Larkin and Raymond playing with Soderblom?? Who fills the first line center on the Detroit Red Wings
Welcome to Undrafted Hockey Fan, I’m Brad, and today we’ve got a special guest, Nick Harrington from HockeyTown West Podcast. Nick, how you doing, man? I’m doing great. How are you doing, Brad? Ah, dude, having a great time, man. Like I said, I know we chatted for over half an hour before this, and we’re like, hey, maybe we should record. I thought you were recording all of that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I’ll definitely start editing from now on. So anyways, one of the cool things when you reach out, everything is cool because you this week, just today, you were at training camp up at Traverse City with the Red Wings and the Grand Rapids guys coming up. How was it, man? How did you have a great time? Because I’m jealous, man. Yeah, so you’re getting a lot of the knowledge before we even record on my own podcast over at Hockey Town West. You can save this to save some for your own if you need to. Don’t spoil it at all. I got to figure out what to filter through. No, one day will be enough for you. But I love going up to Traverse City. I used to live up there. And so I lived up there for two and a half years. loved being up there it’s just it’s so it’s so beautiful really I mean I don’t have any other words for it so I always try to go back up for training camp this is the third year that I’ve been up there uh first year we just did red white game um you know went up saw the prospects saw the stuff got to get our toes wet a little bit and then last year we took the full four days and spent up there going to camps going to the practices going to the red and white game and then this year you know they’re they’re the red white camps here in my own home city over here at grand rapids I guess I could say home city so uh we’ll be there and I’m super excited for that but camp was camp was interesting camp was interesting it was very different because this was the first year where todd was there todd was the head coach so It started very different than others, the way they kind of break it down. So if you’ve never been to Traverse City or never been to the ice arena. Most people haven’t, I’d say. So I’d say to the listeners, just give it. Because if you’re like, most people don’t have the option. Again, I’m jealous. I had to work today. Thursday, you get to go to Traverse City and have some cherries and wine and watch hockey for you. Yeah, for me. So when you walk into there, there’s two arenas. There’s two ice sheets there for you. So what they do is they split up the team. They split up the entire roster of Grand Rapids. They split up Detroit Red Wings. And then they have their camp invitees and then their prospects as well. And they’ll split them in. They’ve got three teams. So this year it was Team DeValcio. Wow, I can’t say that. DeValcio. DeValcio. Then you’ve got Team… Oh my gosh. I just lost the teams team. How the last one was team. I think it’s, I think the last one was able, able. Yeah. I mean, it checks out. So, oh my gosh, I’ll trust you, man. Don’t worry. Don’t worry about it. I said, you’re good. So we have the three, the three teams. Three teams. They split them up. The first one they practiced. So there’s a couple of drills there. You’ve got they did a couple of drills. They do. They run it for about forty to fifty minutes and then they switch over to the other ice. What’s what typically what happens is they’ll go to the other ice and then the second team team B starts. They practice and then they that team C practices on the other end to finish it up for camp. And it’s about, you know, three hours or so there. This time what they did was they did team a started and then they went out when they finished with their practice. It was an intense practice. Um, they were like going at each other. Like it was very fast paced. It was very, very intense. Um, the skating was very hard. Todd was screaming. Todd was yelling. Um, you could hear him up in the stands and it was, it was very different from what I’ve seen in the past. Um, They’re working those boys. They’re working the boys. They’re getting ready for the season. Anyone stand out during those practices? You see that? Because I’m a big Dan Cleary guy. I want all gas, no brakes, running to the boards because you’re a skating so fast type guy. So there’s a couple of people that stood out. One thing we saw was Casper was center with the freaking cane. Yep. As you can see behind. You had Albert Soderblom up at the top line with Lucas Raven and Dylan Larkin. So love to see it. It was interesting. It was different to see. Todd did state after that it’s a tryout position. He’s trying out Elmer there. He told Elmer, if I were you, do not give up this spot. Like this is yours to take. Go. I love that mindset. So we’ll see if this kind of continues through. What I noticed last year with camp is like the lines that were there, it was like Berger and Tarasenko were on a line and then they kind of rotated the center a little bit. That fed into the regular season. So a lot of these lines and the rushes that we’re seeing will translate. Now, you do have to take a little bit of… like, no, it’s like JVR wasn’t there. Um, and Simon Evanston wasn’t there either. So some of the lineups were a little different than what you’re typically going to see because of these guys. So, uh, but guys that stood out. So I was really interested in watching Sebastian Cosa because when I love goalies, um, it’s easy to focus on the goalie, right? It’s either a big save or a goal. Um, and he did really well in the first two or three practices. So it was like a two on one. They started then and they went to a three on, uh, none. So, um, And then that four and that five and that the five point, he gave up a couple of goals there compared to, I think it was Talbot on the other end. Yeah. I think it was Talbot on the other end. You know what I mean? So I, you know, Yeah, it was Talbot on the other end. So they did really well. Costa stopped a lot of good shots. The one guy that kept getting them, though, was JT Comper. Good. By the way, again, good. I want a big season on JT Comper. I’m so jealous that the Colorado Avalanche got the version of him that he just thrived in that first year. I want to see a good year. I don’t want him to be relegated to the fourth line. I want them to be fighting honestly try them on that first line or that first line left wing like try it like maybe it’ll work man you know like I’m okay with experimenting Yeah. He, he, I think all of his goals that came into, I’d go. So we’re all from different angles, different sides, like spots of the ice too. So it was just like, it wasn’t just one thing was working for him. I was, it was a lot of different things that were working for him. So, um, not somebody that are like, Oh my gosh, the whole season is going to be saved. You know, Patrick K looks so good, but, um, I thought JD copper stood out. Um, you know, Casper did really well cold on the line, uh, carry on the line that he was on with Canada to break it, uh, to break it did fantastic throughout trading calf. He had a couple of goals. Um, so those guys really stood out to me. Uh, one guy that’s, I, I’ve always focused on like the under, like the underdogs, I guess you could say that people that fly under the radar, um, Edward trail trail marks. He was there. He looked really good. Um, I would expect him to be with Detroit this year, just from one day of one day. Okay. Okay. Okay. I gotcha. Yeah. He, he was surprising. He, you know, big body, uh, had the strength. I can see him, you know, staying with Detroit for the year. Um, the other lines that were out there was like Nate Danielson, Michael Branson, the guard, and then, uh, Leonard. Um, so that line kind of tells me that those guys, Leonard was signed to a Griffin Scott track. So for me, I’m looking at this, like these guys are probably going to be in the, the AHL. Um, which I hope before anyways, like that’s who I cover. So selfishly, like I want those guys here. I like Leonard Leonard played on the San Jose sharks. I liked when he was there. I was actually sad that they let him go. So I think he was a good addition. He’s not as young as I remember him being, which is because it was, he played with the sharks so long ago, but yeah, no, I, I really liked his game when he was there. So I think you’re really going to like him. I was excited for that signing. Um, you know, typically we’re picking people from like last year we got, um, Joe Snively from Hershey. And then this year we were able to get John Leonard from checkers who made it to the, they made it to the final. So, uh, to see some like those championship caliber guys coming down, I was happy for. So it’s funny when you said San Jose, I was like, Oh yeah. Cause I researched these guys and when we signed them and then I kind of forget as the autism goes and I’m like, Oh yeah, I forgot you played for San Jose. So, um, the the defensive pairings where you know they’re gonna they’re gonna change uh based off of edmondson but uh what I saw was justin hole and gustafson were paired together okay uh ian mitchell and then um Aljo, Albert Johansson. Yep. So Axel said Dean Polico with William Lagasin. So we would assume that that’s probably going to be Detroit’s top pairing. Yeah, yeah. And then we also saw Christensen with Gus too. So they had to kind of rotate because they had an automatic defenseman. Justice Christensen, right? Correct. Yep. So I, I mean, I didn’t see anything crazy. A lot of today was focused on offense. There was a couple at the end, you know, where they changed, but that first practice was just a practice. That’s all they did. It was hard practice. It was intense. There are a lot of screaming from Todd and a lot of, a lot of stopping. So he was correcting mistakes as he was going through and then re reigniting the, the, the play, the practice. Yeah. then what happened was they left that ice and they moved over to the second the the other ice and then they scrimmaged the the other team so oh nice um which the other team didn’t get a warm-up it was just right into a scrimmage and then they practiced after so I’m kind of okay with that because that allows people to realize like hey this is this is the nhl caliber like you need like I I kind of like the shock factor of that of being like hey like you don’t get to work I understand you get to warm up in regular regular but like hey graydon robertson palmer you seventh round pick from twenty twenty five like this is the nhl like you just turned eighteen I get it but like this is like like this is what you’re working towards and And I get to me, like, it’s like, uh, like not messes with their head, but like, it sets the tone of like, this is you want this, this is where you need to be. And guys are like, oh man, that was a lot good. Again, you throw them into the fire and they can learn and they’re getting, you know, walked by Raymond or something like that, or, you know, or having to block like a cider shot, you know? Well, the teams were pretty balanced, too, from what I had seen, too. I mean, I had looked at the roster as I was walking into the arena, so I wasn’t able to really gauge it too much or analyze it. But I was writing down the lines as they’re playing. I’m trying to spot who’s out there and who’s with who. because I know how important it is when we continue to move forward is it kind of tells you where they, the coaches think these players are going to be at to start the season. So, um, I didn’t think anybody looked out of place like that. Anybody was like, Oh, this guy definitely needs to be here or there. Like, um, in the overall like that I didn’t think anybody was playing too up I would say you know if that makes sense like two up or two down would you say yeah nobody was over index we saw a lot of that last year with grand rapids it’s like we just didn’t have and we had players that were playing uh how do I phrase it? Like they were second or third pairing defenseman. And then they’re now their first line defenseman. And we’re like, Oh, they’re playing maybe too far up or, um, you know, a situation like that, like for Nate Danielson, for instance, last year, crazy first year. And he’s like top line, top center position. Like, yeah maybe ease a bit a little bit into that second that’s like a slot but um yeah he was drafted as an overager though mind you he was he was nine team and he was drafted so he had it and he had an additional year in juniors so like he was so he’s coming in as a twenty one year old I think right because he was because I got I remember him being drafted as a rager they talked about that because now he’s he’s just turned twenty one so last year is a twenty-year-old being the hl which is a hard jump I don’t I don’t disagree um but I I just remember that being um a concerning factor um I think it very sure was an overage that’s why there was a talk I remember he was born in so maybe I’m incorrect so we’re we’re right there oh is it my math is right okay I that’s something that I latched on to because I had high expectations for nate danielson because of that talk yeah well I mean yeah because like they’re they’re saying they’re like hey like the comparison that I heard is like he should be a second dylan larkin I was like jesus that’s a high bar I mean that’s because he’s because he’s responsible defensively and he’s he has a little bit of offensive touch as well and I know the big thing that like the grand rapids pods were talking about was like he outproduced casper in his first season you know and so if we saw the way that casper has really blossomed on the red wings can we expect the same type of season from nate and I don’t know what you thought what are your thoughts on that Oh, that’s a tough one because like he’s between two of the greatest players, right? Like who, it’d be hard not to do well there. And that thing to take away from Marco Casper, because when Marco was here, he was fantastic. Like he played with a bear grid on the wing and then Carter Mazer on the wing. So like that, the three of them, like just was so good together with Nate down here. He doesn’t have that strong of line mates. I would say like also what there’s nothing against also Watson, but you know, he’s not a, He’s a pro. He is a pro, but he’s not that offensively gifted as somebody like Bergen who crushed it that season or Mazer on that season as well. So it’s tough to say. They played two different styles of hockey. Nate Danielson is so smart. His hockey IQ is so good. He’s always in the right place, and his passing is so good. I always like – because we’re clipping during the game, and I’m like, was that passed by – That was Nate, wasn’t it? Yeah, it was Nate. I’m like, okay, before I hit sad, I want to make sure. But I could tell right away, his eye for the game is so good. His offensive ability is what’s always lacking for people. People want him to be more offensive, see the points and see the things better. But he’s secretly always accounting, which is good. So I’m interested to see what he does for this year, for the second year. Yeah, I mean, I can definitely see that because the thing is, is I’m curious if it’s not a top line is like a I don’t know if you would have looking at the Dominic shine as a as a center or a winger, but you could have a major shine Branson New York. your top line you know and that would be you know two first round picks and a veteran um I don’t again I’m positionally I see that shine can play right wing and center you know you want nate danielson to play center and then bransley nygaard could play left wing this is offhand right because he’s a right-hander that is that’s an option right and then you put you know amadeus lombardi at your second line center and then you know kind of move again I’m building out a Grand Rapids roster and I’m talking to a Grand Rapids guy and I’m just I’m spitballing at this point like you know I don’t know where trial max drops you know I don’t so we’ll see I mean I’m curious in that there’s a lot of moving parts I was uh me and travis travis is our lineup guy he fits him he predicts them beautifully he knows it right before you know before it happens and you know he starts saying and then it happens the next game I’m like it’s coach listening yeah right I just have to ask uh I mean sometimes they do they do listen to us so that’s good to hear It’s it’s one of those things like I think with him, I think it’ll it’ll probably be like Nate at the end and it might be John Leonard. You know, it might be a letter on that side. It could be Travis. We’re talking about today. We kind of figure out the lineups of who’s going to be where. But I could see that. I don’t know if shine is the top line. He’s been playing, like, second and third. Honestly, I would love to see Amadeus play more wing because I think that’s kind of his pathway up to Detroit now at this point. So, like, maybe seeing him and Nate in the NBN, that’d be fantastic, especially with Axel Sandin-Palika because Amo and him are just… And NBN, like, the three there just… Man, just thinking of that, like the passing of the they know where the each other are. It’s it would fit. It would work out so well. Elaine Grace actually just said this on her podcast the other day. And I was like, she does have a really good point there. As I’m saying it, I just remember that she said it. So but I think the the the guy that everybody is kind of wondering about at camp is Mr. Carter. Yeah, Carter Barrett. Oh, yeah, yeah, and his injury and his Achilles injury and everything. He played very well, a very physical style, going down low, hunting pucks. Todd said that a lot today, is hunt the puck, hunt the puck, go get it. He was going at it. He was putting his body out there. He was in front of the net trying to deflect tip pucks. He was a menace when he was out there. I think… you know, he’s going to go back to the silver tips this for juniors. I’m excited to see kind of his recovery process and like how that goes, but I think it’s on the right path. This was a pick that I was super nervous about. And I, you know, if the wings have agreed with it, you know, we’re going to go with it and, We’re going to hope for the best for this kid, and I’m excited to see how he translates up to Grand Rapids, possibly at the end of the season after the Silvertubs finish their junior season. So they always bring those guys in at the end. Yeah, and I’ll be honest. I was hesitant on the Carter Bear pick as well. And again, this is a… Most words. No, no. Most words, yeah. Carter, it’s not personal. I didn’t watch enough of your game. I didn’t know you were this physical and everything. And I think that’s… I was… uh, surprising. I was, I was happily surprised. Right. I, you know, puts up eight points in, um, eight, seven points in like six, fifty or sixty games. Like he played really well in the Western Western Hockey League. Um, he’s he will scrap, you know, scrap. He’ll throw like he plays a good left wing. Again, I’m I’m okay with it. And like it’s looking at there’s other guys that I wanted. Um, but like I said, I understand that’s again, I honestly Ends up defaulting. You can criticize Eisenman on so many levels. Not so many. You can criticize him on some levels, not so many. Sorry, Steve. Please like and subscribe, Steve. But you could say that he has not faulted on drafting. I mean, you’re starting to see these guys pop off. We’re seeing just in his twenty nineteen draft. You have Soderblom, Albert Johansson and Sider all on in the NHL team. And if you get a guy, one guy out of your draft, that’s outside the first round that lands, that’s a win. That’s a win. You get your first rounder and you get one guy out. That’s a win. You have two guys right now. And we’re starting to see the twenty twenty guys are starting to start popping off. Right. We’re seeing like a wall lender. Maybe he comes in as a third pair. Right. Because next year it’s open next year. I mean, yeah, you have you have cider signed. I think it’s Sider and Johansson. Those are the only two defensemen that are signed for next year because Edmonton is an RFA. You know, Hamanick, Bernard Docker are only one-year deals. Hall is on the last year of his contract. Sherratt’s on the last year of his contract. You can have a completely all-rookies defense core. I wouldn’t suggest it, but you could. I’m nervous. Eric Carlson, you are a Detroit Red Wing, you know, so. But yeah, I’m a huge Eric Carlson fan. I have a San Jose jersey. Huge Eric Carlson. I’m so biased. It’s the mustache and hair from when he had in Ottawa. I was like, goodness gracious, that man. I’m hot and bothered. Anyways, on that note, I do have to say, Travis Hamannik’s mustache in real life is a thing of beauty. Is it? I got to Google it. Add break to Google Hamannik mustache. I got to check this out. The mustache. I mean, talk to me about it. It’s just that flowy. I’ll get a picture of it tomorrow, but I was up in the stands. I didn’t. Oh, that is, that is, that is, that is, I need a cop person. Like he’s like, he’s not, it looks like he’s a cop. He’s like, Hey, I’m working here, dude. I love that. That’s, that’s phenomenal. It is a solid mustache. that’s great dude I love that so anyways well let’s do draft kings real quick and then we’ll jump back into this and we’ll talk some uh a little bit of red wings um projections uh what the lines look like and then a little bit of grand rapids as well so stay tuned after this Your season, your shot. The NFL season is rolling, and every touchdown can bring you closer to a payout with DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. From the first touchdown scores to anytime TD props or the thrill of live in-game betting, every snap is loaded with opportunity. And you know I’m going with the Lions. They’re going to take out the Ravens because they’re going. Sixteen to one, baby. That’s my guess. You know, of course, optimism, right? You know, they’re going to be the Packers. Again, Earl, for the first time this year, right? So, again, if you’re going to bet – Go Lions, man. They’re going to the Super Bowl, baby. 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See sportsbook.com.draftkings.com slash promos. NFL Sunday ticket offer for new subscribers only and auto renews until canceled. Digital games and commercial use excluded. Restrictions apply. Additional NFL Sunday ticket terms at youtube.com slash go slash NFL Sunday ticket slash terms. Limited time offer. Yeah, I should edit the end of that one for sure. That was rougher. I ripped through that one too quickly. Don’t worry, boys and girls. It’ll be good for next week. Don’t worry. So, anywho, let’s jump into the Red Wings. Let’s talk about the Red Wings a little bit. Do you see any rookies making the team? Because I’m having a hard time. I don’t know if you want Nate Danielson to play a third-line center role. I think Kappa would be just fine in that unless he stuns as a first-line center. Maybe you give him a couple games in the regular season, but I honestly think he settles out in a role in GR playing those top-line minutes such that he can grab that elite talent. Again, I don’t see Axel sending Pelika or Pelika. you know either or I don’t know okay okay yeah yeah anyways yeah and they uh and though carter mazer I I see him maybe starting with the red wings but I can see him more coming on later after he’s proved himself with the injury and everything but give me some of your thoughts on that with who you can see breaking out from the grand rapids um coming on to the red wings So Travis and I talked about this this morning while we’re kind of going through the lineup, and we feel like there may be one position open. I don’t think it’s a defense. I think they’ve got so many defenders. Eight defensemen. Then there could be a trade, you know, like we, I think we started last year with eight and we, you know, traded Alimata. And so like that figured up a spot for Aljo, but they, I don’t think it’s going to be a defense. I think Palika really needs to be here this year. Not just selfishly so I can watch him, but I think he’ll be here. He needs just a little bit more work on the defensive zone. I’m not saying that he’s bad. It just needs a little bit of time there. And who better to be able to coach him through that? It’s Dan Watson and Brian Lashoff, like both top defense, like Brian Lashoff is great defenseman here. And Dan Watson was also played defense and he’s more of a defensive minded coach. So I have no worries on that. And he’s in that he’s in a great place here with us. I think the biggest thing, too, with Wings fans is like they’re so used to. prospects before steve of over cooking and over developing here and being burnt out I don’t think that’s the case like since I’ve been covering the griffiths for the last three years like it’s one or two years and then they’re up one or two years and then they’re up um I think it’s a great not everybody’s gonna fit that model but I think like nate danielson um I I hope that he’s here again this year the biggest thing is like strength right He needs to focus on strength, getting stronger, face-offs, right? If you’re looking for somebody, you know, the center position is so important as face-offs. So if you’re not winning face-offs in the NHL, do you think you’re going to win in the NHL? Where did we start most of our possession last year for the Red Wings? Yeah, right. In the defensive zone. That’s not a good spot. So I think for him, it would be best for him to be here, top line, center. Really, I want to see him stand out. I want to see him be… he’s so quiet, right? Like he’s in the right spots. He’s like, I was thinking about this on the way back from camp today. He’s like Nick Lindstrom. He’s always in the perfect spot. He’s doesn’t put up like crazy points, but he’s right where he needs to be. Right. And that’s the beauty of Nick Lindstrom is like, he always was like just the perfect, this could be stupid, I don’t know if you’re following where I’m going with this, but he was like the perfect role model, right? He was at the right place at the right time, making the right plays. That’s Nate on the forward side. Like he’s at the right spot. So you want a little bit more offense, especially from a guy that’s in the top ten pick. He plays center. You want to see that offense. So I’m hoping we see a little bit more of that this year. So I’m hoping he’s here. I think MBN could make a case. To come up and maybe put it to get some games. But I think like his game translates so well for North American hockey. He’s so strong. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone says that he’s only twenty, mind you. So and he did not have a great year in the SHL. Only eleven points to four games. However, he did start to pick it up at the end. And he had a good playoffs, I’m pretty sure, as well. I don’t know his stats up here right now, but I was told he had a really good playoffs as well. In GR, he got like… Unfortunately, we only played three games. And he got, I believe it was like two goals and an assist. He has a point-per-player game, a point-per-player in the playoffs. Did really well in the playoffs. He had a couple games before, but I think that’s just him adjusting. I think he really needs… He’ll take off this year. He’ll develop down here in GR and then he can make a case. You know, maybe even pulling them up for, you know, nine games or something like that and just kind of test them out against, you know, I think those guys will see a lot of preseason games is what I’m hoping. Yeah. I’m trying to think of somebody that could possibly make a case, but I really don’t see a spot for somebody like at this point, like they just, they’re young, right? A Carter Mazur. Yeah, I could see. But this is a weird case because, like, last year when he was here, like, he got hurt early in the season. And then he was out for a while. Oh, I guess that was the Red Wings. Yeah, you’re talking about Grand Rapids. Yeah. Yeah, Grand Rapids. He got hurt early. He comes back. He does well. He gets called up. And then he gets hurt. And so it was like a small sample size. So he literally, like, Travis and I talk about it. he kind of lost a full season of hockey last year with being injured. So like, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for him to be here to start here. And then maybe get that call up kind of like Dom shine did last year and play a lot of the games towards the end of the season with injuries or anything like that. Yeah. Like opening night roster. I don’t, I can’t foresee anybody, but maybe a call up an injury. Somebody could get pulled up. You know, somebody like Amadeus Lombardi would need to get some time up there. I would say. Just trying to see how his game translates to the pro level. You know, he’s there for sure. He’s, you know, his time is ready. Defensive side, if, you know, there’s a trade or an injury or something, you know, Volander needs some time up there. He needs to get a look up in the NHL. And he got called up. He was called up. He was the first defensive call up. He didn’t play any games. No, he wasn’t the first. When they got called up, he was the first, right? Tua Bisto got called up first because Bally was hurt. He was sick at the time. Tua got called and then Bally got called up after. Neither played. They were able to skate with the upper club. It just shows you that they could have called a veteran. They could have brought up Rogan Rafferty. Dude, yeah. So real quick, one thing promising on Branson Nygaard, he had six points in eleven games in the playoffs, which is… You want to see a half-pumper game player out of a nineteen-year-old at the time. And so this guy, I think there’s… I’m excited to see him because I was like… who, when they drafted him, you know, like, and again, you, you don’t, you never want to first round pick the bust and that’s, and that’s not saying this at all. Right. But like, we saw this in the Ken Holland era. I mean, Larkin definitely was the one that was drafted outside of where he, you know, he’s definitely risen in the draft. He’s probably top eight in this case in that draft. Right. But Rasmussen, you know, ninth overall, you’d like, you wouldn’t like to see him as a third line draft. winger right you know especially drafting his center I think his development got screwed up with the chl and they having to get the ahl so maybe not totally his fault but we saw zadina we saw valeno we you know we saw uh chelosky right so like getting these guys is so important for if uh hitting on these guys and that but again I trust eisman to do this and I think he’s doing a good job with a lot of this stuff Oh, yeah. I mean, we could see it here at GR. And that’s what’s so exciting about watching Grand Rapids. Like, we started covering this three seasons ago, and we’re like, we see what’s in the pipeline. We see what’s coming up. We see what the future is and what Steve is doing. Like, it’s so exciting, and it’s great to be able to watch them, be able to see their development. And, like… I think that’s the thing too, is it’s so important to watch the games. You can’t just take the, you know, sometimes we get so caught up on the Twitter discord, right? They need to be up here. I’m like, they definitely do not. We should have watched the last game. I think the plan, though, and how they’re developing, how they’re moving, it’s good. Trust what Steve’s doing because I do feel like it’s moving in the right way. His pro scouting side is shaky. There’s some bad sightings but I think so too they’re plugs those contracts are ending at the time these kids should be ready and not too long right not too expensive they’re gonna like they’re gonna fall off properly right um so um one thing I wanted to emphasize with the um with the ground griffins again I’m not totally unsure on position but looking at the who’s going to be down on the right side of for defense you have right-handed defensemen um accessing palika you have ian mitchell and you have uh tumisto who third la who third pair is that right because I think you want to see you don’t want to drop accessing palika in the third pair right because you want him playing PP time, right? I think the thing is power play time. Are you going to play well into there? You’re definitely Axel Axel there. Are you going to put shy boogie in there? Like who’s going to take those power play spots? Because I think that’s where I’m getting a little concerned is like, I want two of these to work out, but he’s almost, he’s turning twenty five this year. I want Melinda to work out. He’s twenty three. So he’s got a little more time on him. But like, again, I, I right hand defense defense and are so coveted. And I’m like, how do you progress X Axel without essentially losing out on a depth defense you know what I mean I hate wasting defense and again when you have all these second round picks that don’t work out is incredibly frustrating when you have a bertuzzi and a haronic and I’m like I just want you know I want these these these high capital draft picks to work out and it’s especially when you see like elaine hutz in the second round you’re like get out of here dude get fucked you know so um, it’s, I, at first when you asked this question, I was nervous. Cause I was like, oh man, all right, now we’re going to go position wise and handiness and things like that. And as you got going, you’re going to buy me some time. Um, and then I was like, you know what? I know the answer to this already. I don’t know why I overthought it. Um, So there’s two people that were on the power play last year. You know, when Axel came in, Axel really took over that spot, did really well with it. Who was there before? It was Antitovisto, who has a crazy shot. Not super accurate, but he has this crazy shot. It hits the glass. Yeah, it hits the glass. You definitely have to duck. It creates chaos. Good, good. Which could be good, right? Maybe this offseason he’s worked on it. But the guy… That really did just fantastic last year. Like I was pounding the table for this guy halfway through the season. I saw a ton of growth. I saw a ton of development. I’m super behind this guy and it’s shy. Booyah. He ran the power play last year on the quarterback. It was so, he did so well, his passing. He’s led the rookie. He led for rookies assists for, you know, for assists. Like he, a lot of those were coming off the power play. Our power play was not great. Um, and a lot of the, like, he is a very good distributor. Now we were talking the other night when we recorded is maybe you put him and you also put Axel because Axel’s office is the OV office. It’s that left circle. So you put him there, you put, you put William at the top and, And then maybe you have, you know, ammo down low as well. You know, there’s a lot of different options there. So, I mean, Booyah would be the perfect guy to put there for power play. He has played on the right side before. A lot of our right side, like you called it out, it’s like Tori Dello, who we traded halfway through the season. Josiah Didier, yeah, he has not signed yet anywhere. uh brogan rafferty signed overseas so uh it does it did create a little bit of a gap but I think too with uh I can’t remember what side legacy lagas in place uh but he could also like with him playing with um he should slap so he probably left side you know I mean that’s just simply how you see it I mean albert johansson is the anomaly right you know it’s so it Um, so I know it may be, this is a, this is, this is a harder hitting question. So you can, I, you can definitely make sure to watch yourself in this one. I don’t understand. Well, and again, take, take it however you need. I didn’t understand the Didier came in immediately. Captain. For two years, right? And then you can’t get a contract? That’s what I didn’t understand. I was like, this feels like a Shiner thing, right? This feels like someone else. And again, I know it’s probably not the coaches, but maybe it’s the players who decide their captain. But I was just like, that seems… It’s a huge honor to be the captain of a team, right? By the way, one of my wife’s friends was… her father-in-law was the first captain of the Grand Rapids Griffins. Oh, for real? Yeah. So his last name is McSween. So we’re going to have to talk off air. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, but yeah, we can cut this part out too if we need to. But yeah, I wasn’t sure what the DDA thing. I was just curious if you had any of that. So Josiah, we didn’t know much about him when he signed with Grand Rapids. And we actually had a Patriot fan reach out to us and tell us kind of his backstory. And this guy is, he is definitely a captain. Like there is no doubt about it. He, his first year here, he stood up for everybody. Like if you picked out ammo, you were getting, you were, you know, you were going to answer for it. He grew the body. He was the fighter. He was sticking up for people, throwing the body, like just all around good guy. Last year we had the privilege of being in the locker room. So we were able to like see the off ice things on that as well. And like, he’s out there signing stuff for kids, playing around, like taking pictures with him, signing stuff like that. you know, just the culture that he brought in was, was so good for what we needed, especially with Dan coming in and his first year. So yeah, we loved it. Great guy. That’s one of the things like, I think with him, the reason why he doesn’t have a contract, one Detroit just signs a ton of defensemen. But the second thing is, he doesn’t have a, I haven’t seen him on a PTO anywhere and they just had a kid like just a few months ago. So it might be more of a family thing that he doesn’t want to, it doesn’t want to play here. He wants to spend more time with his family. It could be one of those things. I know we’ve had him on the show. Uh, he has, uh, I can’t remember if it’s Colorado. Yeah. He has deep roots in Colorado. So he may have gone back to on that side to be with family. I mean, that could be an answer. I don’t know for sure though. So it’s just speculation. We don’t know where he’ll be or why he’s not signing or why, you know, a lot of these guys you see kind of go overseas and they continue their career. He just had a kid. I don’t think that’s, you know, he’s also probably two. Yeah. You know, he’s thirty two, which is which isn’t which isn’t young. It’s not that he’s not capable. Right. But it’s just there’s sometimes like it happens. I mean, we saw that with Tyson Berry. They are the Tyson Berry or who is the said they mutually I’m retiring because of thirty two teams. It is Tyson Berry. I’m thirty two teams usually agreed that I should retire. I’m like, who that is as a tough look, man, you know, so. But it was very funny going on with the defense. But I actually, so in my opinion, this is what I think right now, the Red Wings are running there. If you take the roster, there’s twelve guys, not including Carter Mazur. We have twelve guys in forward, eight guys in defense. And then you have you have because they have awesome Watson on roster. But I think he’s in a gel. And then you have Gibson and. Talbot, in my opinion, I think you guys see Justin Holligan for, I think eventually you get, they’re going to want to call up Kosa at some point, because I think Talbot, I think Kosa gets, I think Kosa gets five to seven games this year. I think you’re going to get injuries from Talbot. You’re going to get injury from Gibson, just, just that they’re older players. And I think he’s, I would say deserving of those to be able to bring him in and see he got a taste last year. And I can also see, again, a Carter Mazur. And I think the defense, you’re not going to bring anyone up in that case. But I think there’s so many of them. But I think Justin Hall is the easy one. If you’re going to waive anybody, no one’s going to pick up the contract because he’s three point four million dollars. and he can make it through you know he’ll make it through waivers right you know so I think that he’s the easy one to do so what are your thoughts on that or who you I I kind of riffed go ahead no you’re good uh justin hall when you said you’ll see him again I laughed because we never saw him last year Oh, you did? I thought he skated. He skated with the practice. He never made it to GR. We never saw him. So I laughed because we’re like, okay, he got waved. He should be here. We’re looking around the locker room. None of his nameplates out there, his equipment’s out there. I don’t think it was that, you know, I don’t think he ever made it basically. Yeah. But you’re right. I mean, he would be the one to be able to clear waivers and be down here. You’re not going to waive Casper. You’re not going to waive Edmondson who are waiver eligible, right? You can’t do a Johansson. You know, you might be able to wave Hammonick, but again, your right-handed defensemen are coveted, right? I think you, I’m actually really excited about Jacob Bernard Dockard. I love taking flyers on former first round picks. I’m surprised that Buffalo didn’t qualify him, but I think- I think he was too. Oh yeah, I know, right? I mean- And he didn’t slightly mid the man. He’s like eight fifty for his contract. But I think, yeah, I think there was a fifty anyway. So but like I’m thinking something like that. I’m like, OK. Give the guy an opportunity on the right side. I know Johansson can play the right side. I don’t know if it’s best for him. I don’t know. Will he thrive better in a second? I’d like to see Johansson up on the top line, top pair with Sider, and then that way Evanson can run his own pair. You do Johansson, Sider. Then Sherratt can play both sides as well. Do Evans and Sherratt. The only reason I don’t like that is because Shirat and Sider have been together for three years. So like they have the chemistry, they know how to play with each other. My choice? Yeah, my choice. But Simon and Aljo played together here in GR for two years. So that’s why I’d rather have those, like those pairs are kind of, and Aljo can hold his own. I feel like Aljo can hold his own at this point. So I would love to see that kind of, I mean, obviously I don’t want to see Shirat there for long. I’m speaking for me. You don’t have to agree with this. I think Sherratt is deserving of an NHL position. I think he brings a lot of intangibles. I got a lot of leadership. He wears an A. I think Sherratt is a phenomenal third pair defenseman. I think he is a little out of his depth currently with the speed. When you venture out against McDavid, against Matthews, against Nathan McKinnon, you’re asking a lot of a guy who has played up a higher caliber. Again, he’s thirty four years old. It’s just age gets up on you. And I think that’s where you’re playing him in a role that maybe is outside his depth, which is. The hard part about the Red Wings defense pairs is that you’re just – you’re not – you don’t have enough talent throughout the whole – you know, the whole, all six of them to be able to say, Hey, yep, this is confident. Right. You know, so. And he’s being deployed against the toughest competition too. So it’s like, it’s a double, it’s a double negative on him. Right. It’s hard. It’s so hard for him. So I mean, I like Sherrod, I don’t have an issue with him. I just probably not the right place for him. It’s not the first time, like you said. So good looking too. I mean, that’s right. People aren’t just giving him the puck with how good looking he is. So yeah. it would be, it would be hard. You can’t bump Simon down to the third pair. Even at the top, top, then you’re so top heavy that it’s, you need to distribute some of that talent. And again, I think Gustafson, I don’t think he could play top, top left. You know what I mean? Like it’s just, it’s hard to find that. I think, I think of all the options, I think Shirat is probably your best option. I just think it’s, it’s hard because it’s, I think he’s getting shit on more than he should because of the, I think he’s just being asked to do more than he, he needs to, right. You know, but again, he’s, he’s a leader. He is stepping up and I’m, I’m happy that he’s willing to take those options. And again, he has worked out well with cider as well. And maybe that spot is, you know, Axel’s for next year, or maybe, you know, Eljo goes up and then Axel’s with Simon or something vice versa. So it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. Or, you know, you’ve got Wallander as well, or Booyah can make that jump too. To Amisto, Wallander, and Shai Booyah, who do you see? I mean, we’re going twenty six, twenty seven, but who do you think has the best odds doing that? Oh, man. So I it’s funny because I was high on Volander. I’ve been high. I’ve been pretty good with who I’ve seen. And I’m like, OK, this guy’s going to make the team. I literally have a Volander signed jersey. I was I was high on this guy when he got here. Last year, we talked to Watson, Dan Watson, the coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins. We’re like, who are we? Who’s going to surprise us this year on the defensive side? He goes Volander to him. And we’re like, cool, that’s who we thought, too. We thought they were going to take the next step. They both got jumped to the top line. They struggled. I don’t know if it was just too much for them at the time, or they were just deployed at really bad times, maybe that kind of thing. We don’t have those advanced analytics here in the NHL. So it’s tough to see. It’s all eye tests, right? And then Shai comes in and Shai does really well against, you know, second and third pairings. And we’re like, okay, like this guy’s, you know, really making, he’s standing out to us. Then they kind of split, fall under a two-oh situation. near the end of the season after Steve’s presser and we’re like okay this is interesting let’s see how this like is one guy affected the other and bringing them out or bringing them down or holding them up or like what’s the situation here and uh we kind of still saw the same thing I would say so it’ll be interesting to see this year who’s really going to take that maybe maybe this is the year following here to take that next step uh I’m still hammering shy buoy I’m like that’s the guy I’m like I mean, he’s related to Z Booyam. I mean, that’s got to give some credibility there, right? Right. The genes are there, right? He’s not a special cough, but he is a, you know, like he, yeah, he is a Booyam. Booyam was so high. I mean, yeah, he was so high touted. I mean, supposedly the Red Wings were going to pick Booyam in that draft. Z Booyam, there was, there was talks about it and they ended up going with Was it Nygaard? Is it Nygaard? I believe that was the draft year, yeah. Yeah, so I think there was talks about them going with Zee Boone at some point, but I think that’s when Minnesota traded up with Philadelphia to get up there to draft him, I’m pretty sure. Sounds right. Yeah, yeah. I think I got it, I’m pretty sure. I’m like, let’s go with that. Yeah, so I think, again, this is… No, it wasn’t. No, not Marco Castro. I’m looking at the draft list right now. I’m like, where was he drafted? Yeah, but I think it’s twenty twenty twenty four. Is he when he got drafted? Is he booing at twelfth overall? Yeah, that was. Yeah. And then that’s when Philadelphia picked Jet Luchenko. So. So, yeah. Yeah, I think it’s going to be really cool. Go ahead. I got it. Yeah, no, I, I, I’m so I, cause that’s the defense that I’m really curious is like, I think one of the issues that Steve has done is that he hasn’t brought rookies up enough. I think maybe they’re not ready, but I think that’s one of those things where like, okay, you bring Albert Johansson up. You’re like, okay, is he ready? And he, he worked out really well. And then like, so, so, so to him, you know, can’t be waved. So you bring him up as well. And he is again, working out well. And now I think you need to, I think by, again, we talked about this over ripening him down, down in GR. I think you need to bring some of these guys up early. Cause you’re there’s, they have so many prospects now it’s like, okay, now you have three rookie defensemen that are, You know, you have Booyam and Willender and Tumisto. Tumisto, I think he’s on his last year of his ELC. So it’s like, is he going to make it or is he not? You know, do you want to bring up a Booyam who’s looking really good? A Willender, can he pay a third pair? It’s like, do you want three rookie defensemen? It’s like you’re trying to figure out what the right balance is and such that you don’t stifle these guys’ abilities. But it is a concern for me that there’s so many rookies, and I want to see these guys thrive in the best. I want him to hit their ceiling, which is hard to ask of them. But, again, you can’t have four, five, six rookies. You can’t even have three, really, let’s be honest. yeah it’s I mean two has got a two had a weird path because he was uh he was international playing international they just played college then went back to international like he kind of had a weird path here uh he was drafted the same year as cider so that was like so he has been in the system for a while but he’s he’s just he’s very slow he doesn’t have the pace and so that’s what’s kind of like dragging him down I guess you could say um I don’t know how to put it nicely. I mean, your next guy, William Wallander, same year as Lucas Raymond’s second-round pick. I would hope that like this was the year that he was like last year that he was going to break out and be like, okay, like this guy’s ready. I could see it. I’m ready. You know, he’s ready to go up where, you know, we watched Albert, where you watch Simon here. This guy would be ready to go up, which didn’t see it. So like I could see maybe him out of that draft year. Like there isn’t anybody else besides Keenan Draper. That’s still with the organization. Who I think is not going to be with the organization. I think they’re going to sign him. yeah he just finished college so yeah like that’s you know who you know everybody else in that draft class is gone then you look at simon’s draft class shy carter um that that’s Kind of it. Well, and Kosa, right? You’ll get Kosa too, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s still a really good draft class. Yeah. Well, again, you didn’t really hit on anything. I don’t think you’re going to hit anything in twenty twenty. Again, I think Bolander, I think he didn’t even win. I swear it was him, Edmondson, and Sider. Yeah, it was at Rookie Defenseman of the Year in the SHL. And then Axel as well, I’m pretty sure as well. So that’s very promising. It sounds really good, and I just hope it works out, but I’m losing. That’s why I was high on him. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and again, the problem is with Will Linder is I’m looking at some of the stats to me still is two, ten, six, five. So he’s a tall guy and he’s a big boy. Right. You look at Will Linder, at least on HockeyDB, he’s a hundred. He’s one hundred ninety pounds. My goal weight and six inches taller. Right. Like I mean, like it can be like I don’t know what is he an offensive defenseman more than is he because he’s he put nineteen points in sixty two games. Like, so he had some, there’s some offensive prow there, but for a guy who I want to make the NHL, I need to see half point per game, in my opinion, out of defenseman, especially when he was yeah the the problem we saw with with fallender is he had trouble keeping the puck in the zone like on the offensive zone like it would jump it would skip it would go over his and then we’re starting over and it was so hard for a slasher just to get into the offensive zone and to get through the neutral zone like it was just it was impossible against a lot of teams so even when we were able to establish possession in that zone we struggled because the puck would go right over his stick and so we continued to see this and so I don’t know if it was just his nervousness or just like he was playing top line top minutes he was burnt out I don’t I don’t know so it’s it’s tough to say like his style it’s not I don’t see the offense I don’t see he’s more of a defensive defensive like defenseman um yeah it’s not even like I can’t really find something that like he skates really well. He skated really well when he got here, but he doesn’t have like crazy passes. He doesn’t have a crazy shot or like a, you’re like, Oh wow. Like where did that come from? Um, or a deeper that, or like gaining the zone. Like Simon was so good at gaining the zone and just carrying the puck end to end. Like he put, he like, It was, it was crazy to watch him. He’d play center like that. He just carried the puck up and nobody would even bother him. So for Wally, like it just, he’s it, maybe it’s like the thing I struggle with Nate is like, he’s just so good all around. Like, it’s hard to find like something to poke at him of like, you’re not doing this. You’re not doing that. Like we, we found the one thing I kind of hammered that a lot last season. yeah well so actually let me let me give you a little bit of stats real quick and then maybe help you with the comparison albert johansson in his first or his last year before he came to the red wings points in games so about a third a point a point every three games so right you know he’s scoring every thirty three thirty three percent of the time uh well linder had nineteen points in sixty two games so a little less two points less um but a similar production and we we know um aljo is more of I would say he’s more defensive responsible than offensive right so I guess is there a good comparison when you’re seeing albert johansson to william willender Is that something we can expect? No. Okay. No, he, uh, Albert was a dog. Like he was just, he would go after people. He was, he had four to six penalty minutes as opposed to when there’s tens. So yeah, that is also dog mentality. Yeah. He was aggressive. Like he was a shutdown guy. Like you saw it against kind of McDavid. Like he would go after like the top guys and like shut up down. Like, and then that sick goal. I mean, one of the best dude. Exactly. You’d see shots like that and you’re like, whoa, where did that come from? When it happens repeatedly a couple times, every ten or so games, you’re like, yeah, that’s Albert. He got released. He got off the leash and he was able to go. You know what he’s capable of. That goal in the NHL, we were not surprised because we were like, we’ve seen this before. With volley, it’s so tough. When you break down those points, I’m like, Okay, that’s interesting to know, but they’re definitely not the same type of player at all. There’s nobody for me that I can think of to compare them to at this moment. You’re good. That’s something I’m just really excited about. I’m looking at some of these things and I’m like, I just, I got, you want every draft pick to work out. And I think with second round picks, it’s, it like hurts my heart. Like when you guys don’t work out or you use a pick on them or something like that, like. you know, even, um, Andrew, Andrew Gibson, they traded him. It was a second round pick with Nashville and Keyskin. And okay. We started. No, dude. No, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. No. And don’t worry. I talked to the Dallas. Again, I talked to the Dallas VP yesterday, by the way, check that podcast out. If you haven’t checked it out already. I interviewed the VP of one Oh five, three, the fan radio station. Um, And he did a great job breakdown of the Dallas Stars. Go check him out. But he talked about Wyatt Johnston. And I had to tell him the lore about how, you know, the reason that the Dallas Stars got that pick is that they got Kosa. And then we went up to the fifteenth and all that stuff. And they got two guys. You know, it’s just, yeah. Wyatt Johnston is, honestly, he was a steal that draft. He would go number one, in my opinion, that draft. So, yeah. Um, but yeah, so just to kind of, I’m gonna do, again, we’ve been going for six minutes. I’m gonna, I’m gonna give you this. I’m gonna, we’re gonna go, I wanna do the press box and Puckpedia. I’m gonna rip through who, who we see in the, uh, well, let me rephrase. I wanna see who you think there’s where their ceiling is on the red wings. okay okay who’s gonna make it uh ceiling long term long term so I want you to say like it could be in the next within the next five years I mean because they should all you know five years these guys should be on the red wings right yeah so I want to see I want to rip through them I’m going to skip the the veterans like watson shine leonard um dries and everything but let’s let’s rip through this so you’re ready we’ll just rapid fire oh god finish it up okay carter maser Uh, maybe third line, third line winger. Yeah. Okay. Nate Danielson. Uh, that’s a ceiling, right? So I think Casper Casper plays that second line center. I think he’d be a phenomenal third line center, right? Yeah. Then you’re rolling three lines. So what do you think? Second line? Yeah. For ceiling Carter bear. Oh shit. Um, I would say second line. Second line winger? Okay. Yeah, I can see him there. Yeah, I don’t want to go too high. No, you’re good because you’ll have to tell me Bransley Nygaard then. First or second? Yeah. Okay. First, really? You’re higher on him than Carter Bearer? I, well, yeah. Uh, based off of size and strength, like MBN’s a man, like he’s a huge dude. True. True. Carter Barrett is still a junior. He needs to hit the weight room a little bit and then he’ll get there. Um, but they play similar styles, but big Mike’s already there. True. True. Um, side note on the Carter Barrett, um, matchup at patch ready double had hurt his achilles twice um and came back with the washington capitals played twenty had forty seven games and he had had a half a point per game player played with with the toronto maple is still a point a third a point per game and again he was old right I think he can bounce back but it isn’t there’s some optimism we’re not that’d be so worried about um him you know not be able to recover and everything he’ll be all right you know so um but it’s terrifying though I’ve accepted it and I’ve moved on. Yeah. Fair, fair enough. Fair enough. So we’ve got to live with it. I agree. Yep. Yep. Just breathe. He has a professional sports team. They’ll do the best for him. Right. So, uh, Kiskin. Second. really second line second line winger I’m just trying to think where do you put him like there’s so many people I think he falls third I think he tops out his third line so yeah second or third yeah on JP Becker by the way you can say they don’t make the team as well like because I don’t know about Becker does I don’t know if he makes the team long term I don’t either okay and Amadeus Lombardi Oh, I’m praying for this guy to make the team. I love this kid. I’ve had him on the pod three times. He’s from my, not from, but he played for my top team. I love Lombardi. I’m hoping what would be really cool is if he took Patrick Kane spot when Kane retired or when he leaves, he would take a slot there. That would be a good line or the left wing. But I think with the way Todd’s building, he’s kind of find somebody to create space at that top spot for Dylan and Raymond. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, um emmett finney oh gosh uh there’s a lot of discord about this guy um in a good way or bad way good just surprising uh yeah I mean seventh round pick right I mean yeah that’s it’s very exciting I’m gonna say third third third okay I feel more of a grinder okay okay um jacob revlosky I don’t know if he makes it. Nope, I didn’t think so. Yeah, he was a Czech signing. He was the highest scorer on his team in the Czech League. Hurts me to say that about those two kids, too, because they’re good kids. They’re fun. They’re great in the locker room. Always happy to be here. So it hurts. I hope they make it, but I don’t see a path here in Detroit. Yeah, no, I hear you. Doucette. I don’t think he makes it I don’t think so either I think he yeah he seems like such fun and that was one that the um the the podcast with the guy from halifax he was he uh played for the deuce that played for the halifax moose heads and he was so high on him and everything I think he had like a hundred points a year that year because he got traded halfway through had fifty points on one team fifty points on another so it was crazy If he does well this season, I’ll be changed. But he did well in Toledo, took a little bit of time. He did well here, but not as well as he did in Toledo. So if he takes the next step, anything’s possible. Like Amo took a huge step in the offseason last year. Yeah, his points exploded. So maybe, you know, Deuce does the same thing. I’d love to see that. He had twenty one points, sixty four games. And he’s in his last year of his RFA status. So he’s an RFA up until twenty twenty six. So we he’s he’s in the last year of his contract. So I have to sign another contract. So Edwards Troll Max. This guy looked good today, honestly. I don’t know if I said it today and already, but he looked good today. I think he does make the team as an injury or somewhere like that or first call-up maybe. But I thought he has the NHL body. He’s huge. Six-four. Yeah, he’s huge. I have a soft spot for this guy, Kevin Bicker. I love that he’s a German. I just love that he’s a German, man. I would love to see it. I got to pass because I don’t know much about this guy. I know he’s German. I know that, but I don’t have any tape. I haven’t seen him play, so it’s tough for me to say. I understand. It’s been a while, but he was a point per game in the DNL, which is lower than the DEL. Like I said, we’ve seen him in… Did you? He was there for like half the season. No, he played for Toronto. He played for Toronto and he also played for Anaheim Ducks too as well. So yeah, he never did. He played eight games last year? Yeah, seven games. We were so bad. He got called up in Christmas, and then we never saw him again for either team. Dude, I know. I mean, the guy, he’s not too mad. He’s making, you know, seven hundred fifty seven hundred seventy five grand. You know, he’s not not too mad about that, you know. So that is absolutely not too bad. Moving on. We’re on to the defense now. More on the defense. Well, Linder. Third line. The third pair of D. Axel Sending Pelica. First, I’m that high on that kid. Yeah, he’s… You think he bumps Sider? He’s not… He’s going to be on the first pair with Sider. They’re both righties. Ah, shit. I forgot about that. I think you see… I think you see a… Well, you can put… I think it would be good to do Evans and Sider, Aljo, move him back to the left side, and then do Sandy Pelican. Yeah. Again, all Red Wings, all eyes and draft things. Ah, my heart. Um, to me still. I don’t think he makes it. I agree. William. I think he makes it third pair at least. Uh, or second, you know, as, as a ceiling, you know, somewhere to stretch for. So, yep. We will Murphy. He was just drafted, but I hear he looked good, um, in the pro prospect game and, um, was a shitster uh he was aggressive he was there he was noticeable uh big dude too uh it’s four to twelve yeah who knows uh I can’t put it the only thing data points I have on it was the prospects game so you’re you’re good yeah I just want to bring him up so kosa again as a goalie where do you think he falls I’ll be an NHL goalie. Yeah? Yeah. So, like, I think, again, I think Kosa plays five or seven games. This is not lightning round, by the way. I’m definitely just talking the whole time through it. But, yeah, yeah. But I think Kosa, again, I think, because you bring Gibson and he has an extra year next year, you let… You know, Talbot go and then Costa becomes the backup. I’m twenty six, twenty seven. That’s really solidifies a start. And then that also that that leaves a hole in the HL when you bring Trey Augustine up. And I think he in twenty six, twenty seven, he comes. Oh, you think he’s not going to sign with Red Wings? Who knows? I love Trey. I want him here. I want him here so bad, but he’s just, until he sides, I can’t really say anything, right? Like we just went through this Isaac Howard and he didn’t, You know, it’s so red savage, same thing. Like I was out of the table for red savage to be here size with Buffalo. So, um, you know, I, I hope to God Trey’s here. Um, but you know, we’ve got Carter guy later, who’s also been in the system for a long time who could, you know, fill that hole like Michael postava, uh, as well. so who knows yeah I I hear you well again and they have a they have a lot of goalies which I’m really happy with so I I I mean you got to take as many swings as you can of these things you know you should draft a goalie every year yeah yeah I agreed agreed I mean Carter guylander was a seventh round pick so I mean you gotta try just try for these guys right so uh speaking of Carter guylander what do you think I think he’s an HL. Love Carter. I just think this organization is tough for goalies to get ahead. There’s two positions, too. It’s hard. It’s hard to break out. It’s tough, too, because we just interviewed him. Did you? He seems like a great guy. Again, you can’t teach size six-five. He could be a backup somewhere. In the NHL, I just don’t know if it’s Detroit. Detroit’s so weird with their goalies. So it’s tougher. Okay. And the rest of the guys, you got Prostata. Prostata. Costava? Costava. Thank you. Again, he was just a free agent acquisition. So, I mean, I think he sticks in the AHL. I think you just try him out, see if it works. Cool. If it does, if it doesn’t, no big deal. Yep. So I think AHL right now. Yeah, and we don’t know anything about Prottle, Miller, and Guimond enough. However, I do want to pump Guimond’s tires. He did have sixteen straight wins. Sixteen wins, zero losses with the… Buckton. Moncton, yeah, Moncton Wildcats. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that’s very exciting. Rudy G, he’s a G. He’ll be at Yale next year after this junior year. So very excited for that guy to get here, either Toledo or GR, whenever. So he’s an exciting goalie to watch. Yeah. And I’m really excited about Anton Johansson. I’m curious. I think it was interesting that he went, he’s back in the SHL and I think it’s a little concerning, but they do have his rights till twenty twenty eight, you know, so it’s possible, I think. But I think he’d be a good trade target at some point. They were going to trade him. They were? Okay. Yeah, there was a trade for John Gibson. It was Anton and a first for John Gibson at the trade deadline and Steve said no. Yeah, absolutely not. Months later. But Anton… He was here, played great. A few things to work on just defensively because of the North American ice. He just had to get adjusted to. So I think that’s kind of positionally like he kind of had issues there. He went back because his dad is the team owner of the team that he’s playing for. So it’s yeah, it’s it’s a weird situation. I’m hoping that he does one more year there and then he comes back and he’s here for good now. Like he doesn’t he doesn’t leave. yeah because I like I was big on him for like two the last two years when he was at the world juniors when I saw his play I was just like this guy’s a this guy’s a dog um a very aggressive uh tall lengthy guy can put up some points um yeah I was very excited about anton yeah side note I do want I want to note um the fact that stevie decided not to trade anton johansson in a first round pick and then got gibson for marazic moved off of goldie and a second and a fourth and I’m like dude steal like it would like I’m surprised that that’s all it took like in my opinion I think that’s I mean they did you a favor by taking marazic so you throw him a fourth for taking Mrazek’s contract. And then you basically, in my opinion, I like to see it that way. I think you’re going to give him a fourth to get rid of Mrazek. And then you say, here’s a second round pick in addition. As opposed to having to pay extra. I think paying for it with Johansson and paying for it with a first round pick, you’re like, again, Gibson, I don’t think you would have been the game changer. I don’t think you would have gotten us into the playoffs. But, you know, go ahead. Oh, you’re good. Yeah, it’s I mean, I like it. Like I said, I like it. I think Steve did well with that trade. And I think that fourth was like a throwaway to like we got it with the Joe Valeno trade, I think. No, it’s a Red Wings draft pick. So it’s, according to this, it says a twenty twenty six Red Wings draft pick and fourth. Oh, it was originally ours. Yeah. I feel like we got I thought we got something. I think we had one already. I don’t know. I’d have to look at the. Let me see. I think they already had a fourth in twenty twenty. Well, I guess I can’t say it’s twenty twenty six fourth. So, I mean, I can look up and see if they have a fourth then. But I imagine that they have. plenty of draft picks again it’s and it’s a fourth round pick it’s the chances of a fourth round pick hitting you know uh is unlikely right so twenty twenty six yeah they already have a fourth round pick it um if they have uh Columbus Blue Jackets fourth round pick so again so they have plenty of draft picks in that case they have eight eight come into the season they also have Calgary seventh as well so they’re okay they they were able to afford it and everything so yeah But anyways, let’s let’s wrap this thing up. We did an hour and ten. So look at us, man. Had a great time. So, Nick, I appreciate you coming. I appreciate it, man. Tell everyone where you can find us. Find you. Find us. Yeah, find us. Find you. Us. Your podcast. Them. Yeah. The entity known as Hockey Town West. So you could find me on Twitter, GRHockeyGuy. You could find the pod at HockeyTownWPod. We cover Grand Rapids Griffiths, the Toledo Walleye. So keep everything in the organization. We can find your prospects. We’re going to do each game for Grand Rapids. We’re tweeting out the highlights. You can follow us on literally all the socials, TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook. Uh, we’re literally everywhere. YouTube, uh, subscribe over there. We do, uh, every once in a while we’ll do a live show. Uh, so we’ll put the Griffins on and we’ll just kind of commentate like kind of Peyton Manning, Eli Manning style it. Um, we’ve got a lot of big things planned for this year, uh, with, you know, we’ve got a couple, we had a couple of podcasts going on, uh, that we’ve grouped with, uh, we’re going to do a couple of fun things. And then, uh, we’ve got a couple of big interviews as well. So we’re always interviewing the prospects. We’re interviewing the players. um and we’re doing you know media throughout the season so uh excited for the red and white game I’ll be at camp the next two days yeah third friday saturday and then uh red white game on sunday so um you know reach out love meeting everybody either toledo if you’re at toledo if you haven’t got no toledo game go to a toledo game it is it’ll change your life um And then you can find us over at GR. We’re at every home game. And we’ll be going to the All-Star game this year for the AHL because it’s over down in Rockford. So it’s not too far for us. Nice. I think that’s everything. That’s everything. Make sure you subscribe to their YouTube and also have Patreon as well. Yeah. I forgot about that. I’m sure. I’m sure. I’m sure you guys get rowdy. I mean, you, you, you talk about events and you’re talking about training camp. You got a lot of things. So just make sure you, if you’re up in Traverse city, go say hi to Nick and everything. And if you guys end up going to a Toledo game, let me know. And I’ll just swing by and we’ll it’s only like an hour, hour, a little bit plus. And so if you guys go, let me know. We’ll, We’ll get a little package together, and we’ll go party down there. Sounds good. Sounds good. Yeah, if you haven’t been, like I said, it’s so hard to get tickets, though. They’re sold out. Season ticket holders are sold out. I have the hookup, man. It’s you. We don’t even have tickets to the home opener yet. They’re already sold out. Yeah, it’s going to be a challenge. So, yeah, they’re on like a nine-day game sellout streak. like it’s it’s absolutely insane whole sellout streak that of course yeah that’s awesome I love like the passion like I love that that’s that’s that’s what these smaller teams like it’s so cool to see that and everything I love it I love that man I will appreciate thanks a lot man you have a great night and everyone make sure to like subscribe my youtube and podcast as well uh you can find us find us all throughout the podcast universe and thank you to thpn for uh sponsoring us I’ve been you know they they hook it up make sure you check out their um their page and everything and follow nick watch the clips on twitter man he’s gonna hook it up right so hang out max boltman you know all right have a good night man thanks
Video Notes:
– We interview with Nick Harrington from @hockeytownwpod
– We discuss Day One of Detroit Red Wings Training camp, where Nate Danielson will play this year, what is Sebastian Cossa’s ceiling, etc.
– Can Amadeus Lombardi replace Patrick Kane at 2W? Is Marco Kasper better as a 2C or 1st line winger?
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