I had a “snerk” moment when Grand Rapids Griffins coach Todd Nelson suggested that it took a close observer of the Griffins to see that defenseman Filip Hronek can be an agitator.

Hronek’s 2-minute slashing penalty plus 10-minute misconduct in the 3rd period of last night’s 6-3 loss to the Manitoba Moose was indicative of a combative personality that Hronek’s displayed since he first came over to North America, if not before, and his various scraps and skirmishes with a Manitoba Moose team that was clearly targeting #13 were part of the bargain…

As Nelson told The Athletic’s Katie Strang, however, when one of the Griffins’ most talented offensive defensemen is being pulled off his game and goaded off the ice, that’s not necessarily a good thing:

After the game, a 6-3 loss that swung the best-of-five playoff series in Manitoba’s favor, 2-1, Griffins coach Todd Nelson was not pleased.

It didn’t help matters that Hronek took another penalty in the second, an unsportsmanlike conduct minor at 12:56 with the Griffins trailing 4-3.

“I like the emotion, but I don’t like the tradeoff,” Nelson said. “I’d rather see him on the ice.”

Nelson made this a point of emphasis for the 20-year-old blue-liner, a 2016 second-round pick and one of the team’s top prospects at the AHL level, telling him on Thursday why he needs Hronek to be able to navigate the delicate balance better than he did the night prior

“I said I need you on the ice. I can’t have you for 14 minutes in the penalty box. So we talked about it,” Nelson said of the conversation he had with Hronek on Thursday. “That’s something that everybody goes through. And it’s a good learning experience for him. He’s a smart kid. He’ll bounce back and play the right way. But I don’t want him to lose any of that nastiness inside of him. That’s what makes him great.”

Strang continues (paywall), also speaking with Daniel Cleary and Griffin assistant coach Bruce Ramsay regarding Hronek’s learning curve…

Here’s Grand Rapids Griffins announcer Bob Kaser setting up Game 4 between the Griffins and Manitoba Moose this evening (7 PM EDT on ESPN 96.1 FM and the AHL Live):

Update: Here’s the Moose’s game-day preview:

The Grand Rapids Press’s Peter J. Wallner spoke with Red Wings GM Ken Holland regarding the development of the Wings’ top prospects in Grand Rapids, and Holland told Wallner that the Red Wings won’t rush the youth movement (for better or worse):

“Obviously, we have a lot of draft picks so, yes, the theme of the Detroit Red Wings over the next two or three years is youth,” Holland said. “That doesn’t mean it’s youth on Oct. 4 (when the season opens). Then they have to be an NHL player. And if they’re not, in short order they’ll lose their confidence and they won’t be in a lineup. That’s not productive.”

The best young candidate to make the Red Wings next season is center Michael Rasmussen, the No. 7 overall pick a year ago who is still in the playoffs with his junior team, Tri-City. The already-polished 6-foot-6 center would head to Grand Rapids when WHL playoffs conclude if the Griffins are still playing.

Others who could make the Red Wings in the fall include defensemen Filip Hronek and Joe Hicketts and possibly forwards Evgeny Svechnikov and Dominic Turgeon depending on what else transpires in the offseason.

This season, six players appeared with both clubs (Tyler Bertuzzi, Evgeny Svechnikov, Hicketts, Turgeon, Brian Lashoff and goalie Jared Coreau).

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said they “all did a good job” but noted players such as Svechnikov and Hicketts were up late in the season.

“They all showed pretty well, but I also think we weren’t playing a lot of meaningful games,” said Blashill, who was also at the Griffins game. “It’s a different thing come the fall. A bunch of these guys have a chance to continue to impress during the Calder Cup Playoffs and then we’ll see which guys come into camp trying to take jobs.”

Wallner continues, as does Holland…

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a locker room clean-out day article today, and it’s expertly-timed: the Grand Rapids Griffins desperately, desperately miss Tyler Bertuzzi…

But the wiry forechecking forward also desperately needs to add some extra muscle to his listed 6,’ 190-pound frame (subtract 10 or 15 pounds, and you probably get a better handle on Bertuzzi’s weight class) to better compete for pucks in corners and win physical battles along the boards.

Bertuzzi and Wings coach Jeff Blashill spoke with Kulfan regarding the trade-offs involved in choosing to give Bertuzzi, the outgoing AHL playoff MVP, more time in the gym instead of more time in the AHL:

“The positive in this case is he gets at least an extra month of getting after it in training,” coach Jeff Blashill said when the Red Wings broke for the offseason. “My (advice) to him was you have to get bigger, stronger, faster. Find a strength and sprinting coach that can help you do those things. Get a skating coach that is going to help you get that much quicker. If he can do those things, he’ll be that much a better player next year.”

It was obvious listening to Bertuzzi the final days of the regular season, going to Grand Rapids would be just fine.

Certainly it wouldn’t feel like a chore or demotion. The Griffins have a tight group, and Bertuzzi has quite a few friends he communicates with.

“I still have a lot of good buddies down there,” Bertuzzi said. “It stinks obviously not going down to battle with them in playoffs, but I kind of want to focus on a good summer and coming back to training camp ready.”

Bertuzzi has been limited the past two summers while recovering from grueling Griffins playoff runs.

“I’ve been kind of hurt to start the summer and that kind of delayed training,” Bertuzzi said. “Last year we made a long playoff run and I was hurt. This is a big opportunity for me to take advantage of a long summer in the gym.”

Kulfan continues, and I know that one of Bertuzzi’s off-season injuries was an infected hand from a tooth-incurred cut suffered during the Calder Cup Final, and it was fairly advanced at the time.

He played with far more injuries than the sore wrist that prevented him from skating last September and October, and because he plays so hard, I get the feeling that the Wings were worried that he’d get banged-up simply by default if he participated in an AHL playoff run.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James spoke with Red Wings director of European scouting and former Frolunda Indians board of directors member Hakan Andersson to stoke the Rasmus Dahlin fire…

“He’s good at everything,” Andersson told the Free Press. “He has great size, he is a great skater, he has very good hands. He’s extremely smart, and he has very high dedication. There is a lot to like.”

Andersson, the Wings’ director of European scouting, served on the board of directors of the Frolunda hockey club in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 2013-17. During that time he saw Dahlin move from the organization’s junior hockey team to the highest division, the Swedish Hockey League.

“I’ve seen him lots over the years,” Andersson said. “I know how dedicated he is. I know how hard he works.  He has no weaknesses.”

And, to his credit, Andersson cautions against the suggestions that Dahlin is going to turn a lucky franchise around all by himself:

“Over the years, how many first overall picks have come in right away and transformed a team?” Andersson said. “Connor McDavid is a highly skilled player, and the Oilers still don’t make the playoffs.

“People want to compare Dahlin to Lidstrom. Lidstrom in his draft year played in the junior Swedish hockey league. This guy played in the top league in his draft year and on the national team. That doesn’t mean it’s going to translate into a better career. He is not the first player at 17-18 years of age to be better than Lidstrom. Lidstrom, the year after he was drafted, he played in Sweden still and his numbers were not that exciting. Now, very few guys look back and say they had a better career than Lidstrom.

“It takes time. Dahlin is very good at a young age, for sure. He has taken some big steps the past few years. I think whoever drafts him, you hope you are drafting a world-class defenseman.”

St. James continues, and I’m relieved that SOMEbody is willing to suggest that Dahlin isn’t the next Hockey Jesus.

Update: Here’s a bit more from Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff:

Continue reading HSJ speaks with Hakan Andersson regarding Rasmus Dahlin

The AHL posts a “Morning Skate’s” worth of notes and stats regarding each and every one of its playoff teams’ respective series, and I usually don’t share these.

Given that the Grand Rapids Griffins are on the ropes heading into tonight’s game (down 2-1 in a Best-of-Five series; tonight’s game starts at 7 PM EDT on ESPN 96.1 and the AHL Live), there are some stats that stick out:

Continue reading The AHL’s ‘Morning Skate’ reveals some unpleasant Griffins stats

This is pretty cool, per the NHLPA:

Congratulations to Ted Lindsay, the pioneer of our original Players’ Association, on being chosen to receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree from Oakland University! https://t.co/fOgtHdtVE9 pic.twitter.com/vAiGcPUsh6

— NHLPA (@NHLPA) April 26, 2018

Here’s Oakland University’s press release:

Continue reading That’s (honorary) Dr. Terrible Ted Lindsay

This is pretty cool, per the Toledo Walleye:

TOLEDO TAKES ECHL BEST ICE FOR THIRD YEAR

The ECHL announced that the Toledo Walleye are the 2017-18 recipient of the league’s Best Ice Award. It is the third consecutive year that Toledo has received the award.

“Jesus Rivera and his team raised the bar for consistently producing the highest quality ice surfaces for the Walleye and visiting teams to play on,” said Toledo Walleye Head Coach Dan Watson. “The Huntington Center hosts concerts along with hockey during our season. Jesus and his crew take great pride in being able to turn the arena from a rink to a concert and back to a rink in record time, and in award-winning style. We know that every time the players step out onto the ice at the Huntington Center, it is ready to go to produce a great product. We are fortunate to have them on our team.”

The winners are determined in a vote of ECHL coaches, focusing on those arenas and staffs that provide the best playing surfaces in the league, including the quality of the ice, temperature of the building and surrounding dasher board system.

“Our game is predicated on having a playing surface of the utmost integrity so that our players can perform at their highest level and our fans enjoy quality entertainment,” said ECHL Vice President of Hockey Operations Joe Ernst. “This award recognizes the hard-working crews in our league who pride themselves on ensuring that the athletes in the ECHL will have the best ice to perform on.”

 

The Athletic’s Katie Strang reports that Grand Rapids Griffins defenseman Vili Saarijarvi will draw in for tonight’s must-win game against the Manitoba Moose (7 PM EDT on ESPN 96.1 FM and The AHL Live), and Colin Campbell will return from his suspension:

Vili Saarijarvi draws in on D tonight for Dennis Cholowski; Colin Campbell, having served one-game suspension last night, in for Borkowski as Griffins aim to tie the series up in Game 4 vs. Manitoba Moose.

— Katie Strang (@KatieJStrang) April 26, 2018

Cholowski was good on Wednesday, but Saarijarvi has more pro experience; Campbell is a key cog in the Griffins’ penalty-killing machine.

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Wings player development assistant regarding the NHL Draft Lottery, which will take place this Saturday, and Khan reveals that the draft lottery is going to be painfully slowly revealed to the public:

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland will be on stage for the event, when NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly reveals the selections live on NBC before and during Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinal series between the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks (8 p.m.). The teams selecting fourth through 15th will be revealed in reverse order at 7:30 p.m. The teams selecting first through third will be revealed during the second intermission.

Daniel Cleary, the former Red Wings forward and current player development assistant, will represent the team backstage when the drawing takes place. He and the 14 other club reps will be sequestered, their cell phones taken away, so they will not be able to communicate the results with anyone.

“I’m excited. I think everyone should be excited,” Cleary said. “It would be a huge moment to win. There’s a lot of talented players. I’m going to try to bring some Irish luck.”

Cleary said he’s bringing his rosary beads blessed by Pope John Paul II.

Khan continues, and again, the Red Wings will have an 8.5% chance of earning the #1 overall pick and a 26.5% chance of drafting in the top three.

The Buffalo News’s John Vogl confirms:

The NHL Draft Lottery is undergoing another change. It’s meant to draw out the suspense, but it could also end it early for the Buffalo Sabres.

Sportsnet announced Thursday that it will unveil Saturday night’s lottery results throughout the course of the evening rather than all at once. Picks 15 through 4 will be revealed during “Hockey Central Saturday,” which goes on the air at 7:30 p.m. on NBC, CBC and Sportsnet. The top three picks, conducted via the lottery, will be announced during the second intermission of San Jose- Vegas playoff game that starts at 8 p.m.

So the No. 1 pick won’t be revealed until the 9:30 p.m. range.

By virtue of its last-place finish, the Sabres hold the best odds (18.5 percent) of landing the first overall pick. They could also drop to second, third or fourth if teams below them win the lotteries.

If three lower-seeded teams win, the Sabres will pick fourth and will know their fate before the Sharks and Golden Knights face off. If Buffalo makes the top three, it will have to wait through the opening two periods.