from Ansar Khan of Mlive,
Dominik Kubalik didn’t come out say, “Take that!” But he clearly was thinking along those lines.
It’s sweet to snap a tie late in the third period and help your team end a six-game slide. It’s sweeter when it’s against your former club, the one that kicked you to the curb.
Kubalik’s goal with 4:07 remaining in regulation Wednesday lifted the Detroit Red Wings past the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at Little Caesars Arena, stopping their six-game skid (0-5-1).
“It felt really good, especially against them,” Kubalik said. “You always want to beat the old team. Didn’t work the first game (4-3 overtime loss in Chicago Oct. 21), so I’m happy we did it and hopefully it’s going to give us confidence into the next games.”
It was Kubalik’s 18th goal and 39th point, which rank second and third on the team.
also Khan on Fabbri's injury,
Chiasson, Kubalik and Lalonde
via the Detroit Free Press,
Extended highlights
Outplayed Chicago quite overwhelmingly for most of the game but they still converted three quick chances into goals.
Hope Fabbri is okay, he’s been really good since joining the team.
Boston is insane.
DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings today traded defenseman Steven Kampfer to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for future considerations.
Kampfer, 34, skated in 44 games with the American Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins this season, recording 22 points (4-18-22) and 26 penalty minutes. The 5-foot-11, 198-pound defenseman signed a one-year contract with the Red Wings on May 22, 2022 after tallying 30 points (11-19-30) and 49 penalty minutes in 46 games with Ak Bars Kazan in the Kontinental Hockey League during the 2021-22 campaign, in addition to four points (2-2-4) in six postseason contests.
Max Butlan of The Athletic answers some fan mail,
It’s a hard one to answer because of all the variables. When will Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper be ready to not just play in the NHL, but to be difference-makers? How will the current young roster players continue to evolve, taking steps like the ones Jake Walman and Michael Rasmussen did this season? And of course, what supplemental moves will Detroit make via trades and free agency?
But without knowing what those supplemental moves will be, it’s not unreasonable to think it could now be two or more years before Detroit is a playoff team, and two or more beyond that before it’s a legit Cup contender.
The current players will be looking to prove that wrong, of course. But on paper, in a merciless division and now down two more big pieces, they will have their work cut out for them. That doesn’t mean it was necessarily the wrong course of action, as Detroit likely would have lost Bertuzzi anyway and Hronek is going to be due a substantial raise a year from now. The amount of draft capital they acquired instead could set up Detroit quite well in the long term.
But without a significant “now” addition, the events of last week are a real setback to any realistic contention timeline. And for a team that’s already been at this rebuild process for several years (and four already under GM Steve Yzerman), that’s not easy to stomach.
Who do you like with the Red Wings’ two first-rounders? — Cosmic Gumbo
Corey Pronman’s latest draft ranking came out this week, which is perfect timing for Red Wings fans wanting to look ahead to their options come June. And there are several prospects who should be of interest.
As for the Red Wings’ two picks (their own and the Islanders’), it will of course depend on where they land. Detroit’s own pick looks likely to land between 8 and 12, and the Islanders’ (which is top-12 protected) should be between 13 and 20 — entering Wednesday’s games, it sat at 17.
If Austrian RHD David Reinbacher (Pronman’s No. 7 prospect) is somehow there at Detroit’s pick, he feels like a no-brainer as an Yzerman-type, two-way defenseman with top-pair projection. But it’s rare the top defenseman in a class is still on the board at No. 8 or later, so I wouldn’t get too attached.
More likely, I think blazing-fast NTDP center Oliver Moore makes a lot of sense for Detroit at its own pick, as could well-rounded scoring wingers Colby Barlow or Ryan Leonard, or puck-moving RHD Axel Sandin-Pellikka (though the latter is notably not the profile of defenseman Detroit has targeted early under Yzerman).
There’s a chance one of those players is still on the board at the Islanders’ pick, too, depending on where it falls. And the New York pick could also be a great spot to take a swing at Pronman’s No. 8 player, Russian power forward Daniil But, who could slide due to the continued uncertainty around Russian players, or Brayden Yager, who was seen as a potential top-10 pick entering the year but just hasn’t scored at the expected level this season.
The bottom line is, if both picks are in the top 15, the Red Wings will have strong options in front of them.
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