Ondrej Becher was too good for the Red Wings to ‘pass up’

The Red Wings drafted 20-year-old Ondrej Becher, a center who played for the Prince George Cougars this past season, with the 80th overall pick in this past June’s NHL Draft.

It’s a little unusual to see NHL teams draft 20-year-old players, but the Red Wings watched Becher post a 64-assist, 96-point season with Prince George (and then post 19 points in 15 playoff games), and they decided to take the plunge and draft the Czech center.

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a profile of Becher this morning, quoting Red Wings assistant GM and amateur scouting Kris Draper regarding Becher’s realized potential:

“Just looked like everything potentially that he had as a 17-, 18-year-old kind of hit as a 19-year-old,” Kris Draper, Red Wings assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting, said. “He got a great opportunity and took advantage of it and was really comfortable in it. He certainly put up great numbers. His skating is something that when you watch him play, he has that extra gear.

“Just another guy that you’re sitting there and you watch him and he’s able to bring that speed and skill-set. One of those late-bloomers. He’s just starting to come into his own and starting to feel comfortable about the type of player that he could possibly be.”

Becher described himself as a “two-way playmaker,” more of a passer than a shooter. He was a big fan of fellow Czech and former Boston Bruins forward David Krejci.

“He was an amazing player,” Becher said. “He played two ways like I think I’m playing now.”

As Khan notes, the Red Wings may have to sign Becher to a contract in order to afford him a place to play this upcoming season. WHL teams can only have three 20-year-old players on their rosters, so Becher may move around the league as an “over-ager”:

“We’ll see what transpires here in terms of where he’s going to play,” Danny Cleary, Red Wings assistant director of player development, said.

It’s also a little difficult to say whether Becher developed into the point-per-game player that he could become at the pro level, or whether he simply had a tremendous year’s worth of statistics playing as a player a little older against his peers…

But at this point where Becher was drafted, it can’t hurt to take a chance on a young man whose potential explodes into realized results.

Recalling the Production Line’s prodigious punch

NHL.com correspondent Stan Fischler offers a collection of “top forward lines” from the NHL’s Original Six–as well as a sextet of modern-era teams–and Fischler’s suggestion for the Red Wings’ Original Six era is a simple one:

Detroit Red Wings: Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel

Unlike the Ponies, “The Production Line” was physically intimidating. That style meshed with their overall talent and turned the Red Wings into Stanley Cup champions in 1950 and 1952. 

The line came into its own in 1949-50, Lindsay’s 78 points leading the NHL ahead of Abel (69) and Howe (68). However, a severe head injury sustained during Game 1 of the 1950 Semifinals against the Toronto Maple Leafs nearly ended Howe’s career. Thanks to the offense provided by Abel and Lindsay, Detroit won the Cup.

A year later, Howe began dominating NHL scoring. He had 86 points in 70 games in 1950-51, 20 ahead of runner-up Maurice Richard, Abel and Lindsay also among the top 10. Their mastery reached its peak the following season. The Red Wings finished first by 22 points and won the Cup in an eight-game sweep of first Toronto and then Montreal.

“This was my greatest team,” said general manager Jack Adams, “and the Production Line was the reason for that.”

Continued; if Jack Adams wasn’t such an inveterate (i.e. habitual) tinkerer, the Wings probably would have won more than the four Cups from 1950-55. Ol’ Jack couldn’t leave well enough alone.

That being said, the Production Line’s original iteration was a masterpiece of chemistry, scoring touch, work ethic and plain old Detroit grit, and I can’t begrudge Adams the credit for crafting the Red Wings’ most famous forward line.

A bit more about Christian Fischer’s fit in Detroit

Yesterday, MLive’s Ansar Khan filed an article which discussed Christian Fischer’s desire to provide more offensive “pop” to the Red Wings now that he’s looking forward to his second season in Detroit. This afternoon, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan notes that Fischer is popular on the Red Wings team for his work ethic:

“He’s a very popular player on our team,” [Red Wings GM] Yzerman said. “He’s very versatile on the ice. You saw he played on that third line (with Andrew Copp and Michael Rasmussen). That was a good, effective checking line when Ras was healthy. He’s predominantly a winger, but we used him at center at times and he’s a good penalty killer. Ultimately we like his character and his personality and the role he’s going to play on our team.”

Fischer understands his role and embraces his responsibilities.

The checking line alongside Copp and Rasmussen was a valuable weapon to have for coach Derek Lalonde, as is Fischer’s versatility. Fischer’s role in the locker room is equally important.

“The guys love Christian,” Lalonde said during the season. “He plays the right way.”

Fischer understands what he brings to the lineup.

“I know what my duties are and my role on this team,” Fischer said. “That was big for me coming back. I really enjoyed my role with those two (Copp and Rasmussen) and even when I wasn’t with them. But with those two I thought I had some success, kind of hunkering down that bottom six and doing some things that all bottom-six players have to do. I look forward to taking another step in that and penalty killing and matchups and all this other stuff that I really embrace.”

Continued (paywall); Fischer does his job and does his job well, but there’s no doubt that he’s a bit of a bench/locker room guy as well. With David Perron moving on to Ottawa, the Wings are going to need as many “rah-rah” guys as they can get.

WJSS notebook from Morreale: on Trey Augustine’s readiness for repetition and coach Lalonde lending a hand

NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale’s notebook article about the 3rd day of the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI features 2 topics of Red Wings-related note.

Morreale spoke with Red Wings prospect and Michigan State University goaltender Trey Augustine about his status as the incumbent starter going into his second World Junior Championship experience this December in Ottawa…

Augustine won all four starts with a 1.75 goals-against average and .936 save percentage in helping the United States to a gold medal at the 2024 WJC in Sweden. He made 19 saves, including several in the final minutes of a 3-2 win against Finland in the semifinal round, and 24 saves in a 6-2 win in the gold-medal game against Sweden.

“I think having that experience helps,” Augustine said. “It’s going to be my third World Juniors so I kind of feel like I’ve been through it all. It’s knowing how I have to prepare, then seeing a team jell like we did last year. I think that’s the most important thing, trying to get every guy on the same page, locked in together and build that brotherhood from the ground up.”

The 19-year-old earned team MVP, Outstanding Rookie, second-team All-Big 10 and All-Freshman Team honors in his first season at Michigan State in 2023-24. He ranked fourth in the Big 10 and 15th in the NCAA with a .918 save percentage and fifth in the Big 10 with a 2.96 GAA.

Selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round (No. 41) of the 2023 NHL Draft, Augustine is one of five goalies on the United States roster invited to the Summer Showcase. He’s expected to make the team and will be joined by two other goalies after final cuts are made in December.

“We’re here to go win and it obviously starts now and we’re going to keep building,” he said. “Every guy is going to work on their game throughout the first half of season and then we’re going to get back together and December, have a great camp when we go there, and then go win a gold medal.”

And Morreale spoke with Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde, who helped U.S. National Team coach David Carle by heading behind the bench to assist the coaching staff for two games on Monday afternoon:

“I did the same as last year, but this was my first time behind the bench, so I’ve upgraded,” Lalonde said. “Any time USA asks me to do anything, I’ll always say yes. I have a little more of a personal relationship with David Carle, but also assistant coach Steve Miller, too. I was with Steve five years at the University of Denver, and I recruited David … we brought David to Denver. He was an assistant, and I gave him his first job as an assistant with me in Green Bay (of the United States Hockey League). 

“I enjoy spending time with the kids, but also just seeing their process. Any time you can find opportunities to grow in the summer, you do it, and this is an opportunity for me.”

Yzerman ‘on the hot seat’ in Detroit?

The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau has been surveying the NHL’s 32 teams for a set of “Hot Seat Radar” articles, and, as is the fashion at this time, he suggests that the Red Wings’ general manager is under pressure to produce a playoff-worthy team:

Success has been much harder to come by for him in the past five years, with the Wings missing the playoffs and finishing no higher than fifth place in their division in that span. While most of those years have been in a rebuild, they just missed out last season and could have looked to have been more competitive the year prior.

Yzerman also has made some questionable decisions in recent years. Did you know Detroit’s second-highest-paid defenseman at the moment is frequent healthy scratch Justin Holl? That will change when star blueliner and RFA Moritz Seider agrees to a contract extension, but it’s difficult to see what the Red Wings were thinking with that deal for Holl.

Similarly, Yzerman’s signing of center Andrew Copp has not panned out as hoped, with the 30-year-old center posting only 13 goals and 33 points in 79 games this past season. Given that Copp has three years left at a salary cap hit of $5.625 million, his contract is an overpayment so far. 

Once again this summer, with the free-agent acquisitions of winger Vladimir Tarasenko, defenseman Erik Gustafsson and goalies Cam Talbot and Jack Campbell, Yzerman has spent money trying to augment the lineup. But there are few people who see the Red Wings as a 100-percent lock to get back into the post-season. And if Detroit does miss the playoffs this coming year, the focus will center around Yzerman’s blueprint for success. And it won’t be positive.

You can only dine out on your reputation for so long before your current stretch of success or failure overrides that reputation. That’s where Yzerman is with the Wings today. Few playoff bubble teams are dealing with more pressure than Detroit is, and the ramifications of another year of disappointment will greatly influence how much longer Yzerman has the keys to the kingdom.

Continued; Yzerman has had some hits and some big misses in the free agent marketplace, to be sure, but it would take a very dumb, impatient owner to dump the GM because the rebuild isn’t over yet.

You and I can say a lot of things about Chris Ilitch, but he isn’t dumb or impatient.

Kicking off the annual prospect tournament and training camp fundraiser

It’s late July, but we’re only about six weeks out from the Red Wings’ two-game prospect tournament vs. Dallas in Traverse City on September 14th and 15th, and the five-day training camp which will follow from September 19th through 23rd.

We’re also a month out from having to raise approximately $400 to renew my web server bills with Bluehost and Jetpack.

As such, I’m starting the official fundraiser for the 2024 Prospect Tournament and Training Camp (with server fees included).

You may know by now that going up to the truncated prospect tournament and training camp requires us to rent a vehicle (about $2,000, as our present vehicle doesn’t even function; we’re working on getting it fixed via outside assistance) and secure a handicapped-accessible room ($2,200, so that I may bring my Aunt Annie, who’s 82 and is four months removed from double hip replacement surgery.

Continue reading Kicking off the annual prospect tournament and training camp fundraiser

Stadium Series tickets already appearing on secondary market sites

I’m generally not a fan of third-party, secondary-market ticket sites, but the Columbus Blue Jackets are going to sell the majority of their Stadium Series tickets to their full and partial season-ticket holders, so:

Cleveland.com’s Robert Fenbers reports that tickets are already showing up on ticket resale sites, should you wish to head down to Ohio State University to take in the Red Wings-Blue Jackets Stadium Series game next March 1st:

Ohio Stadium will transform from a football field into a tundra as the Columbus Blue Jackets battle the Detroit Red Wings in an NHL Stadium Series matchup on March 1, 2025. Presale tickets for the highly anticipated game went on sale this morning and are available on major-third party sites.

The game time and TV channel are yet to be determined for this one-of-a-kind rivalry matchup on the banks of the Olentangy River. More than 122,000 tickets have been requested to Columbus’ first outdoor game. The stadium capacity is 102,780.

Get your seats to Blue Jackets vs. Red Wings at the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series from Seat Geek, Vivid Seats, StubHub, Viagogo, TicketCity and Ticketmaster.

As of July 30, the cheapest overall tickets I found were for $169 on Vivid Seats. The cheapest lower bowl seating is also from Vivid Seats at $337.

Continued; good luck finding tickets if you wish to attend the game.

Tweet of note: Dylan Larkin turns 28 today

Per Bally Sports Detroit and the Detroit Red Wings on Twitter, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin hits 28 years of age today.

For what it’s worth, Larkin’s birthday is the same as my late father’s. Dad would have been 77 today.