Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now with five reasons the Wings are not ready for “prime time”.

Too Easy To Play Against
Teams that play a heavy game are proving to be too much for the Wings to handle. They’ve looked like second-class citizens in losses to Nashville, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Boston.

Detroit is still an undersized team along the forward line. Teams that are strong on the forecehck and clog up the neutral zone physically overmatch the Red Wings.

The Wings show a goal differential of -26. Among the eight teams above them in the Eastern Conference playoff chase, no team rates out worse than +15.

Lack Of Scoring Depth
Tyler Bertuzzi (19), Dylan Larkin (19) and Lucas Raymond (11) have accounted for 49 of Detroit’s 113 goals this season. That works out to 43.36% of the club’s total offensive output.

Looking to take all of his eggs out of one basket, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill recently moved Bertuzzi down to the second line with Pius Suter and Robby Fabbri. However, this sharing of the wealth can’t fix the barren desert that exists among Detroit’s bottom-six forwards.

more ($$$)

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 01/26/22 at 12:58 PM ET

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

February was going to be nearly a month off for most NHL players, given the league was planning to participate in the Winter Olympics.

But with COVID ravaging the NHL schedule, the league and players’ association pulled out of going to China, and instead more than 100 postponed games will now be played in what were going to be open February dates.

For the likes of rookies Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, this coming month will be a good thing, Blashill said….

“It’s positive, probably for a lot of people, to regroup, and for two young players that haven’t played as many games as this,” Blashill said. “In Raymond’s case, and in Seids’ case, how hard it is every single night. We have to make sure we’re playing close attention to their ice time.”

Blashill said the two rookies may have played too much last weekend, although Seider had to play more because of an injury to Gustav Lindstrom during the Nashville game and Raymond saw more minutes because of Wings’ power-play chances.

Ice chips
Blashill said there were positive reports from Griffins coach Ben Simon on forward Gemel Smith, who went to Grand Rapids to knock rust off after not having played in months. The Wings claimed Smith off waivers last week.

“It had been a long time since he played and he definitely looked more comfortable in the second game,” Blashill said. “The point of going down there was to get some game experience. We’ll see what the immediate future brings.”

... Blashill said goaltender Thomas Greiss (COVID protocol) would be eligible to begin practicing Thursday.

more (on Suter)

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 01/26/22 at 03:10 PM ET

Wings recall Calvin Pickard from Grand Rapids and reassign goaltender Kaden Fulcher to the Griffins from the taxi squad.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 01/26/22 at 03:12 PM ET

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

The Detroit Red Wings like what Joe Veleno brings to the lineup, but there’s no question the young forward can do more.

Veleno joined the Wings when he was called up from the minors at the end of October. It was a memorable day and night for Veleno, who hitched a ride from general manager Steve Yzerman to Toronto and then went out and earned a goal and an assist.

Veleno spent the first four games on the second line, but as the Wings regained all of their regular top-six guys, Veleno dropped to the third, and, of late, the fourth line.

“He’s got to earn more opportunity,” coach Jeff Blashill said Wednesday. “Opportunity has a factor in what your impact is. I think Joe is doing a fine job. I haven’t been disappointed in Joe. Can he grab more? Certainly. It’s not always easy. He’s not always killing penalties and he hasn’t been on the power play much.”

continued

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 01/26/22 at 03:47 PM ET

Oof, wings fans would be mad about what he said re: berggren. If anyone listened to him anymore lol

Posted by ilovehomers on 01/26/22 at 03:51 PM ET

Waaaayyyoooo Pope Pius!!!!!

Posted by damndog revenge From the bowels of Detroit on 01/26/22 at 10:22 PM ET