FYI:
The @NHL and @NHLPA announced today the immediate adoption of enhanced COVID-19 measures.
These enhanced measures will remain in effect through the Holiday season and the New Year, and will be re-evaluated no later than Jan. 7, 2022.
Full text: https://t.co/kcjziKo2nJ pic.twitter.com/ZOebBUm1zL— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 18, 2021
To replace Nedeljkovic and Rowney/Smith (COVID protocols):
UPDATE: The #RedWings have recalled goaltender Calvin Pickard and forward Riley Barber from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. pic.twitter.com/6gLaDis3HE— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 18, 2021
The Detroit Red Wings host the winless-in-four New Jersey Devils tonight at Little Caesars Arena (8 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/MSG+/97.1 FM).
Tonight’s back half of the first basketball-and-hockey doubleheader at LCA will most likely involve unpredictable ice conditions and a tricky opponent as the 10-13-and-5 Devils look to gain traction at the expense of the 14-13-and-3 Red Wings.
Today, approximately 70 people will help turn @LCArena_Detroit from a basketball court into a hockey rink.
Learn more about the process and how long they’ve been planning for this special day.#Pistons | #LGRW pic.twitter.com/VJns8jGwAc— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) December 18, 2021
If you’re looking for reading material, NewJerseyDevils.com’s Catherine Bogart and Sam Kasan posted a superb game preview which includes NHL.com’s 45 pages’ worth of game notes.
Here’s an FYI if you brave the intermittent snow showers to head down to the rink:
We’ve got a busy day at @LCArena_Detroit!
With the @DetroitPistons playing at 12PM, and the @DetroitRedWings playing at 8PM, we *strongly* encourage fans to pre-purchase parking and arrive early, as high traffic volumes are expected. Reserve a spot now: https://t.co/OVVZzvzGSJ pic.twitter.com/2NtX0ArfmF— Little Caesars Arena (@LCArena_Detroit) December 18, 2021
Right before the morning skate, well, things got ludicrous:
UPDATE: The #RedWings have placed Givani Smith, Carter Rowney, Alex Nedeljkovic, head coach Jeff Blashill and assistant coach Alex Tanguay in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 18, 2021
#RedWings assistant coach Doug Houda will be joined behind the bench tonight by Griffins head coach Ben Simon and assistant coach Todd Krygier.— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 18, 2021
So, with the head coach and assistant coach in COVID protocol, the starting goaltender and two of the fourth line’s key players in COVID protocol, the NHL decided that we’d keep on keepin’ on.
Red Wings are on the ice for their morning skate. Only goaltender for them is Tomas Greiss.
Shooter Tutor at the other end. pic.twitter.com/igtL1Mo7h8— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) December 18, 2021
It’s safe to assume that Calvin Pickard will be recalled as the Griffins aren’t playing this weekend due to the Toronto Marlies being in COVID protocols themselves.
Continue reading Red Wings-Devils morning skate Tweets: COVID hits Wings’ coaching staff, Ned, Smith, RowneyThis is bad
UPDATE: The #RedWings have placed Givani Smith, Carter Rowney, Alex Nedeljkovic, head coach Jeff Blashill and assistant coach Alex Tanguay in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 18, 2021
#RedWings assistant coach Doug Houda will be joined behind the bench tonight by Griffins head coach Ben Simon and assistant coach Todd Krygier.— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 18, 2021
Of Red Wings prospect-related note in North America on Friday night:
In the ECHL, Billy Christopoulos stopped 32 of 33 shots and Brady Tomlak scored with 13 seconds remaining in regulation to earn the Toledo Walleye a 2-1 win over South Carolina;
In the QMJHL, Oscar Plandowski had 2 assists, finishing even in the Charlottetown Islanders’ 5-2 win over Cape Breton;
In the OHL, Pasquale Zito served the second game of a suspension as his Windsor Spitfires won 7-5 over Saginaw;
In the WHL, the Sebastian Cossa-less Edmonton Oil Kings won 8-5 over Swift Current;
Cross Hanas had an assist, finishing even with 5 shots in the Portland Winterhawks’ 4-1 loss to Spokane;
In the BCHL, Kienan Draper scored a goal and added an assist in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 4-3 win over Coquitlam, earning second star-of-the-game honors;
And in NCAA Hockey, Ryan O’Reilly finished at +1 with 1 shot in the Arizona State University Sun Devils’ 5-2 win over Colorado College.
The Detroit Red Wings have a trap game-and-a-half on their hands tomorrow at Little Caesars Arena as they host theNew Jersey Devils (8 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/MSG+/97.1 FM).
The Red Wings, who stand at 14-13-and-3 after last night’s 5-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, are going to be facing a 10-13-and-5 Devils team that has lost 4 straight games and 8 of their past 10, including their most recent loss, a bitter 5-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.
As you and I know by now, the Wings have tended to rise to the occasion against their best opponents, and have fallen short against teams that are struggling, and New Jersey defines a “struggling team” right now.
Neither team practiced today, and both teams have players in COVID protocols, so we don’t know too much about the respective teams’ lineups for tomorrow, other than the fact that Jonathan Bernier (hip) will not be healthy enough to face his former employer.
NewJerseyDevils.com’s Catherine Bogart and Sam Kasan offer the following preview of tomorrow’s game:
Continue reading Red Wings-Devils set-up: Wings face a ‘trap game’ vs. winless-in-four DevilsThe Edmonton Sun’s Derek Van Diest posted a profile of Red Wings prospect and Edmonton Oil Kings goaltender Sebastian Cossa, who is fairly likely to start the World Junior Championship as Team Canada’s #1 goalie:
Sebastian Cossa is not one to shy away from the pressure of being Canada’s starting goaltender at the world junior hockey championship. In fact, you could say he was built for it.
At six-foot-seven, Cossa, 19, is an imposing figure in net and is battling with incumbent Dylan Garand, of the Kamloops Blazers, and Brett Brochu, of the London Knights, for playing time at the tournament, which begins Boxing Day in Edmonton and Red Deer.
“I’m pretty loose, I like the pressure,” Cossa said earlier this week. “When it’s a 1-0, or 2-1 game and there is two minutes left, there is nowhere else that I would want to be than on the ice. I think just the confidence I have in myself and being a goalie is perfect for me.”
Canada opens the tournament against the Czech Republic on Dec. 26 at Rogers Place, where Cossa plies his trade for the Edmonton Oil Kings.
…
Cossa credits his physical tools as two of his biggest attributes when it comes to stopping the puck.
“I have a lot of confidence and I think with just my size and athletic ability, I’m able to put it all together and I can stop quite a bit of pucks,” he said. “I cover a lot more net and I just have to stop the puck. There are obviously bigger holes being a bigger guy, but there are a lot of guys I can look up to in the NHL, some bigger guys. There are a lot of pros and cons, but I’m trying to make the best of it.”
Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes this evening that Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill is now the NHL’s second-longest-tenured coach:
After Paul Maurice stepped down as Winnipeg Jets coach today, Detroit Red Wings’ Jeff Blashill became second in seniority among active NHL coaches with their current team.
Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper is the seniority leader. He was hired March 25, 2013 by Steve Yzerman when he was the Lightning’s GM. Cooper has won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
Former Detroit general manager Ken Holland hired Blashill on June 9, 2015. Jeff Blashill made the playoffs in his first NHL season as head coach and then has missed the past five seasons. The Red Wings are in their fourth season of rebuilding under Yzerman, although the rebuild technically started under Holland.
The team has shown improvement this season under Blashill, mostly because Yzerman’s first two drafts are starting to bear fruit. His first two first-round players, Moritz Seider (2019) and Lucas Raymond (2020) are already among the Red Wings’ most top players. But this team still has a long way to go to be a contender.
Seider is really the team’s most important defenseman and Raymond is a first-line performer.
The Red Wings and Pistons are holding a double-header at Little Caesars Arena for the first time tomorrow, December 18th. The Pistons will play a 12 PM EST game against the Houston Rockets, and then the Red Wings will host the New Jersey Devils at 8 PM EST.
The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with Ilitch Sports & Entertainment’s Tim Padgett regarding the first attempt to pull off an NBA-and-then-NHL-game-hosting day:
“It’s definitely going to be a challenge but it’s something that we’re excited about, and something we’ve been looking forward to doing since we opened the venue (in 2017),” said Tim Padgett, vice-president of venue operations for Ilitch Sports & Entertainment. “It’s something we’ve been planning for a long time and we’re in good shape for it. We’ve had a lot of meetings, literally for months. To see it all come together, it will be super satisfying for sure.”
The hoopla actually began Friday with the WJLB Big Holiday Show concert at LCA. That meant the conversion team was transforming the venue for basketball, with shoot-around beginning as early as 9 a.m., then converting for hockey immediately when the Pistons end at approximately 2:30 p.m.
“There’s no rest for those guys,” said Padgett of the approximately 80-member team that transforms the arena from event to event. “They’ll put in a very long day (Saturday). They’ll be in the arena at night converting all night and be ready for the shoot-around and they’ll get some time off during the day and be back for hockey.
“Then we’ll have the Pistons on Sunday (against Miami, 6 p.m.) and would have had the Wings on Monday (the game has been postponed) and back to basketball Tuesday with Oakland and Michigan State. That COVID game (Colorado’s COVID issues necessitated Monday’s game to be postponed), as much as we hate to see it happen, it gives our conversion team one night of rest they weren’t expecting.”
Having a basketball and hockey game on the same day gets a large segment of fans into downtown Detroit for essentially the whole day. It also frees up the calendar to get concerts or shows for open, available evenings.
“People will take in both games, which is awesome, and there will be a lot of people in the district going to restaurants, and going forward, it gives us an opportunity to put more events in the building,” Padgett said. “Normally you’d see a more of a Pistons game on Friday night, but we’re able to get our guests an opportunity for a concert and both (teams) on Saturday and a Pistons game on Sunday.”
Continued, and this is a very good read!
“Some days are better than others” is one of my favorite U2 songs, and it’s certainly true for blog fundraising.
There are days that your generosity seems to know no bounds, and days where I really feel the holidays and inflation squeezing your wallets. I understand where you’re coming from, and it’s…
It’s a hard thing to do, to plain old ask for support, and I’m learning to get comfortable being uncomfortable. We’re fairly close to getting the property taxes paid off, but nowhere close to being able to afford a phone that, in the words of Aunt Annie, isn’t “breaking apart” (my screen is peeling right off my 6-year-old phone, which is kind of scary), so:
This is the NPR of blogs, for now, at least. No ads, no paywalls, but yes, fundraising posts. And if you can assist me in staying in my condo and just doing the basic stuff that a non-profit does, that would be awesome. If not, that’s okay.
If you’re willing to lend a hand, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check.
