Three post-WJSS notebooks

FloHockey.tv’s Chris Peters and the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton attended the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI last week.

Both Peters and Stockton offered post-event notebooks regarding the performances of the Team USA players (in Peters’ case) and Red Wings prospects (in Stockton’s case) who participated in the event.

Peters’ first notebook article focused on the forwards which Team USA Blue and Team USA White employed, including Red Wings 2024 draft pick Max Plante…

Max Plante, LW (DET): I thought Plante had a great camp and put himself on the map as a potential option. He was given looks with some of USA’s most skilled players on the power play, putting him in the bumper position. Plante was a natural and was able to facilitate from the middle of the ice. On top of that, I think Plante was moving with quickness and showed his smarts with the puck on his stick. He looks like he has a chance to be a secondary scoring and power-play option for USA at the World Juniors provided he keeps this going in the first half of the season at Minnesota Duluth.

Peters’ second notebook article focused on Team USA White and Team USA Blue’s defensemen and goaltenders, including Red Wings 2024 draft pick D John Whipple, and 2023 draft pick and goaltender Trey Augustine…

Continue reading Three post-WJSS notebooks

Trey Augustine can win his way into an exclusive club

According to Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff, Red Wings prospect and Michigan State University goaltender Trey Augustine may earn the opportunity to earn 5 medals with US. national teams, which is quite the feat:

In the past two years, he’s backstopped the USA to a pair of medals in the IIHF World Junior Championship – bronze in 2023 and gold in 2024. He was adding those to the gleaming gold (2023) and silver (2022) medals he won playing in the World U18 Championship.

“For me there’s nothing better than putting on the nation’s colors and being able to represent the United States, so I always love those opportunities,” Augustine said.

He’ll be getting another one upcoming this season, as he looks to win an unprecedented third world junior medal for his country.

Were he to make that history, Augustine, still only 19, would be putting himself in select company, and in position to become the winningest performer in USA Hockey history in terms of medals earned.

Only eight American players have earned more than four medals from major international hockey events.

Continued

Nate Danielson hopes to push the Wings’ vets in September

NHL.com’s Dave Hogg posted a profile of Red Wings prospect Nate Danielson on Saturday night, discussing Danielson’s strong performance during Detroit’s Summer Development Camp as something of tone-setting event as Danielson looks to make the Wings’ roster out of training camp and the exhibition season:

“He had a tremendous season, and he tested No. 1 here (in conditioning tests),” Red Wings assistant director of player development Dan Cleary said. “Nate is a serious, driven kid, and he’s starting to come out of his shell. He works hard and he looks good — there’s not much else to say.”

Danielson is coming off his fourth season in the Western Hockey League, where he had 67 points (24 goals, 43 assists) in 54 games with Brandon and Portland, and 24 points (seven goals, 17 points) in 18 playoff games to help Portland reach the WHL final. He also had three points (one goal, two assists) in five games for Canada in the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Most notable were the two American Hockey League playoff games he got into with Grand Rapids, his first taste of playing as a pro.

“That was good experience for me,” Danielson said during developmental camp. “Making that jump to pro next year, I know the speed of the game. Everyone is older, bigger and stronger, so knowing what to expect definitely helps.”

…

“Every year, you try to improve,” he said. “I’ve improved since (last year) as a person and as a player with all of the new experiences I’ve had.”

At 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, he could benefit from a full season in the Red Wings strength program, and a full season in the AHL would provide experience he couldn’t get in the WHL. But Danielson said his sights are set even higher.

“I believe in myself,” he said. “I think I can make it.”

Continued; if anything, Danielson, who will turn pro with the Grand Rapids Griffins this upcoming season, has a ton of self-belief, and a professional athlete needs to be borderline arrogant to make it.

Carter Mazur’s developing well, but he probably won’t ‘earn a spot’ during training camp

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan wonders aloud whether Red Wings prospect and Jackson, MI native Carter Mazur might crack Detroit’s roster out of training camp, utilizing GM Steve Yzerman and Wings assistant director of player development Dan Cleary’s comments about Mazur as a guide:

“He’s got a real good feel for the game,” Yzerman said at his season-ending press conference. “He knows how to get open, he knows to work, where to go. He goes to all the hard areas and he gets a puck on his stick and off the stick. It’s a little bit like the (Alex) DeBrincat shot. He shoots the puck and it’s a threat to go in. He’s got that every time he shoots — it’s a scoring chance.”

There was a smattering of disappointment among Wings fans on social media regarding the inability of Mazur and [Marco] Kasper (14 goals, 35 points in 71 games) to dominate in the AHL. But Yzerman was pleased with the steady progress both prospects made in Grand Rapids.

“Both are really good prospects for us, with good attitudes,” Yzerman said. “Their numbers weren’t off the charts in the minors this year, but if you watch their progression, at the end of the season you’re like, ‘These two kids are really good prospects.'”

A key question regarding Mazur, 22, will be his frame and strength. At 6-feet and 175 pounds, he is a willing and agitating player who enjoys frustrating opponents. But whether Mazur could sustain that level of difficult play over a long NHL season, at this point of his career, is a legitimate question.

Given Mazur’s age and experience level, he wasn’t at the Wings’ development camp last month. But Dan Cleary, Detroit’s assistant director of player development, also was pleased with Mazur’s development.

“Maze gets hurt right away and it took a little while to come back,” Cleary said. “They (Griffins coach Dan Watson and his staff) kept growing him and by the end of the year, they (Mazur and Kasper) were our best players in the most pivotal games.”

Continued; as Kulfan suggests, it’s going to take Mazur, Kasper or Nate Danielson pushing someone on the roster out of their job in order to make the team out of training camp.

The clock’s ticking on Raymond and Seider’s contracts, and that’s okay

MLive’s Ansar Khan answers three reader questions in a subscriber-only mailbag feature this morning, and all three questions involve the Red Wings’ need to re-sign Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider:

Q: “It’s been really quiet over contracts for Mo Seider & Lucas Raymond. Yzerman at his post-UFA presser, said he/they were working on it. Is there any reason to think/evidence an impasse has developed? There seems to be no sense of urgency. Is it possible training camp will open in late September and those two will still be unsigned?”– Mike

A: It often takes much of the offseason to agree on money and term with high-profile RFAs. The urgency sometimes isn’t triggered until shortly before training camp.

The team and players would prefer to sign for the maximum term of eight years.

Seider, 23, will get more than Raymond, 22, but probably not more than Dylan Larkin. Larkin sort of set the bar with his eight-year deal at an $8.7 million average annual value.

The Red Wings believe Larkin deserves to be their highest-paid player. He’s the longest-tenured Red Wing (nine seasons), the captain and has been the face of the franchise during a rough stretch.

Perhaps Seider comes in at around $8.5 million.

Once Seider is signed, it will set the bar for Raymond, whose cap hit will probably be around $1 million less, in the $7.5-$7.7 million range.

The trend around the league has seen teams locking up their young talent to seven- and eight-year contracts. If the sides can’t agree on long-term deals, they’ll sign bridge contracts (two or three years) for less AAV, maybe in the $6 million range.

Continued (paywall); as Khan suggests, even if Raymond and Seider aren’t re-signed until closer to training camp, they’re likely to report to Detroit for those late-August and early September “Captain’s skates.”

My “gut feeling” is that the Red Wings will not only get the deals done with Raymond and Seider by the start of training camp, but they’ll also announce the re-signings at the same time.

Ansar’s estimations as to the contracts are a little low in my book–I believe that Seider will indeed earn about $8.5 million, but this summer’s extensions indicate that Raymond’s worth closer to $8 million as well (from a “comparable contract” perspective). You may think that the team having an “internal cap” is dumb, but it is a reality at this time.

Ultimately, I’d like to see both players signed before camp, and both players finally earning a spot in the Alternate Captain’s rotation this season. It’s time to give one or both of them “A’s” on their sweaters/jerseys from time to time.

Wings prospect defenseman John Whipple finds ‘glory’ in the hit

Red Wings 2024 draft pick John Whipple is taking part in the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI this week, and the 144th overall pick in June’s NHL Draft spoke with Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff about his transformation from a point-scoring defenseman to a heavy-hitter with strong puck skills:

Toiling for USA Hockey at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Michigan, Whipple, 18, is doing his best to step up and step into opposing players.

“It’s great to be out here getting the chance to compete against the best of the best,” Whipple said.

Talk to some of his teammates, and they’ll terrifying stories of Whipple dismantling opponents with his physical presence.

“Seeing him in games, he’ll crush people,” said fellow Red Wings draftee Austin Baker. He was Whipple’s teammate last season on the USNTDP U18 squad. “I definitely wouldn’t want to go against him on the other team.”

Whipple finds the scouting reports about from his teammates describing as some sort of Tasmanian Devil on skates to be mildly amusing.

“I don’t know if I’m as scary as they say I am,” the 6-foot-1, 194-pound rearguard assessed.

Duff’s profile continues; again, Whipple’s something of an unknown quantity to those who have to look at a stat sheet to describe him, because his offense falls off precipitously as he transfers from Shattuck St. Mary’s preparatory academy to the U.S. NTDP’s Under-17 and Under-18 program, as do his penalty minutes…

So it’s kind of hard to say what kind of defenseman he’s becoming unless you’ve seen him step up and land checks on opposing players, which you only really see at a country-vs.-country tournament like the WJSS.

Fans will be able to follow Whipple in an environment where he can throw devastating checks as he heads to the University of Minnesota this fall.

On Trey Augustine, incumbent starter

NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman posted an article in which he discusses the U.S. National Junior Team’s depth in goal as the team prepares for the 2025 World Junior Championship (to be held in Ottawa, ON this upcoming December) by holding the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI this week.

There are five goaltenders competing for 2 or 3 spots on the national team at the WJSS, but one has already been sent home.

Red Wings prospect Trey Augustine went unbeaten at last year’s World Juniors, posting a 4-and-0 record with a 1.75 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage. As the incumbent starter, he’s been allowed to leave Plymouth to continue training for his sophomore season at Michigan State University.

Kimelan discusses all five goaltenders who are battling for a spot on the U.S. World Junior team, including Augustine, and the Red Wings prospect earns a significant chunk of text in Kimelman’s article–first:

“I think we’re obviously blessed with good depth,” [Team USA coach David] Carle said Thursday. “Starts at the top with Trey. I think that’s a little bit different than a year ago, there was a bit of a battle there. Not to say that there won’t be this year, but Trey looked very good in his time here. And then we’ve got these guys who are still here, and they’ve all played well in their moments and I’m sure the battle and the competition will go through the fall here into the college and junior seasons.”

…

He hasn’t been designated the starter, but with a gold and a bronze medal (2023) at the World Juniors, a gold medal at the 2023 IIHF Under-18 World Championship and experience playing at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, it’s expected Augustine will get the bulk of the starts when the tournament is held in Ottawa from Dec. 26-Jan. 5.

“When you think about Trey and his game, I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a smarter goalie than him in terms of how he reads things,” U.S. goaltending coach David Lassonde said. “But also in terms of, ‘OK, these are the little things that I might not necessarily do great right now that I need to work on,’ he recognizes that, he acts on it. Then when you think about it, this is going to be his third consecutive World Junior experience. He played on our men’s Worlds team. He’s won two gold medals in IIHF competition. He was a national champion at (the youth program) HoneyBaked as a U-15. He just knows how to win. And I think there’s something to say for that in terms of what he brings to the table. And then for him, there’s a level of maturity that is beyond his years.”

Kimelman continues, and he covers the other four goaltenders battling for spots behind Augustine–Sam Hillebrandt, Hampton Slukynysky, Nicholas Kempf and Carsen Musser.

Raising the fundraising call

We kicked off the annual fundraising push in order to cover the costs of server renewal on August 31st and attending the truncated prospect tournament and main training camp starting on September 14th some two days ago, and…

Things went about as well as a fundraiser for hockey-related items go on the last couple of days of July. I heard crickets chirping in terms of the GoFundMe and every other fundraising option.

I’m not certain how exactly to indicate to you that the blog is worth sponsoring in terms of both ensuring its existence going forward (via covering the server fees) and sending myself and my 82-year-old aunt, for whom I must provide daily care, to training camp.

I’ve just gone about my business and posted content, understanding that it is late July/early August, and that it’s going to be a long shot to raise the approximately $5,000-5,500 necessary to make everything happen.

I hope that you’ll consider lending a hand in this regard. That’s all I can ask on a blog that doesn’t exist without generous donations of all amounts from its readers.

So:

If you’re willing to lend a hand, we have an official GoFundMe fundraiser page; we have a PayPal option at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport; there’s Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2; if you’re into the, “I don’t want to use any of those pages” option, here’s always the Giftly option by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com…

You can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check, or “Zelle” me via my email, rtxg@yahoo.com. And I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”

Let’s see what we can accomplish together.