Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider showed some promise in his rookie AHL campaign and was expected to be recalled to finish up the season in Detroit had it not been for the pandemic. With the start of next season still in question (it’s looking like late December or early January as things stand but still nowhere near being finalized), Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press suggests that the team may wind up loaning him back to Mannheim of the DEL to start next season as it’s unlikely that the AHL will start on schedule if there are still restrictions on how many fans – if any – can attend games. That would certainly be beneficial from a development perspective but it would also give the sixth-overall pick in 2019 a leg up in a push for a full-time roster spot with the Red Wings next season.
More from the Eastern Conference:
- While Hurricanes assistant coach Dean Chynoweth briefly hit the market on July 1st, he wasn’t there for long as GM Don Waddell confirmed to the Associated Press that the team has re-signed all of its staff members that they were trying to keep that had deals set to expire at the end of June with the exception of broadcaster John Forslund which means that Chynoweth will remain in the fold. The 51-year-old has spent the last two seasons with Carolina and had prior NHL assistant coaching experience with the Islanders. Rick Dudley was among those that were not re-signed in what appears to be a mutual decision.
- The Canadiens have not yet recalled forward Lukas Vejdemo for their upcoming play-in round against Pittsburgh, notes Mattias Ek of HockeyNews.se. The 24-year-old had played in Montreal’s last three games before the rest of the regular season schedule was scrapped so the decision comes as a bit of a surprise. The pending restricted free agent spent most of the year with AHL Laval but had a goal in seven NHL contests in his first action with the big club.
the idea that the 2020-21 AHL season may not happen is a scary prospect
@DarkSide830 – Think that’ll throw a monkey into the wrench of the NHL season? A bunch of Black Aces playing pantomime hockey, ready (sort of) to be called up on a moment’s notice. They won’t really be game-ready and they would need to be tested almost incessantly, too. One screw-up by one of them, could really mess up the NHL team’s roster. I’d like to see brighter scenarios, but that may have to wait until a way is found to control this pandemic and reduce the risk to a minuscule level.
i dont see it putting the NHL season in jeopardy or anything close to that, i just think there is a potential for a prospect logjam and a large ammount of solid AHL talent that could otherwise be NHL depth moving to Europe for the year and perhaps sticking there. its not catastrophic but i feel there is a decent domino affect that could occur.
@DarkSide830 – I wasn’t thinking about the NHL season in jeopardy so much, as just gumming up the works. It goes without saying that I’m sure all of us want all of the North American leagues back to play, but with this much uncertainty, it’ll be a bit clunky for at least this upcoming season. GMs and scouts may have their hands full trying to keep track of their prospects on other continents…
Hope the Canes do resign Forsland for the play by play. He’s great to listen to and entertaining unlike most these days.
* Forslund
Just get something going on the ice asap, and televise it widespread. Many are becoming sick (no pun) of this mask and distance crap, and may push the NHL to get back to the business of Hockey. To prevent catching the virus at the arena, just bring some kind of protest sign and a bull horn.