Khan profiles Shayne Gostisbehere

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a profile of Red Wings free agent signing and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere this afternoon:

The Detroit Red Wings have lacked a shooting mentality, particularly on a power play that has struggled.

That’s not an issue for newly signed defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere.

“I’m blessed to have a pretty hard shot,” Gostisbehere said. “I try to get it off as quick as I can and get pucks through. My grandpa will text me after every game. ‘Only two shots? What’s going on?’ He wants me to shoot every puck I see. Obviously, the more you shoot, the more goals that are going to go in.”

The Red Wings signed Gostisbehere, 30, to a one-year, $4.125 million contract on July 1. He should more than compensate for the offense lost when Filip Hronek was dealt at the trade deadline and provide a scoring boost to a blue line that ranked 24th in the league in points. Most importantly, he is the left-shooting point man general manager Steve Yzerman needed for one of their power play units.

“His shot is really a threat from the point,” Yzerman said.

Continued

Daily Faceoff’s Ellis breaks down the Red Wings’ prospect pool

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis posts an in-depth “breakdown” of the Red Wings’ 2023-2024 prospect pool today:

After nearly 30 years of making the post-season, the Steve Yzerman ‘Yzerplan’ has to feel like an eternity to the Detroit Red Wings fanbase.

The Red Wings haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, when they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games. Their last playoff series victory was more than a decade ago when they beat Anaheim in seven games back in 2013. This bottom-of-the-barrel we’ve seen in recent years has been an eye-opener for fans that want and expect much more.

But those dark days might be in the rearview mirror before too long. The Red Wings have a solid prospect pool, with some huge hits in the draft over the past few years. Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond were excellent selections, and Sebastian Cossa, Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper gave the team some high-impact prospects at their respective positions.

Add in a long-term deal for captain Dylan Larkin, the acquisition of Alex DeBrincat, and the huge season out of Jake Walman, and the Red Wings are trending upward. There’s still room to grow, and next season will be a big one as they handle a wave of free agency decisions. But thankfully, with one of the best crops of young prospects in the NHL, the return to glory isn’t far away.

Biggest Strength: With Edvinsson, Axel Sandin Pellikka and William Wallinder leading the way, the Red Wings have an exciting defensive pipeline right now. Moritz Seider and Jake Walman are a solid 1-2 punch right now, and the team has a decent helping of veterans in Justin Holl, Shayne Gostisbehere and Ben Chiarot. Edvinsson should fight for a roster spot in camp, while the other two aren’t far away. By the time the Red Wings are ready to start seriously contending, their blueline will look quite young, with Seider leading the charge. Also, with Cossa and Trey Augustine making waves, they’ve got one of the best 1-2 goaltending punches of any prospect pool. Nice work.

Biggest Weakness: If Kasper can’t produce at a high level in the NHL, will any forward in the system be able to step up? Carter Mazur is a solid prospect, but he’s more of a middle-six player. The team’s last real impact forward prospect was Raymond, who was selected in 2020. That wasn’t long ago, but after Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno never materialized, they’d probably like to find a bit more success in this department.

Continued, with a top ten list of Red Wings prospects…

Talking ‘contract efficiencies’

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn posted a list of the NHL teams‘ “contract efficiencies” this morning, and as we already know, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman has had to overpay to direct talent toward Detroit, so it’s not surprising that some of his free agency misses give Luszczyszyn the ammunition to rank the Wings 23rd out of 32 teams:

The Alex DeBrincat contract was exactly perfect, no notes. The same can be said for new deals for Klim Kostin and Shayne Gostisbehere, two of the many new additions Steve Yzerman made this summer.

As for the rest of the roster? Some notes.

Daniel Sprong is an incredibly savvy addition to the team in the same vein as Jake Walman a couple years ago. Underused players with high efficiency ratings who have potential to move up the lineup. We saw how it worked for Walman and something similar for Sprong wouldn’t be surprising.

Finding the right defensemen has been a bit of an issue under the Yzerplan and last year’s deal for Ben Chiarot is already a huge disaster. Justin Holl and Olli Maatta aren’t on that level, but neither option looks to add positive value relative to their contracts.

The same thing goes for finding a capable center to play behind Dylan Larkin (who I expect will see his value jump with DeBrincat in town). Andrew Copp struggled in his first season and the J.T. Compher bet doesn’t look safe either unless he finds another offensive gear.

With all the new faces and Detroit hoping for a jump it’ll be interesting to see where the team lands next season. Especially with Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond and Jonatan Berggren all due for new contracts.

Continued; again, there’s been some over-payment in both term and “terms,” so the Red Wings aren’t exactly tearing things up in the efficiency department. That’s part of being a rebuilding team.

Axel Sandin Pellikka on schedule

I plain old had to spend Sunday in bed because of three days’ worth of over-exertion at the World Junior Summer Showcase. It’s been particularly difficult to give everything I can to generating coverage and then coming home to take care of my aunt, and I’m still learning how to balance those two things with getting actual rest.

As such, NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman will bridge the gap for me tonight in reporting that yes, Axel Sandin Pellikka will play on Monday as Sweden battles USA White at 7 PM EDT.

I’m glad to hear that Team Sweden coach Hugo Havelid wasn’t telling a fib when he told us that ASP and most other Swedish defenders would only play in 3 of the 4 games taking place at the WJSS, in no small part because, in ASP’s case, his club team’s GM in Skelleftea wanted Axel to get a serious day’s worth of work in the gym.

Back to work on the ice on Monday, reports Kimelman:

Having seen what Sandin Pellikka can do at the 2023 WJC, Havelid doesn’t need to focus too much on him.

“The way he sees the ice, moves the puck, makes the right decisions,” Havelid said. “You can use him on every special teams, penalty kill or power play. He’s a really talented player.”

Sandin Pellikka had one assist and averaged 19:54 of ice time in seven games for Sweden, which finished fourth. He is expected to make a bigger contribution at the 2024 WJC.

“I want to be a threat on the ice, and I want the other team to know that when I have the puck something creative can happen,” he said.

Sandin Pellikka’s offensive gifts are what convinced the Red Wings to select him with the No. 17 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. He had 36 points (16 goals, 20 assists) in 31 games with Skelleftea’s team in Sweden’s junior league, and 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in seven games at the 2023 IIHF Under-18 World Championship. But Sandin Pellikka wants to be known as more of a two-way defenseman.

“I want to help the team as much as I can in every zone,” he said. “Especially in the [defensive] zone, I want to just pick up my players in time and box them out. I’m not the biggest defender, but I still want to be smart and pick up my players early so I can box them out easily.”

Continued; at 5’11” and 181 pounds, Sandin Pellikka is definitely “undersized” by today’s standards, and while he has the offensive part of his game “down pat,” his defensive game is a work in progress.

It will be interesting to see how he manages to balance his immense offensive talent with more focus on playing actual defense this week.

DHN’s Allen discusses Antti Tuomisto’s bet on himself

Red Wings prospect Antti Tuomisto “bet on himself” by exiting the University of Denver for a professional campaign played in Finland this past season, and the Red Wings were impressed enough by the 6’5,” 205-pound defenseman that they signed the 22-year-old to a 2-year entry-level contract this past spring.

This afternoon, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discusses Tuomisto’s calculus in heading from NCAA Hockey to TPS Turku, one of Europe’s best organizations:

He was drafted 35th overall in 2019. But perhaps he has a special distinction because the Red Wings are looking forward to having a better read on Tuomisto’s potential. The 6-foot-5 Finn seemed like an ordinary prospect when he was playing college hockey at Denver in 2021-22. But the Red Wings were impressed with Tuomisto’s progress playing last season in Finland’s top pro league. Now, Tuomisto is a true curiosity.

His sole purpose of returning to Finland was to improve his NHL potential.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Tuomisto said. “Get a bigger role maybe than I had in Denver and also play with older guys, a little bigger guys in Finland.”

As a college player, Tuomisto looked like he was becoming a defense-first prospect. But he demonstrated more offensive potential for TPS Turku, totaling five goals and 20 points.  The Red Wings like his first-pass ability.

He received power play time in Finland.

“I got more ice time,” Tuomisto said. “That really helped me getting those reps. I want to use my shot. That’s something I worked on a lot with Sammy Salo, our D coach in Finland and Niklas Kronwall, we worked a lot on that. I think I got a lot better in that last season.”

Continued; the Red Wings are replete with defensive prospects at present, but they don’t have many big, physical righties on the blueline, and Tuomisto “fills a need.”

Roughly Translated: A summary of an interview with Marco Kasper

Red Wings top prospect Marco Kasper gave an interview to his hometown paper, Klagenfurt’s Kleine Zeitung this morning, but it’s stuck behind a paywall. He apparently discusses, “He talks about his journey, his role models and how to play with a broken knee” with Marco-William Ninaus.

Hockey-News.info posted a summary of the interview, and here’s a translation thereof:

Continue reading Roughly Translated: A summary of an interview with Marco Kasper

Tweets of note: Larkin turns 27, and Husso visits the Lions

Of Twitter-related note from the Red Wings:

The Wings’ captain turns 27 today…

And Ville Husso apparently visited the Detroit Lions’ training camp recently:

Talking mid-offseason offseason grades

Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz posted a lengthy set of “offseason grades” for every NHL team today, and here’s what he has to say about the Red Wings’ offseason moves:

If the Red Wings don’t take a significant step forward this season, it might be time for general manager Steve Yzerman to start facing some pressure. And based on the way he has conducted the past two offseasons, he seems to know that.

While I am not a huge fan of J.T. Compher getting a five-year, $25 million contract in free agency, the trade for Alex DeBrincat, as well as getting him signed to a long-term deal, does seem like a pretty big win for the Red Wings. DeBrincat is one of the best goal scorers in the NHL and adds some much-needed firepower to the top of the Red Wings’ lineup.

His goal-scoring took a bit of a hit during his one year in Ottawa, but there are a lot of signs that he should be able to bounce back this season. His ability to generate shots and drive possession all remained consistent from his normal career averages, while he still demonstrated the same level of playmaking. The only thing that dropped was his goal-scoring due almost entirely to a drop in shooting percentage. If his shooting luck changes, there is a real chance he gets back to the 40-goal form he showed earlier in his career with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Adding to the forward depth was Daniel Sprong on a one-year deal after he wasn’t given a qualifying offer by Seattle. Sprong is not exactly the most complete player in the NHL and he’s not going to do much to help you away from the puck, but do you know where he is going to help? By scoring. He was one of the most efficient goal scorers in the league last season on a per-minute basis and combined with DeBrincat and Compher should balance out Detroit’s lineup.

They also added some scoring punch to their blue line with the addition of Shayne Gostisbehere. While he never became the top-pairing player the Flyers envisioned he would become, he does still bring some value as a power-play specialist and bottom-pairing defender that can produce when properly sheltered.

The only noteworthy move from the Red Wings was acquiring Klim Kostin and Kailer Yamamoto from the Edmonton Oilers, which was promptly followed by buying Yamamoto’s contract. Do they like Kostin so much that is worth taking on a $500,000 empty cap hit the next two years to get him? Questionable. But not so questionable that erases everything else that was done.

Grade: B+

Continued; the more I consider what the Red Wings did, I believe that Yzerman and the Red Wings’ management felt that their changes made to the 2022-2023 team’s roster weren’t enough, and they doubled down on personnel turnover in order to bring in depth (and, in DeBrincat’s case, depth of scoring).

Will the Wings’ rather significant offseason changes yield a playoff run? I’m not certain, but I do believe that the Red Wings will be more competitive on more nights this season, and, given the relative thinness of the free agent marketplace this summer, Yzerman did all he could to improve the team as he was able.

Impressions from Day 3 at the World Junior Summer Showcase: games get underway, with Sweden and Finland prevailing over the U.S. teams

The first day’s worth of games at the World Junior Summer Showcase were a bit of a disappointment if you’re a Team USA fan.

In the 1 PM game, Team Sweden defeated Team USA Blue 7-0, with Red Wings prospect Anton Johansson scoring a goal for Sweden.

Axel Sandin Pellikka was kept out of the game, according to Swedish coach Magnus Havelid, so that he could work out in the gym, per the recommendation of Skelleftea AIK’s GM; coach Havelid said that ASP is not injured and will play in the next three games.

In the 4 PM game, Team Finland defeated Team USA White 4-2, with the Finns scoring an empty-net goal to seal the deal. Red Wings prospect goaltender Trey Augustine stopped 16 of 18 shots against in 28:30 of play.

It was very hard to get a read on Augustine’s game by watching him play half of a game that Finland really took to the Americans in a way that Sweden didn’t, with detail work and a lot of gritty play determining the outcome.

Tomorrow, the teams will practice at USA Hockey Arena on Sunday morning, and then they’ll get together again for games scheduled for Monday at 4 PM (USA Blue vs. Finland) and 7 PM (USA White vs. Sweden).

Continue reading Impressions from Day 3 at the World Junior Summer Showcase: games get underway, with Sweden and Finland prevailing over the U.S. teams

DHN’s Robinson speaks with Anton Johansson at the WJSS

Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson spoke with Red Wings prospect and Team Sweden defenseman Anton Johansson as part of a profile piece anchored by Johansson’s goal-scoring performance today at the World Junior Summer Showcase:

Prospect Anton Johansson checks all of the boxes for what the Detroit Red Wings want in their prospect defensemen these days. He’s 6-foot-4, a right shot and Swedish.

But Johansson made himself stand out even more Saturday when he scored Sweden’s first goal in a 7-0 blanking of Team USA Blue in the opening game at the 2023 World Junior Summer Showcase at USA Hockey Arena.

“I think that was my best game,”said the 188-pound Johansson, a fourth-round pick from 2022. “It’s good to have a start like this.”

His coach, Magnus Havelid, was more conservative with his assessment.

“It’s just the first game,” he said, chuckling. “we’re going to wait and see as a coaching staff. Let’s see what we say after the fourth game.”

Continued