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Detroit Red Wings Moritz Seider is becoming a fan favorite

Embed from Getty Images The Detroit Red Wings prospects are on full display in Traverse City, Michigan. While Joe Veleno and Filip Zadina are there and playing very well, it is the Detroit Red Wings 2019 first round draft pick that is putting on a show. Moritz Seider, the big German defenseman has earned high praise.

The prospects tournament Has seen Seider flash his great skating and skill with a physical edge bringing the Traverse City fans to their feet roaring with approval. In games against the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs prospects, Moritz Seider showed something else, he played with a physical   snarl.

Seider, also has been very physical in the corners. For a player who some thought may need to polish some aspects of his game up. Moritz Seider is showing to be further along in his development than first thought on draft night.

Seider played against men back in the German league last season, Detroit Red Wings general manage Steve Yzerman and Kris Draper director of amateur scouting knew getting Seider reps over in North America against a bunch of other hungry prospects would be a very important next step for the defensive prospect.

The German ice rinks are bigger than the rinks in the AHL and NHL arena’s. The smaller ice makes for a faster, more aggressive game. Even with a rather drastic change in ice, Seider has adjusted his game and played with very good speed. He is feeling more and more comfortable with every game played. So much so that Moritz Seider has ruled out returning to the German league this season and is opting to play in Grand Rapids Michigan, with the Griffins.

He has bonded with players who will be in Detroit shortly. “Everybody is hanging around with everybody,” Seider said. “We’re having a good time and you can see that on the ice. We’ve played solid.”

While  Seider will be challenging for time in Detroit during the main training camp. He is expected to head to the AHL. But his time in Detroit will arrive soon.

Detroit Red Wings fans can dream of a first line pairing on Filip Hronek and Moritz Seider. That dream soon could be reality.

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New and notes from the Detroit Red Wings Prospect Tournament

Embed from Getty Images Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is watching. The Detroit Red Wings host the annual prospect tournament in Traver City, Michigan home of the Red Wings training camp. This will be Yzerman’s first camp with the Red Wings.

With the watchful eyes of the teams general manager, Detroit Red Wings prospects should not need motivation to impress the teams new GM. As training camp draws near Steve Yzerman has reminded the young prospects there are spots he is looking to fill. A couple defensemen as well as a couple forwards.

This is where the fruits of the rebuild begin to show. Detroit has some prospects that are knocking on the NHL door. Yzerman was quick to point out, roster spots are earned. No player in entitled just because of prospect rankings or where they were drafted.

Last season defensemen Filip Hronek  and forward Taro Hirose and forward Chirstoffer Ehn played big minutes for the Red Wings. They are now going to be counted on heavily as the Red Wings begin to transition out of the rebuild stage in the next two seasons.

Players who need to step up and grab a roster spot for this years Detroit Red Wings are forwards Evgeny Svechnikov, Michael Rasmussen, Filip Zadina as well as defensemen Dennis Cholowski.

In the first two games of the double elimination prospect tournament, Red Wings forward Joe Veleno and Filip Zadina have developed some very good chemistry. These are the things that catches a general managers eye. Not only who is going to step out and shine, but who has good chemistry.

2019 Detroit Red Wings first round draft pick defensemen Moritz Seider, looks the part. As the Red Wings front office sort out if Seider will return to Germany this season or if he is ready to make the jump to the AHL and the Grand Rapids Griffins. One thing that is becoming more and more clear. Moritz Seider will not be in the lower levels very long.

When Steve Yzerman, patience at his Red Wings introductory press conference this is what he was talking about. Yzerman, knew the Red Wings had some good solid young players who needed more seasoning. Starting next week Yzerman and his staff will begin to map out a plan for the players.

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The Detroit Tigers bad season could net another first pick in the 2020 MLB draft

Embed from Getty Images The Detroit Tigers are bad. No, they are bordering on historically bad. Yet for the rebuilding Tigers, that is not all that bad. No really. It is true the 2019 version of the Detroit Tigers were not supposed to be this bad, they are. Or perhaps they are tanking for the top pick in the 2020 MLB Amateur Draft.

Major League Baseball team are allowed to expand team rosters in September. For the teams in the playoff race it gives them a chance to rest starters for a playoff push. For teams out of the playoff race it is a time to see how top prospects are performing. It is also a chance for the bottom feeders to play prospects and possibly aid better draft position. Which is exactly where the Detroit Tigers find themselves.

Double-A Erie has most of the Detroit Tigers top prospects. The Seawolves find themselves in the playoffs as a result of having the best best pitching staff seen in the minor leagues since the late 1980’s Atlanta Braves.

The Detroit Tigers “lead” the Baltimore Orioles by 4 ½ games in the race for the No. 1 overall pick.  The Tigers had the No. 1 pick in 2018’s draft and took pitcher Casey Mize , and the Orioles had the top pick in 2019 catcher Adley Rutschman.

The Detroit Tigers need to go 10-17 in their final 27, which would give them a final record of 50-112. While that is as bad as it looks. Next June’s draft is loaded. It is a draft the Tigers could get the generational bat they so desperately need to speed the teams rebuild up.

Baltimore, on the other hand, have kept up losing with Detroit. Yet the Tigers hold the upper hand. These final games will find both teams in “tank mode.”  As Blaze Jordan, Spencer Torkelson and Enrique Bradfield all figure to hear their names called early in the Draft. Those three players will jump start any team that drafts them.

The Detroit Tigers are about set (in the next two seasons) to pull out of the rebuild phase. They are a team that has outstanding young pitching and some above average bats in the farm system. One more big bat will be the icing on the cake.

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Breaking news, Detroit Red Wings Niklas Kronwall announces his retirement

Embed from Getty Images Drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2000 NHL entry draft, Niklas Kronwall was a Red Wing lifer, playing his entire 953 game NHL career with the Winged Wheels. He ranks 10th all-time in games played for the franchise. He played along side many greats, including the likes of Steve Yzerman, Niklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, and Henrik Zetterberg, on his path to being part of Red Wings lore forever.

Age and bad knees have caught up with Detroit Red Wings Nik Kronwall. Kronwall will be remembered for his on and off ice leadership, dangerously raised visor, and of course, his major open ice hits near side the boards which fans dubbed “getting Kron-WALLED!”

Niklas Kronwall is not going away all together, he will remain with the Red Wings organization as an “Adviser to the General Manager.” During his playing career, Kronwall may not have worn the “C” on his sweater but he sure acted like the team leader. He was a warrior, who battled through constant knee pain.

Steve Yzerman,  gave Kronwall the entire summer to consider whether to retire or return. Kronwall sounded conflicted as the 2018-19 season came to a close.

Kronwall who wore  No. 55 gained notoriety as one of hockey’s most efficient  and clean  body checkers, and most feared hitters in the NHL. When he announced his retirement Niklas Kronwall said his best memory as a Red Wing was when the team won the Stanley Cup in 2008.

He then stated about the current Red Wings rebuild, “We’re gonna get back there,” he said,  “I just won’t be a player when it happens next time.”

From Detroit Red Wings fans everywhere, Thank you Nik!

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The Detroit Red Wings hire former Michigan Wolverines strength and conditioning coach Mike Barwis

Embed from Getty Images Mike Barwis is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Barwis’ methods help to focus on holistic human performance. Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has hired Mike Barwis to spearhead the strengthening program in Detroit.

When Steve Yzerman took over the Red Wings he had an evaluation period. One can only come to the conclusion Yzerman was not happy with the Detroit Red Wings conditioning.

Mike Barwis, philosophy markets itself as a holistic approach to strength and conditioning based on scientific laws of medicine like that of “Wolff’s Law,” which states, “The body conforms and adapts to the intensities and directions to which it is habitually subjected.

Barwis is one if not the very best strength and conditioning coach’s out there. Barwis replaces Mike Kadar, the Red Wings’ strength and conditioning coach  since July 2015.

While with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Steve Yzerman was known for his emphasis on the conditioning of players. Yzerman has already remade Detroit’s scouting department by replacing former director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright with Kris Draper.

The revamping of the Red Wings staff continued with Mike Barwis. Barwis who was heavily recruited by Steve Yzerman,  will be completely revamping the strength and condition program.

A few current Detroit Red Wings, Dylan Larkin, Dennis Cholowski and Anthony Mantha are already said to be using the Barwis plan for conditioning. Bringing in Barwis is a very solid move by the Detroit Red Wings.

With over 500 Olympic and elite athletes across 42 sports, nine professional  sports teams in three different leagues including MLB with  the New York Mets, and  has coached 38 National Strength and Conditioning (NSCA) All-Americans with 27 years of experience it becomes clear Mike Barwis is good at his job.

Barwis, training methods align with Steve Yzerman’s vision for how he wants his team to be conditioned and gain strength. This can do nothing but have a positive impact of the Red wings organization.

 

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Kris Draper promoted to director of amateur scouting for the Detroit Red Wings

Embed from Getty Images Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman, chose not to renew the contract of previous scouting director Tyler Wright. As Yzerman did his homework and interviewed would be candidates, he chose his former Red Wings teammate and four time Stanley Cup champion Kris Draper.

The news was announced on the Detroit Red Wings official website . The same day the story broke, the Red Wings also announced they hired two amateur chief scouts Ryan Rezmierski and Jesse Wallin.

Also of note, Bryce Thoma and Rob Rassey were named to the scouting department and former Tampa Bay Lightning goaltending scouting developer Phil Osaer has been named to the same position in Detroit.

Kris Draper, began to coach youth hockey teams when he retired in 2011. Draper’s team won six Michigan Amateur Hockey Association state championships.

When Ken Holland was the Detroit general manager Kris Draper was his assistant.  Being close friends with Yzerman, Draper was an easy choice for head of scouting.

Back in April Steve Yzerman said he needed time to both assess things as well as talk to everyone in the organization. Tyler Wright who had done a solid job, was let go. In my opinion, Yzerman chose to part ways for one of two reasons. Wright wanted to take the best forwards in the draft. Yzerman likes to build from the backend (defense) out. Which is the correct way to put a team together.

It could be also that Yzerman and Wright simply did not see eye-to-eye. There was a quick look at this in this June’s draft. Seen at the table, Yzerman looked at Wright and said “Who’s it going to be?” Wright answered and was over ruled as Yzerman was seen on camera saying “I’m taking Seider.” Then proceeded to the big German defensemen.

For any team and organization to reach a winning level of play, then a playoff birth, then possibly a championship run, everyone needs to be on the same page. Yzerman, got rid of holdovers in favor of people he knows and respects. He has a history of doing a very good job. Bringing in Kris Draper and a few new scouts is a step in the right direction.

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Detroit Lions Matt Patricia does not care about the preseason

Embed from Getty Images Detroit Lions head coach, Matt Patricia has repeatedly stated that he is constantly evaluating players and hoping to grow the team in the preseason.  The scaled back play that was consistently seen on both sides of the ball in practices and training camp were  absent in the games.

One of Matt Patricia’s  hallmarks as a coach is to devise an opponent specific gameplan, especially for his defense. There was no evidence of any sort of that throughout the preseason. That is just fine. There is no need to show anything on offense, defense and special teams in meaningless games.

Patricia also played veterans sparingly if at all. Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford did not play until the third preseason game. Fans and media freaked out. For no reason at all. Wondering on social media if he was hurt, or simply was not picking up the playbook from new Lions offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell.

All of that was false. The Lions already knew Stafford was the starting quarterback. What they did not know was who was going to back him up. The fact the Lions head coach did not play many veterans was certainly  his prerogative.

If the Detroit Lions look sharp and well prepared in the teams first couple of weeks of the regular season, nobody will remember or care about the apathetically vanilla preseason. If the team looks lost and unprepared fans will call for Patricia’s head and the media will say the coach has failed.

The fact of the matter is the preseason is only for newly drafted players, veterans on a try-out and non-roster invitees. There is never a reason any NFL team should play a veteran during meaningless, scalded-back games.

Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn, was asked about his head coach and had this to say, “I think he definitely changed the ways he’s done some things,” Quinn said. “I think he’s taken a lot of input from the players. A lot of great conversations, I would say, dating back to January, February, March when the players weren’t in the building about things that he was thinking about and wanted to get some input from some of the veteran guys. Very reflective. Very honest with himself.”

The Lions kickoff the 2019 season September 8 against the Arizona Cardinals. That will be a much better look at the football team and where it stands.

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The Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche may have had the greatest fights in NHL history

Embed from Getty Images It has been called a few different names, “Bloody Wednesday,” “The Brawl at Hockeytown” and “Fight Night at the Joe.” March 26, 1997, in a game between the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings a fight broke out. Appropriately it took place at Joe Louis Arena.

The fight would propel the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup championship in 42 years and fueling one of sports greatest and fiercest rivalries not only in the NHL, but in all of sports. Playing in front of a sold out crowd of 19,983 at Joe Louis Arena, the game featured 11 goals, 10 fights, 39 penalties, 148 penalty minutes.

The fight started when the Red Wings  Kris Draper was skating backward in front of the Wings’ bench after clearing the puck up the boards. Colorado’s Claude Lemieux, raced toward Draper and hit him from behind. Draper went hard into the dash board, facefirst.

Detroit’s Darren McCarty was not having it.  Lemieux was an agitator and an NHL cheap shot guy. Kris Draper suffered a broken jaw, broken nose, broken cheekbone and concussion. He would had his mouth wired shut for weeks.

“With all due respect to Kris Draper, if I was going to go after somebody, it would be Steve Yzerman or Sergei Fedorov,” Lemieux told the media. During the game, two players began to fight then it was on.

Darren McCarty a Detroit Red Wings fan favorite skated toward the distracted Claude Lemieux and landed a right gloved punch to Lemieux’s right temple. Lemieux fell hard on his back. He then rolled to his left, on his knees, as McCarty pounded him with lefts. Lemieux started to get up while throwing off his left glove, but it was too late. McCarty threw a vicious left to his face, and Lemieux collapsed into a head-ducked turtle position. He was in that position for all of 4 seconds before McCarty grabbed him and dragged him 10 feet. McCarty dumped him against the boards at the Detroit bench, in front of Draper. Then McCarty kneed him viciously in the head.

The fans were on their feet. Lemieux never was able to throw one punch. It was an all out, one sided beating. “Claude’s lucky he never got up, because it would have been a lot worse,” McCarty said.

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The Detroit Red Wings need to make the call on Justin Abdelkader

Embed from Getty Images In 2014-15 Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader scored 23 goals and had 44 points. His abrasive, physical play earned him the respect of his teammates and admiration of the Detroit Red Wings coach’s and front office. It rubbed opposing teams the wrong way. Those were the good old days.

In the 2015-16 season, Justin Abdelkader once again posted solid numbers recording 19 goals and notching 42 points for the  Red Wings. These were the best offensive seasons of his career it also came with Pavel Datsyuk playing the majority of the time as his center.

The only issue (which at the time was not a big issue) was Justin had signed a seven year, $29.75 million dollar contract extension. Now it has become an albatross  of a  problem. This past season Abdelkader had gone 23 games without a goal and 12 games without a point.

Justin Abdelkader is a good penalty killer and grinding winger with one small problem. The Red Wings are paying out a lot of money for a guy who does not have the offensive ability he showed early in his career. Given his age, contract and declining numbers Justin Abdelkader is basically impossible to trade.

That leads us to waivers. Steve Yzerman and his  Detroit Red Wings are serious about rebuilding the team this is a fact. Then a clear message  needs to be sent  and place Justin Abdelkader on waivers if he starts next season the same way he played this past year.

Every NHL team and all hockey teams need an Abdelkader type player on the fourth line. But absolutely not at $4.25 million per season,  for a player who scores 6 goals and has multiple extended scoreless slumps during the season.

Detroit Red Wings, general manager Steve Yzerman was right to not buy Abdelkader’s contract out. That would have tightened the Wings salary cap. Waivers would send a strong message. Justin Abdelkader would clear waivers and be sent to Grand Rapids with only a $1.19 million cap hit. Opening a roster spot for one of Detroit’s top prospects like Filip Zadina.

Tyler Bertuzzi has taken Abdelkader’s spot as a tough, hard hitting, abrasive forward who is very capable of putting up solid offensive numbers.

It is time to move on from Justin Abdelkader.

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Detroit Tigers Double-A pitching is electric

Embed from Getty Images The Detroit Tigers promising pitchers at Double-A are turning heads. The organizations top pitching prospects are for the most part at Double-A in Erie PA, pitching for the Seawolves. The players have bonded together and have built something potentially special in Erie.

While they have their individual paths to Detroit as part of the Tigers’ rebuilding plan, it is what is taking place in Erie that could very well be the spring board to a brighter tomorrow in Detroit.

To find an Erie team this stocked with prospects, one might have to go back to 2001. Matt Manning, Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize and  Alex Faedo, say they all learn from each other because of past experiences. Going through hitters they will face. The pitchers lean on each other to find out what worked or did not work in an at-bat early in a game, or even the game the day before.

Manning, Mize and Faedo all three pitchers were Detroit Tigers first round draft picks. Then mix in Skubal a ninth-round pick last year whose dominant first full pro season landed him in Erie in early July. A move few saw coming at the start of the season,  and half of MLB Pipeline’s top 10 Tigers prospects are in Erie PA, though Mize and Faedo are currently inactive. Mize, Manning and Skubal reside on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects list.

Tarik Skubal has struck out 78 batters in just 39 2/3 innings since being called up to the Double-A SeaWolves. Matt Manning leads the league with 148 strikeouts in 133 2/3 innings and Faedo ranks third with 130 in 112 1/3 innings. They rank first and fifth in WHIP ratio. That is good to say the least.

This is the future Detroit Tigers rotation. The juggernaut team whose success is inspiring hope in the Tigers for the years ahead. Most if not all of these pitching prospects will make up the rotation  next year at Triple-A Toledo, just an hour’s drive away from Detroit.

Yet the pitchers understand and have embraced Double-A as they begin to prepare for the playoffs.