Impressions from day four of the Red Wings’ training camp ’19

The Detroit Red Wings wrapped up training camp in Traverse City the way they usually do–with one foot out the door, mostly due to the fact that they’ll be playing a preseason game in Detroit tomorrow night.

Hockey players are strange in the way that they can make just about anywhere home, settle in, and as soon as they know it’s time to pull up stakes, the gear’s in the bag and they’re out the door.

As a result, and in no small part because the Red Wings have been ground into hamburger over the course of three grueling days of on and off-ice training, coach Jeff Blashill said that he toned down Monday’s drills, eliminating what the schedule said would be conditioning drills at the end of practice.

The Wings also cut down their roster to two teams, and, as stated in the audio post, Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Oliwer Kaski, Andreas Athanasiou and Jarid Lukosevicius did not practice with either team.

I also thought it was interesting that Larkin, Justin Abdelkader, Luke Glendening and Frans Nielsen appeared to have a sit-down talk with Steve Yzerman and Pat Verbeek in one of the coaches’ locker rooms at the rink. The players were in the room with the Wings’ GM and assistant GM for about 20 minutes, and we can only guess what was said.

Continue reading Impressions from day four of the Red Wings’ training camp ’19

Coach Blashill summarizes training camp and why the Wings come to Traverse City

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji penned a training camp notebook which focuses on Patrik Nemeth’s assets, and she also noted Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill’s take on the state of the team heading back to Detroit from training camp:

Although it’s a bit of a hike from Detroit, Blashill said coming up to Traverse City every year is always a great experience.

“I think I prefer it, our guys prefer it. We like coming up here,” Blashill said. “There’s multiple reasons. One, you get to come up here, you’re kind of away for a little bit. Your guys get to play some golf. It’s beautiful up here. It’s a little getaway. It’s not super long. It’s great. Traverse City’s a beautiful spot in the world.

“Me personally, both my sister and my parents live here. I definitely like coming up here. Just from an aspect of team, it’s really worked well. People up here are great. You also get to hit a whole of Western Michigan and Northern Michigan that you don’t get to hit on an everyday basis in Metro Detroit.”

Being away from home, the players and coaches also get to focus on hockey, which led to a successful camp.

“Unreal work ethic. Unreal competitiveness. I thought yesterday’s Red and White Game was as competitive as any Red and White Game we’ve ever seen,” Blashill said. “Nik Kronwall echoed that. Certainly the most competitive in his memory. It kind of goes to I think what guys have said. They’re sick of what we’ve been and they want to change that. Now you keep making those decisions, it gets way harder as you get into October and then December and January. So we just gotta keep grinding here, keep plugging away. But it’s a good start.”

Continued

Kulfan’s training camp notebook: busy exhibition schedule good for the Wings’ youngsters

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan penned a training camp notebook before leaving Traverse City, and Kulfan believes that the Red Wings’ 9-games-in-12-nights exhibition schedule is actually a good thing:

The Wings play 82 games during a long six-month (plus a week, or two) NHL regular season.

But they’ll play nine preseason games in the next two weeks.

It’s a game more than usual because of the Wings’ participation in the NHL’s Hockeyville event in Calumet, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Along with keeping the coaching, training and equipment staffs busy, there will be players who get plenty of chances to show what they can do.

Nobody will play all nine games, obviously. But young players on the brink of the NHL likely will get about five or six games to show they deserve an opportunity.

This schedule is perfect for them.

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Taking a look at Dylan Larkin’s ‘numbers’

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner examines Dylan Larkin’s 2018-2019 season stats today, and the obvious ones stand out:

32 – After scoring 16 goals during the 2017-18 season, Larkin lit the lamp a career-high 32 times to lead the Red Wings. Athanasiou’s 30 goals was second and Anthony Mantha‘s 25 tallies was third highest on the club.

41 – The 41 assists he doled out was the second highest of his four-year career. Tyler Bertuzzi‘s 26 helpers ranked second on the team, with Frans Nielsen third with 25 assists. Larkin’s career high in assists is 47, which he reached in the 2017-18 campaign.

73 – Larkin led the Wings in total points with 73. Athanasiou was second in points with 54 and Mantha was third with 48 points.

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Down Goes Brown talks ‘bizarro’ offseasons, including Detroit’s

The Athletic’s Sean “Down Goes Brown” McIndoe discusses the Eastern Conference teams’ off-seasons as ranked by their “bizarre” natures, and he has this to say about the Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings

The offseason so far: The Wings didn’t do much to remake the roster, bringing back Valtteri Filppula and saying goodbye to the retiring Niklas Kronwall. None of that really matters all that much, because the big news is that Steve Yzerman is back and ready to use his Jedi skills to rebuild the roster.

But their strangest story was: Taking Moritz Seider a dozen or two spots ahead of where most of the draft boards had him, in what was easily the biggest surprise of the first round. Nice bow tie, though.

Bizarro-meter ranking: 6.1/10. After two decades, it’s going to take some time getting used to talking about the Red Wings without mentioning Ken Holland. But Yzerman’s return just feels right.

Continued (paywall)

Sportsnet suggests that poolies pick up Filip Zadina

Sportsnet’s Emily Sadler suggests that fantasy hockey poolies might want to pick up one of seven rookies who are “ready to contribute” at the NHL level, including one Filip Zadina:

FILIP ZADINA, DETROIT RED WINGS

SN Rank: 224
Position eligibility: LW/RW

The Red Wings are in the midst of a full-on youth movement, and Zadina looks like the next piece of this rebuilding puzzle. Patience will be needed as the rookie finds his stride, but GMs picking him late on draft night could be rewarded. The 19-year-old registered a goal and three points in a late-season NHL stint after a 35-point AHL campaign in Grand Rapids. When surrounded by Detroit’s growing corp of young forward talent like Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha, Zadina’s potential skyrockets.

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A bit of praise for Adam Erne

Updated at 5:05 PM: The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a mid-day article noting GM Steve Yzerman and coach Jeff Blashill’s takes on the recently-acquired Adam Erne:

“I think Adam has a chance to be a top-nine forward in the NHL.,” Yzerman said. “I think he’s got good puck skills, I think he’s got a good shot and he’s worked extremely hard – his skating is good, he’s a very powerful, strong guy. Difficult to play against because he’s thick and he’s a hard. He’s got pretty good hockey sense. He fits in with our group of players and the young guys coming up.”

Yzerman signed Erne, 24, for one year at $1.05 million. It’s a no-risk contract – if Erne does not make the team, his salary is covered by the exemption if he’s sent to the minors. But Erne has a good shot: he’s sound defensively, kills penalties and uses his 6-foot-1, 214-pound body to punish opponents. 

“I think he can bring a pretty good combination of physicality and skill,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “That’s a rare combination in the league – not very many guys in the league are super physical and still have skill to play in the top nine. I think he’s got that ability. He just has to make sure he separates himself from other players.”

Continued

Update: Here’s more from MLive’s Ansar Khan:

The Red Wings acquired Erne in August for a fourth-round pick in 2020. He is coming off his first full NHL season, picking up seven goals and 20 points in 65 games.

Erne described himself as a two-way forward who likes playing at a high pace, can make plays and score goals and can be used up and down the lineup.

“I like to have the puck on my stick, I like to play a north-south game, pick the pace up, be able to make plays and shoot the puck,” Erne said. “I just try to be versatile and wherever they need me, that’s where I play.”

Opportunity for advancement was lacking with the Lightning, the best regular season team in the NHL.

“In Tampa, with all the skill we had, sometimes I was just relied on as a bigger body,” Erne said. “I’m just looking to get back to creating offense and be good on that side of the puck for sure.

“It’s an opportunity that I see available here now. It’s exciting. There’s a lot of talent and so far, a really great group of guys. From old to young there’s no cliques. A really good mesh.”

Audio from the last day of Red Wings training camp ’19: Coach Jeff Blashill

The Red Wings scaled back their anticipated practices to deal with some dings and bruises suffered by the Wings’ players over the course of training camp, so the Wings skated two groups instead of three today, and they skipped the “on-ice conditioning” part of their practice in order to head back to Detroit a little early (ahead of tomorrow’s exhibition game vs. Chicago).

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the media regarding the competitive nature of training camp and the Red vs. White Game, he didn’t offer updates on injuries (Tyler Bertuzzi, Andreas Athanasiou, Dylan Larkin, Oliwer Kaski and Jarid Lukosevicius did not skate today) and he wasn’t committing to tomorrow’s roster as of yet. He was complementary toward the first camp under Steve Yzerman’s regime, he talked about the advantages of coming to Traverse City, and he praised the volunteers who make training camp such a pleasant experience:

FYI: At one point this morning, Dylan Larkin, Luke Glendening, Justin Abdelkader and Frans Nielsen headed into one of the locker rooms, and Steve Yzerman and Pat Verbeek joined them. They spoke with each other for a good 15-20 minutes, and I’m not sure what was said, but you and I can guess!

Update: Here’s video of Blashill from Fox Sports Detroit:

“We’ve got a whole bunch of competition for jobs and I think that showed in how competitive each practice was. This gives us a chance to see those guys play.” – Jeff Blashill as he looks forward to preseason play, which starts tomorrow on FOX Sports Plus. pic.twitter.com/iN9xVhSs6z— FOX Sports Detroit (@FOXSportsDet) September 16, 2019