The University of Wisconsin Badgers’ YouTube channel posted a short but sweet profile of Red Wings prospect and University of Wisconsin forward Sam Stange:

The Athletic’s Max Bultman examines the reasons why the Red Wings have scratched Filip Hronek for two straight games, and, while Bultman cautions that everyone from the Red Wings’ own coach on down cautions against overexamining small sample sizes, the advanced stats regarding Hronek’s play aren’t very good:

Hronek’s on-ice expected goals for percentage at five-on-five was at 41.5 percent after his first four games, according to Evolving Hockey, and that mark is the lowest of all Detroit defensemen so far. The same is true by the on-ice scoring chances share, where, according to Natural Stat Trick, Hronek’s 33.93 percentage was at the bottom of all Red Wings blueliners. Again, I don’t think those stats are what have Hronek out of the lineup, and the samples are disconcertingly small, but they do tell a bit of a story about what Detroit’s results have been like with Hronek on the ice so far this season.

It’s also worth noting that many of Detroit’s other defensemen have turned in quite good underlying numbers. Again, the same caveats apply, but Stecher, Staal, Lindstrom, Leddy and Seider are all over 58 percent by Evolving Hockey’s expected goals model thus far. For Stecher that’s in just two games (a sample small enough to be effectively irrelevant), but it’s a grain of context as to how things have gone so far for Detroit’s defensemen.

On-ice stats, of course, do not assign responsibility for those results, and they don’t give any context to the level of competition. They merely indicate what happened when a player was out there. And Hronek and partner DeKeyser (who naturally is Detroit’s next lowest-ranking defender after Hronek by both xGF% and SCF% through his six games) tend to play some of Detroit’s toughest minutes.

In the Red Wings’ home games so far (where Detroit has last change and can better pick its matchups) DeKeyser and Hronek received a steady diet of Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov against Tampa Bay, Elias Pettersson and Nils Hoglander against Vancouver, Patrik Laine against Columbus, and Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk against Calgary.

Obviously, those minutes and matchups are not created equal to the ones played against other lines, often by other defensemen. That matters.

Continued (paywall); as Bultman suggests, Hronek’s raw data over the course of only four games played isn’t good, but it’s hard to say whether Hronek’s struggles are part of a larger trend when the Red Wings have only played in six games total.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan took note of an interesting comment made by Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin during his media availability today:

Sunday’s convincing victory in Chicago, after two straight losses, including a bad defeat Saturday in Montreal, was a good step for a promising young team.

“We didn’t have it against Montreal and Calgary, and we snapped right out of it and that’s a huge response as a young team,” Larkin said. “Tough back to back, with travel, that was a big response for our team and I really liked our attitude. There was a nice, calm presence. It felt great.

“When we’ve won (this season) it feels repeatable. In the past when we’ve won, it was a grind. It was hard. It feels like we can keep winning and when you have that confidence. It’s huge in this league.”

Blashill feels good about the way the Wings have played thus far.

“I like the fact we’ve played with high compete, emotion and energy throughout large parts of these six games,” Blashill said. “That can be a separator through an 82-game schedule. I also think we’re getting better, individually and collectively as a group, and that will be real important.”

Continued; nobody’s expecting the Red Wings to make the playoffs this season, but if they can be more competitive on a consistent basis, and toss off the occasional “repeatable win,” that would be fantastic.

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday assigned center Kyle Criscuolo to the Grand Rapids Griffins. In addition, Grand Rapids released center Josh Dickinson from his professional tryout.

Criscuolo competed in 29 games with the Griffins a season ago, ranking second on the team with 11 goals while totaling 19 points and 16 penalty minutes. The Southampton, N.J., native enters his fourth season with Grand Rapids and has made 109 appearances with the Griffins, earning 60 points (28-32—60) and recording 30 PIM. As a first-year pro with Grand Rapids, Criscuolo was part of the Griffins’ Calder Cup championship team in 2017.

The Harvard University graduate has skated in 250 AHL games and has amassed 138 points (57-81—138) and 92 penalty minutes. Criscuolo spent one season in the NHL with Buffalo and logged four PIM in nine outings.

Dickinson made his Griffins debut on Oct. 24 at Manitoba, totaling three shots and an even plus-minus.

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

Red Wings to host Halloween Night Friday at Little Caesars Arena

Fans encouraged to wear costumes, trick-or-treating available for kids in attendance and much more

Fans will be welcomed back to a spooky atmosphere when the Detroit Red Wings return home for Friday night’s game against the Florida Panthers. Halloween will be celebrated throughout Little Caesars Arena, and fans are encouraged to wear their creative costumes to kick off the weekend.

The Via concourse will take on a Halloween-inspired atmosphere, and trick-or-treating will be available for kids in attendance. Halloween-specific beverage items will be sold, and 10 lucky fans will have their costumes selected as a prize winner!

Following the pregame activities, fans are encouraged to be in their seats before puck drop to witness an immersive on-ice display. The theme will carry over into the game, with Halloween-themed trivia questions, music and much more. Your costume might just be featured on the center hung video board!

Of Red Wings-related note in Europe today:

In the SHL, William Wallinder scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 1 shot in 15:03 played as Rogle BK won 2-1 in overtime over Oskarshamn:

William Wallinder, with more regular icetime as of late, scores his 2nd goal of the season #LGRW pic.twitter.com/8zV5XbcWPj— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) October 26, 2021

Wallinder starting to find some confidence #LGRW pic.twitter.com/vMHRoOSgba— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) October 26, 2021

And in the Finnish Liiga, Eemil Viro finished at -1 with 2 shots in 14:45 as TPS Turku lost 3-0 to Jurkurit. TPS plays tomorrow, so the coaching staff may be watching his ice time closely.

Good news for the Grand Rapids Griffins from CapFriendly…

Cleared Waivers
Kyle Criscuolo (C) | DET#LGRWhttps://t.co/aUXmCHlUcH— CapFriendly Transactions (@CF_Transactions) October 26, 2021

I’m trying to squeeze all of the Red Wings beat writers’ practice notebooks into one blog entry today, but this quip from coach Jeff Blashill made me think, “You know what, maybe people will want to talk about this individually.” Here’s what Blashill had to say about the Wings’ lack of secondary scoring thus far, per the Free Press’s Dana Garuder:

While the first line has been highly productive, the Wings would like a more balanced offense. The second line of Pius Suter, Robby Fabbri and Filip Zadina has produced only two goals. Suter, who had 27 points in 55 games as a rookie with Chicago last season, is still seeking his first point as a Red Wing.

“They just have to stay with it and work to continue to build up their own production,” Blashill said. “They can be a really good line.”

Vladislav Namestnikov has three of the four goals on the third line, playing with Adam Erne and Michael Rasmussen. They’re often matched up against the opponent’s top scoring line.

“They’re playing in their own end a decent amount,” Blashill said. “It’s important not to judge solely on production. They bring other things to the table.”

St. James continues; I knew that Pius Suter would struggle adjusting from playing from the high-flying Hawks to the Red Wings, so I’m willing to give him some slack, and I think that Zadina has actually been fairly good, but snakebitten; Fabbri seems to be finding his form very slowly after missing good chunks of last season due to injuries and COVID, but I’m a little surprised that Erne and Rasmussen have struggled to put up points as much as they have.

What do you think about the Wings’ lack of balanced scoring thus far?

Updated with HSJ’s notebook at 3:02 PM: The Detroit Red Wings practiced ahead of tomorrow’s game opposite the Washington Capitals (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/NBC Sports Washington Plus/97.1 FM), absent one Gustav Lindstrom, and, after practice, coach Jeff Blashill and captain Dylan Larkin spoke with the media.

The Red Wings’ media corps penned their off-day notebooks, and DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce led us off with a couple of Tweets of note from Larkin’s media availability:

In today’s media availability, Dylan Larkin talked about what it will be like to play against Anthony Mantha. He said it will be strange, but he expects Anthony to be “highly motivated & when we’ve seen that out of him we know he can be a dangerous player.” @DetroitRedWings #LGRW— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 26, 2021

Larkin also talked about Lucas Raymond. He said what he likes most about Raymond is his attitude. Said Raymond really believed in himself and believed he’d make an impact on this team. #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 26, 2021

The Wings also weighed in:

Wings vs. Caps tomorrow night. #LGRW

? Larkin: https://t.co/BnuMMWfms3
? Blashill: https://t.co/HMaRp4jOgE pic.twitter.com/MKADkOSrJT— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 26, 2021

And MLive’s Ansar Khan kicks off our notebook roundup with this discussion of the “Anthony Mantha reunion game“:

Continue reading Practice day notebooks: Getting ready to see ‘Mo’ Mantha again →

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins’ PR department comes this notebook framing the Griffins’ 3-game home stand this week:

Welcome Home

October 26, 2021

This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS vs. Chicago Wolves // Wed., Oct. 27 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
GRIFFINS vs. Chicago Wolves // Sun., Oct. 31 // 4 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m. Wed. and 3:35 p.m. Sun.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: First and second of 12 meetings overall, first and second of six at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 90-71-2-6-3 Overall, 44-32-2-4-2 Home

NHL Affiliation: Carolina Hurricanes

Noteworthy: The Griffins posted a 3-7-0-0 record against Chicago last season after going 22-16-1-1 in the previous five campaigns against their rival.

Continue reading Grand Rapids Griffins post weekly press release ahead of three-game home stand →