Abel to Yzerman

View the roster as it stands today.

from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin and goalie Alex Lyon were two of the 15 players named to USA’s preliminary roster for the World Championships.

Larkin will be joined up front by Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, Columbus’ Johnny Gaudreau and Montreal’s Cole Caufield among others. The World Champions is expected to draw more name players this year because the NHL is planing an international tournament next season and will send players to the next Olympic Games.

Lyon is the only NHL goalie named thus far as USA Hockey waits to see which goalies will be available by first round playoff knockouts.

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from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

Next season could be viewed as the year of the more for the Detroit Red Wings. That’s because the team will be dealing with so much more than they were at the outset of the 2023-24 NHL campaign.

There will be more expectations placed upon this team after missing this season’s playoffs via a tiebreaker. That will lead to more pressure, more responsibility and more growth within the team.

Will it all result in more wins? That’s the great unkown at this juncture. But it will also lead to more opportunity and Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde is viewing that as a good thing.

“Expectations for certain are going to change and that’s a positive,” Lalonde said. “Those expectations changed when we went 16-4-2 in February. Expectations changed when we started the season 5-1. Expectations changed when we won six straight.”

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from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

CapFriendly.com shows Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman with $28.8 million in cap space remaining. But that amount will evaporate quickly as he begins to sign his players he wants to keep.

Yzerman has 13 returning players under contract. He has five restricted free agents, including Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond who will receive the majority of his cap space if they want long-term contracts. Other restricted free agents in the plans for next season are Jonatan Berggren, Albert Johansson and Joe Veleno. Berggren and Johansson won’t be waiver exempt in 2024-25, meaning they can’t be sent to Grand Rapids without passing through the waiver process.

“We have to make room for them and it’ll be up to them as individuals to earn that spot, whatever spot in the lineup they can. I wouldn’t rule out anybody, pick a name in GR,” Yzerman said. “I don’t want to say definitely they won’t be here because they’re winding down their season and hopefully are going to have a good playoff run and things can change over the course of a long playoff run and we could potentially see more players pushing for a spot on the roster.”

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from Max Bultman of The Athletic,

With the 2023-24 season in the books, though, and the proud franchise’s playoff drought now at eight years, one thing is clear: Expectations have begun to arrive in Detroit.

Arriving at the same time, however, is a complicated, challenging reality: Though the Red Wings took steps forward this year, they did so with a roster made up largely of veterans — not all of whom will be back next season. Yzerman has said he has interest in bringing all six of Detroit’s unrestricted free agents back, but realistically, he will have to prioritize certain players over others — and likely also do some subtracting elsewhere to make room on the roster and salary-cap ledger. Especially with young cornerstones Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond in need of new contracts.

And when some of those veterans inevitably depart, that will leave holes to fill and lost production that will need to be made up. Likely, those will be filled at least in part by younger players.

In some ways, that possibility is exciting. Yzerman’s conservative approach to promoting young players has been among the most criticized aspects of his GM tenure, and this season, despite the team’s rebuilding status, only one player with rookie status dressed for Detroit: Simon Edvinsson, who played in only 16 games.

Edvinsson looks locked into next year’s lineup, after an excellent stint to close the year, and in addition to him, Yzerman singled out forward Jonatan Berggren and defenseman Albert Johansson as players the team will need to make space for, as both will no longer be exempt from waivers.

“As far as young guys, anyone else, I wouldn’t rule out anybody,” Yzerman said.

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from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider probably doesn’t realize that it’s been 16 seasons since an NHL defenseman was able to dish out over 200 hits and block more than 200 shots in the same season.

It’s a certainty, though, that he knows well the most recent guy to do it. This is because that guy is him.

This season, Seider was accounting for 211 hits. He was also sacrificing his body in front of 212 pucks, finishing second in the NHL in blocked shots. Seider wound up eighth among NHL blueliners in hits.

“He shows up every game, he battles hard every game,” Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman said of Seider. “He blocks shots, he gets hits, he makes plays.

“We’re asking him to do a lot and he’s got the mental toughness to weather it all.”

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from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

In grading the 2023-24 Detroit Red Wings, nearly everyone aced their finals — but the body of work over the whole season wasn't quite as stellar.

D Ben Chiarot: B

.. The buzz: Plays a heavy game, always ready to stick up for a teammate, was a solid, dependable partner for Moritz Seider down the stretch.

F Andrew Copp: C+

... The buzz: Asked to play in a defensive role, and didn't see much power-play time, which impacted his production. Given the expectations, the team needed to see more of a push to demand a top-six role.

F Alex DeBrincat: B-

... The buzz: Scored just 10 goals the second half of the season, going quiet at a crucial time (seven points in 19 games from Feb. 29-April 10) before erupting with seven points the final four games. Many a scorer is streaky, but scoring is DeBrincat's bread-and-butter, and it's disappointing the two-time 40-goal scorer didn't even reach 30 his first year with the Wings.

Coach Derek Lalonde and staff: B-

Derek Lalonde and associate coaches Alex Tanguay (offense, power play) and Bob Boughner (defense, penalty kill) kept the Wings determined through some turbulent stretches, and calm during an intense finish to the season. But the defensive structure was an issue all season, and slow starts marred the team especially in the second half. Losing Larkin shouldn't have impacted the team to the devastation that it did, and that's partly on the staff to do a better job managing the roster and forging lineups that deal better with missing one player. It's on Lalonde to show he's the right guy to take the next step, which is coaching the Wings into the playoffs.

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from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

Detroit GM Steve Yzerman indicated prior to the start of the season that he wasn’t sure if the Red Wings were a playoff team, and they just missed. But, as he said Thursday, he knows it is time. Yzerman laid it out very honestly. He wants to make room for prospects who will no longer be waiver-exempt, and has to know what the next contracts look like for Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider before committing to any of the unrestricted free agents.

The challenge for him is that some of those UFAs — Shayne Gostisbehere, Patrick Kane, David Perron — played very important roles and losing them would be impactful. (Gostisbehere was praised for his incredible keep-in at the blue line that saved a game against Montreal this week. An “X” follower named Stephen Geary correctly pointed out that he had a similar diving one years ago for the Flyers against Columbus. Maybe he should play shortstop for the Tigers in the summer.)

Perron enthusiastically declared his desire to return. Kane was more reserved, but was very excited discussing the future last weekend in Toronto. It’s clear he feels so much better than a year ago; he’s rejuvenated. (He and Max Pacioretty are similar in the sense that both say this will be their first “normal” summer in three years.) He really enjoys Detroit, but after a nomadic 14 months, I believe he wants to put down some hockey roots.

more league wide Thoughts...

from Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press,

So, Lalonde was asked, what is the next step?

“To improve,” he said. “We improved 11 points from last year. We had … six more wins than last year. We took a step. I think that next step is just improving on that.

“What does that look like? I don't know. But you see the growth in this group and the battle in this group. They pushed them. They push this group forward for sure.”

If Lalonde isn’t sure what improvement looks like for a team that missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker to an inferior Washington Capitals team they should have beaten a week ago at home, let me help him.

Improvement is one thing and one thing only next season: the playoffs.

Or put another way: the playoffs or bust.

Or put yet another way: If Lalonde can’t get this team over the hump in his third season and take the Wings to the postseason, it’s time to find his replacement because the rebuild has gone on long enough.

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from John Niyo of the Detroit News,

“You look at the black-and-white improvement, we improved 11 points,” said head coach Derek Lalonde, whose team went from 35 wins and 80 points a year ago to 41 wins and 91 points this season. “You can also look at it, black-and-white, we missed the playoffs. That's been hockey for 100 years, making the playoffs.”

For Lalonde, that should be the mandate now, even if it’s an unspoken one. A whopping 10 NHL coaches were fired this past season, and though he’s only been in Detroit two full years, Lalonde has a longer tenure than half of his peers around the league. Still, all this talk of improvement inevitably will take a back seat to black-and-white results.

Lalonde gets high marks from players for his even-keeled approach — “You know what you’re gonna get, and I really respect that,” captain Dylan Larkin says — and he and his staff deserve some credit for the way the team responded down the stretch after a disastrous month of March.

“Obviously, we weren't perfect,” Yzerman said. “But the most important thing from my vantage point was that our players are motivated, our players are determined and there's a good atmosphere within the locker room. And part of that is the coaching staff helps foster that or create that. So overall, I'm happy with the direction we're going, the coaching that we have.”

Still, what we have here is a team that improved dramatically on one end of the ice this season — Detroit’s scoring was up nearly a half-goal per game to finish ninth overall in the NHL — yet also allowed the ninth-most goals in a league where none in the bottom 10 made the postseason.

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from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

The Red Wings’ defense situation for next season is complicated. With Simon Edvinsson showing this spring that he’s ready to play in Detroit full-time, Detroit GM Steve Yzerman now have seven defensemen under contract.

The Red Wings also have Albert Johansson playing well for the Grand Rapids Griffins. He won’t be waiver-exempt next season. That means he must make Detroit’s roster or go through waivers to be sent down to the Griffins. He is a quality young defender with a penchant for sharp outlet passes. He won’t clear waivers.

All of that makes it more challenging to bring back soon-to-be-unrestricted free agent Shayne Gostisbehere next season. But Yzerman made it clear Friday that he plans to try.

“I’d like to see if we can figure out a way to do it,” Yzerman said. “He’s a valuable player for how we’re set up on the back end.”

continued plus talk on Detroit's UFAs.

If you missed Lalonde and Yzerman today, you can watch them in two separate videos below.

via the Detroit Red Wings YouTube page,

Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde and executive VP/general manager Steve Yzerman speak to the media following the 23-24 Detroit Red Wings season.

Live now, watch below.

The audio will start with the Kane talk, it's a short one.

I'll have the embed code up at the appropriate times.

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

When the Wings opened the visitor's locker room at Centre Bell to reporters after Tuesday's events, players looked and sounded devastated. They had done what they could, rallying from a third-period deficit for the 14th time and winning in a shootout, only to find it was moot because the Washington Capitals won their game, ending the Wings' playoff chase.

That it's over is a letdown — but consider where the team was five years ago when Steve Yzerman was named general manager on April 19, 2019: Fourth from the bottom. The next year, the Wings finished at the bottom of the standings, 23 points below the 30th-place team.

To be in contention for a playoff spot all the way to Game 82 just four years later is tremendous progress. These past two weeks, when the Wings took 11 of 16 possible points while facing one opponent after another with something of their own to play for — is something that stands to pay dividends next season.

It was a remarkable finish, especially after what transpired over the past seven weeks. On Feb. 27, the Wings were 13 games above .500 and in the first wild card spot, only two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Wings lost their next three games, but two of those were to the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche, both elite opponents. The team looked deep enough, and had promising prospects in the minor, that Yzerman stood pat at the trade deadline.

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from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"All of these guys never quit," said Larkin, whose leadership as captain was again impressive. "We had a very close-knit group this year. To have the last month, the last two weeks that we had, we just wouldn't go away. Comeback after comeback, just so much fun."

Tuesday's victory was the Wings' 14th third-period comeback victory of the season. It's a staggering number and spoke to the attitude and resiliency of the roster. The Wings' comeback ability was shocking in the final games.

David Perron's game-tying goal, with three seconds left Tuesday in regulation time, was a fitting example to of this Wings' roster that simply would not quit.

"For this team, the way that we battled, whether it was to come back in games or just find ourselves in this position was incredible," Kane said. "It was like nothing I've ever seen. There's no quit in this team. Really had a lot of fun playing with these guys and playing for the team here in general.

"It was a really fun year. It's very disappointing right now, but hopefully we can find some positives in the way we played towards the end of the year. The battle level" of this group was just so impressive."

There's no doubt Tuesday was a gut-wrenching punch. But you couldn't miss the undercurrent of optimism regarding the future given all the positives from this season: The growth of Raymond and Seider, the continued development of Michael Rasmussen and Joe Veleno, and the drive and example of a list of veterans that showed the way.

A continued theme after Tuesday's game was the closeness of the group. The unity was apparent as the season progressed and the success mounted.

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from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Derek Lalonde wanted to make sure the Detroit Red Wings appreciated just how much they accomplished.

He addressed them minutes after they were eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday in the regular-season finale. They won their game against the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4 in a shootout, but the Washington Capitals also won their game and have the tiebreaker on Detroit. It was a bittersweet way to finish — win, but lose.

Lalonde related what he told players: "Be proud of their effort. Leave this rink with their head up. Positive narrative about the group. All year long, especially down the stretch, they played for each other. It was all about the team. We take seven of our last eight points the way we did. We won 14 games trailing in the third period.

"This stings, but they did move this proud organization forward from where it’s been, and we have to keep pushing forward."

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from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

It will be the eighth consecutive season the Wings miss the playoffs.

"It’s hard, gutting," captain Dylan Larkin said. "We're pretty sad in here, just to see it come to an end. It's very sad, very hard."

The Wings found out about Washington's victory just before the shootout.

"We are you going to do, you know?" said an emotional Larkin.

Still, the way the Wings closed the season earning seven of a possible eight points and displaying amazing resiliency was a big step forward for the organization and may indicate better days ahead.

"Be proud of their effort, leave this rink with your head up," said coach Derek Lalonde of what his post-game message was. "It's a positive narrative about the group all year long, especially down the stetch. They played for each other. It was all about the team.

"I feel awful for the guys because they literally gave everything they had. It's gut-wrenching for the group. I'm proud of them, I don't know what more this group could have done."

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Below watch the post-game interviews.

1-1 after 20 minutes. Late goals by Seider could change the momentum.

Habs took a 3-1 lead inn the 2nd, Veleno score for the Wings to make it 3-2 after 40 minutes.

Sprong tied the game at 3-3 early in the third but Montreal went up 4-3 with just over 7 minutes to play.

Perron scores with 3 ticks left on the clock, to overtime again.

No scoring in OT and in the shootout, Kane with the only goal to win 5-4 but Detroit will miss the playoffs again due to a Washington win.

Team Stats

Detroit goals are below.

Good evening and welcome to all. It’s game #82 with outcomes yet to be decided, and, as long as the Red Wings take care of their own game, then the rest doesn’t matter. The team, and the fans, are well aware that it’s all or nothing.

Reimer is in goal tonight. No other changes to the lineup have been announced.

It’s the Red Wings vs the Canadians in an Original Six matchup. The puck drops around 7:00 PM and will be broadcast/simulcast on Bally Sports Detroit and TV20 (WMYD in Detroit), and on the Red Wings Radio Network 97.1 (The Ticket in Detroit). Also available on ESPN+/NHLPP, TSN2, RDS, SPORTSNET+, and SCRIPPS.

It’s a Live Blog!

Wings win, Caps lose? Wings win, Caps win? Wings lose, Caps win? Both teams lose?

There are more scenarios but you get the picture.

My gut says Wings win, Caps score late to tie game, Flyers win in OT.

from Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press,

Yes, the Canadiens are a proud and storied franchise. But they are not a good team. They have one win in their past seven games. If Lalonde and the Wings can’t find a way to win Tuesday night, they really don’t deserve to be in the playoffs and they certainly don’t deserve credit just putting up a fight.

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Below watch the extended game highlights in two parts.

from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

Lucas Raymond was struggling to catch his breath at the same time he was breathing life into the Detroit Red Wings’ playoff hopes Monday night

Raymond and Dylan Larkin had been on the ice for most of overtime when Larkin broke out with the puck on his stick.

“Just saw Larks up ice. I thought he was going for a breakaway first but he was probably pretty tired,” Raymond said. “Then I just tried to jump up. I was pretty tired, too. Then I just tried to get off a shot. Happy it went in.”

Raymond converted Larkin’s cross-ice feed at 4:35 of overtime for his 31st goal of the season to give Detroit a 5-4 win against the Montreal Canadiens. Raymond’s 30th goal — coming with 1:17 left in regulation — extended postseason hopes to at least Tuesday. If the Red Wings beat the Habs in the second game of a home-and-home in Montreal Tuesday and the Philadelphia Flyers defeat Washington, then Detroit qualifies for the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

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from Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News,