A little panic in Hockeytown? Talking ‘front-office confidence rankings’

The Athletic’s Front-Office Confidence Rankings came out yesterday, and Dom Luszczyszyn reported that the Red Wings finished 11th in the rankings, with some fans expressing their displeasure with Steve Yzerman’s slow-building approach:

12. Detroit Red Wings

Last Year: 3rd

Confidence in the Yzerplan is at an all-time low, especially from the public. It’s hard to build a true contender without the lottery luck to nab franchise players, but it feels wrong to attempt to turn the corner without them. That’s seemed to be Detroit’s plan the last two summers with the team making a lot of additions via free agency — many of which don’t look great (hello Ben Chiarot). A big-time trade for Alex DeBrincat signifies the team is gunning for a playoff spot this year which begs the question: Is this it?

For better or worse, this is the team, and while they will be augmented in the future by a strong prospect pipeline, the team is still missing true elite difference-makers — the ones that contenders are built around. Maybe it’s enough to be a playoff team, but it feels like it limits Detroit’s ceiling beyond that.

That brings about questions regarding the team’s vision, something that even the fans are relatively lower on than in years past. A 4.4 rating suggests high confidence in the Yzerplan and maybe that’s the only number needed, but the middle-of-the-pack ranking means they’re much less zealous than other fan bases.

This is a make-or-break year for the Yzerplan and the confidence that it’s instilled in the past. The Red Wings have missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons and it doesn’t feel likely the streak will break this season.

Continued; I’m not thrilled that the Red Wings haven’t been able to bring in many “difference-makers,” but the fact that the team turned over half its roster to bring in more and more depth this offseason showed me that the Wings’ front office is still committed to doing its best to improve the team’s talent base.

Without the blessing of great luck in the draft lottery, the Wings are having to build a team the hard way, and through some sparsely-talented free agency summers at that, and I still feel that the entire front office and coaching staff are doing their best to build a base for the stars that may become available over the next couple of summers.

Is that a fast enough rebuilding effort for anyone’s level of patience, mine included? Definitely not, but it’s a realistic one for a team that really started from scratch when Yzerman took over. Patience isn’t Detroit fans’ strong suit, but it’s still required.

Stockton on Raymond and Seider’s extensions, as Auston Matthews’ extension applies

This afternoon, the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton examines the Red Wings’ looming contract extensions for Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider as the Auston Matthews extension–a four-year contract instead of a max-term, 8 year extension–applies to the Wings’ young stars:

So, how does all this affect Raymond and Seider?

The short answer is it’s hard to say.  ELCs are mostly boilerplate, dictated by a player’s draft positioning and the Collective Bargaining Agreement; they don’t offer much insight into an individual player’s approach to contract negotiations.  With that in mind, it’s difficult to say what Raymond and Seider will prioritize in their second contracts.  

Neither Raymond nor Seider will be in a position to command a $13 million+ salary, but, if they want to max out their career earnings, they would both be well served to follow some portion of Mattthews’ lead and getting themselves back to free agency.

For Yzerman and the Red Wings, the challenge will be securing a healthy portion of each players prime at a number that entices them to remain in Detroit, without over-committing.

As I said from the outset, there is no serious risk of either Raymond or Seider playing elsewhere in 2024-25 (unless that is an option the Red Wings select themselves). Instead, Seider and Raymond’s next deals will be all about the money that remains to flesh out the roster beyond them.

Continued; I’m gonna be honest, with all respect to Sam, who does wonderful work every dang day:

I think that Matthews is in a very different situation as someone who is looking to continue to maximize his value as the salary cap climbs upward in the next couple of years. Raymond and Seider are still developing into star players, and they may very well sign “bridge deals” of similar length, but they don’t have the kind of leverage of one of the NHL’s brightest stars to completely dictate the term and terms of his contract.

What will happen this season, though? As Sam suggests, Raymond and Seider will be asked to afford the rest of the team some cap space to be built around them.

Khan’s mailbag: Done with free agent signings?

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a notebook feature earlier this afternoon, and he addressed a question as to whether the Red Wings are done signing free agents for the summer/fall:

Q: Though it’s likely that Yzerman is done making moves, could we see a possible reunion with current UFA Tomas Tatar? If seems doubtful that the Devils are going to end up with the cap space to sign him and with a 20-goal season last year, he would complement any team’s second or third lines. – Tyler

A: They have one available roster spot and the cap space, so it can’t be ruled out. But if Yzerman acquires another player, he might prefer someone who can play center and wing. Assuming they keep Michael Rasmussen on the wing, their four centers are Dylan Larkin, Andrew Copp, J.T. Compher and Joe Veleno. If one is injured, they would need to either move Rasmussen back to center or bring up Austin Czarnik from Grand Rapids, unless Marco Kasper appears NHL-ready at that time and they’re comfortable playing him at center at a young age.

I think they’re comfortable with the number of top-three line wingers they have in Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond, David Perron, Robby Fabbri, Daniel Sprong, Jonatan Berggren and Klim Kostin, with Elmer Soderblom waiting in the wings in Grand Rapids.

Continued; I don’t expect the Wings to sign anyone else, but a pro try-out or two might be in the offing.

Prospect round-up: Axel Sandin Pellikka’s season gets underway in the Champions Hockey League

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the Champions Hockey League, Axel Sandin Pellikka had 6 shots and 4 blocks in 15:43 played, finishing even in Skelleftea AIK’s 4-0 win over the Red Bull Salzburg.

Mills’ Friday Notebook: Recapping the Grand Rapids Griffins’ Youth Foundation Golf Classic

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills covered the Grand Rapids Griffins’ annual summer golf tournament to raise funds for the Griffins’ Youth Foundation in a Friday notebook article:

Several Grand Rapids Griffins players and alumni joined fans and sponsors to support a good cause by participating in the 29th annual Griffins Youth Foundation (GYF) Golf Classic, presented by Meijer, on Aug. 21 at the American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven, Mich.

The golf classic is the primary fundraiser for the GYF, which promotes academic excellence, community involvement and healthy lifestyles among the youth of West Michigan through hockey and ice-related sports. In addition, greens fees support Folds of Honor, a nationally recognized non-profit organization that provides scholarships to the families of fallen and disabled service members as well as first responders.

Longtime Griffins radio announcer Bob Kaser, who also serves as event director and president of the GYF, said the scramble golf tournament shines a light on an important mission.

“Anytime you can go out on the course is a lot of fun, especially when you’re doing it for charity and a great cause like our youth foundation,” Kaser told DetroitRedWings.com. “We continue to grow the program.”

Continued

Late night video link: Moritz Seider speaks with RNF.de

Strange things one finds in the middle of the night: RNF.de, a network/website from the Rhein-Neckar region of Germany, posted a 33-minute podcast interview with Moritz Seider in video form. “Menschen aus der Kurpfalz,” or “People from the province,” is the name of the podcast.

The video is in German, but it promises to discuss Seider’s journey (thanks to his parents) from Zell to Mannheim to play hockey for the Adler Mannheim’s developmental system, his time spent in the DEL, his decision to play in Sweden for Rogle during the pandemic, his time spent with Detroit, and his familial and personal ties to Mannheim.

Give it a glance if you wish!

MLive’s Khan updates player addresses, addresses Filip Zadina’s missteps, new start in San Jose

This Thursday night, MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a primer as to where the 12 players who left the Detroit Red Wings wound up earning contracts (or pro try-outs) this offseason, and Khan also engaged in an interesting exercise:

Khan spoke with San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, discussing Filip Zadina’s missteps in Detroit, and his potential with his new team, the San Jose Sharks.

Regarding last season, and the Red Wings coaching staff’s decision to place Zadina away from his favorite shooter’s spot on the right wing faceoff circle:

“He did not have a good training camp and pre-season. He was actually a healthy scratch [for the first two games of the year]. He just quickly fell out of favor with a new coach, and he never really recovered. [Then] he got injured, I think in November, blocking a shot, got hit by a shot and broke his leg,” Khan said, also noting that Zadina got behind free agent Wings forwards Kubalik, David Perron, and Andrew Copp on the depth chart. “They had more options on the power play, and it was simply a matter of Zadina just dropping down the pecking order.”

Zadina himself noted that he suffered an appendicitis at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, which put him behind the eight-ball in his summer training.

Anyway, Zadina did not look comfortable in the high slot on the power play, a high-traffic area which requires quick, accurate passing and shooting decisions. Khan agreed.

So of course, the obvious answer for the San Jose Sharks is to reinstate Zadina on the right flank of the power play. He was an above-average scoring threat from there from 2019 to 2022, ringing up 2.11 Power Play Goals Per 60, good for 57th among all NHL forwards (of 178 qualified, 300-plus PP minutes). That’s not too bad for a youngster.

Ansar’s not so certain about that:

“Their whole thing with him the last couple of years was they didn’t want him to be as much on the perimeter. And just to be like a one-trick pony. Where all he could do was fire off shots, one-timers from the flank,” Khan said. “They wanted him to be a little bit more at the net, and be more on the inside, and kind of expand his repertoire a little bit. I think that’s why they moved him. They wanted to get him closer to the net. Try to find different ways to score, whether that’s garbage goals around the net and things like that.”

Khan and Peng continue, and it’s an intriguing discussion!

Representing the Winged Wheel in Israel

According to the Detroit Jewish News’s Steve Stein, a team of Jewish athletes from Metro Detroit, Grand Rapids and New York teamed up together to represent the Winged Wheel at the Maccabi Games in Israel:

Resplendent in their Detroit Red Wings-style uniforms, hockey players from Detroit and Grand Rapids gave it their best shot a long way from home. They didn’t win a medal at the JCC Maccabi Games last month in Israel. They won just two of five games.

But the memories they made during their three-week stay, that included the week-long Maccabi Games and two weeks of immersive educational travel around Israel with other athletes ages 14-17, will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

“Going on that tour around Israel was one of the best experiences of my life,” said Mason Marcus. “To take in all those significant sites in Israel with Jewish kids my age was great.” 

Nine players representing Detroit, two representing Grand Rapids and four representing New York City made up one of the eight teams in the Maccabi Games hockey competition.

The Detroit/Grand Rapids/NYC team practiced just four times before the Maccabi Games began. Three practices were at the Farmington Hills Ice Arena. One was in Israel, where the NYC players joined with their Michigan teammates. 

“We were competitive,” said Detroit/Grand Rapids/NYC coach Mark Weiss. “There were some very good teams there.”

Continued