Sport-Scan Daily Brief
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SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 11/23/2020 Detroit Red Wings 1180253 Predicting which young prospects Detroit Red Wings will be on team in 2021-22 1180254 Red Wings think 'very competitive' Chase Bradley can be a late-round steal Florida Panthers 1180255 Florida Panthers ‘Untouchable’ Prospects Nashville Predators 1180256 Ice installation at Bridgestone Arena cause for some optimism about Predators season New York Islanders 1180257 New Coliseum leaseholder gets break on rent 1180258 The NHL and its players need to agree on financial details for a new season St Louis Blues 1180259 The day the Blues launched the career of an NHL coaching legend Toronto Maple Leafs 1180260 Normal is coming to the NHL, but there’s still some navigating to do 1180261 SIMMONS: The 50 most influential Toronto sporting figures of the past 50 years 1180262 SIMMONS: NHL infighting puts start of regular season in doubt Vancouver Canucks 1180263 Canucks prospects tracker: The Jurmo gambit, hold the Linus Websites 1180264 Sportsnet.ca / Allan Walsh: From California courtrooms to NHL boardrooms – Sportsnet SPORT-SCAN, INC. 941-284-4129 1180253 Detroit Red Wings Michael Rasmussen, the ninth pick in 2017, is with Graz in Austria, where he had two goals and five assists after seven games. He projects to be a bottom-six center whose size (6-6, 220 pounds) will help him be a Predicting which young prospects Detroit Red Wings will be on team in factor on the power play, but it may not be as soon as next fall. 2021-22 Detroit Free Press LOADED: 11.23.2020 Helene St. James Detroit Free Press The Swedish Hockey League has provided something of a balm this autumn while we in North America await the start of the 2021 NHL season. Reports of how well young players and draft picks in the Detroit Red Wings system are doing in Europe led to the topic of this week’s mailbag. Pat B. wrote to ask, “It seems like the guys in Sweden are scoring or doing something positive every day. I know the Red Wings don’t like to rush their young guys, but how many of these players in Europe do you think will be on the team next fall?” When it became clear in September that the NHL and AHL would not start as normal because of the pandemic — the hope is sometime in the new year — the Wings loaned numerous players to teams in Europe. The list includes defensemen Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek, and forwards Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno. Others, such as forwards Lucas Raymond, Mathias Bromé and Jonatan Berggren ended up staying with their SHL clubs rather than entertain the idea of coming to Detroit this season. Hronek and Zadina have already established they are NHL players, and will be recalled when the NHL signals teams can start preparing for a 2021 season. In what is an encouraging sign for the Wings’ rebuild, many of their other players in Europe are having excellent seasons. It’s a good indication that a player is ready to advance when he is dominating at his current level. Seider has not played for the past week because his SHL team, Rögle, has had to postpone games because of COVID-19, but he has averaged nearly a point-a-game, producing two goals and five assists in eight games. The Wings were planning to bring Seider (6-foot-4, 207 pounds) to Detroit for a few games last season before hockey was shut down March 12 because of the pandemic. He’s in Sweden for this season, but considering that the 19-year-old will, is now in his third season of playing professional hockey, he’s all but guaranteed to be a part of the Wings’ lineup in 2021-22. Raymond, who general manager Steve Yzerman selected at fourth in the 2020 draft, is also likely to be on the team. He had five goals and seven assists in 19 games, ranking second on his team, Frölunda (which is in first place in the SHL) in his second full year in the SHL. Raymond (5-10, 183 pounds) already has topped the 10 points he recorded in 33 games last season. The Wings, then run by general manager ken Holland, were thrilled when Berggren was available at 33rd in 2018. The 5-11, 183-pounder is an elite playmaker and skater, as he’s demonstrated this season with five goals and 15 assists in 18 games with Skellefteå. He has indicated he’s ready to challenge for a spot on the Wings next fall. Bromé (6-0, 183) was signed as a free agent last April. He’s 26, and was never drafted in the NHL. He garnered attention last season after tallying 17 goals and 26 assists in 52 games with Örebro in the SHL, and he’s at nearly a point-a-game this season with three goals and 13 assists in 17 games. He’s an intriguing player, from the standpoint that he presents as a late bloomer who could come in next season and push for a job in the bottom six mix. Veleno, the 30th pick in 2018, has two goals and two assists in 10 games with Malmö, a team that’s at the bottom of the SHL standings. He spent last season with the Grand Rapids Griffins, where he had 11 goals and 12 assists in 53 games. He’ll probably need more time in the AHL so he can develop into the two-way center the Wings want him to be — he definitely has offensive skills, but he needs to balance them with being good in his own zone. 1180254 Detroit Red Wings Bradley, who’ll play collegiately at Northeastern next year, was getting ready for the junior season when the NHL Draft took place in October, and wasn’t around his family in suburban St. Louis. Red Wings think 'very competitive' Chase Bradley can be a late-round The way the entire draft process took place this year, delayed about four steal months because of the pandemic and done virtually, made for a dramatic change. And then having to wait until the seventh round to hear your name called Ted kulfan made for a somewhat uneasy day. The Detroit News “I wasn’t with my family, so that was different,” Bradley said. “Getting into the later rounds, you get a little nervous and anxious. But I couldn’t be happier being drafted by Detroit.” Detroit – When you look at the list of players drafted in the seventh (now Growing up in St. Louis, Bradley was a big Blues fan, and loved the Red final) round who have gone on to success in the NHL, it is rather eye- Wings-Blues rivalry some 10 years ago. opening. “That’s changed now,” said Bradley, who is from Oakville, the same town There are Stanley Cup champions such as forwards Ondrej Palat as two-time Stanley Cup champion Pat Maroon. “It (the rivalry) was (Tampa Bay) and Patric Hornqvist (with Pittsburgh, now playing for awesome. It was a huge rivalry back then. It still kind of is.” Florida); established stars like goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (Washington) and forward Joe Pavelski (Dallas); as well as players such as Justin By going to Northeastern, Bradley is giving himself time to mature Braun (Philadelphia), Jason Demers (Arizona) and Anton Stralman physically and mentally. (Florida), all defensemen who’ve played more than 600 games. “More time to develop,” Bradley said. “You have to up to four years, and It’s an impressive list, and goes to show you it doesn’t matter when you especially playing junior hockey now, it gives you time. That’s the main get drafted. thing for me. And always having a back up plan, too, going to college.” In Detroit, defenseman Jonathan Ericsson (2002, ninth round) and forward Tomas Holmstrom (1994, 10th round) went on to long, successful careers after being selected in late rounds. Detroit News LOADED: 11.23.2020 And that gives forward Chase Bradley inspiration. Bradley was the Red Wings’ seventh-round draft pick, the 203rd selection overall, last month. While the odds are against Bradley having a long NHL career, he sees some of those names, and the careers they’ve had, and he’s ready to work for his opportunity. “For sure, you see some of those players who are drafted in the late round, and the impact they’ve had in the NHL, it’s crazy,” Bradley said in a Zoom media interview after the draft. “It didn’t affect them too much. Being drafted is one of the main things you strive for. “It definitely doesn’t change my mindset on anything.” After last month's draft, Steve Yzerman, the Red Wings’ general manager, talked about how much work NHL scouts put into finding and selecting late-round picks. “That’s where some of these scouts really take pride in some of these kids turning pro later in the draft,” Yzerman said. “We all sit there and watch the top kids in the draft and it’s easy to say, ‘I chose that guy or this guy in the first round.’ They (scouts) really take pride in finding those guys late, and they work hard at that.” What the Wings like about Bradley, a 6-foot, 180-pound left wing with Sioux City in the United States Hockey League (three assists in three games so far), is his steady and continued improvement, and his competitiveness. “He’s a very competitive kid,” said kris Draper, the Wings’ director of amateur scouting, who saw plenty of Bradley while coaching his son Kienan Draper, who like Bradley was a Wings’ seventh-round draft pick in October.