Here’s the Red Wings’ prospect tournament roster

Just Released: #RedWings 2019 NHL Prospect Tournament roster, consisting of 27 recent draft picks, free agent signees and tryouts.

More → https://t.co/2GCb85yOoh pic.twitter.com/p8VzxvAdhL— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 5, 2019

Detroit’s roster is highlighted by its three most-recent first-round picks in forwards Filip Zadina (sixth overall, 2018) and Joe Veleno (30th overall, 2018) and defenseman Moritz Seider (sixth overall, 2019). #DRWPT pic.twitter.com/HpRd9kaA9f— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 5, 2019

From the Red Wings:

Red Wings release 2019 NHL Prospect Tournament roster

Recent first-rounders Seider, Zadina and Veleno set for tournament play

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today released their 2019 NHL Prospect Tournament roster, a team consisting of 27 recent draft picks, free agent signees and tryouts who will battle against seven other NHL prospect teams for the Matthew Wuest Memorial Cup from Friday, Sept. 6 to Tuesday, Sept. 10 at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Mich.

Detroit’s roster is highlighted by its three most-recent first-round picks in forwards Filip Zadina (sixth overall, 2018) and Joe Veleno (30th overall, 2018) and defenseman Moritz Seider (sixth overall, 2019). In 2018-19, Zadina finished sixth overall in points for the Grand Rapids Griffins as the second-youngest player in the American Hockey League, also tallying one goal and two assists in nine games in his first NHL stint with the Red Wings. Veleno starred in his final season of major-junior hockey, racking up 104 points (42-62-104) in 59 games with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Drummondville Voltigeurs, posting the second-best points-per-game average (1.72) in the league and finishing as a finalist for QMJHL MVP, as well as a spot on the QMJHL First All-Star Team. Seider, who is one of three 2019 Red Wings draft picks attending the NHL Prospect Tournament, was the Deutsch Eishockey Liga Rookie of the Year and helped his club capture a league championship, while representing his country at the IIHF World Junior Championship Division 1 and the IIHF World Championship, becoming the first defenseman aged 18-or-younger to record a point during the tournament since 1982.

Also highlighting Detroit’s roster are a number of collegiate players entering their first full professional seasons after starring at the NCAA level. Taro Hirose tied for the NCAA scoring lead with Michigan State and made an immediate NHL impact for Detroit, picking up seven points (1-6-7) in 10 games. Ryan Kuffner also debuted with the Red Wings after finishing his career at Princeton University as the school’s all-time leading goalscorer. Chase Pearson, a 2015 fifth-round pick of Detroit, had a taste of professional hockey after signing with the Red Wings following his junior season at Maine, where he served as a captain for back-to-back seasons.

Other roster highlights include right wing Givani Smith, a second-round pick (46th overall) in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft who joins Zadina in returning to the NHL Prospect Tournament after spending a full season in Grand Rapids; defenseman Gustav Lindstrom, who is slated to play in North America this season after capturing a championship in the Swedish Hockey League with Frolunda in 2018-19; a pair of 2019 Swedish sixth-round picks in 6-foot-7 forward Elmer Soderblom and defenseman Gustav Berglund; and Kaden Fulcher, a former free agent invitee who earned a contract with the Red Wings prior to the 2017-18 season after a strong showing at the team’s development camp and training camp and made his NHL debut in a relief appearance in Detroit’s 2018-19 regular-season finale.

Twenty-three players who skated for the Red Wings during the 2018-19 season previously participated in the tournament, while 639 total players have played in the tournament and moved on to skate in at least one NHL game during its 20-year history. Prospects from the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs will also be competing in this year’s tournament.

Tickets are available for $10 per day and can be purchased at Centre Ice Arena or at www.centreice.org. Each ticket is good for all four games per day. Teams are divided into two divisions and will play each team within their division once during the round robin before a crossover on the final day of the tournament, with the first-place finishers in each division meeting for the championship on Tuesday, Sept. 10. For more information and a complete tournament schedule, visit www.centreice.org.

Full 2019 Prospect Tournament Roster

Update: The rosters for the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues, Columbus Blue Jackets and Dallas Stars are available on The Left Wing Lock.

Update #2: Here’s the Free Press’s Helene St. James on the roster:

Seider, Zadina and Veleno are among the top prospects in the organization, and they’re expected to play major roles as the Wings try to regain competitiveness. While front-office personnel will evaluate the prospects’ performances during the tournament, the real auditioning for NHL jobs will happen during exhibition play later this month, when the players compete against NHLers. (The Wings’ first preseason game is Sept. 17 at Little Caesars Arena.)

Seven other players on the Wings’ prospect roster are recent draft picks, including defenseman Gustav Lindstrom (38th, 2017), forward Givani Smith (46th, 2016), defenseman Gustav Berglund (177th, 2019), forward Elmer Soderblom (159th, 2019) and goaltender Filip Larsson (167, 2016). Larsson is the top goaltending prospect in the organization.  He and Lindstrom are just starting their pro careers.

Teams are divided into two divisions and will play the teams in their division in a round-robin format. The winner of each division then will play for the championship.

Fundraising update for September 5

My heart sank this morning when I saw the Paypal receipt for the first half of my hotel bill–$893.00 for seven nights at the Comfort Inn (made more difficult by a $17-a-night tourism tax. I’ll pay the tax, I want TC to thrive, but it sure is annoying).

I thought, “Well, time to bust out that $50 gift card and go grocery shopping on the cheap today…”

But, thanks to a gazillion generous donations, I have a couple hundred bucks in my account after spending about $75 to get up here, which is amazing.

  1. I want to thank you all very, very much for getting me up here. We’re about halfway to the fundraising goal after two weeks, which is astonishing. :O
  2. At the same time, I’m only halfway to being able to leave Traverse City without having to take a job at the Comfort Inn to pay off the next $893 (ha), so I’m still going to push the fundraising drive on. If you’re at all willing to lend a hand, I’m accepting $5’s, $10’s, $20’s, whatever you’ve got via PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport and via check if you wish by emailing me at rtxg@yahoo.com for my address (or another means if necessary/preferred).
  3. As per usual, I hope to take some reader input and jam it into my prospect coverage. If you have questions regarding specific prospects, questions regarding questions or any other comments, please let me know via the comments section and/or emailing me directly at rtxg@yahoo.com (sometimes the latter is better).

Many thanks from a blogger who is grateful for your time, readership and support.

The Athletic posts a 57-minute interview with Mickey Redmond

Ahead of this Saturday’s Celebrity Roast of Mickey Redmond, which will benefit the Jamie Daniels foundation, Mr. Redmond appeared on The Athletic’s “The Full 60” podcast, speaking with Craig Custance for over 57 minutes regarding a host of topics. I can’t post the MP3, but I can post a link to The Athletic’s podcast page:

? This week on The Full 60 with @CraigCustance:

Mickey Redmond, two-time Stanley Cup winner and longtime @DetroitRedWings analyst.

? His playing career, transition to broadcasting
? Origin of “Mickeyisms”
? Celebrity Roast in support of @JDanielsFundhttps://t.co/dW8pc5hlfZ— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) September 5, 2019

Via Krupa/WWJ: The Joe is a shell

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa posted a bummer of a Tweet from WWJ Newsradio 950’s Mike Campbell this morning, revealing that Joe Louis Arena’s demolition has progressed in a big way:

right next door to me, and i have been too melancholy about the loss of an old friend to tweet any pix.

but, mike does a nice job, here.

media entrance still standing, on yzerman drive (atwater).

… one can almost hear the roar of #LGRW still.#RedWings https://t.co/K8Z3FmfXLB— gregg krupa (@greggkrupa) September 5, 2019

A couple of quick notes: Fox Sports prospect tournament stream links; Griffins single-game tix on sale September 13th; McCarty’s ‘Hot Ones’ challenge to benefit UCP

Of brief and mostly Red Wings-related note this morning:

  1. You’re going to want to bookmark this page. Fox Sports Southwest posted Permalinks to the Fox Sports GO broadcasts of every single game to be played at the Red Wings’ prospect tournament. It appears that between the Red Wings’ website and FS GO, every Wings game will be streamed online;
  2. The Grand Rapids Griffins sent out an email this morning, and it states that single-game tickets will go on sale on Friday, September 13th, with an app-holder pre-sale on Wednesday, September 11th;
  3. And in the tangentially-Wings-related category, the Free Press’s Susan Selasky reports that former Wing Darren McCarty will be participating in the “Hot Ones” challenge at Frame restaurant in Hazel Park on October 20th. The YouTube channel “First We Feast” racks up millions of views for their “Hot Ones” chicken wings-and-questions challenge, and fans can eat near McCarty for $50, with the cost benefiting United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan.

In all honesty, #3 sounded better at the time, but hey, it’s for charity.

Niyo discusses Kronwall’s ‘timing,’ and Detroit’s

The Detroit News’s John Niyo penned a column discussing the comments Niklas Kronwall made to the media at today’s press conference in light of Kronwall’s impeccable sense of timing–both on and off the ice. Niyo did a superb job of summarizing both where Kronwall and the team find themselves.

Did Kronwall ever “want out” as his career waned to chase a championship?

“This is an Original Six franchise,” he explained. “And it’s more than hockey. “The people, the fans, there’s just so much around it with this team. I wanted to stay. I wanted to see this through. I wanted to play my whole career for this franchise. And I’m happy I got that opportunity.”

Even through these past few years, when some of the joy was harder to find, thanks to a chronic bad knee and a painful roster reconstruction.

“I think it has been tough on everybody,” he said. “We used to be one of the powerhouses. And we were for so many years, and I got to be a part of some of those years. So yes, it’s been frustrating. There’s been some tough times, there’s no doubt. But it should be tough when you’re losing. You can never be satisfied if you’re losing.”

That’s a message Kronwall kept delivering in lieu of those open-ice hits the past few years. When teammates sought refuge in the training room after losses, Kronwall — an alternate captain dating back to Lidstrom’s retirement in 2011 — often was the veteran who stepped forward to speak to the media. Take that rock-bottom loss at home this past February, for example.

Continued; give ‘er a read.

Summarizing the media’s takes from Niklas Kronwall’s LCA retirement presser

Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall retired on Tuesday, and on Wednesday afternoon, he spoke with the Red Wings’ media corps at Little Caesars Arena.

(If you want to skip the text, the Wings posted the full 17-minute media availability on YouTube…)

Kronwall told WXYZ’s Brad Galli that he more or less knew that this past season would be his final campaign…

“Everyone has probably known for a while, even just going back to last summer. I went into last season thinking it was definitely going to be the last one. I didn’t even dream that the potential of playing another year was even going to be on the table. So that was obviously very humbling,” he said.

Kronwall was thrilled with how much he played this year, but knew “for a while” he was retiring.

And Kronwall told Galli that he appreciated the fact that he was able to finish his career as a Red Wing:

Kronwall said he had no interest in playing for another team last season. Ken Holland approached him about a chance for a deadline deal. The longtime Detroit defenseman got emotional thanking Holland for granting his wish to stay.

“He came to me and asked me what I wanted to do,” Kronwall said. “A lot of GMs probably would just have done what would have been best for the team and organization in the long run, getting a pick or whatever. But again, it’s just another thing that stands out for me how he treated me over the years.”

Kronwall pondered whether he could have or should have hit 1,000 games while speaking with Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff…

Continue reading Summarizing the media’s takes from Niklas Kronwall’s LCA retirement presser