Of prospect-related note:
In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki finished even with 1 shot in 14:09 played as his Lahti Pelicans won 4-3 in overtime over Ilves Tampere. Albin Grewe finished even with 3 shots in 9:02 played for Ilves.
#Liiga
Ilves-Pelicans 3-4:
– Kivenmäki 0+0, +/- 0, 1 SOG, 14:09 ice time
– Grewe 0+0, +/- 0, 3 SOG, 9:02 ice time#LGRW— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) September 21, 2021
From the Red Wings on Twitter:
UPDATE: The #RedWings have signed forward Bobby Ryan to a professional tryout. pic.twitter.com/qjMY3ODFy7
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 21, 2021
Here’s a bit of background from WDIV’s David Bartkowiak Jr…
Ryan, 34, played 33 games with Detroit this past season under a one-year contract. He notched 7 goals and 7 assists in that time. He scored four of those goals in his first three games with the Red Wings, which is a franchise record. But the the right wing’s season ended prematurely due to injury.
He became a restricted free agent at the end of the 2020-21 season and remains without a new contract.
The Red Wings have more than enough cap space left sign another free agent. Perhaps Ryan will sign another one-year deal.
As well as the Free Press’s Helene St. James:
Continue reading Red Wings sign Bobby Ryan to a professional try-outAccording to Hockeysverige.se’s Mans Karlsson and HockeyNews.se’s Alexander Nilsson, Red Wings prospect Simon Edvinsson has signed a two-year “A-League contract” with the SHL’s Frolunda HC, ensuring that he’ll play on the men’s team for the next two seasons (presuming that he remains in Sweden).
Here’s a rough translation of the Frolunda press release:
From Junior to Rookie
Against Lulea Hockey in the Scandinavium [Frolunda’s home rink], Simon Edvinsson reached a milestone–he played 100 minutes in the SHL.
He’s played for Frolunda HC’s A-team since the start of the season last spring, and he played on a rookie contract (and played 100 SHL minutes) through the game agaist Lulea last Saturday.
“It’s wonderful. It’s always been a goal. It’s really cool to get that reward, to just be part of the A-team is a dream,” says Simon Edvinsson.
The 18-year-old Edvinsson–who has signed for two seasons, until the spring of 2023–has played on a defensive pair with Christian Folin so far, and has impressed Frolunda’s GM, Fredrik Sjostrom:
“He’s started the season at an incredibly high level. That he played on a rookie contract, it’s extremely well-deserved, and he will take further steps in the future.”
The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler took in the entirety of the Red Wings’ prospect tournament, and The Athletic’s Corey Pronman jetted from tournament to tournament over the past week, so both gentlemen shared their observations regarding their respective tournaments of focus this morning.
Among Wheeler’s observations are the following…
C Joe Veleno (No. 30, 2018): I think the Red Wings would have liked to see Veleno produce a little more than he did, which kept him out of the standouts here, but he was really quite noticeable in other ways. He played on the interior, pushed tempo, drove through coverage, finished his checks and galloped around the ice with that skating stride of his, trying to cut through every lane he could (though he often didn’t make his way all the way through in possession). He had the puck a lot.
I also spoke to his offseason strength and conditioning coach, Justin Griffin, this week. Here’s what Griffin had to say: “Veleno has changed his body in the last two summers so that at the Detroit testing, they were kind of joking around like ‘wow, you worked out this summer.’ He didn’t really put that much time in the gym when he was younger and once he got to the NHL level and they were like, ‘hey, you’ve got to get stronger.’ He hasn’t missed one workout six times a week with us the last two summers.”
Continued (paywall); one Wings prospect made Pronman’s cut:
Kirill Tyutyayev, LW, Detroit
I was at the first Detroit game where Tyutyayev had two goals and an overall strong performance. He was a later draft pick a few years ago and when I’ve circled around to him, I’ve thought he was a dime a dozen small, skill guy who doesn’t skate well. The size/skating still concerns me but what impressed me at the game other than his hands and playmaking was his work ethic. Tyutyayev competed hard off pucks to create pressure, force turnovers and one of his scoring plays was off a hard drive to the net versus a much bigger defender that he got to the far post on. At the minimum, he put himself on the radar to monitor in the AHL this season.
Our second episode of “Dylan Larkin at the NHL Media Tour” comes not from the NHL’s Swedish-language website, but instead, from the NHL’s German-language one, where Oliver Jensen asked Larkin about the impact that the Red Wings’ summertime changes would have on the team, including the addition of one Moritz Seider to the mix. What follows is roughly translated from German:
Continue reading Roughly Translated: Dylan Larkin speaks with NHL.com/de regarding Moritz Seider and the upcoming season“I think with the roster changes that we made this year, there’s already more competition at training camp than in the past four or five years,” Larkin told NHL.com at the 2021 NHL/NHLPA Media Tour. “There are tough battles for every spot on our team. It’s great. That’s exactly how you want it when you start a new season. We’re much younger and have more potential at every position.”
Seider is one of the players who gives Larkin hope for the future. “Mo hasn’t been with us much so far. He was in Grand Rapids [in the AHL]. And last season in Sweden. I’m going to try to help him here as much as I can because he’s going to be an important part of our team. He’s going to play an important role, so the sooner that we get him acquainted with the other guys, the better his game will be,” said Larkin.
The captain is already certain of the individual skills that Seider brings with him: “He’s a great hockey player but he remains humble. He has outstanding skills and a special attitude. We just have to integrate him onto our team. Then he will help us move forward.”
Both MLive’s Ansar Khan and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted profiles of Red Wings prospect Chase Pearson this afternoon.
Pearson, who’s an “older prospect” at 24 years of age, looks like someone who’s continuing to evolve into a stalwart defensive center at the NHL level, and that is exactly what Pearson’s goal for this season happens to be, as he told Khan:
“The goal is making the Red Wings roster on opening night,” Pearson said. “Just give them a reason for me to stay. I’m going to try to do that every day and have a positive attitude around the rink. That’s about all I can do, and things will face into play, or they won’t. We’ll see.”
Pearson is a good-sized center (6-3, 205) who fits the checking-line mold. He’s strong defensively, has shown some offensive ability in the AHL and can play the wing.
The Red Wings are looking to replace fourth-line center Luke Glendening, who signed with Dallas. They also parted ways with Darren Helm, Evgeny Svechnikov, Frans Nielsen, Richard Panik and Mathias Brome, creating opportunities.
Mitchell Stephens, acquired from Tampa Bay and drafted the same year as Pearson, might have the inside track on the fourth-line center spot based on his NHL experience (45 games). Veteran Carter Rowney and young Joe Veleno and Givani Smith also are in the mix for bottom-six spots.
Kulfan picks up the story from there:
Last season, during the pandemic shortened AHL season, Pearson had eight goals and 14 assists for 22 points. Those 22 points were identical to how many Pearson earned the season before. The difference: Pearson amassed the total last season in 28 games, unlike the 59 games the season before.
Pearson had a plus-3 rating last season, compared to being minus-9 the season before.
“Last year was huge for me,” Pearson said. “I got a bigger role in Grand Rapids, and I earned the coaches’ trust a little bit more, which enabled me to play in all situations and really take a step forward.
“I got better defensively and also on the offensive side. I was able to come into my own a little bit, which helped through playing more and gaining confidence. When you play with confidence, the game comes easier for you.”
Kulfan also continues…I don’t say this about many prospects, but I have full faith that Chase Pearson is going to be a defensive center at the NHL level within a year or two, regardless of whether it’s with Detroit or some other NHL team, and his employer will be better off for having him in the lineup.
Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen posted a comprehensive list of power rankings, ranking the Red Wings 29th despite offering the following assessment of the Wings’ roster situation…
29. Detroit Red Wings
Key additions: Pius Suter, Mitchell Stephens, Nick Leddy, Alex Nedeljkovic
Key subtractions: Valtteri Filppula, Bobby Ryan, Darren Helm, Jonathan Bernier
This training camp is all about the kids. What do we see from Moritz Seider and can he force his way on to the roster? How long can Lucas Raymond hang around camp and how close is he to NHL ready? Everyone knows what this Wings team is all about, but while more losing is expected in the short-term, you still want to see bounce backs from Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi as they return from injuries, a step up from Filip Zadina, and more of the same from Jakub Vrana, who was a point per game player after being acquired at the trade deadline.
Continued; and the Hockey News’s Matt Larkin offers this take on the Red Wings’ “Stanley Cup Window”:
REBUILDING
(Laying foundation for the future, not interested in pursuing a Cup right now)
Detroit Red WingsSteve Yzerman continues to slow-play things. Trading for goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic was a long-term move, just like last season’s Jakub Vrana trade was, and even this past summer’s Nick Leddy trade meant bringing in a veteran with an expiring deal and trade-deadline value. We should see mega-prospect defenseman Moritz Seider in the NHL this year, and maybe left winger Lucas Raymond as well, but the Wings still don’t appear to be in any rush. The 2022 and 2023 draft classes are just too tempting. If you’re rebuilding now, you might as well lay low one more year to get a crack at a lottery selection in one of those classes.
Enjoy this profile of Moritz Seider from the Red Wings’ “Waiting in the Wings” series:
Scary stuff from WXYZ’s Kim Russell:
In text form:
“I was with Vlady when he was in Beaumont in a coma. I saw him say his first words after the coma. I saw him do his first physical therapy after the coma. And to see him then and to see him now is a miracle,” said Jim Bellanca, Vlady’s friend, and attorney.
“He is incredible,” said Linda Krumm, Konstantinov’s Medical Case Manager, who has cared for him since shortly after his injury.
Krumm coordinates caregivers who help him eat, dress, and get out in the community. He needs around-the-clock care due to the impact of his traumatic brain injury.
Konstantinov’s care team has defended his privacy, not allowing news crews into his Oakland County apartment over the years, despite requests for interviews, but now something has changed.
“I don’t think he is going to survive. That’s how strongly I feel,” said Bellanca.
Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen stirs the pot a little bit with a ranking of the Atlantic Division’s best GM’s:
1.Julien BriseBois, Tampa Bay Lightning: BriseBois learned from Yzerman, but has earned the No. 1 ranking because of the trades he’s made and the creativity he showed managing his salary cap. He left Yzerman’s shadow when he won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
2. Steve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings: Yzerman was no longer there, but his fingerprints were all over the Tampa Bay titles. More importantly to Detroit fans, he has received strong reviews for the work he has done thus far in the Red Wings’ rebuild. He is highly respected for his vision and aggressiveness.
Continued; Yzerman has made some trade and signing fumbles, like any GM (see: Alex Regula for Brendan Perlini, and the inability to really address the dearth of offense or defensive depth until he was able to shake off the final Ken Holland contracts this past summer), and he’s going to continue to make a mistake from time to time, but his overall vision for the team is a strong one.
It’s on the players, coaches and fellow management to deliver upon that vision–one man cannot rebuild a team alone.
