‘The Word on Woodward’ to air today at 12 PM EST with Ken Kal, Max Bultman

From the Red Wings’ YouTube channel: “Catch Ken Kal, the Athletic’s Max Bultman and more on today’s all new episode of The Word on Woodward!”

Update: From DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce:

The #WordOnWoodward starts in 10 mins ?? tune in at 12pm on @tigers and @DetroitRedWings Facebook pages, YouTube pages, and websites. We’ll be joined by @KenKalDRW @m_bultman, @evanwoodbery, @TheMayorsOffice, @Daniel2cabrera, and more!! Don’t miss it ????— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) November 10, 2020

Roughly Translated: Hockeysverige.se’s Bodin interviews Theodor Niederbach

Hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin conducted a lengthy interview with Red Wings prospect Theodor Niederbach, and here’s a rough translation of the Swedish-language interview:

“If it gets tougher, I usually think that ‘I can play hockey anyway'”

Theodor Niederbach discusses how patience has come to shape his young career.

For many young prospects, playing in the J20 National League is not enough. They want to go upward, forward and above all to be promoted as soon as possible. Frölunda’s center Theodor Niederbach has a different perspective on the matter. A serious knee injury early in his career has given him the realization that patience is a virtue.

“If you can learn to play a big role at the level you’re at, the next step will come automatically,” he surmises in an interview with Hockeysverige.se.

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Hockeysverige.se’s Bodin interviews Theodor Niederbach

HSJ discusses Moritz Seider’s SHL start

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an article discussing Moritz Seider’s experiences playing for Rogle BK of the SHL thus far:

Seider, the sixth pick in the 2019 draft, has one goal and four assists in five games for Rögle BK. In an interview posted on Rögle’s website, Seider shared his thoughts on his hot start.

“It was a great experience so far,” he said. “I think I can adjust from week to week a little better. I’m really settled in on the team right now and really happy to be here. I think the first five games were really solid and I can’t wait for the next one.” 

The next game is Tuesday, when Rögle faces Malmö, which is where Veleno plays. The SHL has been on a break because of the international Karjala tournament.

Seider also talked about his decision not to go to Germany to play with the national team.

“We had to argue about if it’s worth it to maybe take the risk of getting COVID and risk your own healthiness,” Seider said. “We decided to stay here and take these days off. Germany is going back to a lockdown so I think it wasn’t the best option to go there, anyway. Overall I think it’s a really good solution for everyone.” 

Continued

The Score ranks the Red Wings last among NHL teams thanks to last year’s awful campaign

The Score’s Jon Matisz ranked the NHL’s 31 teams into 8 tiers, and he’s given the Red Wings his lowest ranking as 31st, the “Worst of the Worst.” His reasoning for doing so is pretty plain–the Wings were terrible last year, and as such, “terrible” is where the bar is set:

Detroit Red Wings: The Red Wings’ offseason has been undeniably productive, which is a step in the right direction for a franchise looking to regain respectability. Up front, Vladislav Namestnikov, Bobby Ryan, Sam Gagner, and Adam Erne were brought in on short-term deals. Troy Stecher, Jon Merrill, and Marc Staal are all also under contract for a year or two and were added to the blue line. And inking goalie Thomas Greiss at $3.6 million per season for two years was a tidy piece of business from general manager Steve Yzerman.

These acquisitions improved Detroit, yet the offseason work will only slightly move the needle because the bar was set so laughably low last campaign. The 2019-20 Wings lost 54 of 71 games while finishing with a minus-122 goal differential. Among 31 teams, they’re still the furthest away from a Stanley Cup in 2020-21.

Prospect round-up: Hronek 1A, Zadina 1G as Czech Extraliga returns to play

Belatedly:

In the Czech Extraliga today, Filip Hronek had an assist and took a penalty, finishing at -1 in 22:23 of ice time as HK Mountfield lost 2-1 to HC Vitkovice;

Filip Zadina scored a goal on 2 shots and finished even in 15:55 as Ocelari Trinec won 7-2 over HC Energie Karlovy Vary. Jan Bednar stopped 17 shots for Karlovy Vary in his first start since March.

Here’s Zadina’s goal…

And Zadina got a “nick” but is okay:

Zadina was hit from behind by Tomas Redlich, who Hokej.cz’s Marek Hedbavny reports got a game misconduct for the hit.

Eying Antti Tuomisto as the NCAA season approaches

College Hockey News’s Greg Cameron wrote an article which discusses 8 “Fresh Faces” to watch as the NCAA Division I Hockey season approaches, and Cameron included Red Wings prospect and incoming University of Denver freshman Antti Tuomisto on his list:

Antti Tuomisto, D, Denver — Tuomisto was not selected to Finland’s World Junior Championship team last year, a group which failed to medal at the tournament. But he did crack this year’s Team Finland camp, meaning many North Americans will get an extra large first dose of him between his time in Denver and potentially in Edmonton at holiday time.

Coming in at 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds, Tuomisto is going to be a tough customer in his own zone. But the big man has some major offensive skills, too. He led all defensemen in Finland’s top junior league with 49 points (15 goals, 34 assists) in 48 games last season, and picked up three top league honors: Best Defenseman, First-Team All-Star, and Best Player, the latter of which no blueliner had won since 2013-14. Denver returns five defensemen from last year’s squad, but the Ian Mitchell-sized hole at the back will require a collective effort to fill, and Tuomisto will be up for the task. The Detroit Red Wings made him a second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

Continued; Taro Hirose’s brother Akito, who will be playing for Minnesota State, received an “honorable mention” from Cameron.

Justin Abdelkader discusses his time as a Red Wing in ‘The Players’ Tribune’

From The Players’ Tribune:

All I ever wanted to be was a Red Wing.

As a boy, that’s what I dreamed of.

It was a dream I felt like I could reach out and touch when I was five years old and I was at the Joe Louis Arena for the very first time.

I remember the drive to the arena. The tall buildings of downtown Detroit looked like they went up into the sky forever, and the traffic went down the road the same way. There were red-and-white sweaters and hats on everybody on the sidewalks. There was just this feeling in the air. Like my family and I were going somewhere special. Like it was something that not everybody got to do. 

Walking through the concourse I must have looked like a kid on Christmas Day. I remember running up to the entrance of our section and peeking through the plastic curtains that hid the ice from the hallways — that was when I saw the Joe in all her beauty for the first time.

It was just perfect.

I knew that day that I wanted to become part of it.

And against the odds, I did.

I played on that ice for 13 years in red and white.

Now, though, my time as a Red Wing is up. But just because there won’t be a winged wheel on my jersey doesn’t mean I won’t always have a bit of Detroit in me.

It’s always going to be there, because we’re family now.

Continued

HSJ discusses the 20-21 NHL season’s possible start

The Free Press’s Helene St. James wrote an article which discusses the high probability of a 2020-2021 NHL season, as well as the possibilities surrounding the league playing in “bubbles”:

“I’m very optimistic,” [Red Wings GM Steve] Yzerman said this week. “I’m hopeful. I don’t really have any control over it.  The league can only control so much, as well. I think the Players Association and the league, the cooperation from both sides has been fantastic. It’s my understanding they’re working together now to put a plan in place.”

The NHL and NHLPA succeeded in staging the 2020 playoffs in August and September because they were able to hold games to Toronto and Edmonton. Teams were isolated in “bubbles,” with quarantines required before entering. (Players, such as Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask,  were also allowed to opt out.) But it’s one thing to ask people to hole up for two months with the Stanley Cup as the ultimate carrot, another to limit contact for a full season, even if it’s reduced in length. 

The NHL naturally would prefer to have some degree of fan attendance, but that might not be possible, even if it reconfigures the league for a season to prioritize regional play. 

“Ultimately we’re restricted by international governments — the Canada-US border —local, state governments,” Yzerman said. “Right now it looks like we’ll be able to come up with some kind of plan, but I don’t know specifically what that is.

“And then I kind of keep my fingers crossed that things don’t go sideways again and we are not able to play. I’m optimistic we will come up with something that works, and we’re just kind of waiting for any guidance from the league as to what the plan will be.”

Continued

Bultman’s mailbag feature discusses Michael Rasmussen’s potential ‘upside’

The Athletic’s Max Bultman compiled a mailbag’s worth of reader questions this morning, and among his questions answered is this about Michael Rasmussen:

I’d wager there are two reasons Rasmussen doesn’t get talked about a ton. The first is that he missed significant time last season due to a back injury, meaning he wasn’t consistently in headlines or highlight reels. And the second is he’s already spent significant time in the NHL, meaning he doesn’t have the air of mystery about him some prospects do.

But I do think Rasmussen is going to help the Red Wings someday, and possibly quite soon. He’ll need to stay healthy, but he has all the tools to be a weapon on the power play, useful on the penalty kill and a tough-to-play-against, two-way center. Where specifically he slots into the lineup will, of course, depend on how everyone around him develops, too. Still, he should be perfectly capable as a third-line center at even strength, in addition to those special-teams advantages. That’s a valuable player.

You alluded to Tomas Holmstrom, and that’s exactly the comparison TSN’s director of scouting Craig Button made when I asked him for one this spring. For now, Rasmussen has been loaned to Austria, but he should be recalled for Red Wings training camp, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in Detroit before the end of this season if all goes well for him.

Continued (paywall)

Khan discusses the Wings’ goaltending prospects, including Jan Bednar

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article this morning which discusses the respective statuses of each and every one of the Red Wings‘ goaltending prospects, including that of one Jan Bednar, the Wings’ lone netminding pick from the 2020 draft:

[Bednar] currently is practicing with Karlovy in the top Czech league, with whom he played 13 games last season, posting a 4.39 goals-against average and .884 save percentage. He spent the majority of the season with Sokolov in the second division (24 games, 3.26 GAA, .873 save percentage).

“I’m working on my active hands, rebound control,” Bednar said. “Off the ice, I work on my speed and my agility. I’m a big goalie and I need speed, I need agility.

“I think I’m a really calm goalie. I like puck-handling, I’m a little athletic, but not most important thing for me. I need speed.”

As a young Czech goalie, naturally, he was going to be asked about Dominik Hasek.

“When I was young, I loved Dominik Hasek’s saves and then (saw) some highlights,” Bednar said. “I know (former Red Wing) Petr Mrazek. I talked with him two years ago. Great guys. Of course, Steve Yzerman is great guy. I saw some documentaries of year 2002, when Detroit Red Wings won Stanley Cup with Dominik Hasek and Brett Hull and Steve Yzerman and more.”

Continued; I like the fact that Khan’s summary emphasizes the fact that the Red Wings do have goaltending prospects–eight of them, actually–but none of them are close to playing in the NHL.