Tweet of note: Under-18 Five Nations Cup to take place at USA Hockey Arena from November 8-12

This is a great tournament which includes some of the best 2023 NHL draft prospects, and it’s going to be held at USA Hockey Arena this November!

Kulfan’s afternoon notebook: Yzerman on draft-day trades

As the NHL percolates with trade rumors this afternoon, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has filed his afternoon notebook, discussing Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s take as to whether the return to an in-person draft will yield more draft-day trades:

“Most (teams) aren’t making trades just to make trades,” Yzerman said. “You can do that anywhere. You pick up a phone, texting, you walk across the room — half the time (at the draft) you’re texting the guy sitting at the table next to you.

“It’s not like we just wander around the room kind of looking for somebody, open up the raincoat and sell them a watch or something like that. There is a bit of a plan to it.”

The Wings are expected to be one of the teams that could be active, at the draft or afterward, given their salary cap space ($35.7 million with 15 of 23 players signed to contract) and Yzerman’s desire to see the Wings further improve.

“We watched the positive impact some of our younger guys had this year,” Yzerman said. “We’d like to add to that and continue to move forward.”

But Yzerman would be hesitant about subtracting from that ample cap space, simply by adding a player from another team looking to shed salary for a draft pick.

“We have cap space, but I try to use it wisely because it can disappear in a hurry,” Yzerman said. “We’re looking at teams that have to move players just to be cap compliant to start the season. In those situations, you look at the player and what impact they’re going to have on your team and what they cost. Or you look at other deals potentially where you’re maybe helping someone out, alleviate their cap issues, for various reasons. Maybe you’re getting an asset. Ultimately, I look at both situations, if it’s going to make our team better this season or in the future.”

Continued (paywall)

Tweet of note: Los Angeles Kings hire Manon Rheaume as ‘Hockey Operations and Prospect Advisor’

No news as to how this might affect her Bally Sports Detroit duties…

Bienvenue Manon!

We’ve hired @ManonRheaume as a Hockey Operations and Prospect Advisor.— LA Kings (@LAKings) July 7, 2022

Here’s more from LA Kings Insider’s Zack Dooley:

Continue reading Tweet of note: Los Angeles Kings hire Manon Rheaume as ‘Hockey Operations and Prospect Advisor’

Allen: On possible wheeling and dealing

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen broaches the possibility that the Red Wings might make a trade–or not draft a center–in the first round of the 2022 Draft:

Hockey Now draft expert Marco D’Amico has projected the Red Wings grabbing [Marco] Kasper at No. 8 in his 2022 NHL mock draft. 

But he also says he wouldn’t be surprised if the Columbus Blue Jackets take Kasper at No. 7. Kasper is an Austrian center who plays in Sweden

“This whole thing could go a lot of different ways. You look at all the public lists
and they can vary,” Yzerman said.

Historically, draft list differ significantly from team to team. That’s because teams are trying to project what 17- and 18-year players will be like as adults. Last year, Yzerman was able to move up in the first round on his second pick (from Washington). He went to No. 15 and drafted Cossa. But moving up is never easily accomplished at the NHL.

“The only difficulty is finding a partner that wants to,” Yzerman said. “There’s been
times we’ve looked to move, whether it be up or bac, but simply couldn’t find anybody that wanted to do it.”

Continued; I like Savoie or Geekie. Who’s your pick?

Your promotional Tweet of the morning: There’s a draft party at LCA tonight

If you’re interested…

Don’t forget to join us tonight at Little Caesars Arena for another fun-filled NHL Draft Party! Limited (free) tickets still remain!

?: https://t.co/YZ3PHeq339
?: https://t.co/0Twb1jlR8s pic.twitter.com/Qpblhjvqi6— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 7, 2022

And we’re back (seven months later)!

I’m sitting behind my laptop’s keyboard as a hockey blogger for the first time in seven months this morning.

It’s taken a long time to get here, and a lot of hard work. I battled through one of the worst depressive episodes I’ve had, and it involved seven months of recovery.

I worked with a psychiatrist to alter my medication regimen, slowly boosting one mood stabilizer from 100 milligrams to 300 milligrams, and I’ve dropped my “sleeper” medication down from 300 milligrams to 200 milligrams. In addition, I’ve got a new therapist, and instead of being seen once a month, I’m seeing my new therapist every other week, which has been incredibly helpful in terms of the healing process…

But it’s taken time. More time than I would have liked. As my psychiatrist said, “This may take more time than you’re anticipating,” and that’s exactly what it did.

I’m still not at 100% yet, but if I can get to 75-80% for the draft, development camp and free agency, that will be enough to “fake it ’till I make it” and get by.

Mentally and emotionally speaking, I’m a lot better, and I have at least been able to continue caring for my Aunt Annie over this time, but I was basically sleeping through the rest of the day and rest of the night as my body healed, and that wasn’t fun. I managed to follow the Wings fairly closely, but there’s nothing like being “on the blog.”

Financially, I must be honest here: we’re in debt. There is no AFLAC for sick bloggers, and we’re a bit “banged up” financially, so yes, you’re gonna see that PayPal button soon, first for development camp, and then to pay the dang bills.

For better or worse, making a modest living off this job is important, but so is doing it to begin with.

I’m not sure how things are going to go in the upcoming days. I’ll do my best to be here and will work my hardest to balance a little bit of self care, a lot of working for you and a lot of taking care of the aunt. I’m better-equipped to do so pharmacologically speaking, and I’m better-equipped to do so in terms of coping skills, but I have a ways to go yet.

Here’s hoping that by fall, TMR will be running on all cylinders. In the interim, I’ll give you everything I’ve got, and take it day by day and take my health day-to-day.

I’m grateful to be back. It’s time for the draft, two of the busiest days in the NHL; then we hit a 5-day development camp (Ken Kal let it slip during Yzerman’s pre-draft presser that the camp will be held at the BELFOR Training Center from Sunday-Thursday), and free agency hits on the 13th.

Let’s try to go through those things together, and see what happens as I try to rebuild the blog…Again.

THN’s Ferrari: Wings need to improve depth at center

The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari examines the Atlantic Division’s “weak spots” in terms of prospects this morning, and if you didn’t already know by now, the Detroit Red Wings need to shore up their center position:

Detroit Red Wings: Center

First Draft Choice: Round 1, 8th Overall

Steve Yzerman has come into Detroit and really begun to turn things around and build up their prospect pool. His drafting has been spot on and he seems to trust his scouts who happen to be some of the best in the game, especially in Europe. They just had Moritz Seider win the Calder Trophy and fellow rookie Lucas Raymond finish fourth in the voting. They have Simon Edvinsson headlining their loaded defensive pool and Jonatan Berggren has been improving year-over-year to lead the forward pack. The one glaring need is their hole down the middle. Captain Dylan Larkin is a good center but he can’t do it alone. With no other top-six option presenting itself at the moment, the eighth overall pick looks poised to net them a center to fill that void. They could play it safe with a Marco Kasper or take a swing on Matthew Savoie. Could they go against consensus yet again by taking Brad Lambert in the top 10?

Continued; I’m expecting the Wings to be active in free agency to build depth at center as well.