Prospect Round-up Europe: Johansson scores for Farjestad; Edvinsson plays 23:57 in Frolunda HC loss

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe on Thursday:

In the Finnish Liiga, Eemil Viro finished at +1 with 4 shots in 18:32 played as TPS Turku won 4-3 over Karpat;

In the SHL, William Wallinder is one of 7 defensemen skating for Rogle BK right now, but Wallinder finished even with 2 shots in 16:52 played during Rogle BK’s 5-2 win over Brynas;

Albert Johansson scored a goal, finishing at -1 with 2 shots on goal in 22:46 played during Farjestads BK’s 6-3 loss to Skelleftea AIK. Gustav Berglund never left the bench, playing no minutes as the team’s seventh defenseman.

Per IceHockeyGifs on Twitter:

And, in Frolunda HC’s 3-2 shootout loss to Lulea:

Simon Edvinsson finished at -1 with 1 shot in 23:57 played;

Theodor Niederbach finished at -1 in 10:01 played;

And Elmer Soderblom played on the same line as Niederbach, finishing at -1 with 3 shots taken in 15:58 played.

TSN’s Insider Trading: Wings don’t have to pay Bertuzzi during COVID absence

Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi, who is unvaccinated against COVID-19, happens to have the illness right now, and Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said that Bertuzzi will miss at least 10 days and at least 5 games while he’s in COVID protocols. According to TSN’s Insider Trading, the Wings don’t have to pay Bertuzzi while he’s out because he chose to decline the vaccine:

Players testing positive for COVID-19 has become an almost daily occurrence for the NHL over the last few weeks. But was there something different about the news Wednesday?

[Chris] Johnston: There was. That’s because Tyler Bertuzzi of the Detroit Red Wings is the lone unvaccinated NHL player. And based on the rules that were written up and agreed to between the NHL and NHLPA before the season, if you’re unvaccinated and you do test positive, your team is under no obligation to pay you during that period. In the case of Tyler Bertuzzi, that would be forfeiting a little bit more than $20,000 per day in salary. He is expected to be out at least 10 days while in COVID-19 protocol. And this isn’t entirely new for him. He hasn’t been able to travel into Canada with the Red Wings this year and on those days that the Wings have been in Canada he’s been suspended without pay and not getting paid those days.

Continued; actions have consequences.

Sportsnet’s power rankings: Bounce-back Larkin

Sportsnet’s Emily Sadler posted a set of power rankings in which she discusses “bounce-back players” from the NHL’s 32 teams. The Red Wings’ captain is an obvious choice:

21. Detroit Red Wings (12-9-3)
After seeing his numbers dip slightly in two straight seasons, Dylan Larkin – he of 10 goals and 19 points in 19 games – is on pace to exceed his 32-goal, 73-point career highs of 2018-19.

Continued; Mickey Redmond calls Larkin the Red Wings’ “Diesel Engine” for a reason!

Duff examines the Wings’ records vs. expansion teams–every record!

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff is a heck of a hockey historian, so his off-day Red Wings notebook discusses the Wings’ all-time records in their first games vs. the NHL’s many expansion teams:

October 8, 1993: Red Wings 7 at Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 2: The Wings provided the opposition in the first game in Ducks history. Keith Primeau scored twice and Bob Probert fought Stu Grimson. While sitting out a penalty, Probert began grabbing pucks with the Ducks’ first game logo on them out of the timekeeper’s bucket and down his hockey pants. Probie was figuring they’d probably be worth money someday.

February 16, 1994: Florida Panthers 3 at Detroit 7: Steve Chiasson and Ray Sheppard each scored twice for the Wings. Steve Yzerman contributed three assists.

October 21,1998: Nashville Predators 2 at Detroit 5: Darren McCarty was leading the cause, scoring twice. Yzerman and Larry Murphy each dished out a pair of assists.

October 7, 1999: Red Wings 7 at Atlanta Thrashers 1: Seven different Detroit players shared in the goal scoring against former Wings netminder Norm Maracle. Fedorov and Tomas Holmstrom each tallied a goal and two assists. Yzerman collected three assists.

Continued

HSJ’s notebook: On the Wings’ 4-game winning streak

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a subscriber-only notebook discussing the Red Wings’ current four-game winning streak as a product of good personnel decisions:

The Detroit Red Wings are riding their rookies and their resilience into a winning streak that shows just how much growth the team has undergone.

They’ve won four consecutive games for the first time since spring 2019, days before Steve Yzerman was named general manager. Two of the players he drafted — Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider — are key reasons the Wings feel good about themselves as they prepare to take on the New York Islanders on Saturday at Little Caesars Arena.

“We have a great group in there,” Raymond said. “There’s a lot of leaders that step up and take responsibility to get the team back on track. I feel especially since we had that tough road games, we got back, hit the reset button, and now we’re going again. It’s a lot of different things, but it comes from the locker room.”

Tyler Bertuzzi, the NHL’s only unvaccinated player, won’t be available for the next four games. Coach Jeff Blashill said Wednesday that Bertuzzi’s COVID-19 protocol would be a 10-day period. The Wings won without Bertuzzi on Wednesday, thanks, in no small part, to Raymond and Seider, another rookie. Raymond scored his 10th goal of the season and Seider had two assists to help push the Wings past the Seattle Kraken, 4-3, a day after grinding out a 2-1 victory at Boston.

Yzerman drafted Raymond at No. 4 in 2020. Seider, the No. 6 pick in 2019, already has established himself as the team’s go-to blue liner, and leads the Wings with 14 assists. Raymond, 19, has three goals in the past four games.

“I’m trying to find my game and I’m still learning every day, trying to get better at areas that are my weaknesses,” Raymond said. “I’m just trying to be an offensive forward that you can count on defensively who plays hard every night. Still working and going to find my identity as it goes on. My main thing is just to skate hard every night.”

Continued (paywall)

Tweet of note: An infamous day in Red Wings history

The Red Wings recall an incident which caused their route to four Stanley Cup Championships in 11 years to be exponentially harder than it could have been (and I was on a bus driving back from Houghton, MI, listening to the game on the radio when it happened):

Kulfan’s notebook: Raymond’s getting the job done

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an off-day notebook discussing the promise displayed by one Lucas Raymond, the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for November:

“I’m not going to get ahead of myself,” [Red Wings coach Jeff] Blashill said. “He’s a good player, there’s zero doubt. He’s really smart. He plays the right way. He’s been able to produce while also playing the right way. That’s the biggest key. That’s why he’s been so transferrable. He doesn’t need to cheat to create offense, and so then he earns ice time.”

Raymond has 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points, in 24 games. The longest he’s gone without earning a point is two games. He’s had three, three-game point streaks. Raymond has thrived on a line with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi (now out for the next 10 days, being in COVID-19 protocol), complementing each other’s strengths.

Raymond has accepted the responsibility of playing on the top scoring line, knows what is expected and appears to relish the pressure.

“I take responsibility in the offensive game,” Raymond said.

There is a sense of pride and responsibility over the entire ice, which has pleased Blashill and the coaching staff from the start.

“I’m trying to find my game and I’m still learning every day, trying to get better at areas that are my weaknesses,” Raymond said. “I’m just trying to be an offensive forward that you can count on defensively who plays hard every night, and still working and going to find my identity as it goes on.My main thing is just to skate hard every night.”

Continued (paywall)

A bit of Calder Trophy stats talk from The Athletic’s Luszczyszyn

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn weighs in regarding the NHL’s major awards races, including the Calder Trophy, “By the Numbers” (as it were):

So far it’s a strong crop of rookies, but the two that have been most eye-popping both play for Detroit. Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider have been revelations for the upstart Red Wings, more than any reasonable person might have expected to start the season. Raymond is leading the team in points with 22 in 24 games, a 75-point pace, while Seider has 16 points which translates to 55 points over 82 games. That’s stellar for a couple of rookies, but they’ve also been strong at five-on-five too. Raymond has helped the team’s top line look elite on a nightly basis while Seider has been the two-way presence this team has desperately been missing. Raymond is playing at a 2.6-win pace while Seider is at a two-win pace. That’s very close to elite calibre for their respective positions.

Those two aren’t the only special rookies this year though. Bowen Byram may just have Seider beat among defencemen with him scoring at a slightly higher rate (nine points in 13 games) and looking even stronger at five-on-five (57 percent expected goals rate). Byram gets the benefit of playing with more talented teammates, but he’s still been exceptional. As if the Avalanche needed more talented defenders. Up front, Dawson Mercer gets high marks, though that looks to be mostly due to a juiced goals percentage. He’s been strong with 14 points in 20 games, but not this strong. Trevor Zegras also hopped into the top five after a strong three-assist performance Wednesday night which put him on a 63-point pace. The 56 percent expected goals rate isn’t bad either.

Continued (paywall)

Continuing to fundraise on a blustery Thursday

I’ve tried to be good in terms of not badgering you with fundraising posts, and I’ve gotten a wonderful response to the, “Pay the taxes so we can stay at home” drive, but there’s a long way to go.

If you’re willing to lend a hand as I try to raise $748 to pay off our property tax bill for Aunt Annie and just plain old buy a cell phone because my old one won’t be supported as of January 1st (for a cost of about $500), we’re in the nascent stages (i.e. the very start) of building toward those goals.

I think we might have enough to get AA the month’s taxes in a couple of days, but not the whole bill, and the rest…Well, I do use the phone for work, but it’s hard to convince folks that not-for-profit businesses like this one need to have things like working laptops and cell phones when the investment back into the website isn’t as readily apparent as a hockey trip somewhere (but it still matters!).

So, if you’re willing to lend a hand, I would greatly appreciate your support as we try to keep the lights on and the blog up and running:

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.