from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
“We are meeting in the coming days to discuss options and future plans,” Milstein said. “It’s very likely Pavel will live up to his promise of playing for his hometown team in Russia.
“NHL options will also be discussed.”
Milstein said there’s a 90% probability of Datsyuk staying in Russia.
Anyone want to guess what happened 11 years ago tonight?
Watch below.
from Ansar Khan of Mlive,
Libor Sulak has signed with a Russian team rather than spend another season in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Sulak, a restricted free-agent defenseman who appeared in six games with the Detroit Red Wings last season, inked a one-year deal with Severstal Cherepovets of the KHL.
The 6-2, 207 pound Sulak would have been hard-pressed to earn a roster spot with the Red Wings at the start of the 2019-20 season.
from Ansar Khan of Mlive,
Detroit Red Wings front office personnel wrapped up several days of interviews and evaluated off-ice test results for dozens of prospects at the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo last week.
They will meet shortly for their pro and amateur scouting meetings and, among other things, continue discussing draft strategy. The Red Wings have 10 selections at the June 21-22 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver, including the sixth overall pick for the second year in a row, as well as three third-round selections, their own, the New York Islanders’ pick via Vegas and San Jose’s.
New general manager Steve Yzerman’s main task is improving a defense that lacks depth and skill throughout the organization. But the Red Wings might be forced to take the best player available at No. 6, defense, center or wing.
Center Jack Hughes of the U.S. National Team Development Program is expected to be selected first by New Jersey and Finnish winger Kaapo Kakko second by the New York Rangers.
After that, it’s fairly wide open, as several players could be taken in any order with the next several selections.
Here are 10 other highly rated players, many of whom will be available for the Red Wings:
from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
Cole Caufield sounds like Filip Zadina and works like Dylan Larkin.
As the Detroit Red Wings handicap who to choose with their first selection in the 2019 draft, Caufield stands out for how he could potentially boost the rebuild. He has spent so much time doing wrist curls and other upper body workouts that shooting the puck has become a muscle memory.
Think that’s an exaggeration? Caufield scored 72 goals last season for the U.S. National Team Development Program, earning a spot as the eighth-ranked North American skater on the NHL Central Scouting final prospect rankings.
Even on a team as talented as the U18 group — Jack Hughes is expected to be the first overall pick; other high-ranked NTDP players include Alex Turcotte, Trevor Zegras, Cameron York and Spencer Knight — Caufield found a way to stand out....
Teams that are wary that Caufield is only 5-foot-7 can see what a forward of that stature can accomplish in Chicago’s Alex DeBrincat, who had 41 goals and 35 assists last season in his second year in the NHL. The Blackhawks hold the third pick, in fact, and they could chance it on Caufield. If they don’t — well, this is where he sounds like Zadina. Asked what his sales pitch to the Blackhawks would be, Caufield shrugged. “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,
Craig Button, the TSN draft analyst, has Bowen currently going No. 3 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The hope of Byram possibly dropping to the Wings at No. 6 appears to be diminishing by the day, leading to the June 21 Entry Draft.
“Bowen is a number-one defenseman who controls play in all areas,” Button said. “He’s strong defensively and an excellent skater who excels in transition. He has the vision, poise and puck skills to be a standout offensive player. He and (Adam) Boqvist could be a dynamic pair, perhaps in a similar light to (Chicago defensemen Duncan) Keith and (Brent) Seabrook.”
Byram will desperately need to add strength, which should come naturally. He’s a slender 6-foot, 193-pounds, is a left-hand shot, and has elite skating ability.
Byram met with 11 teams this week — the Wings expected to be among them — and doesn’t have a preference which organization drafts him.
A bit over 5 minutes to watch.
from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,
Drafting a defenseman would be preferred by the Red Wings, and especially a player who could potentially develop into a star caliber defenseman.
And there could be one available where the Red Wings draft at No. 6 in the first round in Bowen Byram.
But the Red Wings also wouldn’t mind an elite center. No team would turn its back on that. And in the June 21-22 Entry Draft in Vancouver, the top end of the first round will have plenty of outstanding centers available....
If the Wings can snag a legitimate impact center, they’d be fine with playing Athanasiou on a wing where his speed and game-breaking ability have already been evident.
Cozens and Dach are both bigger centers, both around 6-foot-3, and have the capability to grow into the type of hulking two-way centers that simply don’t come around often.
from Steve Ellis of The Hockey News,
Let’s take a look at 10 NHL prospects who will fight for roster spots next season:
Filip Zadina, RW (Detroit Red Wings)
To the uninitiated, Zadina offered much to be concerned about earlier this year. After falling to Detroit at No. 6 at the draft last June, Zadina, 19, had a rough training camp and was sent to Grand Rapids. But in the AHL, Zadina showed great promise, and while he didn’t light up the league and was essentially invisible at the world juniors, Zadina still looks ready for the NHL next year. With 35 points in 59 games, Zadina was the second-highest scoring teenaged player in the AHL and he looked good with three points in nine games with the Red Wings, one of the first teams eliminated from playoff contention. He has the skill, now he needs a consistent pace.
more players...
via the YouTube page of the NHL,
Actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key joins NHL Celebrity Wrap to make his pick for the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, discuss his Red Wings fandom and how the game of hockey has given the city of Detroit a special identity
from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
Here are five guys the Wings are keeping tabs on for their first pick.
D Bowen Byram
He’ll probably be gone by the time the Wings pick, but if he’s available, he's an easy choice. He’s a potential game-changer with his ability in the offensive zone (71 points in 67 regular-season games for the Vancouver Giants; led all WHL players with 26 points in 22 playoff games). The Wings picked an offensive defenseman, Dennis Cholowski, with their first-round pick in 2016, but that should not deter them from adding Byram.
C Dylan Cozens
His prowess at both ends of the ice has drawn comparisons to Jonathan Toews. Cozens is 6-foot-3, shoots right, and put up 84 points in 68 games for Lethbridge. He’s got a quick release, and isn’t afraid of going to the net. He’s a good skater with excellent vision, and can fit at either center or right wing.
from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,
The Wings have the No. 6 pick in the first round and 10 picks overall, including three in the second round....
Players such as forwards Dylan Cozens (Lethbridge/WHL), Trevor Zegras (USA development program), Kirby Dach (Saskatoon/WHL) and Alex Turcotte (USA development program), and defenseman Bowen Byram (Vancouver/WHL), are among the players expected to be around when the Wings’ draft sixth.
They’ll interview more than 70 players by the time the interview period is over this week, said Martin, and get to know the players that much more.
“It’s everything from tell us about your background and your family to your hockey development growing up,” Martin said. “We delve into personal issues, schooling, have they had any adversity and how have they handled adversity at any point in their life? What do they like to do when they aren’t playing hockey? Who are their friends?
“We take a fairly low-key approach, but sometimes it just organically flows into other parts of their life. We prefer to have more of a conversation rather than just a grilling interview session, and based on what they say, it might lead us toward a different path of questioning.
“We have to 20 minutes with each player and we typically use the entire 20 minutes.”
from Adam McCann of WalletHub,
So for all the diehard and rookie fans, WalletHub crunched the numbers to determine the best places for hockey enthusiasts. We ranked 73 U.S. cities based on 21 key indicators of a good hockey city. Our data set ranges from ticket prices to stadium capacity to the performance level of each city’s teams. Read on for the winners, commentary from a panel of sports experts and a full description of our methodology.
from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
He’s represented the United States three times at the World Championships. His most recent experience might come up during a question-and-answer session at the ceremony honoring the best high school athletes in the metro Detroit area. Larkin didn’t play after getting hit in the groin area by a puck during the last game of the preliminary round. He’s OK.
“It was a tough way to end it, very painful, but I’m all good,” Larkin said. “I should be back working out next week.”
That’ll be the start of June, more than three months before the Wings meet for training camp. It comes back to what he’ll tell high schoolers looking for advice.
“You always hear about what that special athlete does when no one is watching — the little sacrifices that athlete makes,” Larkin said. “You work on your craft extra. If you love the game and you want to go far, you’re going to have to do it through work ethic.”
more including his interview process at the NHL Combine...
from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
In the glimpses he caught of defensemen Filip Hronek and Oliwer Kaski at the 2019 IIHF World Championship, coach Jeff Blashill saw how each could make the Detroit Red Wings better.
Hronek already has his foot in the door having played 46 games for the Wings last season. But Hronek looks poised for a bigger role after a standout performance for the Czech Republics in May at the World tournament. Hronek produced three goals and eight assists in 10 games. Fellow Wings teammate Anthony Mantha likewise had a stellar showing, as he helped Canada win silver, scoring eight goals and tying Mark Stone for a team-leading 14 points.
The Wings signed Kaski, who helped Finland win gold, after the tournament ended to a one-year deal. He has a great shot, shoots right, and starred last season in Finland’s top hockey league for the Lahti Pelicans, where he led the team with nine goals and 51 points in 59 games. The hope is he can translate his game to the NHL. The Wings tried to boost their defense last year with Czech free-agent signee Libor Sulak, but Sulak wasn’t able to grasp how to play defense at the NHL level.
Hronek has earned himself a spot as a regular, but there is uncertainty about the defense as a whole.
via awood40's YouTube page,
Top assists too.
DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings today signed defenseman Oliwer Kaski to a one-year entry-level contract.
Kaski, 23, spent the 2018-19 campaign with the Lahti Pelicans in the SM-Liiga, Finland's top professional league, ranking sixth overall in league scoring with 51 points (19-32-51) in 59 games. Kaski posted the third highest-scoring season ever by a defenseman in that league, trailing only Pekka Rautakallio (25-28-53 in 1978-79) and former Red Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski (19-34-53 in 1998-99). He won the Lasse Oksanen Award as the league's best player during the regular season after leading all defensemen in goals and points. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound blueliner has played parts of three seasons in the SM-Liiga for HIFK Helsinki and the Pelicans, totaling 73 points (30-43-73), a plus-15 rating and 20 penalty minutes in 144 games. Kaski also made his national team debut in 2018-19 and won a gold medal with Finland at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia, collecting two assists in 10 games.
The Pori, Finland, native also has a connection to the state of Michigan, producing 12 points (4-8-12) at Western Michigan University during the 2015-16 season and skating in one game the following season before returning to Finland to make his professional debut for HIFK. Kaski worked his way up the Finnish junior ranks with Assat prior to attending college, totaling 59 points (23-36-59) in 88 games at the under-20 level, 24 points (14-10-24) in 37 games on the under-18 circuit and 30 points (16-14-30) in 17 games at the under-17 level between 2011-15 and in 2016-17 following his return from Western Michigan.
Stats are below.
added 2:43pm, watch a highlight package below on Kaski...
from Corey Pronman of The Athletic,
The NHL team that drafts Bowen Byram is getting a very complete defenseman who, despite not turning 18 until a week before the draft, is knocking on the door to play in the league.
Byram may not have the skill level of John Klingberg or the skating of P.K. Subban, but he does everything at a good if not very good level. He’s such a smooth player. His skating and pace of play will translate to the NHL immediately.
In the NHL, Byram will be able to generate clean exist and entries with his skating and passing. He can create offense off the blue line and with his skill. He’ll be able to score goals. He’ll be able to defend good players due to his skating, sense and physicality.
There’s not a whole lot more you can ask for. He projects as a No. 1 defenseman in the NHL.
much more ($$$) with numerous videos...
Hronek made the all-star team and was also selected the best defenseman of the tournament.
via Andy Potts of IIHF.com,
Another Czech, defenceman Filip Hronek, also made the select roster alongside Finland’s Mikko Lehtonen. Hronek was the most productive blue liner, with 11 (3+8) points, while Lehtonen was a key figure in the Finnish team that silenced Russia’s potent offence in a 1-0 semi-final victory and battled its way to gold for the third time in its history....
The tournament directorate selected its top three players, with Vasilevski and Hronek getting the nominations for goalie and defenceman
The reason I ask is Anthony Mantha and Turris have created a nice playing relationship in the World Championship.
On a side note, it sure looks like Mantha has taken his game to another lever. Yes, the competition is not the same, but he has dominated the play in many situations during the World Championship.
from Paul Skrbina of The Tennessean,
The curious case of Kyle Turris continued during the 2018-19 season, leaving the summer of 2019 with more questions than answers.
Will the 29-year-old center rediscover his game next season?
Will it be with the Predators?
Will the Predators try to trade him this offseason, spelling his final chapter in Nashville?
Turris carried a $6 million price tag this season. The Predators are on the hook for $30 million more over the next five years, the work of a contract extension he signed when he was dealt to Nashville in a three-way trade in November 2017.
Turris' numbers on the stat sheet haven't matched up with those on his contract, though.
Below, watch Mantha set up Turris in Canada's 5-1 win over the Czech Republic in a semi-final WC game today.
from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
This is the third in a series examining the Wings’ last five drafts leading up to the 2019 event June 21-22 in Vancouver, British Columbia..
D Dennis Cholowski
Drafted: 20th.Scouting report: Excellent skater with high-end offensive abilities.
Wingspan: Cholowski, 21, made the opening night roster after a good camp. At Christmas, he had six goals and eight assists and ranked second among team defensemen with 14 points. He was also a team-worst minus-11.
From Christmas until mid-February, Cholowski had one goal and one assist in 16 games, and was a team-worst minus-9. That prompted an assignment to Grand Rapids, where Cholowski finished the season with 12 assists in 25 games.
Cholowski is a smooth skater who isn’t afraid to play the puck, but he needs to improve his decision making in determining reward versus risk. The Wings can live with his mistakes so long as they don’t outweigh his assets.
Assessment: He'll be a top-four d-man, maybe even top pairing.
F Givani Smith
Drafted: 46th.Scouting report: Hard worker with an infectious attitude.
Assessment: Could find a fit as physical grinder.
more on the two above plus other names...
from John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press,
Responding to months of criticism over his organization's shortfall of development around Little Caesars Arena, Christopher Ilitch said Wednesday his timelines for building a lively pedestrian-oriented district proved overly aggressive but his family's passion for Detroit remains strong.
His interview with the Free Press on Wednesday marked the first time Ilitch has publicly discussed delays in building out the vision of District Detroit that he sold to the public five years ago. That vision included renderings of sidewalk cafés, people strolling in the evening, and buildings old and new filled with new tenants.
Virtually none of that has happened. Along Cass Avenue behind the Fox Theatre area, multiple surface parking lots operated by the Ilitch organization sit where the district was to have risen. Of six residential projects Ilitch outlined two years ago this month, none has started construction.
In a 15-minute interview with the Free Press arranged after several weeks of requests, Ilitch read a short opening statement and answered most questions about District Detroit by returning to his prepared talking points.
from the Wings' YouTube page,
Carley Johnston sits down with Taro Hirose at Michigan State University to discuss his whirlwind transition from college to the NHL.
from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,\
“I’m definitely excited to see what comes about,” DeKeyser said. “We have young guys knocking on the door who think they’re ready to play and it looks like they are ready to play. So there are probably going to be some tough decisions that are have to be made, maybe more so this year.
“I just hope that our D-corps improves every year, whether it’s the same guys we have or if we have new guys.”
New general manager Steve Yzerman did not return a message seeking comment. There’s been no word yet on what veteran defenseman Niklas Kronwall, 38, will do –he played 79 games last season and looked like he’s figured out how to manage the pain of his bad left knee, but people who were in the locker room the night of the Wings’ finale, April 6, said he was emotional, as if it might have been his last game.
“I know he’s up in the air, from what I’ve heard,” DeKeyser said. “I’m hoping he’s coming back. He’s a great leader and on the ice he’s always cool and confident. If he’s gone, I’ll definitely miss him. I love Nik.”
Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.