Video: Darren McCarty says, ‘Retire #91!’

There remain certain members of the Red Wings hierarchy who do not believe that Sergei Fedorov’s #91 should be retired due to his acrimonious departure for the Anaheim Ducks in 2003. At present, the CSKA Moscow coach is OK with his number not being retired, but the Woodward Sports Network’s Darren McCarty feels otherwise:

Grand Rapids Griffins to open 2022-2023 season at home vs. San Diego on October 14

The AHL’s 2022-2023 schedule is coming out tomorrow, and, in advance thereof, the AHL’s teams were allowed to post the dates of their home openers:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Duff profiles Jonatan Berggren

Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren had a big season with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, and the 5’11,” 194-pound center/wing, who’s 22 years old as of last Saturday, is profiled by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff this evening:

His first season in North American couldn’t have gone much better for Jonatan Berggren. Performing for Detroit’s top farm club the Grand Rapids Griffins, Berggren finished 12th in the American League scoring race with 21 goals and 43 assists for 64 points. That established a new Griffins’ record for points by a rookie. Berggren was the AHL’s second-highest rookie scorer, trailing only Buffalo Sabres JJ Peterka (28 goals, 68 points).

He ended the season with an 11-game point streak. Berggren registered points in 15 of his last 18 games. In those 15 games,  Berggren boasted 10 multi-point games.

“We’re very pleased with the season that Jonatan had,” Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman said. “As an adjustment coming to play in the American Hockey Legue versus the Swedish Elite League that he played in, there’s areas of his game that we asked him to focus on and try to improve on and he did that.

“We’re very happy with his progress.”

Continued; as Duff suggests, Berggren may not make the Red Wings’ roster out of training camp, but he’s a fine prospect who should slot into the second line in the not-too-distant future.

Summer (fun)draising

I received a tremendous amount of support from TMR readers over the course of the summer development camp, and I’m truly grateful for that.

As we turn the calendar to late July, however, I’m facing the stark realities of plain old having bills to pay this month as Aunt Annie and I struggle to make ends meet.

While I was dealing with my depressive episode, we tried to make ends meet, but without the blog’s modest contribution to the budget, we were a couple hundred dollars underwater every month. I was able to take on some debt in order to squeeze out an unexpected seven-month recovery process, but we’re really tight right now.

Continue reading Summer (fun)draising

Tweet of note: NTDP single-game tix on sale

Here’s a promotional FYI from the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth:

Single-game tickets for the 2022-23 Team USA season are on sale now! 👊

Be sure to check out our BRAND NEW premium seating option!

ALL INFO → https://t.co/csIuqqwSEB pic.twitter.com/P6fUg301hD— USA Hockey’s NTDP (@USAHockeyNTDP) July 20, 2022

A bit of praise for Ville Husso

The Hockey News’s Ian Kennedy examines the changes made to teams’ respective NHL creases this offseason, including the Red Wings’ trade for Ville Husso:

Detroit Red Wings – Ville Husso: Both Alex Nedeljkovic and Ville Husso have shown flashes of skill, but who will emerge as the No. 1? Nedeljkovic played 59 games last season for Detroit, but Husso enters with a better GAA and save percentage (albeit playing with a superior defensive team that made the playoffs) in 40 games. Last season when Thomas Greiss was in net, the Red Wings fared worse; with Husso, the team will have the goaltending to give Detroit a chance to win every night.

Continued; I’m fairly certain that Husso and Nedejlkovic will serve as a 1A/1B tandem over the course of the first half to two thirds of the 2022-2023 schedule, with a “favorite” emerging down the stretch.

A bit about coach Derek Lalonde’s ‘leeway’ from The Athletic’s Goldman

The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman discusses the respective NHL experience levels of each and every one of this summer’s head coaching hires, and here’s what she has to say about Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde:

Lalonde’s joining a team that’s further along in this [rebuilding] process than [Chicago Blackhawks coach Luke] Richardson. He has an obvious connection to Steve Yzerman who was general manager when he joined Tampa Bay. There’s the pedigree of winning back-to-back Stanley Cups as an assistant with that group that came after head coaching experience at lower development levels, including the USHL and AHL. Lalonde probably doesn’t have the leeway that Jeff Blashill did because the Red Wings’ priorities have shifted as they start pushing closer toward the playoff mix. Instead, there are clear goals like helping the team play consistently, improve defensively, and become a harder team to play against — all of which he seems to be a fit for. Now that this is his bench, their coach can build his identity and voice as a leader, hopefully bringing in some fresh ideas along the way. 

Continued (paywall)

Mid-day Khan: on David Perron’s power play acumen

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a middle-of-the-day article discussing Red Wings free agent signing David Perron’s status as a superb power play performer:

An ineffective power play has cost the Detroit Red Wings many games over the past six seasons.

David Perron should help in that area. He scored a career-high 11 power-play goals with St. Louis last season and has tallied 33 in the past four years.

That is one reason general manager Steve Yzerman signed Perron to a two-year contract with a $4.75 million average annual value one week ago at the start of free agency.

“A team that goes on a good run on the power play usually starts the year pretty well,” Perron said. “If you start behind the eight-ball, and you have to dig yourself out, it’s tough to come back and have a good season. I think with the Blues last year we had the best power play in the history of the team. I was part of that solution. It’s something that I want to help.”

The Red Wings ranked 26th on the power play in 2022-21 and have the worst cumulative power-play percentage in the NHL during their six-year playoff drought (excluding expansion Seattle).

Perron provides another right-handed shooting option on the power play, along with Lucas Raymond and point men Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek.

Continued

Is Nedeljkovic ‘the guy’ from a fantasy hockey perspective?

The Hockey News’s Jason Chen believes that Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic is one of three “contract year” goaltenders which fantasy hockey poolies should pick as fine fantasy hockey investments:

Alex Nedeljkovic, G, Detroit Red Wings (145.2)

Nedeljkovic heads into the 2022-23 as one of the league’s most intriguing young goalies. For spurts, he looked like a legit starter, but at other times he looked destined to be a journeyman. The Wings’ rebuild is gaining steam but there’s still no hurry to rush things; that means Nedeljkovic will continue to get chances to prove his worth and he’s penciled in as their No. 1 goalie going into the season. His 52 starts ranked 15th, and unless the Wings land a big-name goalie via free agency, expect Nedeljkovic to get the lion’s share of the starts with no backup currently signed.

Continued; I don’t see Nedeljkovic as the #1 goaltender per se, but he’s the #1A in the 1A/1B combination with Ville Husso going into the 2022-2023 season.