The Red Wings removed three players and two coaches from their COVID list and practiced with a “skeleton” lineup on Monday. As far as we know, they’re still going to play against the New York Islanders on Wednesday, but that’s subject to change.
After Monday’s practice, the Wings held Zoom availabilities. Well, coach Jeff Blashill did, anyway:
Update: Dylan Larkin spoke with the media as well:
After removing three players and two coaches from COVID protocols, the Red Wings practiced at Little Caesars Arena’s Belfor Training Center with what The Athletic’s Max Bultman reported were 15 total skaters.
At present, they’re still scheduled to play against the New York Islanders on the road Wednesday, to host the Washington Capitals on New Year’s Eve, and to continue a game-every-other-night schedule until January 8th.
After practice, the Wings spoke with the media via Zoom calls:
Jeff Blashill said multiple Red Wings players took advantage of weeklong shutdown to get COVID-19 vaccine booster shot. Red Wings preparing to play NYI Wednesday.— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) December 27, 2021
The Detroit Red Wings removed Carter Rowney, Givani Smith, Pius Suter, coach Jeff Blashill and assistant coach Alex Tanguay from COVID protocols before Monday’s practice, but that left 8 players in COVID protocols–Lucas Raymond, Nick Leddy, Jordan Oesterle, Sam Gagner, Alex Nedeljkovic, Filip Zadina, Joe Veleno and Adam Erne.
The Red Wings are still scheduled to play in Long Island against the New York Islanders on Wednesday (7:30 PM EST start) and host Washington on Saturday (7:30 PM EST start).
So the “skeleton crew” (using coach Jeff Blashill’s words from yesterday’s presser) hit the ice just after 12 PM for a skate at the Belfor Training Center attached to Little Caesars Arena:
Lightly attended Red Wings practice as expected today — by my count 15 skaters
Fabbri Larkin Bertuzzi
Namestnikov Rasmussen Barber
Smith Rowney Witkowski
DeKeyser Seider
Renouf Hronek
Staal Lindstrom pic.twitter.com/txJwD2AGgF— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) December 27, 2021
From the Red Wings:
UPDATE: Forwards Carter Rowney, Givani Smith, Pius Suter, head coach Jeff Blashill, and assistant coach Alex Tanguay have been removed from the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 27, 2021
So the Wings are down to 8 players in COVID protocol:
Raymond
Leddy
Oesterle
Gagner
Nedeljkovic
Zadina
Veleno
Erne https://t.co/SViyCM3xMB— George Malik (@georgemalik) December 27, 2021
Per Red Wings Prospects on Twitter:
World Juniors Day 2 – Dec 27:
– AUT-FIN 2:00 PM ET – Viro
– GER-CZE 7:00 PM ET – Bednar
– SWE-SVK 9:30 PM ET – Edvinsson, Niederbach
Lineups: https://t.co/fLMkBGKpYD#LGRW— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) December 27, 2021
Via the Grand Rapids Griffins on Twitter, coach Ben Simon spoke with TheAHL.com’s Patrick Williams regarding his NHL coaching debut earlier this month with the Red Wings:
ON PREPARING TO GO TO DETROIT
“There’s a lot going on… a little anxiety, a little panic, a little excitement. But I knew it wouldn’t be very long-term, and knowing the people up in Detroit ― how prepared that Jeff Blashill is and his staff and what great people they are ― that it was going to be a fun experience, regardless. So those guys were fantastic welcoming [us] up, and it was a good experience.”
ON RECEIVING THE NEWS
“[As a coach] it’s different because you’re not expecting it. You know, that’s not your goal here. I mean, your goal is to always make it to the highest level. But as a coach, you’re really worried about your group and how you’re improving your group on a daily basis.
“So when you get that call, it’s not expected. But you get a little excited, and it’s kind of cool at the end of the day. Not a lot of guys can say they’ve stepped behind an NHL bench. And for me, whether it’s one game or turns into 1,000 games over the course of my life, it was a great experience, [and] to do it for Detroit was pretty cool.”
The Grand Rapids Griffins have re-signed Josh Dickinson, Max Humitz and Gordi Myer to pro try-outs
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Monday signed center Josh Dickinson, left wing Max Humitz and defenseman Gordi Myer to professional tryouts.
Dickinson joins Grand Rapids for the third time this season and has logged one assist, four penalty minutes and a plus-one rating in four games this year in the AHL. The fourth-year pro registered his first point as a Griffin on Dec. 10 against Manitoba. A native of Georgetown, Ontario, the forward skated in his 150th game as a pro on Dec. 22 and has amassed 15 points (2-13—15) and 20 penalty minutes in 51 outings in the AHL. With Toledo in the ECHL, Dickinson has recorded 26 points (9-17—26) in 18 games.
Humitz appeared in two outings with Grand Rapids from Dec. 11-22 and comes to the Griffins for the fifth time this season. Throughout his two-year career, the left winger has appeared in 16 AHL games, compiling six points (3-3—6), two penalty minutes and a plus-five rating. A native of Livonia, Mich., Humitz skated in eight contests with the Griffins a year ago, registering five points (3-2—5) and two penalty minutes. Humitz has recorded 12 points (8-4—12) and a plus-two rating in 13 games with Kalamazoo (ECHL) this campaign.
Myer joined the Griffins for the first time in his career on Dec. 14 but did not see any game action. The Ohio State University product spent his rookie campaign with the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits in 2020-21, logging 10 points (4-6—10) and two penalty minutes in 36 contests. Myer, now part of the Toledo Walleye, has recorded 10 points (1-9—10) in 21 games this season in the ECHL.
Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill’s remarks regarding the Wings’ need to “wait and see” as to whether they play on Wednesday at all, as well as what the NHL’s return-to-play protocols entail, before calling up players from the Grand Rapids Griffins:
“There’s a roster management or cap management side to this that I don’t necessarily deal with but there is consequences to it, so you can’t just necessarily call up anybody,” Blashill said. “We’ll work with our management group on that.
“I’m waiting to see where things are going here. That’ll dictate a little bit on a number of my decisions. We’re waiting on some testing. There is opportunities for guys to test out (of COVID-19 protocol). “
Currently, 10 Red Wings players are in COVID-19 protocol. Three more NHL games were postponed on Monday but for now, the Detroit-Isles game remains on the schedule. Detroit’s last game, also against the Islanders, was played with five Griffins players and two GR coaches as part of the Red Wings lineup.
“It’s just a very fluid situation,” Blashill said. “I don’t think we’d bring guys up just to practice per se, because now you’re introducing new players into your locker room again.
“The less players introduced the better in terms of not increasing the exposure. But certainly if those players we anticipate were playing on the 29th, then we would potentially bring them in as quick as we can.”
From the Red Wings:
Holy jumpin’ – HBD, Mick! ? pic.twitter.com/lchKdW0maR
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 27, 2021
Happy Birthday, to our great colleague, Mickey Redmond. An absolute beauty… pic.twitter.com/46qc3tUa6U— John Keating (@JohnKeatingBSD) December 27, 2021
ESPN’s Kristen Shilton offers a list of the most indispensable players for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and her pick for the Red Wings’ most necessary performer is a sound one:
Most indispensable: Moritz Seider
Detroit has scorers this season (see: Tyler Bertuzzi, Lucas Raymond and Dylan Larkin). The Red Wings’ stable of top-quality defensemen is thinner, and that’s what makes the rookie Seider so invaluable. He’s chewing up over 22 minutes a game, has 21 points on the season and isn’t intimidated by the opposition. That’s a potential star in the making.
