- With the games for the week now over due to the holiday break, the NHL released its weekly Three Stars today. Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov was named First Star on the heels of recording seven points in four games including back-to-back overtime winners. Rangers center Mika Zibanejad is the Second Star after also notching seven points in four contests. Meanwhile, Red Wings winger Patrick Kane takes home the Third Star nod after leading the league in scoring with eight points in his four appearances.
Red Wings Rumors
David Perron To Appeal Suspension To Neutral Arbitrator
While Red Wings winger David Perron’s six-game suspension was upheld yesterday by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the six games have already been served, the appeal process isn’t over just yet. Perron’s agent Allan Walsh tweeted that his client (in conjunction with the NHLPA) will exercise the option to further appeal to a neutral arbitrator. At this point, the value in doing so would be a potential return of forfeited salary – Perron lost over $148K due to the suspension – as well as simply lowering the number of games for comparative purposes should a similar incident happen again.
Red Wings Place Alex Lyon On IR, Recall Simon Edvinsson
The Red Wings have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their final game before the holiday break tonight against New Jersey. The team announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Alex Lyon has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to December 16th. Taking his place on the roster will be defenseman Simon Edvinsson who has been recalled from AHL Grand Rapids.
Lyon signed with Detroit as a free agent back in July in what was expected to be a third-string role. However, instead of going through waivers and playing with the Griffins, the Red Wings have elected to keep three goalies up with the big club. As a result, playing time has been quite difficult to come by for the 31-year-old. But to his credit, Lyon has played quite well when called upon, posting a 2.14 GAA and a .932 SV% in his seven appearances, numbers that are considerably better than teammates Ville Husso and James Reimer. With the placement being back-dated by a week, he’ll be eligible to be activated for their next game on Wednesday versus Minnesota.
As for Edvinsson, the 20-year-old is in his second full season in North America. The sixth pick in 2021, Edvinsson got into nine games with Detroit last year (meaning he didn’t burn the first year of his contract) and this is his first promotion of 2023-24. He has been quite productive with the Griffins with six goals and ten assists in 25 games, already passing his goal total from a year ago.
Morning Notes: Määttä, Celebrini, Zegras
The Detroit Red Wings have announced that defenseman Olli Määttä will be unavailable for tonight’s game against the New Jersey Devils. Määttä is dealing with an upper-body injury that forced him out of last night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. There’s no word on a timetable for Määttä to return to the lineup but that could be provided in the coming days as Detroit gets set to head into the break. The Red Wings won’t be action again until Wednesday against the Minnesota Wild and an update should be provided before that time.
A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Määttä has settled into a role with the Red Wings since signing with the team as a free agent back in July 2022. Määttä had bounced around to a few teams after being traded away by the Penguins but has since found a home in Detroit. In 27 games this season, the 29-year-old has a goal and six assists and is +6 while playing almost 15 minutes a night.
In other morning notes:
- The IIHF has announced that Team Canada forward Macklin Celebrini will not face any supplemental discipline for his boarding incident that occurred in Canada’s second pre-tournament game as they get prepared for this year’s World Junior tournament. Celebrini is projected to be the first overall selection in the 2024 NHL entry draft and would have been a huge loss for Canada had he been suspended. The 17-year-old had two assists in the first half of the game against Switzerland before he was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding. Canada plays their final pre-tournament game today against the United States and will begin the official tournament against Finland on Boxing Day.
- NHL.com is reporting that Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras could return to the Ducks lineup tonight as they take on the Seattle Kraken. Zegras reportedly practiced yesterday on the Ducks’ top line alongside Alex Killorn and Troy Terry. The 22-year-old has missed the Ducks’ last 20 games with an upper-body injury and would presumably slide into Leo Carlsson’s spot as the top center as Carlsson is being evaluated for an injury as well. The native of Bedford, New York has had a rough start to his season as he started with just a goal and an assist in his first 12 games before going down to injury.
NHL Upholds Perron Suspension
- Returning to the lineup tonight regardless of the decision, the NHL decided to uphold the six-game suspension of Detroit Red Wings forward, David Perron, after the NHLPA filed an appeal on his behalf. After the appeal process played out, Commissioner Gary Bettman relied heavily on Perron’s intentions during the play to defend the original suspension, as the entirety of his reason can be found here.
[SOURCE LINK]
Detroit Red Wings Place Ville Husso On Injured Reserve
Ville Husso, who left the Detroit Red Wings’ game early two days ago with an apparent knee injury has been placed on injured reserve by the franchise. This news comes after it was revealed yesterday by head coach Derek Lalonde that Husso would be out of commission on a week-to-week basis.
This IR placement clears a spot on Detroit’s 23-man roster, perhaps for the team to use to recall veteran netminder Michael Hutchinson, who they signed to an NHL deal yesterday. With Alex Lyon out “until at least after Christmas,” according to Lalonde, Husso’s injury leaves the Red Wings with just one healthy goalie on their active roster.
Seeing as the Red Wings have a game against the Winnipeg Jets tonight, a move to add a backup to the roster behind James Reimer should be expected. With Husso’s IR placement, room for that move has been created.
Husso, 28, is in the midst of a second season as Detroit’s number-one goalie. He signed a $4.75MM AAV contract in the summer of 2022 in order to take that role for Detroit, and he was only okay last year. He had his moments, but his .896 save percentage reflected a need to play with more consistency. He did play in 56 games last season, though, and has already played in 18 this year.
So far this season, Husso has gone 9-5-2 with a 3.53 goals-against-average and .893 save percentage. In his absence, the Red Wings will turn to Reimer, who has a .908 save percentage this season.
Detroit Red Wings Sign Michael Hutchinson
Already playing in the organization on an AHL contract for the 2023-24 season, the Detroit Red Wings announced the signing of goaltender Michael Hutchinson to a one-year, two-way contract for the rest of the season. In 13 games played for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, Hutchinson holds a 5-7-1 record, coupled with a .895 SV% and a 2.98 GAA.
The news comes after a tough couple of days for Detroit goaltending, as Alex Lyon left the team’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers after falling to the ice awkwardly following a save, and Ville Husso would leave the team’s game last night against the Anaheim Ducks with an apparent knee injury.
With head coach Derek Lalonde indicating that Husso would be out week-to-week, and Lyon expected to be out until after the Christmas holiday, James Reimer is seemingly the only healthy option left available to Detroit, meaning Hutchinson could see a call-up to the NHL organization shortly. In what has become a bit of a talking point surrounding the Red Wings season up to this point, the regular goaltending trio holds a 15-12-4 record in 31 games, only sporting a combined save percentage of 90.4% and a GAA of 3.01.
However, even with a fresh face between the pipes for a short while, there shouldn’t be any expectation that Hutchinson will provide any sort of improvement to Detroit’s goaltending issues. Having only played in 54 games since the beginning of the 2017-18 NHL season, Hutchinson holds a 16-23-7 record in those six years, while maintaining a .889 SV% and a 3.52 GAA.
If Hutchinson fails to deliver on whatever expectations the Red Wings may have for him, they do have one final option in the crease they could use, but are seemingly hesitant to do so. After a difficult transition to professional hockey last season, Sebastian Cossa, the 15th overall selection of the 2021 NHL Draft, sports a 4-5-2 record for the Griffins this season, with a much improved .904 SV% and 2.93 GAA.
Red Wings Place Klim Kostin On Injured Reserve
The Red Wings placed winger Klim Kostin on injured reserve Tuesday, per a team announcement. In a corresponding transaction, the team recalled forward Austin Czarnik from AHL Grand Rapids under emergency conditions.
Kostin, 24, was on injured reserve as late as last week and returned from an undisclosed injury to play a pair of contests. Monday night against Anaheim, Kostin took a minor penalty and logged two shots on goal in 6:30 of ice time before leaving the game in the second period after taking an open-ice hit from Ducks bruiser Radko Gudas. The Red Wings have not disclosed what type of injury Kostin sustained.
This is Kostin’s first season in Hockeytown after Detroit acquired his signing rights from the Oilers in exchange for future considerations and the contract of former Oilers winger Kailer Yamamoto, which the Red Wings promptly bought out, just before the opening of free agency last July. Kostin was not issued a qualifying offer by the Red Wings but swiftly signed a two-year, $4MM contract to stay with Detroit when free agency opened. Slated for restricted free agency with arbitration rights in 2025, Kostin carries a $2MM cap hit and is owed $1.8MM in salary this season.
It’s been a disappointing run so far for Kostin, who scored a career-high 11 goals and 21 points in 57 games with Edmonton last season. The 2017 first-round pick of the Blues missed most of his draft year due to injury, and he hasn’t ever recovered from the loss of development time, failing to advance his offensive game past an NHL fourth-line level. In 23 games with the Red Wings, Kostin has two goals and one assist, averaging 8:40 per game. He’s also been a healthy scratch three times this season.
Czarnik replaces Kostin’s spot on the roster after being assigned to Grand Rapids yesterday. The 31-year-old AHL veteran has played 15 games with the Red Wings this season in a fourth-line role, registering one assist. The veteran of nearly 200 NHL games over the past eight seasons is expected to center a fourth line with Christian Fischer and Daniel Sprong in Wednesday’s game against the Jets.
Alex Lyon Potentially Going On Injured Reserve
- In the Detroit Red Wings’ most recent game against the Philadelphia Flyers, goaltender Alex Lyon left the game in the second period, after going down awkwardly after making a save. Now, Ansar Khan of MLive is reporting that if he has not shown signs of recovery by Wednesday, Detroit will likely place Lyon on the injured reserve, leaving the net to Ville Husso and James Reimer.
[SOURCE LINK]
Red Wings Activate Dylan Larkin
12:51 p.m.: Detroit made the transaction official Monday afternoon. To create space on the active roster, the team assigned forward Austin Czarnik to AHL Grand Rapids.
10:38 a.m.: The Red Wings will activate captain Dylan Larkin off injured reserve before tonight’s game against the Ducks, head coach Derek Lalonde said Monday morning.
Larkin landed on injured reserve last Monday with a head injury sustained on December 9 against the Senators. The 27-year-old center took a cross-check from Senators winger Mathieu Joseph during a net-front scrum late in the first period and was briefly unconscious on the ice.
Thankfully, Larkin didn’t sustain a severe injury on the play and is ready to return to game action just over a week after the incident. However, Detroit is still without winger David Perron, who has two games left to serve in a six-game suspension assessed for cross-checking Senators defenseman Artem Zub in retaliation after Larkin went down. Perron will be eligible to return for this Friday’s game against the Flyers.
Larkin’s return comes at a crucial time for the Red Wings. The team went 1-3-0 in their captain’s absence and has undone most of the standings gain created by a late November hot streak. Their 15-11-4 record is a .567 points percentage, which still puts them fourth in the Atlantic Division but behind the Islanders (.600) and Devils (.569) for the two Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference.
The Waterford, Michigan-born center remains the only point-per-game player on the roster and has 11 goals and 14 assists through 24 contests, leading Red Wings forwards by averaging 19:24 per contest and winning a team-high 52.7% of faceoffs. His 52.8% Corsi share at even strength is the highest among any Red Wings forward to suit up this season.
Tonight marks the second full game with both Larkin and Patrick Kane in the Red Wings lineup. Kane’s Detroit debut came December 7 against the Sharks, Larkin’s last full game before exiting with injury. The two are expected to be linemates tonight, with 23-year-old Joe Veleno riding shotgun at left wing.
Larkin is in the first season of an eight-year, $69.6MM extension with trade protection inked last March. His 462 career points in 608 games rank 18th in Red Wings franchise history.