That’s a lot of shoes, Dennis. Good for you!

I am a self-admitted hockey glove nerd. As a typing monkey of sorts, I’m fascinated by the human hand, and as a hockey fan, I’ve always been intrigued by the ways in which equipment companies design the mitts with which our fragile fingers grasp hockey sticks. I think I have seventeen or eighteen pairs of hockey gloves, and I’m not planning on stopping buying them…

So it is with sympathy for an innocuous hobby that I’m posting this video from the Red Wings. It’s a thirteen-minute video of Dennis Cholowski’s shoe collection, and I hope that his shoes bring him the kind of joy my hockey glove collection brings me.

Prospect round-up: an uneventful day for Gustav Berglund

One Red Wings prospect took part in a hockey game today. In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Gustav Berglund finished at -1 in 13:39 played for Vasteras IK as Vasteras won 7-2 over Vita Hasten.

Tomorrow will be a much busier day as Eemil Viro and Victor Brattstrom will play in the Finnish Liiga, and Albert Johansson, Joe Veleno, Malte Setkov, Jonatan Berggren, Matias Brome, Lucas Raymond, Elmer Soderblom and Moritz Seider will all battle in SHL hockey.

Trevor Daley retires, joins Penguins as hockey operations advisor

Per the Pittsburgh Penguins:

Here’s the Penguins’ press release:

Continue reading Trevor Daley retires, joins Penguins as hockey operations advisor

Charitable note: St. Jude Foundation of Detroit auctioning off a meet-and-greet with Chris Chelios

Via CBS Detroit’s Tim Lawlis, the St. Jude Foundation of Detroit is holding its charitable gala on a virtual basis, and one of its auction items involves a meet-and-greet session with former Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios, as well as a private tour of Little Caesars Arena.

A bit about the Bob Probert Ride’s impact some 10 years in

The Windsor Star’s Dave Battagello reports that the Bob Probert Ride, which wasn’t formally held due to the coronavirus pandemic this past June, is still celebrating a significant milestone via hitting a charitable mile-marker:

The Bob Probert Ride annually attracts more than 1,000 motorcycle riders and has raised up to $160,000 each year for cardiac care in Windsor and Essex County operated under Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare.

But this year, the popular fundraiser was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

That didn’t stop the Probert family — plus lead event sponsors Unifor Locals 444 and 2458, plus Thunder Road — from coming up with the idea this year to stage a raffle for a new 2020 Harley-Davidson Road Glide motorcycle as a replacement.

The winning ticket was drawn Saturday outside Tecumseh Arena with an expectation to raise at least $20,000 after expenses under the Probert Ride banner — now in its 10th year — to go toward cardiac care and rehabilitation, according to Bill Marra, vice-president of external affairs for Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital.

The motorcycle fundraiser overall in its history has raised well beyond $1 million.

“The Probert event has been integral for us,” Marra said. “It has allowed us to invest $500,000 into angioplasty when we were still on Ouellette. Then when we moved to Prince Road it helped purchase all of the equipment for our 10,000 sq. ft. cardiac rehab facility.

Continued

Jonatan Berggren to make Swedish men’s team debut during the Karjala Cup

Per AntonJ85 on Twitter, the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation announced its team for the Karjala Cup tournament in Finland today, and Jonatan Berggren will be making his men’s team debut as part of the Swedish squad:

The Swedes will battle the Finns between November 2nd and 8th in Helsinki, Finland.

Update: Per Swehockey.se, Gustav Berglund, Albert Johansson, William Wallinder, Lucas Raymond and Elmer Soderblom will spend November 2nd to 7th skating for the Swedish World Junior team warm-up camp as well.

On the road today

It’s an even bet as to whether I’ll be around to cover the news regarding Tyler Bertuzzi’s arbitration award, especially if it breaks today. I have to take my Uncle Jamie to Beaumont today for a bone marrow test.

That’s going to require driving from South Lyon to Westland, taking Jamie to Beaumont in Royal Oak for the 11 AM appointment, returning him to Westland and returning to South Lyon sometime in the afternoon (when, I do not know).

Adding “fun” to the mix is the fact that the WiFI at Beaumont is a disaster on wheels, too.

I’m running on about three hours of sleep due to a rough night as well (Aunt Annie dropped a pop bottle at 4:45, and pop bottles make that same CRASH-bounce-CRASH sound that little old ladies do when they hit the ground after a fall)…

But the short story long is that I’d usually camp out in front of the laptop today to wait for an arbitration ruling, and that’s not going to happen today. I’ll cover things as I’m able, and I’m sorry if that’s an inconvenience.

Via Khan: thanks, but no thanks (to more Wings UFA signings)

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a list of the NHL’s top unrestricted free agents remaining on the marketplace this morning, and my answer as to which player(s) the Red Wings should sign is “none.”

The Red Wings will indeed probably have significant salary cap space left over after they re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi (via arbitration), Anthony Mantha and Dmytro Timashov, but I don’t believe that the Red Wings should sign anybody who’s left on the market as their roster is mostly full at this point.

With the salary cap not slated to rise until the 2022-2023 season at the earliest, I want to see the Wings bank away their cap space to save for a rainy day–unless a team makes it worth Detroit’s while to add on a “bad contract” in exchange for draft picks and/or prospects.

Here’s what Khan has to say…

Continue reading Via Khan: thanks, but no thanks (to more Wings UFA signings)

Two The Athletic things: Bultman discusses the Wings’ improvement, while Mirtle talks cap crunches

Of Red Wings-related note from The Athletic this morning:

  1. The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted an article in which he attempts to discern the Red Wings’ level of offseason improvement by Game Value Score Added, and here’s the introduction to said article:
Continue reading Two The Athletic things: Bultman discusses the Wings’ improvement, while Mirtle talks cap crunches

NHL.com checks in on the Red Wings’ offseason moves

NHL.com is posting offseason updates on each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams, and this morning, NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika discusses the Red Wings‘ changes:

The Detroit Red Wings made several changes after they had a .275 points percentage last season (17-49-5), the worst in the NHL since the salary cap was introduced in 2005-06.

“We’re looking to upgrade every aspect of our team,” general manager Steve Yzerman said.

The additions were one- or two-year commitments to players who bring experience: forwards Bobby Ryan and Vladislav Namestnikov; defensemen Jon Merrill, Marc Staal and Troy Stecher; and goalie Thomas Greiss.

The idea was to improve in the short term and maintain flexibility for the medium and long terms. Early in their rebuild, the Red Wings want to buy time for prospects to develop with the NHL salary cap remaining at $81.5 million this season.

“I think we’re just trying to move cautiously,” Yzerman said. “The climate we’re in, with uncertainty with our salary cap in years to come, we just felt like this is a good way to go. We’re prepared to sign players to longer-term contracts, including our own players, but we’re going to just move slowly for the time being and be careful about handing out long-term deals.”

Continued