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Red Wings And Canadiens To Clash At The Draft

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Before the 2018-19 season even begins, there will be some conflict between divisional foes. The Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings are both coming off disappointing seasons and are looking to reinforce their franchises with their own high draft slots as well as acquired picks. Both teams are hoping to cash in on several picks in the first and second rounds to find multiple players that will grow to become regular NHLers. However, they may have to battle each other to do so.

The Athletic’s Craig Custance published an article this week about Detroit’s possible plans and potential targets for a trio of picks in the 30’s. His colleague Arpon Basu was quick to respond with his own article about Montreal’s potential marks with their two picks in the early second round. Basu also added that the two teams share similar organizational needs. Among them, both the Canadiens and Red Wings could use a top-flight center and defenseman in the pipeline.

With no suitable centers available when either team picks in the first round –  the Habs at #3 and the Wings at #6 – what those teams do early on could dictate their priorities in the early second. Many expect that Montreal cannot pass up the elite forward talent that is winger Filip Zadina. The Canadiens (or Red Wings) could reach for center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but it is unlikely. They could also take a defenseman, as there are plenty of supremely talented names available in this draft. After Rasmus Dahlin presumably goes first overall, most consider Quinn Hughes to be the next best name. Of course, Detroit is the heavy favorite to take the University of Michigan product if he’s still on the board. If Montreal chose to steal him, it would be the first conflict between these two teams.

Things heat up even more later on though. Detroit has a second first-rounder at #30, courtesy of the Tomas Tatar trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. While this is a prime position for the Wings to trade out of, they could also simply make the pick. It is here that the Red Wings could beat the Canadiens to one of the top available centers. Both Custance and Basu list Ty Dellandrea as a prime target in the late first and early second, and Basu also offers Isac Lundestrom and Jacob Olofsson as candidates if either is still available. Then, in the second, Detroit picks again at #33, the pick they received from the Ottawa Senators through the New York Rangers in the Brendan Smith deal. So while the Habs get the first shot at selecting ahead of the Wings early in the first round, Detroit then has the next three consecutive picks ahead of Montreal. Here, it would be easy to see the Red Wings double up on defensemen, aiming for a more physical specimen. Both Custance and Basu tab K’Andre Miller as a likely target, while Basu also lists Mattias Samuelsson and, if he’s still there, Jared McIsaac. Both writers are also intrigued by the boom-or-bust talent of defenseman Ryan Merkley, another swift puck-mover like Hughes. Don’t rule out Detroit looking his way as well. Finally, Montreal gets their next shot at #35 and Detroit picks right after at #36. Montreal may again have to pick up the scraps at #38, the selection they landed from the Chicago Blackhawks along with Phillip Danault in the very favorable Tomas Fleischmann/Dale Weise trade in 2016.

Montreal also has picks #56 and #62 later in the second round, leaving open a very real opportunity that they could change this whole dynamic by packaging multiple second-rounders – in a draft that many feel is homogeneous in the #20  to #60 range – to move back into the first round and ahead of Detroit at #30. It would then be the Canadiens who could take the best available center or defenseman and put the Red Wings in a tough spot.

It’s always a good time to see two Original Six teams battle on the ice, but the war for position brewing between Detroit and Montreal in the upcoming draft could be just as fun to watch.

Red Wings Prefer Evan Bouchard Over Noah Dobson In Draft

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  • With the Red Wings highly expected to select a defenseman with their first-round pick, Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports that the organization gives a slight edge to Evan Bouchard (London, OHL) over Noah Dobson (Acadie-Bathurst) in their rankings. Detroit presently holds the sixth-overall selection although St. James suggests they could try to drop down to later in the top-ten, presumably to try to add another pick or prospect.

Detroit Red Wings Actively Shopping Xavier Ouellet

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In Craig Custance’ latest piece for The Athletic (subscription required), he lists through 20 names that could be moved this summer. Number 19, Nick Jensen of the Detroit Red Wings, comes with an interesting first paragraph:

The Red Wings are actively shopping defenseman Xavier Ouellet, who has one year remaining on a contract worth $1.25 million. “He wants a fresh start,” Red Wings GM Ken Holland said last week at the draft combine. That’s not necessarily an easy assignment since Ouellet had trouble cracking the lineup on a Detroit team that wasn’t particularly good.

Though Jensen is the target of the blurb, Ouellet sticks out as an interesting note as we get closer to draft day. The 24-year old defenseman has been underwhelming through his 141-game NHL career, but still could posses enough upside for a team to take a chance on him. The fact that the Red Wings are trying to move him doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as they currently project to have a bit of a logjam on defense next season if everyone comes back healthy.

Ouellet, selected 48th-overall in 2011, still hasn’t found a full-time role for the Red Wings. In 45 games this season he recorded just seven points, averaging fewer than 14 minutes a night. With the sheltered role—or perhaps in spite of it—Ouellet actually did put up reasonably good possession statistics and could be seen as an underutilized asset to another team. The league is getting a first-hand look at what underwhelming players can do in the right situation, with several of the Vegas defenders and Michal Kempny who is starring for the Washington Capitals after believing he was on his way out of the NHL just a few months ago.

Still, it’s hard to see the Red Wings bringing back anything of real value for Ouellet. Though a $1.25MM contract isn’t outlandish, it also might be a little too much for a team to risk when they don’t exactly know what kind of contribution they’ll get. That’s not to say there won’t be any takers, but to expect much of a return seems foolish at this point.

Ben Simon Named Head Coach Of Grand Rapids Griffins

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The Grand Rapids Griffins, AHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings, lost their head coach Todd Nelson to the Dallas Stars recently, but will have a familiar face taking over for him next season. Ben Simon, who worked as an assistant for the team the last three years has officially been named head coach.

The Griffins won a Calder Cup under Nelson in 2017, but failed to get past the Manitoba Moose this time around. After he joined Jim Montgomery’s new staff in Dallas, it wasn’t clear if the team would bring in a new face or promote from within. That answer is clear now, and Simon will get his first chance as a head coach in the AHL, after previously holding the role in the ECHL.

Simon, once an AHL journeyman himself, played 81 games in his NHL career and recorded just four points. He’ll try to impart some of his knowledge on what has been a very good minor league team of late, despite the lack of real high-end prospects. Ben Street, Eric Tangradi and Matt Lorito, three experienced professionals led the way this year, but are all unrestricted free agents this summer. Though it doesn’t seem like they’ll get a lot of opportunity elsewhere in the NHL, there’s no guarantee they’ll be back in Grand Rapids.

The Griffins will likely get Dennis Cholowski though, one of Detroit’s top prospects and a defenseman with extremely high potential. If he doesn’t crack the Red Wings lineup out of camp, Simon will be the one to mold Cholowski through his first full professional season.

Free Agent Focus: Detroit Red Wings

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Here is a breakdown of Detroit’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agent: F Dylan Larkin — After a great start in his rookie year, there were a lot of questions after he struggled in his sophomore campaign when he put up just 32 points. However, the 21-year-old center brushed away any doubts this year, putting up 16 goals and a team-leading 63 points. With a team full of veterans, the Red Wings must begin to depend more and more on Larkin, who is developing into the franchise player they need to center one of their top lines. Add in a recent appearance at the IIHF World Championships where he helped Team USA win a bronze medal and he’s the key to Detroit’s rebuild.

Now coming off his entry-level deal, Larkin is in line for a significant raise from the $1.43MM deal he’s been on for the past three years. Not arbitration eligible, however, the negotiations might get ugly like the one that Andreas Athanasiou dealt with last year, especially with multiple quality players who will be restricted free agents this summer.

Other RFA’s: F Athanasiou, F Tyler Bertuzzi, F Martin Frk, F Matej Machovsky, F Anthony Mantha, F Zach Nastasiuk, F Matt Puempel, D Daniel Renouf.

Key Unrestricted Free Agent: D Mike Green — On a positive note, the team doesn’t have any pressing unrestricted free agents. While Green is quite an offensive defenseman, he’s also 32 years old and not necessarily in the team’s long-term plans. The team’s original plan was to trade the veteran blueliner to a playoff contender at the trade deadline and had hoped that he would provide the team with a big haul of picks and/or prospects. Instead, Green got hurt and missed the two weeks prior to the trade deadline and weren’t able to move Green.

While there has been some talk of bringing him back on a short-term deal, he might be able to get a bigger deal elsewhere, but considering defense is one of the team’s biggest weaknesses and not a lot of defensive prospects there to take his place, a reunion is certainly possible.

Other UFA’s: F David Booth, G Jared Coreau, F Turner Elson, F Matt Lorito, G Tom McCollum, F Ben Street, F Eric Tangradi.

Projected Cap Space: With all the bloated veteran contracts the Red Wings have on the books, cap space is something the team has had little of over the past few years. The team did get the contracts of Green, Tomas Tatar, and Petr Mrazek off the books to free up a little room, but they will likely need all of that to re-sign Larkin, Athanasiou, Mantha and Bertuzzi. While general manager Ken Holland says he doesn’t intend to sign any major free agents to long-term deals this summer, he did say he would look at players with shorter term deals, but in the end, the team hopes to bring in some of their youth to fill in the gaps this year.

Montreal Has Tough Decision To Make At Upcoming Draft

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It’s well known that the Montreal Canadiens are looking for a franchise changing center. Usually when you have a top-three pick in a draft, a team can fill their biggest hole right there. However, that isn’t the case in the 2018 NHL Draft as the top of the draft is loaded with wingers and defenseman. Most of the centers are expected to go after the top-10. The Canadiens need help there as they have attempted to convert several players to the center position, including Jonathan Drouin and Alex Galchenyuk, but neither has made a successful conversion. If the team could add a couple of legitimate centers, it could hasten their turnaround.

Recent reports suggest the Canadiens have found themselves getting attached to Finnish center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who most mock drafts have going after the 10th pick. Admittedly, he has risen up draft boards over the past year after a season in Finland’s top league, SM-liiga and put up 10 goals and 29 points as a 17-year-old among men (ironically he played the wing position there). In fact, at the combine this week, Kotkaniemi said that Canadiens were one of three teams to take him out to a steak dinner this past week. Assuming the Canadiens’ interest in him is genuine, the Canadiens have some critical decisions to make in the next few weeks. Kotkaniemi, who has two years remaining on his contract in Finland, has said there is an out-clause and he could come to North America, depending on the team that drafts him. Regardless, whatever Montreal does with the No. 3 pick will alter the rest of the draft, according to the Montreal Gazette’s Pat Hickey.

One option is to take Kotkaniemi with the third overall pick regardless of the prospect rankings. Afterall, the Columbus Blue Jackets did the same thing in 2016 when they surprised many by taking Pierre-Luc Dubois with the No. 3 pick then. That worked out pretty well. The downside is the team would likely pass on some top talent in either winger Andrei Svechnikov or Filip Zadina (whoever Carolina doesn’t take at No. 2) as well as a number of stud defensemen like Adam Boqvist, Noah Dobson or Quinn Hughes. Montreal needs help at both positions as well.

The second option is for Montreal to trade back and pick up Kotkaniemi at a more reasonable spot and pick up more assets. Unfortunately, several other teams like Kotkaniemi as well, including the Detroit Red Wings (No. 6) and the Chicago Blackhawks (No. 8). By the way, both teams were the only other teams to take Kotkaniemi out to a steak dinner this week. However, earlier in the week, general manager Marc Bergevin said he was reluctant to trade back in the draft. Director of player personnel Trevor Timmons countered that Saturday, suggesting the team could go up or down with all their extra picks in this draft.

Assuming the Canadiens do want to add a center in the draft, then the team will have a big decision to make in the coming weeks about which route they intend to take.

Red Wings Could Package First-Rounders In Effort To Move Up

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While there has been speculation that the Red Wings are a candidate to slide back from the sixth pick in the draft, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch notes that speculation around the Draft Combine is that Detroit is looking to move up and may be willing to move their second first-round pick (from Vegas which will slot in 30th or 31st) to do so.  Detroit is believed to be looking for defensemen so jumping up a spot or two would likely guarantee they’d get the second-best blueliner available (beyond Rasmus Dahlin who is expected to go to Buffalo at number one).

Exclusive Negotiating Rights Of 33 Draft Picks Expire

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The deadline for signing draft picks has come and gone, and unless more deals come in after the fact, 33 players—the same total as last year—will see their exclusive negotiating rights expire. With it they will either re-enter the 2018 draft for the final time or become free agents, depending on their age. Adam Mascherin is the highest picked player among those who will be headed back into the draft, selected 38th overall by the Florida Panthers two years ago. Below is the full list of players:

Anaheim Ducks:

F Tyler Soy (7th round, 2016)

Arizona Coyotes:

F Anton Karlsson (3rd round, 2014)
D David Westlund (6th round, 2014)

Buffalo Sabres:

D Vojtech Budik (5th round, 2016)
F Brandon Hagel (6th round, 2016)
D Austin Osmanski (7th round, 2016)

Calgary Flames:

D Adam Ollas Mattsson (6th round, 2014)

Carolina Hurricanes: 

C Hudson Elynuik (3rd round, 2016)
D Noah Carroll (6th round, 2016)

Chicago Blackhawks:

D Andreas Soderberg (5th round, 2014)

Colorado Avalanche:

G Maximilian Pajpach (6th round, 2014)

Dallas Stars:

D Miro Karjalainen (5th round, 2014)

Detroit Red Wings:

D Jordan Sambrook (5th round, 2016)
F Julius Vahatalo (6th round, 2014)

Florida Panthers:

G Hugo Fagerblom (7th round, 2014)
C Adam Mascherin (2nd round, 2016)

Los Angeles Kings:

D Jacob Friend (7th round, 2016)

Minnesota Wild:

D Pontus Sjalin (6th round, 2014)
D Brayden Chizen (7th round, 2016)

New Jersey Devils:

G Evan Cormier (4th round, 2016)

Philadelphia Flyers:

C Anthony Salinitri (6th round, 2016)

Pittsburgh Penguins:

D Connor Hall (3rd round, 2016)

San Jose Sharks:

D Mark Shoemaker (6th round, 2016)

Tampa Bay Lightning:

C Christopher Paquette (5th round, 2016)

Toronto Maple Leafs:

D Keaton Middleton (4th rond, 2016)
F J.J. Piccinich (4th round, 2014)
D Nicolas Mattinen (6th round, 2016)

Vancouver Canucks:

D Cole Candella (5th round, 2016)
F Jakob Stukel (6th round, 2016)
C Brett McKenzie (7th round, 2016)

Washington Capitals:

F Kevin Elgestal (7th round, 2014)
D Dmitri Zaitsev (7th round, 2016)

Winnipeg Jets:

C Jordan Stallard (5th round, 2016)

Detroit Open To Trading Down At The Draft, Have Had Preliminary Talks With Three Pending Free Agents

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  • The Red Wings are open to moving their sixth-overall selection in the draft, reports Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required). GM Ken Holland admitted that trading up doesn’t make a lot of sense for them but sliding down a few spots would certainly be a possibility for them.  Custance adds that Holland has had preliminary meetings with the agents for pending RFA wingers Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha plus pending UFA defenseman Mike Green.

Todd Nelson, Mike Van Ryn Join NHL Coaching Staffs

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Two top AHL coaches are leaving for the NHL, as reports have surfaced from Sean Shapiro and Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic that Todd Nelson and Mike Van Ryn will be joining the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues respectively. Nelson had been the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings’ affiliate in Grand Rapids, while Van Ryn was the head coach of the Tucson Roadrunners, affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes.

Nelson took over from Jeff Blashill as head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2015, and led them to an AHL Calder Cup championship in his second season. Though the Griffins took a slight step backwards this season, they still posted their third straight 40+ win season under Nelson and made the playoffs. Knocked out by a tough Manitoba Moose squad in a five games, they’ll have to look for a new leader behind the bench to try and overcome their playoff disappointment.

Van Ryn, 39, finished his playing career in 2009 with the Toronto Maple Leafs and quickly moved into the coaching ranks. Spending time in both the OHL and AHL, he was given the head coaching job in Tucson last summer after previously serving as director of player development. Once a first-round pick of the New Jersey Devils, Van Ryn tallied quite a few successful seasons in the NHL before having his playing days cut short by injuries. Joining the Blues is the next step in a coaching career that seems destined for an NHL head coaching job eventually.

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