Husso confirmation articles

Okay, the Red Wings traded for and then signed goaltender Ville Husso this morning.

Here’s confirmation from MLive’s Ansar Khan…

The Red Wings then signed Husso, 27, to a three-year contract worth $4.75 million a season. The native of Helsinki, Finland, was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday.

Husso (6-3, 209) joins Alex Nedeljkovic, 26, to form what should be a solid goaltending combination. General manager Steve Yzerman also acquired Nedeljkovic for a third-round selection last year.

Husso went 25-7-6, with a 2.56 goals-against average and .919 save percentage last season for the Blues. He wasn’t as effective in the playoffs, however, going 2-5 with a 3.67 GAA and .890 save percentage.

As does the Free Press’s Helene St. James…

Continue reading Husso confirmation articles

Red Wings hire assistant coach Bob Boughner and goalie coach Alex Westlund

Good:

UPDATE: Detroit #RedWings executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman today announced that the team has hired Bob Boughner as associate coach and Alex Westlund as goaltending coach.

Details: https://t.co/Uxry9mTATD pic.twitter.com/HFLmLfNVf6— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 8, 2022

Red Wings trade for goaltender Ville Husso

Smart:

UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings today acquired goaltender Villie Husso from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a third round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. pic.twitter.com/Ff0dGi393z— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 8, 2022

?#TradeCentre ALERT?: Red Wings acquire G Ville Husso from #StLBlues for a 2022 3rd-Round Pick…

Follow every deal in our Trade Tracker – https://t.co/lTl9gr0T6Z#TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/gSn6JyDXCQ— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) July 8, 2022

Wow. Big move here. Husso is 27 and was quite good in net for St. Louis this season. Was due to become a UFA next week, but obviously Detroit makes this deal to get exclusive negotiation rights and hammer something out before he hits the open market https://t.co/KIrSVa98ZI— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 8, 2022

BREAKING: The #stlblues have traded Ville Husso to the Detroit Redwings in exchange for the 73rd overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. pic.twitter.com/TiuhebDmsL— 101 ESPN St. Louis (@101espn) July 8, 2022

Detroit #LGRW announce they’ve acquired pending UFA Ville Husso’s rights from #stlblues for a third-round pick (73rd overall).— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 8, 2022

Red Wings have acquired St. Louis Blues goalie Ville Husso in exchange for a 2022 third-rounder.

Husso is 27 and despite a lackluster playoff performance is coming off a breakout year.

He finished ninth in goals saved above expected (13.5) last season, per @MoneyPuckdotcom— Nolan Bianchi (@nolanbianchi) July 8, 2022

Alex Nedeljkovic and Ville Husso would give the @DetroitRedWings one of the best goalie tandems in the East.— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) July 8, 2022

Word is Husso and DET closing in on 3 year, $4.75M AAV contract— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 8, 2022

Ville Husso has an agreement in place to sign with the #redwings, per source.

The goalie market gets thinner.— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 8, 2022

Hearing that it will be a three-year deal for Ville Husso in Detroit.— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 8, 2022

Ville Husso’s three-year deal with #redwings carries a $4.75M AAV.— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 8, 2022

Husso has agreed to an extension with the Red Wings: $4.75 M AAV x three years https://t.co/dxi7qzj32K— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 8, 2022

Signed to Standard Contract
Ville Husso (G) | DET#LGRWhttps://t.co/HWv9fRl799— CapFriendly Transactions (@CF_Transactions) July 8, 2022

So with Husso gone and signed in Detroit, Fleury re-upping in Minny, that leaves Kuemper and Campbell still pending UFAs on the goalie carousel.
New Jersey, Toronto, Edmonton and Washington among teams needing or wanting a goalie … of course there’s also the trade route.— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 8, 2022

After acquiring Husso, #LGRW sign him to 3 year $4.75M Cap Hit Deal:

Yr 1 3.75M Salary & 1M Signing Bonus
Yr 2 4.75M Salary
Yr 3 4.75M Salary

Includes 10 team no trade clause all 3 years

Rep’d by Diamond & Gandler ISAhttps://t.co/07Q4xtKDre— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 8, 2022

Husso had a brilliant 1st half in STL last season – wasn’t nearly as good 2nd half and playoffs. But makes for intriguing tandem with Nedeljkovic #RedWings— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) July 8, 2022

Allen on Marco Kasper’s offensive game

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen pretty much closes the book on Red Wings 8th overall 2022 draft pick Marco Kasper with this notebook article regarding Kris Draper and Steve Yzerman’s summation of Kasper’s skill set:

“I also think there’s more skill than what we saw,” said Kris Draper, the Red Wings’ director of amateur scouting. “I think the reason we say that is it’s a 17-year-old kid playing in a really hard league that was still able to produce some pretty good offense. We think it’s a player that has good skill and good hockey sense and a good set of hands and we’ve seen him make plays.”

Kasper seems driven to be successful. Draper watched him play 12 games live and came away impressed with his competitiveness. Draper, the hard-nosed center of the famed Grind Line in his playing days, knows something about competitiveness.

“Every game he played the same,” Draper said. “That’s pretty impressive for a 17-year-old kid.”

Yzerman said Thursday night that no decision has been made about where Kasper will play next season. He wants to discuss it with Kasper.

“He’s really fundamentally sound,” Yzerman said. “Again, I like the way he plays. He
plays very simple. He drives to the net, he’ll drive down the wing. He can take the puck to the net. He’ll also pull up and look for the late guy, or he can find a guy through the seams.”

Continued

Video: Marco Kasper’s dad speaks to Rogle BK’s website

Red Wings 8th overall pick Marco Kasper’s father, Peter, played professional hockey, mostly playing in Austria, and the 47-year-old dad spoke with Rogle BK’s website over the course of a really fantastic 4:25 interview (in English). Peter apparently represents his son as his agent, and he helps coach his son as well:

Update: Rogle BK’s SHL team coach, Chris Abbott, and J20 team coach, Max Bohlin, spoke with Rogle’s website as well.

Abbott listens to the Swedish questions but answers in English. I would say that the big takeaway is that it is very likely that Kasper is going to remain with Rogle for another year:

HSJ in the morning: Yzerman discusses the Kasper pick

The Free Press’s Helene St. James’ customary 6 AM-published article just hit the internet wires this morning, and today’s missive discusses the Red Wings‘ decision to draft one Marco Kasper with the 8th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft:

“We like everything about the way he plays,” Yzerman said Thursday after selecting Kasper at No. 8 overall on the first day of the 2022 NHL draft at Bell Centre. “He has good size, he’s a good skater, he’s got good hockey sense. I think he’s a centerman but I believe he can play anywhere at the three forward positions.

“He’s not super flashy, he just make the right play. He can make a pass, he’s got a good shot, can carry the puck up the ice. He’s not flashy, he’s very efficient. He’s really fundamentally sound. He plays very simple — he drives hard to the net, drives down the wing, can take the puck to the net, and also pull up and look for the late guy. He’s an all-around player.”

Kasper (6 feet 1, 187 pounds) marks the fourth straight year Yzerman has dipped into the European market for his first-round pick, following Germany’s Moritz Seider in 2019 and Swedes Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Kasper left his native Austria at 16 to play in Sweden, where he rose through the ranks with Rögle to play for the top-tier Swedish Hockey League squad. (He also bothered to learn Swedish, even though he could have gotten by with English.) He had 11 points in 46 games in the regular season, six points in 13 playoff games — and also posted two assists at the World Championship. That’s an impressive resume for a teenager competing against men.

“It certainly helped,” Yzerman said. “Our scouts really have liked him all year. In the playoffs in particular, he played very well, and that was really encouraging for us.”

Continued (paywall)…

The Athletic’s Bultman discusses Marco Kasper’s utterly solid upside

The Athletic’s Max Bultman will likely take us out late at night on Thursday/early Friday morning, ahead of Day 2 of the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal (11 AM EDT start on the NHL Network and Sportsnet).

Bultman posted an article discussing the Red Wings’ decision to make a solid, if unspectacular pick in a solid, if unspectacular center named Marco Kasper in Montreal Thursday evening, filling a positional need while remaining in their SHL comfort zone:

“I think he’s really fundamentally sound,” [Red Wings GM Steve] Yzerman said. “I like the way he plays. He plays very simple. He drives hard to the net. He’ll drive down the wing. He can take the puck to the net, he’ll also pull up, look for the late guy, or he can find a guy through the seam. I think he’s a good all-around player. He’s a different player than Pavel Datsyuk or whatever, who has all those incredible moves, those guys are unique. But it doesn’t mean he’s not a really skilled guy.”

And if the Red Wings’ assessment of his skill being underrated proves true, then there is a clear path to him being a true top-six center: the biggest missing piece in Detroit’s rebuilding process so far. Since 2017, The Red Wings have used two first-round picks on centers — Michael Rasmussen and Joe Veleno — but so far, neither looks like he’ll slot into the top half of the lineup on a contender.

That’s left a notable hole behind Dylan Larkin in any long-term projections. And it’s crucial: Recent history has shown a strong 1-2 punch down the middle to be nearly non-negotiable among Stanley Cup champions. The Avalanche this season had Nathan MacKinnon and Nazem Kadri; the Lightning the two years previous had Brayden Point and Cirelli (with Steven Stamkos also playing center at various points, but often playing on the wing); St. Louis had Ryan O’Reilly and Brayden Schenn before that, and Washington had Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Yzerman said earlier this week the team wouldn’t make its decision based on position — and there’s no reason to believe they did. In fact, he reiterated on Thursday they weren’t necessarily targeting a center. But he acknowledged it was an area that needed to be addressed, and now they have. That’s significant for the Red Wings’ long-term future.

“I like every part of his game,” Yzerman said. “I think he’s a strong skater, I think he moves the puck well, I think he sees the ice well. I really love how hard he competes and drives to the net. So, I wouldn’t really point to one part of his game that I think really stands out. I think he’s good at everything. Good defensive player. Well-rounded player for 18 years old.”

Continued (paywall)