DHN’s Duff helps Wings fans ‘get to know’ the prospect tournament invites

The Red Wings released the names of the participants in the annual Prospect Tournament this past week, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff examines some of the tournament invites this morning:

Right-winger Jake Uberti will be playing his second consecutive season for the Red Wings in this event. He spent the last season as an overager in the OHL with the Mississauga Steelheads and in the QMJHL with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Despite tallying just six goals last season, center Matyas Melovsky led the QMJHL Baie-Comeau Drakkar in scoring with 58 points.

Right-winger Dean Loukus is from Calumet, Mich. His 56 points last season would earn him a share of the team scoring lead with the OHL Saginaw Spirit. Another right-winger, Nic Sima split his OHL campaign last season between the North Bay Batallion and the Spirit.

From Mistissini, Que., left-winger Israel Mianscum might be the most fascinating prospect among this year’s crop of free agents. From the Quebec Cree Nation, Miansum was in attendance at the development camp of the Montreal Canadiens in the summer of 2022. He potted 30 goals last season with the QMJHL Sherbrooke Phoenix.

Just 18, netminder Lucas Matecha was posting a stellar .940 save percentage a 1.44 goals-against average in two games this past season with Czechia’s under-18 national team. He’s slated to play in 2023-24 with the WHL Tri-City Americans.

Connor Punnett, Finn Harding and Jackson DeSouza face perhaps the biggest challenge of any of the rookie free agents. They’re all defensemen, and Detroit is absolutely loaded right now with rearguard prospects.

Punnett put up impressive offensive numbers with the OHL Barrie Colts in 2022-23, accounting for 14 goals and 34 assists in 66 games. Playing last season with the OHL Steelheads, Harding, 18, previously was playing Tier II for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens. That’s the former team of Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman. Colorado-born DeSouza, 20, has spent the past five season in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets.

Continued

Tweet of note: WXYZ’s Trotman speaks with Ken Daniels at the ‘Roast and Toast of Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom’

This is just a quickie, but WXYZ’s Jeanna Trotman spoke with Red Wings play-by-play voice Ken Daniels regarding the purpose behind this past weekend’s “Roast and Toast of Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom”:

Please help TMR continue by funding its server renewal

Hi, everybody.

Fundraising is going particularly poorly, and my server, Bluehost, and Jetpack are up for renewal on August 31st. Put bluntly, I need to raise about $550 to continue operating the blog, and over the past four days, I’ve been able to raise only $50.

If there’s any way that you can help me continue on TMR, I would be incredibly grateful for any donations at this time. I’ve got five-and-a-half days to get Bluehost and Jetpack paid off, I would be extremely grateful, and if you can’t help, I’d ask you to share.

We’re in worrisome straits right now, and so I have to ask.

If you’re are willing or able to lend a fundraising assist, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums” (an old nickname).

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.