We have a special guest for this Red Wings Prospect edition of the podcast. Kyle graced us with his presence as we took a deeper look at not only some of the Griffins prospects, but also some of the kids still in juniors and Europe.
Which Griffins prospects are making a good case for themselves.
Which prospects might be with the Wings next season and which ones might be gone.
Which Junior prospects will be in Grand Rapids next year, and who's ready.
With the defense we have in Grand Rapids, and the lacking defense on the Wings, what's going to happen?
Prospects, prospects, prospects, and more prospects!
Olympic predictions and thoughts.
And much more.
Here are some additional information we referenced on the podcast:
This is a special Griffins episode of the podcast this week, because both Kevin and I were able to watch the Griffins in person this weekend. Who looks good? Who looks really good? Who looks insanely good? Who has tiny legs? All those questions and more will be answered. So please, get your poop in a group and let's roll!
You may listen to and download the podcast right over here ---> Episode 12
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOuellet Photo Credit: David Guralnick/Detroit News
Trying something different today. I had planned on doing an analysis of Xavier Ouellet's first NHL goal, because that's kind of my thing. However, that hasn't happened yet and with Ouellet being back in Grand Rapids for now, that post will come in the (very near) future.
Michelle asked the amazing Sanjay (@Weallbleedredd on the twitter and on the YouTube device) to upload Ouellet's shifts against the Jets so we could break them down and give an honest assessment of Mr. Ouellet's performance.
Let's take a look, shall we? Let's watch the first video and break it down:
First shift (0:00-0:34):
Ouellet (we'll shorten to XO for every possible reason) starts on the right side (he's a left-handed shot) paired with Lashoff (also a lefty). Andersson wins the faceoff to Lashoff who quickly gives the puck to XO.
XO turns up the ice and notices the Jets are in the following defensive position:
The lanes to all three forwards are blocked by Jets players. XO has some ice in front of him, and with no passing lane, does the smart thing by getting to the red line and dumping the puck in.
The puck comes back to XO at the right point. He has no direct pressure, so he fires a shot with the Wings crashing the net.
The puck then comes up Lashoff's side coming into the Wings zone. The puck bounces over Lashoff's stick and it looks like the Jets player might have the edge on it:
XO recognizes that there are no additional Jets players skating in, so he comes over to help Lashoff and make sure there is no angle to the net. Once XO sees that Lashoff has forced the Jets forward wide, he quickly checks the front of the net because that's what a smart player does:
See that stick at the left of the pic? Yeah, that's another Jets player coming in. XO recognizes this and peels back to block the lane, which is important because *spoilers* the puck may be going in that general direction:
Thanks, TSN, for changing camera angles AS SOON AS HE PASSES THE PUCK, making for a not-as-good angle for us to see what happens. But we get what happens, XO blocks the lane and deflects the pass. No shot on goal. Puck in the corner. XO FTW.
The shift isn't over yet, however. XO collects the puck in the corner and quickly leads the rush up the ice. The Jets have four players within range of him:
It's way too dangerous here to go backwards to Lashoff. Plus, the worst place for a turnover is just inside your own blue line as the rest of your team is transitioning up the ice. XO tries to hit Sammy with a pass off the boards. He doesn't have enough angle, but he at least gets the puck out of the zone. The Jets knock it down, but Andersson passes back to Lashoff as XO gets back into his defensive position.
I'd say that's a solid shift. This is fun.
Second Shift (0:34-0:44):
The puck is in the offensive zone. XO is on the right point with Kindl on the left. XO gets a pass from Bertuzzi and quickly slaps one on net with traffic in front. The puck bounces around then gets covered. Not much to break down here, had an open lane to the net with traffic in front and got the shot off. I'll take that play.
Third Shift (0:44-1:12):
I suppose Mr. XO couldn't be flawless forever. XO is playing right side with Lashoff on the left. Andersson wins the faceoff to Lashoff (hooray rhyming!) who plays the puck to XO behind the net. XO gets pressured behind the net, so he skates it out front and tries to pass to Lashoff. Yeah, about that...
As you can see, XO missed Lashoff with the pass. He has that first instinct of "OH I DONE FUCKED UP GOTTA GO GET AND PRETEND NOTHING HAPPENED" but thinks better of that. XO get back to the front and covers his guy. The puck gets moved around the Wings zone, but the entire time, XO stays between the Jets forward and the net. There is quite a bit of scrambling done on this play, primarily because of XO's turnover. The Wings eventually clear the zone and no harm comes.
Even though XO turned it over and did briefly panic, he did the smart thing and covered the front and whichever guy he was matched up against. Good thing it's the only mistake he'll ever make...on that shift. Ahem.
Fourth Shift (1:13-End):
Here we go. XO is playing the right side again with Lashoff on the left. The play starts with the puck in the offensive zone but transitioning towards the neutral zone. The Jets LW (the player the right side (XO) is responsible for covering) goes to the right wing to play the puck. XO sees this, along with no other Jets forward coming up the ice, so he follows his guy and hits him. Visual evidence:
Lashoff collects the puck and the Wings successfully break out. XO stays on the left side while Lashoff is on the right. XO moves with the play and Miller hits him with a perfect pass. XO skates up and doesn't have much room:
Once again, XO doesn't have much of a play here, so he makes the smart decision to get the puck in deep. While the forwards are working down low, XO stays on the left side while Lashoff covers the right side. The puck eventually works its way to Lashoff who sends it over to XO, when things get interesting:
XO passes to Miller here. Not a great play since Miller has guys around him, but not a horrible play. Miller quickly backhands the puck on net. XO's guy isn't watching him, so this allows XO to sneak in and wait for a pass or a rebound. Again with the spoilers...
Sadly, XO did not bury this rebound. But his ability to read the play and get a scoring chance is awesome and could easily result in plenty of future goals. Yay positive thinking!
And now, another negative. I've mentioned before how XO needs to get quicker. He's not slow or anything, but his skating needs to be improved. He's 20, I think I'll let it slide for now. Here's a couple of shots showing this.
Thankfully, this didn't come back and hurt the Wings. XO is decently far behind Thorburn, who is not exactly an offensive dynamo in the NHL. Hopefully a little work in the minors and some summer training will help XO increase his skating and then he will be even more awesome.
As far as the rest of the shift, nothing too fancy happened. XO had a guy one on one and kept him to the outside and did the same thing as the puck cycled down low. Even at the very end, with the Jets d-man pinching down, XO slightly loses his man for a second, but still works to block the lane and works his way back to his original guy as the puck gets covered in front.
To summarize the first video: XO is very strong with positional play. His only "major" mistake was turning the puck over on his third shift. Maybe it's a play he used in Grand Rapids and expected Lashoff to be there? Who knows. But he didn't get flustered and still was in position after the mistake.
Can you handle some more? Here...we....GO!!
And the second video:
First Shift (0:00-0:52):
Lots of things happened on this shift for XO. The play starts off in the Jets zone. XO is on the right side per usual, with Lashoff on the left. As the Jets transition up the ice, it looks to be a 3 on 2 with Datsyuk just trailing behind. Notice what XO (and Lashoff) are doing:
Communication. I know Michelle has pointed this out, but XO has solid communication skills. He's very vocal on the ice, which is very helpful, trust me. Here, both Lashoff and XO have their hands pointing to the middle player. I'm not exactly sure what they are saying here, but what ends up happening is XO takes the player in the middle of the ice while Datsyuk ends up lifting the stick of the Jets player on the bottom of the pic. It would make sense that XO was saying "I got him" so Pav knows who to cover on the backcheck.
The puck transitions back to the Jets zone. XO does a good job of slightly trailing the play as the Wings go to the Jets net - he heads to the top of the circle to see if the puck comes out, but it doesn't, so he quickly retreats back to the blue line.
Things then start to get interesting. The Jets gain control and come into the Wings zone on a 2 on 2. Lashoff and XO do a good job and force the Jets to take a bad shot from way down low. XO gains control behind the net with a Jets forward chasing him:
If you watch the video, you can see that this is a broken play (aka: not a thing that regularly happens). Also, Andersson is now on the ice (he didn't start the shift). I don't see the 5th Wings skater. I'm guessing Pav changed for Andersson since they are both centers. Hank is taking the center role here. Bert is out of frame, but with control, he's probably going for a change, so there's no other forward for an outlet pass.
What usually happens on a set break out is one d-man is behind the net with the puck. The other d-man will go to one of the corners. A forward will then almost skate around the opposite circle, from the inside to the boards. The d-man from behind the net, usually with pressure, will pass the puck to either the d-man in the corner or the forward in the opposite corner. This....does not happen.
What happens? XO has no one to pass to in the corner he's skating towards, so he tries to cut up the middle....yeah:
Xavier and Henrik, sitting in a tree.... Here's my thinking on why this happened. Lots of times when a team is in the middle of a change, the d-man will wait until the rest of the team makes the change until he begins the breakout. However, since the Jets had pressure, XO had to move the puck and had no one to pass it to. You can see above how Lashoff did eventually go to the corner to wait for a pass. Andersson is skating up the ice, thinking the rest of the team will be breakout with him. Basically, just a giant fustercluck happened at once. I would have preferred XO skate to the outside and not to the front of the net. But, he does recover nicely....by diving and, along with Andersson, getting the puck out to safety. And just because, here's XO diving:
Awesome. And that's the first shift of the second video.
Second Shift (0:53-1:22):
Much less interesting of a shift for XO. He handles a 2 on 2 like a champ, the puck goes into the Jets zone. The puck does eventually come to him at the point. As we learned earlier, he's not afraid to shoot the puck, which makes this play that much better:
XO has a couple of options here. He can shoot, but he has a Jet player in the shooting lane (which is blocked, can lead to a Jets breakaway) and no Wings player out front. A shot here would serve no purpose. He can dump it in the corner, but the lane to the right corner is blocked. The best option he has is to go to the other d-man on the point. This will buy some time for a Wings player to get in front and the other two at the top (Sammy and Andy) to get back into the play. Great work by XO here. Make the simple and smart play. That's what I like from my d-men.
Nothing else significant happened for XO on this shift. The puck eventually was covered by the Jets.
Third Shift (1:23-1:46)
The play starts in the Jets zone and slowly comes back towards the Wings end. Just to show that the earlier point on communication wasn't an oddity:
Doing the point again. I'm assuming he's telling Lashoff to watch the guy coming up that side while XO is going to go back to the middle of the ice to watch for additional Jets forwards. I love seeing this.
Nothing else spectacular happened on this shift. XO had some good coverage in his own zone but Lashoff ended up taking a tripping penalty.
Fourth Shift (1:46-end):
XO's final shift of the video :((((((((((((((((
The puck goes into the Wings zone. XO and a Jets player are chasing after it and XO has a step.
This is a tough play for any d-man. He has a guy right on his back with no support from his teammates. It would be a tough for him to try and backhand the puck all the way around the boards and shooting it forehand blindly up the close boards would be very difficult. As a d-man myself, I would probably just try and keep skating with it behind the net, but XO is much, much, much better than me at playing hockey. He does the following:
I'm not 100% what the Jets forward was doing here. He may have thought XO was going to continue to go behind the net, so went there to lay on a big hit. He may have been at the end of a shift so he was just putting pressure on XO to get his teammates enough time to change and was going to go for a change himself. Regardless, XO realizes that the Jets forward has peeled towards the center of the ice, so he stops and turns to relieve the pressure. He takes his time, skates up, and hit Bert in stride as Bert skates towards the Jets zone. Having the poise to do that? Awesome.
What did we learn about Ouellet in the second video? I learned that he seems to communicate very well, especially for a 20 year old rookie d-man. He usually makes the smart and simple play. These plays won't make the box scores, but trust me, they are just as important as making the big hit or scoring a few more goals a year. A lack of communication or a mistake under pressure can lead to a goal against, so to have those abilities (especially at this stage of his career) is amazing.
Ouellet mostly played sheltered minutes against 3rd and 4th line competition in his 3 NHL games. That's to be expected. He did get a couple of PK shifts, but was not a regular. This is what is to be expected from a rookie d-man. He will eventually make a few brain farts and cause some goals against. It's not to be expected that he's this calm and smart this early in his career. I'm guessing he won't be a regular in Detroit for two more years, but who knows. If he stays this solid and gets a few more call-ups, he may make the top 6 next season.
That's all for now. To further educate yourself on Mr Xavier Ouellet, check out the following links:
And per usual, yell at me (@KevinN37) on the twitter if you have something else you want me to break down. While you're there, say hi to Michelle (@SlapshotG0al) and the @BlueLinePatrol account for some random hockey things.
Under normal circumstances, this would be a post that introduces another podcast. Due to a few circumstances, we were not able to get together to record this week. Instead of a podcast, we're each going to write a few thoughts on some of the major happenings of the Wings in the last week. Come for the DeKeboners. Stay for the Ouellections.
WOOOOOOOOUELLET!
Photo credit: Kevin
Dan(ny)(iel) Cleary Being A Healthy Scratch
Kevin: Absolutely deserved. A player on the second line and power play only having three points in 18 games? Yeah, no. I know he's one of Babcock's guys, which should tell you how bad it was for Cleary's game. He wasn't a total waste defensively and on the PK, but wasn't Helmtastic enough on the PK to justify a roster spot being used. He also didn't have to dress up for Halloween because he's a zombie. Exhibit A:
This picture was not edited at all. Zombie.
Michelle: Maybe this makes me a jerk, but this is pretty close to what I expected from Cleary when we re-signed him. I don't think he's as good a player as he was in the playoffs. He's 24th out of 25 players on the team in relative corsi at even strength. I still don't like that we re-signed him, and I'm still scared that we'll do it again.
Tomas Tatar (Almost) Being A Healthy Scratch
Kevin: Fuck this shit. I'm taking my ball and going home. I know he ended up playing, but my point stays the same. If he ever sits in favor of Dan Cleary, I may lose my shit. Hopefully, in Babcock's office.
Michelle: Tatar didn't end up being a healthy scratch, thanks to Daniel Alfredsson continuing the Wings plague of groinitus. I don't agree with the decision to plan to scratch Tatar though, especially after he plays well, and certainly not so that Dan Cleary can play. I'm trying not to let the frustration of the Wings current lack of winning cause me to be too harsh, but I can't agree with benching Tatar in that situation regardless.
Danny DeKeyser and Xavier Ouellet Not Being Old and Being Awesome
Kevin: We'll have more on Mr. WOOOOOOuellet later this week. Spoiler alert: WOOOOOOuellet is good at the hockey.
Mr. DDK is also good at the hockey. He's been playing some top line minutes with Kronwall recently and has not disappointed. Yes, he makes some mistakes, but the fact that he's played less than a half season of NHL games so far tell you that he's going to be real solid. I sound like a broken record saying this, but it's true, so deal with it.
Michelle: I'm running out of creative ways to say that Danny DeKeyser is an incredibly special player and I may be in love. As Kevin said, he's not exempt from making mistakes, but the number and severity of mistakes he makes are small, especially when you consider that he's only played 34 career NHL games. When Ericsson hurt his shoulder, it was DeKeyser, not Kindl or Qincey who got promoted to the top pairing with Kronwall, and that had to be the easiest roster decision Babcock's made all season. DeKe is smart, calm, doesn't panic, and most of the time just makes the correct, simple, effective play. What more could we ask for from a rookie defenseman? What, you want some offense too? Jeeze you're greedy. He's also 7th on the team in points with 2 goals and 7 assists; including a short handed goal and a power play goal. Kronwall is the only defenseman with more points at 12 (1G 11A).
I think Ouellet will be the next DeKeyser, the defenseman to come in and be surprisingly good, even early on. We'll have something special coming soon on Ouellet.
Patrick Eaves Being Waived
Kevin: Hockey wise, it makes sense. Every other reason just sucks. I've met Eaves on multiple occasions and he always took plenty of time and interacted with all the fans. The way he worked his way back from his injuries was amazing and I really hope he does awesome things in the future.
Also, fuck the Wings for not having the decency to tell him before the reporters informed him. That is completely unacceptable and I won't forget about it anytime soon.
Michelle: :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( *Thanks Kevin, that pretty much sums up my feelings*. The Wings are in a situation where people have to go somewhere, not many teams have cap space to take on more players, and it seems that for numerous reasons, teams aren't interested in trading what we have to trade. I understand it's a business decision that had to be made, but that doesn't make it suck any less. I like Eaves a lot, he's one of my favorite players to cheer for and it goes beyond hockey. I feel bad for Eaves and his family. He now has to leave his wife and 2 young daughters (and Rueben too) in Detroit and head to Grand Rapids. Basically, everything about this sucks.
Gustav Nyquist Not Being Called Up Anytime Soon :(((((((((((((((((
Kevin: Fuck this shit. I know the roster situation - there are eleventy billion forwards on the Wings and the Griffins. I know the financial situation - the Wings have about $1.34 in cap space. I know Nyquist's waiver situation - once he plays two more NHL games, he would have to go on waivers to be sent down, and he would not clear them because duh.
I also know he's done all the developing he can do in the AHL and playing there will slowly start to hurt his progress (see my theory on Tatar, Tomas). I know that he's an NHL player and brings more to the table than some of the current Wings. I know that he is NOT the Wings savior this year. He may provide some solid secondary scoring, but he's not going to be a point-a-game guy (yet). I believe he would help the Wings, but the longer he stays in the minors, the longer it's going to take him to adjust to the NHL once he does get called up.
Michelle: I'm so tired of hearing and talking about this. I want Nyquist up, I think he can help the team be better, it's not going to happen any time soon, and there's nothing I can do about it.
Other Things That Happened During The Weekend Games
Kevin: I hate my life.
Michelle: It's getting tougher and tougher to find bright spots when the Wings go 2 weeks without a win, but I'm going to keep trying. Hey, at least we keep finding different mistakes to make in order to lose games, right? The Wings play ok, they lose. The Wings get outplayed, they lose. The Wings play well and do the right things, they lose. It's not all doom and gloom, and we shouldn't give up on the season. There is still time to turn things around and get back to winning and make something good out of the season. But each game that goes by where we lost yet again, makes it increasingly difficult for the team at a whole, for the players as individuals, and for us fans. Hopefully I don't have to dig this deep for happy thoughts for very long. Just win please, Wings... Just win.
And that's what we would have talked about on the podcast. We'll be recording a podcast this week, so hooray for that. Per usual, you can find us and yell at us/give us podcast and other topics on the twitter:
Welcome to the WOOOOOuellet episode of the podcast. Kevin and I tried to keep our Ouellet and DeKeyser excitement contained, but that's asking a lot.We had a lot to cover and not a lot of time, so here we go! In this episode we've got...
Brief recaps from Colorado and Phoenix, the McLeod hit on Kronwall, Riggy making us proud, what missing Kronwall means to the team.
Danny Mother Frking DeKeyser!
Xavier Ouellet (WOOOOUELLET!): Amazing? or incredibly amazing?
What we learned against San Jose: Our young defense is better than a lot of people gave them credit for.
Kevin and I attended the Grand Rapids Griffins home opener. What happened, who looked good, who will eat your face off, and oh yeah, Ouellet Ouelletwalled someone and it was amazing.
Darren Helm saga and what the Wings roster looks like in the near future.
And more Ouellet and DeKeyser talk. These guys are very, very special players.
The podcast is available for your listening pleasure here --->Episode 7
Here's the marvelous, wonderful, amazing, fantastic [insert other synonyms here] video of Ouellet knocking Joe Thornton on his assterisk.
And here's a sample of things to come.. a mini Ouelletwalling as Ouellet hits Andrew Desjardins.
You can also find more Griffins (and other Wings Prospects) details (box score, highlights, in game observations, etc...) here in my prospects report on Winging it in Motown.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and always welcome suggestions. If you'd like to hit us up on Twitter, we can be found hereKevin and here Michelle. You can send us an e-mail to Bluelinepatrol@gmail.com. You can also follow the Blue Line Patrol Twitter feed @BlueLinePatrol
There was none of this tonight :(((((((( Source: mlive.com
This was a game that happened and I (Kevin) attended. Thankfully, it didn't count.
The Wings didn't really have anything tonight. They weren't horrible defensively, but only created a few decent chances in the offensive zone with a couple of really craptastic power plays. Let's review some of the players:
SPROUL - Played really well at the start. Fell of a little at the end, but not too much. It was my first time seeing him play in a game, and I was impressed. Also, he can shoot the puck.
OUELLET - Started not well and improved to just "meh". Fell down out of nowhere and had a couple of bad giveaways. Did have a nice hip check on a guy behind the net, so there's that.
SMITH - He creates a lot of chances, sometimes for both teams.
QUINCEY - Not too noticeable in a good or bad way. Few smart plays, few "oh shit" moments. Also, had to help cover for Smithicles.
DeKEYSER - Outside of one bad giveaway, impressive. Needs bigger legs.
LASHOFF - Pretty solid defensively, which is all we ask from him.
NYQUIST - (bias alert) Did play well on the second line and got moved with Mule/Weiss in the third. Created a few nice chances. He needs to start converting on some and he'd be even more amazing. Lord, give me strength if he is sent to the AHL for more than a week...
JURCO - Didn't impress me. Made a couple of decent plays, but needs to make more if he wants to earn a call up this year.
WEISS - Played good for the most part. Is definitely more of a "north/south" guy than Fil, which is the most obvious analysis ever. Water is wet.
FERRARO - Didn't get a whole lot of playing time, especially in the third. Didn't look out of place, but didn't make an impact.
IRON HOOK - (okay fine Jarnkrok) - Looked nervous at times, but had some good moments. Played the point on the power play. He didn't cause the power play to suck, but didn't help it either. Wanted to see more out of him.
GUSTAVSSON - Looked good until his groin broke. The goal was a fustercluk and nothing he could do on it.
MRAZEK - Came in to start the third. Only goal was when Bergeron was left open in front during a Bruins power play. Looked good. Also, played well.
It was a fun time even thought the Wings stunk and the overall hockey wasn't good. Yay preseason. Is it October 2nd yet?
There's a lot happening in the hockey world already, so there's a lot to cover this week, including...
Training camp: Kevin and I both attended camp and we'll let you know who looked good, who looked great, and who didn't blow our skirts up.
The first two preseason games: Who looked good, who didn't impress, hey PK practice!, and look forward to the Bruins game Thursday night.
You can listen to or download the podcast here. ---> Episode 2 There was one thing that both Kevin and I forgot to mention on the podcast that we want to rectify. Justin Abdelkader looked very, very good in training camp. He played with Datsyuk and Zetterberg, and that line was on fire (in a good way, not a dumpster fire). I'm sure we all remember when Abby first got moved up to the first line because we had approximately 6.75 healthy players left on the team. It was painful to watch at times because Abby was in way over his head. As the season progressed, he got more comfortable and competent in the new role he was assigned. Abby is essentially filling the Homer role, but he has more skating and puck handling skills than Homer did. There were times in training camp, and in the first preseason game where Abby reminded us a lot of Homer. He's was really good at digging pucks out of the corner, screening the goalie, creating chaos in the crease, but he also has decent puck handling skills and while his skating isn't mind blowing, it doesn't hold him back. Abby improved a ton last year in this role, and he looks even better now, than he did at the end of the playoffs. Both Datsyuk and Zetterberg have said they like playing with him, and Z even said that hopefully they can keep playing together. When we re-signed Cleary, Babcock said he originally planned to put buckets up on the top line in Abdelkader's place, but Abby played so well that Babs didn't do it. I am 100% in favor of keeping Abby on the top line, and Kevin is 95% in favor of it. Abby is younger, stronger, and has more future potential than Cleary (or Bertuzzi) and keeping him on the top line so he can continue to get better at the role, is better for the future of the team.
Ryan Sproul and Xavier Ouellet are making their (preseason) NHL debut tonight at Chicago. Having watched them patrol the blue line (see what I did there?) at training camp (and Michelle watching them at both training and development camp), it's safe to say we're pumped for the awesomeness that is sure to be SPROUELLET!
We'll be podcasting tomorrow (Wednesday) evening and will have plenty of talk about this fantastic set of defensemen. If you have any topics or suggestions for the 2nd episode of the Blue Line Patrol podcast, let us know via email (bluelinepatrol@gmail.com) or twitter:
Welcome to the first episode of the Blue Line Patrol Podcast! Kevin and I covered a lot of ground, and we went a little (lot?) longer than planned, but we hope you enjoy the bonus content and will stick with us as we cover...
The NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City
Why Grand Rapids Griffins coach Jeff Blashill is so good
The Griffins upcoming season and what the roster might look like
Who might be the next young guy(s) to be called up to the Wings
A brief preview of the Red Wings Training Camp
And More...
The link to listen to and download the podcast can be found here --> Episode 1
