Prospect round-up: Johansson 1A, ASP plays 21:02, Kilpinen scores again

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe today:

In the SHL, Anton Johansson had an assist, finishing at +3 with 2 shots in 16:06 played as Leksands IF won 5-2 over HV71:

Theodor Niederbach finished with a shot and a -1 in 15:27 played as MoDo Hockey lost 4-3 to Frolunda HC;

And Axel Sandin Pellikka finished even with 1 shot in 21:02 played in Skelleftea AIK’s 2-0 loss to the Vaxjo Lakers:

In the Swedish J20 league, Maximilian Kilpinen scored his 7th goal in 9 games played as MoDo Hockey won 5-3 over Leksands IF;

And Noah Dower Nilsson’s Frolunda HC lost 5-4 in overtime to Rogle BK.

Kulfan on the Wings’ battle for ‘7 D’

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a pregame notebook discussing the Red Wings’ defensemen’s battle for playing time as Detroit prepares to carry 7 defensemen to start the 2023-2024 season:

“It’s great, the more competition the better,” said [Ben] Chiarot, who could be in the battle to stay in the lineup. “Personally, it pushes me to be the best every night. You have to be playing at the top of your game or you can expect to lose minutes or might not be in the lineup, whatever it might be. It drives better performance having that type of competition and we have it throughout our lineup, not just on defense.”

With rosters needing to be set by Monday afternoon, coach Derek Lalonde said the Wings are likely to keep seven defensemen, meaning Edvinsson’s odds of making the NHL on opening night are slim. But other than the top pairing of Seider and Walman, which was so effective last season, who’ll play with whom on the other two pairings and who’ll be sitting out games remains to be ironed out.

In Lalonde’s estimation, none of the defensemen lost ground in the way they played. All showed they deserve to be in the lineup.

“We were comfortable going into camp feeling we have seven NHL defensemen, a luxury we haven’t had for a very long time,” Lalonde said. “Nobody separated themselves in a negative way. All seven (defensemen) had a very good camp and showed to their strengths. There’s been zero separation of the seven (defensemen). That’s a really good sign for us. It’s hard to get defensive depth. It’ll still be a work in progress (to Thursday’s start of the regular season).”

Continued

Red Wings-Maple Leafs post-morning skate video (Kostin and Lalonde) and articles

Ahead of tonight’s game between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs (7 PM EDT start on Bally Sports Detroit/TSN4/NHL Network, 97.1 FM), both the Red Wings and Maple Leafs released rosters for tonight’s game, and both teams held a morning skate–though the Leafs’ “game group” is not skating this morning.

After the teams’ morning skates, the respective teams spoke with the media, and the Red Wings posted a video of coach Derek Lalonde and forward Klim Kostin’s pre-game remarks:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QhXSPuWAxM4%3Fsi%3DpDSnYr1lwxQ4Ty3p

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a morning skate-related article…

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs post-morning skate video (Kostin and Lalonde) and articles →

Red Wings-Maple Leafs morning skate Tweets: Leafs send B Team to Detroit, where Wings prepare for dress rehearsal

The Detroit Red Wings will hold a “dress rehearsal” for the regular season by hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs’ “B Team” tonight at Little Caesars Arena (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/TSN4/NHL Network, 97.1 FM).

As this is the final game of the preseason for the 4-2-and-1 Red Wings and the Maple Leafs, the teams held separate morning skates in their respective cities this morning.

We begin with a few quips and quotes from DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills’ game-day preview:

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs morning skate Tweets: Leafs send B Team to Detroit, where Wings prepare for dress rehearsal →

Betting against the grain

Now I don’t believe in raining on anyone’s parade, so if sports betting makes you feel more excited about games or player performances, I’m glad for you–but it’s just not for me. I don’t enjoy sports betting. You’ll have to excuse my eye-roll as The Athletic’s Jesse Granger insists that Ville Husso’s win total is one of several “prop bets” worth spending money on this upcoming season:

Ville Husso under 26.5 goalie wins: Husso had an excellent start to last season, but eventually ran out of gas and struggled down the stretch. Detroit responded by brining in James Reimer to lighten Husso’s workload. And while that’s probably a good move for the Red Wings, it’s not for Husso’s win total.

Husso hasn’t won more than 26 games in a season in his career, and it’s been seven years since the last time any Red Wings goalie did it.

Bah, humbug.

DHN’s Duff discusses a sticky wicket

This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses and Aftonbladet article that pissed me off enough that I almost closed the laptop lid when I read it.

As Andreas Kack reports, Linkopings HC player Jonas Junland told a hockey betting podcast that he believes that Red Wings prospect Anton Johansson is only earning ice time with Leksands IF because Anton’s dad, Thomas, is the team’s general manger.

Junland bullshitted that an injury on Leksand’s blueline means that Anton will receive a bigger opportunity after teammate Anton Lindholm was suspended for five games only because Anton is “Tjomme’s” son:

“Tjomme’s son will soon be playing 40 minutes per game and he might not have a SHL job if dad wasn’t sports director,” Junland said during an appearance on the Swedish show Hockey Thursday.

That’s horseshit. And “Tjomme” Johansson knows it:

“Haha… We are quite used to different people having opinions and thinking things about our children,” Tjomme Johansson wrote in a text to Swedish website Aftonbladet.se. “Otherwise, I have no comments.”

In other words, the bologna being spouted by Junland is baseless. Anton’s playing because he’s earned the ice time.

Anybody who’s seen him play away from Leskand knows he’s a talented middle-pair defenseman with a strong all-round skill set and a right shot–the 20-year-old has the tools that the Red Wings need in terms of building the right side of their defensive prospect pool.

Junland won’t be the last person to accuse “Tjomme” of nepotism as his son continues to build upon his performances with Leksand. But it’s a bunch of crap.

HSJ in the morning: Wings-Leafs exhibition affair tonight serves as final preparation for regular season

The Detroit Red Wings will battle the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/TSN4, 97.1 FM) to close out their 2023-2024 exhibition season.

The 4-2-and-1 Red Wings have been told that the Leafs won’t bring their NHL team’s roster to Little Caesars Arena, but the Red Wings still plan on holding a “dress rehearsal” for the regular season, as the Free Press’s Helene St. James notes this morning:

“You can get your lines together, get everyone out there with who they’re going to play with,” veteran defenseman Ben Chiarot said. “It’s like of like a dress rehearsal for us.”

Goaltender Ville Husso is earmarked to play the full game. He has appeared in two preseason games, logging just short of 61 minutes of work and posting a 1.97 goals-against average and .933 save percentage.

As St. James notes, the one wrinkle in the Red Wings’ Friday practice lineup involved Michael Rasmussen skating alongside the duo of Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin.

Wings coach Derek Lalonde made some interesting comments about both the Red Wings’ lineup and the exhibition grind on Friday:

Continue reading HSJ in the morning: Wings-Leafs exhibition affair tonight serves as final preparation for regular season →

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