More about the ‘how’s’ and ‘why’s’ behind the ‘Celebrity Roast of Scotty Bowman’ from Kulfan

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels doesn’t shy away from the “how’s” or “why’s” behind holding the Jamie Daniels Foundation’s “Celebrity Roast of Scotty Bowman” (8 PM EDT Wednesday on Fox Sports Detroit) in a conversation with the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

There is also a silent auction that people can also go to at JamieDanielsFoundation.org to make a donation or bid on a variety of auction items until noon Thursday. 

The importance of generating funds for the foundation is needed more than ever, given the pandemic. Daniels said Michigan’s death rate from opioids is up 27% this year, and nationally, 185 people are dying every day from opioids.

“For those struggling with substance-use disorder, COVID exacerbates the issue, dealing with the isolation,” Daniels said.

There are long-term goals Ken Daniels wants to achieve through the foundation that he is intent on accomplishing. More college recovery program is one goal, Daniels said, noting there is now a Jamie Daniels Memorial Scholarship to help kids in recovery at Michigan State.

“It could be alcohol, it could be drugs, it could be anything, but we need to be in more college campuses; that’s one of our goals,” Daniels said. “Along with the education and to get the funding, we’re going to contribute or share from the foundation, for an 80-unit long-term safe recovery house for people who come out of detox and need a safe place to live and to get into the job force.

“More often than not, people who come out of detox go back home with their parents, like our son did with us, and there’s just a mistrust there. The more we can keep this front and center, the more we can get the word out, and people will have a safe place to live.”

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Wings’ beat writers summarize Marc Staal’s ‘welcome call

Updated at 7:41 PM: Red Wings defenseman Marc Staal was introduced to the media today via a conference call…

And the Wings’ beat writers took note of Staal’s remarks, including the Free Press’s Helene St. James…

“I didn’t really have much of a heads-up,” Staal said Tuesday from his home in Connecticut. “Just got called and they told me I was on my way to Detroit. Obviously, it was surprising and shocking when it happens. This is the only place I’ve been my whole career, it’s been home to me for a very long time.

“After the shock of it kind of wore off and I started thinking about it more, talking to the coaching staff and Steve, that shock turned more to excitement. We had a really good talk. Talking with him makes you feel a lot more comfortable with where the team is heading. You’re going to an outstanding franchise, beautiful new rink. It’s an Original Six, so I get to go from one great franchise to the next. I’m excited to be a part of that. I think it’s a pretty good situation I’m walking into.”

…

Staal has spent the past couple of weeks acclimatizing to coming to a new team; chatting with Yzerman made a difference.

“A lot of the conversation was him trying to relieve the shock of what happened and try to speak good things about Detroit,” Staal said, “which I know pretty well already. I’ve known a lot of guys who play there and speak very highly of it. That part I wasn’t really too worried about. The next thing was, just the opportunity to come in and be a big part of the team and play some minutes and be a guy that’s counted upon every night. I’m looking forward to that responsibility.”

MLive’s Ansar Khan…

Continue reading Wings’ beat writers summarize Marc Staal’s ‘welcome call

Prospect round-up: Kivenmaki, Kotkansalo post assists in Assat loss

There was only one game in which Red Wings prospects participated today. In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki had an assist and finished at +2 in 16:45 played, and Kasper Kotkansalo had an assist and finished even in 20:27 played as Assat Pori lost 4-3 in OT to IFK Helsinki.

Red Wings’ website posts Marc Staal’s presser

New Red Wings defenseman Marc Staal spoke with the Wings’ media corps for 15 minutes on Tuesday, and you can watch the entire press conference here:

Marc Staal commented that in the NHL, you’re never as far from winning as you think, and never that far from losing either. I’ve heard Jeff Blashill say something similar. DRW obviously have a long way to go in their rebuild, but it’s a good reminder of the margins in pro sports— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) October 13, 2020

Marc Staal on trade from NY Rangers to Red Wings: “I didn’t really have much of a heads-up. Just got called and they told me I was on my way to Detroit. Obviously it was surprising and shocking when it happens.”— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) October 13, 2020

Falkner profiles referee Wes McCauley

The Detroit News’s Mark Falkner penned a lengthy profile of NHL referee Wes McCauley, and his article’s a “good read”:

Wes McCauley’s rise to the top of the National Hockey League officiating ranks began to take shape as a freshman on the campus of Michigan State in 1989.

He just didn’t realize it at the time.

Now the NHL’s most animated official whose dramatic pauses and amusing calls after disputed goals and penalties have gone viral on YouTube and shared on social media by hockey fans and whose popularity among players was underscored in an NHLPA poll when he was voted the No. 1 referee in 2018, McCauley back then was about to follow his father’s advice and attend Michigan State, which had an enrollment (40,000) about the same size of his hometown in Georgetown, Ontario, just outside of Toronto.

In 1985, his dad John McCauley, an NHL referee for 15 years and the league’s director of officiating at the time, was in East Lansing for a series of exhibition games between the Canadian Olympic team and the Spartans at Munn Arena.

“Dad came home and said, ‘You’re going to Michigan State,'” McCauley said. “He was good friends with league commissioner Bill Beagan and as the boss, he (McCauley) would watch the young officials in the CCHA (Central Collegiate Hockey Association) and meet the coaches there. He always wanted me to go to Michigan State.”

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Bultman’s Q and A with Ken Daniels

Ahead of the Jamie Daniels Foundation’s Celebrity Roast of Scotty Bowman (8 PM EDT on Wednesday, October 14th on Fox Sports Detroit), The Athletic’s Max Bultman sat down for a Q and A with Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels:

While we’re talking, I should probably ask you what you made of the RedWings’ pickups in free agency last weekend.

They’re more skilled, for sure, with some veterans up front who can still skate. I think Namestnikov … (Yzerman) certainly knows what he brings. And I think that will help with some speed up front. Bobby Ryan will help on the power play.

Defensively, they’re so much better. Right side with Hronek, Stecher and then Lindstrom and then you’ve got Biega. And then you don’t have to worry about Seider and those guys. And then on the left side you get DeKeyser back … You’ve got Merrill, you’ve got Staal and Nemeth; that’s pretty good. … Greiss isn’t flopping (around), he’s positionally sound. And yeah, he played behind a good Islander team, that’s one thing. But then you look at the save percentage.

…  So I think even with the guys they brought in, especially on defense, they’re better, they’re going to be more composed. … They’re going to be able to stop the bleeding more often.

Continued (paywall)

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels appears on 97.1 the Ticket’s Stoney and Jansen show

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels appeared on 97.1 the Ticket’s Stoney and Jansen show ahead of tomorrow night’s Celebrity Roast of Scotty Bowman (8 PM EDT on Fox Sports Detroit) to benefit the Jamie Daniels Foundation. Daniels addressed the roast and the Wings’ offseason moves over the course of a 12-and-a-half-minute-long interview: