Jeremy Laura: Red and White game - Vrana hurt

THANKS JL!!!
It was good to see some Red Wing hockey!

THANKS JL!!!
It was good to see some Red Wing hockey!
- HenryHockey

Absolutely! Horrible PP, but some nice goals from newbies

Nice to see a game and a full Ice Arena!

Nice to see a game and a full Ice Arena!
- Tee56

For sure. Traverse City is a beautiful rink. I don’t think it holds more than 1,000, but the crowds are always good. For some reason, the pizza there is excellent. (Mancino’s).

Vrana may be having more issues than originally thought. Going to a specialist on Monday. Larkin sat out today. The top 6 gets pretty thin pretty quick. Fabbri lost a chunk of the season last year, Bertuzzi is off of a surgery. We lose those 4, and it’s even rougher sledding than I originally thought. Part of what is hard for this team is the drop off in talent. If injuries hit hard, the scoring dries up pretty quickly.

Vrana may be having more issues than originally thought. Going to a specialist on Monday. Larkin sat out today. The top 6 gets pretty thin pretty quick. Fabbri lost a chunk of the season last year, Bertuzzi is off of a surgery. We lose those 4, and it’s even rougher sledding than I originally thought. Part of what is hard for this team is the drop off in talent. If injuries hit hard, the scoring dries up pretty quickly.
- Jeremy Laura

Some of the young bucks will get opportunities if Injuries pile up. Not a bad thing as long as everyone is patient.

Great re-cap, J. Very insightful, and addressing the glaringly obvious short-comings of our team.

Suter looked really good. Raymond had a beauty shoot-out goal. He absolutely stripped Mo Sides down to his jock for the puck. It was beautiful to see how dang skilled this kid is. If he continues to improve, he’s going to be very special. Mo looked ok, overall (being destroyed by Raymond aside). I think we got a look at the 3d d-pairing with Leddy & Mo Sides. They looked like an already strongly formed pairing (there’s still improvement, to be sure). The d seems to be strong (in relation to previous year’s Swiss Cheese pairings…).

The PP was an absolute disaster. I was hoping that Tanguay would’ve put his mark on the PP, but the only change I saw was the entry. Still some work to do there. I’d say the PK was mediocre at beatst, considering how lackluster the PP was.

Scary news about Vrana. Definitely need to watch what happens there. Am hoping maybe Larks, Staal, etc… were held out to ensure nothing happens to them going into the pre-season. I watched the stream Friday and saw Larkin, he looked ok to me, but what do I know.

Bratt looked really good (considering his time as a pro, etc…). He may hit his stride right about the time Greiss departs HockeyTown. If Ned continues his development & strong play, they could be a really good set-up in the net. Add in Cossa’s timeline (3-5yrs on average, the guys here say…) and we may have a pretty good outlook in net. Saw Cossa was sent to the Juniors, will be looking to see how he fares.

I was impressed with Ras. Looks like he put some serious work into his face-off skills. We have GOT to have someone worth their salt at the dot. You captured the negative ramifications very well. If the abysmal PP can’t even gain a zone FOW, we’re in deep kimchi, my friend.

Tyutayev looked like someone lit a fuze under his butt. That dude’s got wheels for days. I’m a HUGE fan of Namestnikov, he’s the epitome of a Wings player; gritty, hard-working, works incredibly well with his line-mates. His numbers may not set the world on fire, but he’s so strong & reliable. Paring him with Smith would create a very strong 2/3 of a line. Stephens looked good, as you said. If the knock on him is confidence, I’d think guys like Namestnikov, Larkin, Bert, etc… would be helpful. Throw in a dude like Gagner or Ryan, the kid will be just fine.

All-in-ll, what we saw today was a very raw 1st look. As the next few days pass, and the cuts start coming, we’ll see some improvement and get an idea of what to expect this season. Definitely not overly impressive, but the D-line looked good. I’m excited to see Leddy & Mo develop that chemistry. That’ll be a good pairing. DK is definitely slowing down. Pair him with Hronek. Staal & Stetcher/Lindstrom will be good enough.

Excited to see “real” games next week.

If Vrana is out for a long time maybe the Wings should get Helm back.

That goal by Sutter....Takeaway from Seider and walks in and scores! Nice! (For Pius, not for Mo )

If Vrana is out for a long time maybe the Wings should get Helm back.
- HockeyBuzzed

Why? What does one have to do with the other?

Some of the young bucks will get opportunities if Injuries pile up. Not a bad thing as long as everyone is patient.
- Tee56

This. Hate to see injuries happen but they do and it happens a lot to the Wings. But yeah injuries start piling new faces will get opportunities indeed. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Looking forward to seeing how a lot of our players get going here starting Wednesday.

Why? What does one have to do with the other?
- DRW1991

Maybe you didn't watch the Caps too closely.

In case you missed it, this is what Larkin is still recovering from:

https://streamable.com/xi6nmn