detroit had a game today, one of them would be a healthy scratch.

But by the time the season launches on Oct. 12, one of those players may be injured. Last season, Red Wings defensemen lost 44  games to injury. That’s more than half a season. Moritz Seider is the only Detroit defenseman to play all 82 games. Last season, Petry missed 21 games last season with injuries. At one point, Petry’s Pittsburgh Penguins had four of their top six defensemen sidelined with injuries. It seems like a 50-50 proposition that an injury will make this decision for the Red Wings.

Allen continues, and his breakdown is worth reading, but the reality of the game is harsh sometimes, and injuries will come into play in determining which of the Red Wings’ defensemen actually start the season skating on the blueline.

A few more notes on the Petry presser from THN’s Stockton

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton posted his article about Jeff Petry’s introductory presser earlier this afternoon, and Stockton took note of a couple details not yet mentioned by the Wings’ press corps:

On the ice, Petry looks forward to playing alongside Moritz Seider, a player who captured Petry’s attention before Seider took an NHL shift.  “I remember the year he was drafted and coming down here and skating with him, and he was 18 at the time—just seeing the body that he had, his frame and what he already had at that age,” Petry says.  “And then to see him step in and play as well as he did and to continue to grow, I think he’s a very, very good player now, and I think he’s only going to continue to get better.  I’m excited to play with a guy like that that.”

Petry played with Ben Chiarot in Montreal for an added bit of familiarity, and he likes what he sees across the Red Wings blue line: “There’s a good balance on that back end.  Everyone has different skillsets that come into play…It’s exciting to see.”

Since the trade that returned him to Montreal a few weeks ago, Petry knew another move was more than possible.  He expressed appreciation for Hughes, who asked for a list of preferred destinations even if he couldn’t make a guarantee.  Per Petry, “Detroit was the number one spot on my list.”

“You grow up seeing the success he had and what he brought to this city,” Petry said of his new boss, Steve Yzerman.  “The conversation that we had was easy—asking about family, living situations, and all that.  He’s a guy that definitely cares about more things than just things on the ice.”

He admits his summer of uncertainty was “stressful” throughout a “long three weeks trying to figure out if we’re not in Pittsburgh, where are we gonna be…All situations went through our minds…It was a big relief getting the call yesterday, knowing that I was going to be here.”

Asked what he’s learned with the experience of 864 NHL games under his belt, Petry said “There’s gonna be many ups, many downs.  You try to ride those ups as long as possible, and try to shorten those downs to as short of a period as possible.  I’ve been through many of those.”

Continued

Tweet of note: Danny DeKeyser to join Western Michigan University’s Athletics Hall of Fame

He did play 10 years’ worth of NHL hockey…