Follow me on Twitter Follow @TheJeremyLaura
UPDATE: The #RedWings today recalled defenseman Simon Edvinsson from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 23, 2023
Additionally, the #RedWings have placed goaltender Alex Lyon on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 16. pic.twitter.com/KzZhIW7y5k
Simon Edvinsson is 3rd in points for the Griffins (6G, 10A) behind only Berggren (7G, 11A) and Hirose (6G, 16A). The 6’6… left shot defenseman has been called up as Maata is unavailable. While there’s no guarantee the big man will grab any meaningful minutes, it’s fairly impressive that his points total is outperforming all but two Griffins.
The plus side for Edvinsson is his skating. He has beautiful edge work and a good stride. The blue liner is also more than willing to jump in on the offense. The down side, at least from a good friend who catches most of the games is that “Eddy… can be prone to bad decision making at times.
You may remember that during camp, Seider was often right next to the former first rounder. Mo was consistently breaking down plays and drills, and according to a couple of “leaks… could be pretty rough on the up and coming player. For all the camps I was able to attend, that kind of attention from one of the top players is a sign that they want someone to be successful. A lot of young players just sit quietly and don’t interact a lot with the NHL roster.
It was fairly telling that there wasn’t a lot of pushback regarding the idea of at least adding a new defensive coach. Whenever replacements on any level are mentioned, there’s typically at least a few “you need to be more patient… and accusations of being a bit of a Chicken Little.
The sky is not falling (to be clear). There is a consistent lack of defensive zone coverage and an abundance of odd man rushes from the opposition (including while they are short handed). The leaves the goalies with an in game shootout scenario and it seems to go badly.
Everyone will have a bad stretch in an 82 game season. That leaves one looking for a consistent issue. If the same set of issues rises up regardless of personnel, that would lend itself to systematic flaws. The team is around 7 games away from the halfway point and still can’t win a game without scoring 4 or more goals. Last night they needed 6 just to get to OT. Not great, though the win was welcome.
We’ll see what New Jersey brings tonight, and how Detroit responds. It’s clear that a goalie is being hoped for either developmentally or via trade (or free agency). In the meantime, the team should know itself well enough to cover the weaker areas of the game. Patrick Kane has been upping his game, we’ll see if that trend continues as well.