Good news:

UPDATE: Forwards Sam Gagner and Joe Veleno have been removed from the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 29, 2021

This leaves Erne, Oesterle, Raymond and Leddy in protocol. Erne and Oesterle might exit tomorrow. https://t.co/t8hRE61nMR— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 29, 2021

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski posted an Insider-only article which ranks the 14 Winter Classics based upon their “venue, hype and style,” and the 2014 Winter Classic comes out on top:

1. 2014: Michigan Stadium, Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Detroit Red Wings 2 (37 points)

Environment: 10
Hype: 10
Game: 8
Style: 9

This was a special kind of cold. The seat cushions handed to the 105,491 hockey fans at the Big House — an NHL record — could barely protect their posteriors from the numbing metal benches. The balls inside the linesmen’s whistles froze in place during the game. Snow fell, winds whipped. It was truly hockey vs. the elements that day in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

All of it helped create a legendary environment for the outdoor game. So did the split loyalties in the crowd, which was dotted with blue Maple Leafs jerseys and contrasting with Red Wings jerseys. On the ice, the teams’ throwback jerseys — both wore full-color uniforms — were among the best looking in the event’s history.

Impossible as it might seem, the game was actually good! Jonathan Bernier saw 43 Red Wings shots sail his way, and Detroit needed a late third-period goal to force overtime. Toronto won in a shootout on a Tyler Bozak tally, sending tens of thousands back over the border happy.

An entertaining game, in many ways, is the cherry on top for a Winter Classic. There are other aspects more central to the event’s success. Like having a compelling matchup, challenging winter conditions and a memorable venue with a personality of its own. But a great Winter Classic should also be a celebration of hockey: To that end, the Leafs and Wings played an alumni game doubleheader at Comerica Park in Detroit because they had so many darn great players who wanted in, and so many fans who wanted to watch them.

The Winter Classic at the Big House satisfied all these obligations. Which is why it’s the classic among Classics.

Continued (paywall)

The Grand Rapids Griffins have posted their weekly notebook, which discusses the team’s first 3-games-in-3-nights stretch of the season:

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a practice notebook article discussing the Red Wings’ postponed games as the Wings face the challenge of trying to stay sharp after not having played for 11 days now:

[Detroit] scheduled a mid-afternoon practice Tuesday in anticipation of getting further COVID testing results and possibly getting a few more players cleared. They had a scheduled 5 p.m. flight to New York in hopes of getting to the hotel, then playing Wednesday.

But the Islanders had more positive COVID tests Tuesday, on top of five players Monday. Now the Wings have four games to make up this season — a home game against Colorado, and road games against the Islanders, New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild.

“I was disappointed,” Blashill said of the postponement. “I’m happy for the guys who would have missed the game so they now don’t have to miss the game, but I want to play and get going. We’re all anxious to play again. (But) we all understand these are tough times and we just have to work through them.”

By Friday, the Wings could have most of their roster cleared to play — except for forward Lucas Raymond and defenseman Nick Leddy. Both will be near the end of their time on the protocol list. Nedeljkovic and forward FIlip Zadina rejoined the Wings on Tuesday.  Defenseman Jordan Oesterle and forwards Adam Erne, Sam Gagner and Joe Veleno will be eligible to practice in the next two days.

Blashill said Tuesday’s practice was a step ahead of Monday’s session, with more bodies able to skate and the fact players are regaining their timing. Nedeljkovic believes teammates are simply want to return to game action.

“It felt good on the ice,” Nedeljkovic said. “The pace was pretty good for being a little bit short staffed. Everybody is itching to kind of get into a rhythm and play games.”

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discusses several players which the Red Wings might be willing to trade closer to this year’s trade deadline (on March 21st), including Filip Zadina, Thomas Greiss, Marc Staal and a couple of obvious candidates in Nick Leddy and Vladislav Namestnikov:

Defenseman Nick Leddy, 30: Contenders are always looking for veteran defenseman who can defend one-on-one and help on the transition game. Leddy has played 807 games and knows how to get the puck out of his zone. He’s still a quality skater.

Depending on how many defensemen are in the marketplace, Leddy could fetch  a second- or first-round pick, or perhaps a second-round pick with a prospect Detroit likes.

Keep in mind, Leddy can be an unrestricted free agent. Some have written Leddy could end up back on Long Island, although the Islanders’ struggles might alter the plans.

The Detroit Red Wings will want to have a veteran defenseman to help tutor Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson next season, but Yzerman could be targeting other veteran blue liners. Leddy has been fine this season, doing what has been asked of him, but he hasn’t been over-the-moon incredible.

Continued (paywall)

College Hockey News’s Jashvina Shah wrote an article discussing the Great Lakes Invitational, which isn’t being played at Little Caesars Arena this year, instead splitting time between Yost Arena in Ann Arbor and Munn Arena in Lansing:

For the first time in its history, the Great Lakes Invitational (GLI) was canceled last year. Now the tournament has returned, but instead of being held at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena (LCA), it was organized as a showcase that will be played at Michigan and Michigan State.

The question is whether this is the beginning of the end, or just a temporary blip.

To further throw a monkey wrench into things, Michigan canceled its second game this week, against Western Michigan, saying it has issues with players and COVID protocols. Again, is that another death blow to the GLI, or a blip?

The Great Lakes Invitational started in 1965 and has remained, or had remained, a staple of the the Michigan hockey scene. It was born with the blessing of the Red Wings and is features Michigan, Michigan State and Michigan Tech as well as another team from Michigan that changes yearly. 

The tournament was canceled last year when the Big Ten decided no non-league games would be played. The plan was to return to LCA this year, but it was difficult to find dates where the arena was free. (Although with the new COVID variant Omicron causing cases to spike, the GLI at LCA may not have happened regardless.)

“There’s interest and we’d love to keep it going,” Michigan State coach Danton Cole said. “COVID made everything really weird last couple years. Now, we’ll see where it goes, but hopefully we’ll be back.”

Continued

The Free Press’s Helene St. James reports that Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill still believes that his team can use their extended break between playing hockey games to improve their team as they battle through a COVID outbreak:

Steve Yzerman called with the news just before practice, and by the time he took the ice, Jeff Blashill had his message ready for the Detroit Red Wings: They would not be facing the Islanders because Wednesday’s game was the latest casualty of COVID-19, but the work focus remained the same.

“I just said, we weren’t going to play and we weren’t going to travel, but we need to get better,” Blashill said Tuesday afternoon. “And as we sit here today, we are playing on Friday, so we have to make use of this time and make sure we are getting better in practice. The guys went out and had a good practice.”

The Wings, who were so hard hit by the virus they shut down Dec. 19-25, gained two more players as goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic and forward Filip Zadina were removed from quarantine, joining a list that since Sunday includes Blashill, Pius Suter, Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen.

Forward Lucas Raymond and defenseman Nick Leddy are among those still in protocol, and Blashill does not expect either to be available for the New Year’s Eve game against the Washington Capitals.

…

The NHL opted out of sending its players to the 2022 Beijing Olympics just before Christmas because the league needs the allotted break in February to fit in a full season. The Wings have only had one game at Little Caesars Arena postponed.

“It does give us that time period, but there’s challenges with that — it’s not like the buildings are sitting empty,” Blashill said. “Some of us are going to end up with games that are on top of each other, that you would like to avoid, and that was part of the reason I would have liked to play. I don’t want to, two weeks from now, to play every other day for three straight weeks and never practice. But it is out of our control.”

Continued (paywall)

My apologies for the absence this past afternoon and evening. I’m dealing with some lovely seasonal depression right now, and just before 3 PM today, I basically crashed, going to bed and not getting up until just after midnight.

I felt gloomy and down, and just struggled to get back up out of bed until I had to get up to give Aunt Annie her dinner (she eats quite late, but it works for her).

I’ve been dealing with some relatively moderate depression for the past month or so, but I’m trying to work through it as much as humanly possible. Given that it’s a one-man blog, sometimes I struggle with my anxiety and depression, and sometimes they slow the blog to a halt.

I know that it’s a busy time of year, between the Red Wings engaging in practices (games or no games, there’s stuff to write about) and the World Junior Championship, but I guess that on Tuesday afternoon and evening, it appears that I needed some time off to just let myself feel my feelings and be gloomy, weird as that sounds.

I have a therapy appointment next week (not on a game day), and I’ll be talking to my therapist about the stuff I’ve been dealing with, so I’m okay (I have good support systems and people who let me know that I matter), but I’ve been stumbling from time to time, and that was Tuesday night for me–a rough go.

I’m going to let myself have the evening off and get back to work on Wednesday, mental health permitting. I apologize for the interruption in service, and I’ll do my best to continue to battle through this until it lets up a bit. Chronic mental illnesses are just that–chronic–so I deal with my daily challenges through therapy, psychiatry and medication, but sometimes we all screw up.

I’m sorry I had a stumble. I’ll get back up as soon as I can.

As you already know by now:

NHL POSTPONES ONE GAME DUE TO COVID-RELATED ISSUES AND NINE GAMES DUE TO CANADIAN ATTENDANCE RESTRICTIONS

NEW YORK (Dec. 28, 2021) – The National Hockey League announced today that due to COVID-related issues affecting both Clubs, tomorrow’s Detroit Red Wings at New York Islanders game has been postponed:

Wednesday, Dec. 29 Detroit @ New York Islanders

In addition, the NHL announced that due to current attendance restrictions in certain Canadian cities, nine additional games will be rescheduled for dates later in the season when such restrictions may be eased or lifted:

Friday, Dec. 31 Pittsburgh @ Ottawa Winnipeg @ Calgary

Monday, Jan. 3 Carolina @ Toronto

Tuesday, Jan. 4 Washington @ Montreal

Thursday, Jan. 6 Toronto @ Montreal

Saturday, Jan. 8 Buffalo @ Montreal Seattle @ Winnipeg

Monday, Jan. 10 Columbus @ Montreal Minnesota @ Winnipeg

Make-up dates for the games have yet to be established.

As well, the Boston-Montreal game on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at Bell Centre will now be played at TD Garden in Boston, MA. A make-up date for the Montreal Canadiens’ home game against the Boston Bruins will be announced at a later date. 

Per the Toledo Walleye on Twitter comes the Red Wings Alumni’s team roster for Thursday’s game vs. a team of Toledo Walleye and Goaldiggers alums, representing Toledo Hockey:

JUST ANNOUNCED: We’ve released the entire @DetroitRedWings alumni team roster ahead of Thursday’s game. ?

? https://t.co/AOu31vz1gL pic.twitter.com/uh8pNmsRA1— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) December 28, 2021