Riffing on two articles about depth and development

Somewhat ironically (in the, “Surprise! Isn’t that a coincidence!” sense of the term, not the Alanis Morrissette definition thereof as “darkly funny”), both Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff and the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood discuss the Red Wings’ depth this afternoon.

Duff offers an article which focuses on the concept that the depth chart is better-equipped to give coach Derek Lalonde and GM Steve Yzerman a substantial team to work with–up front, on defense, and in goal…

Depth is a popular talking point among NHL teams and the Detroit Red Wings are no different. However, when the Red Wings discuss the depth of their roster, it isn’t merely talk. It’s a fact of life that should prove beneficial to the club over the course of the 2024-25 NHL season.

“I look at our group and our team today, the roster today and compare it to last year’s group,” Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman said. “It’s a little bit different, might be a little bit better fit as far as roles for players with where they where they play.”

No matter where you look, there is an abundance of NHL-caliber players to fill roles. For instance, among the club’s top-six forwards, there are five players who’ve posted 30-goal campaigns in the league – Dylan Larkin, Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Vladimir Tarasenko and Lucas Raymond. Kane, DeBrincat and Tarasenko all show 40-goal seasons on their NHL resumes.

And Eargood suggests that the Red Wings’ attempt to push for a playoff spot cannot come at the expense of the Wings’ usage of their younger players, using Albert Johansson as an example of a rookie whose waiver-exempt status expires this season, without an NHL game played on his resume:

Continue reading Riffing on two articles about depth and development

Stockton ponders Dylan Larkin’s scoring longevity

This afternoon, the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton wonders aloud whether Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin, who turns 28 this July 30th, will be able to pass Mike Modano someday and become the NHL’s highest-scoring Michigan-born player:

As of this writing (Tuesday, July 16, 2024), Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin (of Waterford, MI) is the highest scoring active NHL player born in the state of Michigan, with 506 career points in 652 games played.  He ranks 10th all-time in the category, with long-time Dallas Star and former Red Wing Mike Modano (of Livonia) the all-time leader at 1374 career points in 1499 games played.  Turning 28 at the end of the month, is there time for Larkin to catch up?

It would take 879 points for Larkin to take over the top spot from Modano, which is to say double his current total.  In other words, it would be no small feat, though incremental gains up the list are well within reach.  If Larkin matched last season’s 69 points (earned in only 68 games), he would climb to seventh on the list, jumping ahead of Ryan Kesler (also of Livonia) and behind Red Wings legend David Legwand (born in Detroit, scorer of 618 NHL points).

Ha ha, the old, “Red Wings legend” line.

However, compounding the challenge is the looming presence of Larkin’s fellow University of Michigan alum Kyle Connor (of Clinton Township).  Connor has 485 points in 531 games, ranking 11th in the all-time state scoring leaderboard, and is a credible threat to leap past the Red Wing captain before their two career are done.  Meanwhile, Larkin’s current Detroit teammate Alex DeBrincat (of Farmington Hills), sits at 15th with 440 points in 532 games played.

If we switch our metric from points to goals, the list changes a bit.  Modano remains first with 561, but among active players, it then goes Connor (243), DeBrincat (214), Larkin (212).

Continued; as we all know, health is everything, and Larkin appears to be poised to play a long career, but he’s going to have to do a better job of avoiding the injury bug in order to really challenge Modano and hold his own among his peers.

Whether that involves the Red Wings acquiring somebody to ride shotgun on Larkin’s line is uncertain at this point.

Not surprisingly, the Wings’ ‘next wave’ has a Scandinavian flair

Sports Illustrated’s Jacob Punturi discusses the fact that the Red Wings’ ebb of Swedish-born players over the last five-to-seven years appears to be returning to its usual gush of Scandinavian-born, SHL-bred talent (with a bit of a twist this time around):

The team selected German defenseman Moritz Seider sixth overall in the 2019 NHL Draft. In 2020-2021, he played a full season with BK Rogle in the SHL and it readied him for a top-pairing defensive role with the Red Wings.

In 2020, the team selected Swedish forward Lucas Raymond with the fourth overall pick. After developing in the SHL for several seasons, he quickly succeeded in the Red Wings lineup, scoring 23 goals as a rookie. He’s entering his fourth season in the NHL at just 22 years old, looking to improve on his 72-point outing in 2023.

The pipeline continues with prospects waiting to contribute in the NHL. Top prospect Simon Edvinsson is on the verge of a full-time role with the Red Wings. He honed his craft with the Frolunda HC of the SHL, playing as a top-pairing defender as an 18 and 19-year old. Now 21, he has 25 NHL games under his belt and should be a permanent fixture on their blueline for years to come.

Similarly, Jonatan Berggren is an intriguing Swedish forward that could impact the Red Wings in 2024. Two seasons ago he was a 15-goal scorer at the NHL level, but he spent the 2023 season with the AHL team, racking up 56 points in 54 games with Grand Rapids.

Behind Edvinsson, the prospect pool is bright thanks to the Swedish connection the Red Wings built. Last year’s first-round pick, Axel-Sandin Pellikka, had 10 goals and 18 points in 31 games with Skelleftea AIK of the AHL. It was a solid post-draft season for the athletic and skilled defender, who is looking to round out his play in his second season with the team.

He’ll be joined this upcoming season by the Red Wings’ most recent first-round pick, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. The Norwegian-born forward is set to play in Skelleftea, provided he doesn’t make the Wings’ team this season, where he should be an absolute menace to deal with.

Continued; there are some constants in the world, and the Red Wings being good at finding players who skate in Sweden is one of them. The number of Swedes on the Wings’ roster may rise and fall over time, but as long as Hakan Andersson is around, they’ll be making at least one draft pick a year from the home of their former fishing guide turned prospect guru.

Tweet of note: HBD, Brian Lashoff

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins on Twitter, I’ve met scores of professional athletes, but I’ve never met anyone as professional as Griffins assistant coach Brian Lashoff. So “Lash” gets a shout-out on his birthday:

THN’s Ferrari examines the Red Wings’ prospect pool

The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari examines the Red Wings’ prospect pool today, and he prefaces his deep dive into the Wings’ developmental pipeline with the following:

The Detroit Red Wings took a step toward playoff contention last season, being eliminated in the final minutes. But their young NHL players played an important role in nearly making it.

Lucas Raymond put the team on his back in the final month of the season, picking up the slack with captain Dylan Larkin out. Their goaltending waned, some of their depth scorers weren’t producing as much, and the blueline was being exposed left and right, but Raymond was there to score a game-tying goal or an overtime-winner to keep Detroit in the thick of the race. His ascension to stardom truly began.

Moritz Seider faced arguably the toughest competition in the NHL as the team’s top defenseman, and his numbers took a hit because of it. While he did a solid job, the Wings will need some help going forward.

Thankfully, the Wings have a number of blueliners coming with Simon Edvinsson being the next in line for NHL work. He saw some action at the end of the season and immediately looked like the team’s second-best defender. He uses his 6-foot-6 frame well, and his skating is impressive. He has all of the tools you want from a do-it-all blueliner, but he just needs to refine some of his decision-making. There is no reason he shouldn’t be in the lineup on Day 1 of the season because outside of Seider, the Red Wings don’t have a defenseman who can affect the game in as many ways.

Albert Johansson will be an interesting player to watch, as the Swedish defender is no longer waiver-exempt. Having played for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins last season, Johansson was consistently praised for his mature approach to the game. He is good at many things but doesn’t have an elite standout trait. He should beat out some of the vets on the NHL roster based purely on talent, but if not, he could be a player the Wings regret losing on waivers.

Overseas, the development of Axel Sandin-Pellikka has been going just as the Wings had hoped. The uber-talent offensive blueliner won a Swedish League championship with Skelleftea, collecting the Salming Trophy for the best Swedish defenseman in the league. He was also named the best defenseman of the world juniors while winning silver. 

Continued (it’s a good read!)

Tweet of note: Darren McCarty to promote Tim Horton’s ‘Camp Day’ on Wednesday in Southfield

Of Twitter-related note from the Red Wings: Darren McCarty will be appearing at a Tim Horton’s in Southfield, Michigan tomorrow to promote Camp Day:

Roughly translated: Lucas Raymond speaks with NHL.com/sv about the 2023-2024 season

Red Wings forward and current restricted free agent Lucas Raymond was profiled by NHL.com/sv’s Sebastien Noren today, and here’s a rough translation of said profile:

The 2023-2024 season in the rear view mirror: Lucas Raymond

Detroit Red Wings forward accounted for his definitive breakthrough: “It’s something to build on”

During the offseason, NHL.com/sv looks back on the past season. In this series of articles, we’ve picked the 21 most popular players on the site, and studied how they performed in 2023-2024. From Elias Pettersson to Adrian Kempe and Auston Matthews: here’s the 2023-2024 season in the rear view mirror.

Today: Lucas Raymond

After experiencing an up-and-down second year in the league, Lucas Raymond had his definitive breakthrough this past season. The 22-year-old from Gothenburg led the Detroit Red Wings with 72 points (31 goals + 41 assists) in 82 games, and he set new personal bests in all categories.

Raymond was one of the big reasons that the Red Wings were in the race for a wild-card spot until the end of the regular season, and he’s blossomed into a key player for Detroit, which took a big step forward as a team in 2023-2024.

The Red Wings have been a rebuilding team for several years, but this past season, they shifted gears, and they came very close to making the playoffs for the first timie since 2017. Recording 91 points, Detroit ended up just outside the playoff cut in the Eastern Conference, with the Washington Capitals clinching the final wild-card spot with the same number of points but more regulation time wins.

“It was so close now, and it’s hard. But with some distance from it, we’ll feel more satisfied,” Raymond says. “We have learned a lot; this was a good experience for the guys who haven’t been in this situation before. When I look back upon my first two years here, we were out of the playoffs very early, and we were just playing meaningless games toward the end. And even though we missed now…It was big for us and for our team to play games that mattered right down to the end.

“We have something to build upon.”

Continue reading Roughly translated: Lucas Raymond speaks with NHL.com/sv about the 2023-2024 season

A little bit about ‘Taxi’

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton posted a “Getting to Know” feature on Red Wings 2024 1st round draft pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, and you may not know about MBN’s nickname as of yet:

One unique aspect of Brandsegg-Nygård’s game is that he is foregoing the usual NHL nickname convention (diminutive of last name plus -y or -er) for something more entertaining.  Cleary also revealed that Brandsegg-Nygård goes by the nickname “Taxi” on the ice, a soubriquet he inherited from his father.

Brandsegg-Nygård’s father Richard’s family drove a cab, so when Richard’s mother dropped him off for hockey practice or a game, she did so in the cab, and the name nickname “Taxi” came to be.  When it was Michael’s turn to be dropped off at the rink, the family car and were business were unchanged, so that nickname added a new generation.

Continued; he’s not on EliteProspects, but Richard Brandsegg-Nygard was a pro hockey player for Valerenga, MBN’s parent team.

IceHockeyGifs shares part of a Swedish-language interview with Simon Edvinsson

Red Wings prospect Simon Edvinsson gave an interview to Norra Halland’s Christian Johansson, and the interview is paywalled, but IceHockeyGifs on Twitter shares some of the interview with us:

5 Wings prospects crack The Athletic’s Wheeler’s ‘Top 100 drafted prospects’ list

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler posted a list of his top 100 drafted prospects this morning, and the Red Wings are represented by Simon Edvinsson at #29, Axel Sandin Pellikka at #37, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard at #39, Nate Danielson at #49 and Marco Kasper at #62. Here’s what he has to say about Sandin Pellikka (one paragraph out of two, anyway):

Sandin Pellikka is an individually talented, competitive 5-foot-11 defenseman with natural scoring instincts and the tools to execute. He’s got really good edges and mobility and has shown improved speed in straight lines to pull away from chasers (with more room for growth there still). He walks the line to get shots through at a high level, wants the puck in the offensive zone and has the skill and shot to make things happen when teammates find him off the point or as the trailer off the rush (which he often activates into). He keeps his head up in the neutral and defensive zones and is a confident puck carrier on exits and entries. Though he’s not big, he’s athletic and he plays hard and physical and engages in battles in the defensive zone with some sneaky strength. He’s got a good stick. He does a good job maintaining gaps and matching opposing forwards step for step skating backward, and times his close-outs and pinches effectively. He can really shoot it with a pinpoint accurate shot, a wrister that comes off hard and an eagerness to put pucks on net from the point. There are times when he can wait too long to make his decisions and I wouldn’t call him super creative, but he makes good choices more often than he’s careless and he has progressed really rapidly. He’s got a chance to be an impactful, maybe even high-end offensive defenseman and defensively capable second-pairing one. When he’s on, he can control the game in all three zones.

Continued (paywall)