Good Morning Hockeytown! *Dylan Larkin Excited to be Part of Wings New Generation *Ryan Sproul Talks About First Experience With Wings *Source Says Mike Green Top Trade Target for Wings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Larkin Looking Forward to Being a New Generation of Red Wings It has been a busy and most likely some what surreal past couple of weeks for Dylan Larkin. He found himself in a dream come true as he was drafted by his hometown team and has just taken the first steps towards a NHL career by taking part in the Wings development camp. At the camp he skated on a line with Anthony Mantha, a possible match in the future when both are wearing the Winged Wheel. Just after he was drafted it was remarked by some in the Wings organization that Larkin could one day make a good centreman for Mantha. The two also had side by next stalls at the camp. Larkin is taking the steps necessary to become a productive player for the Wings, he had 17 goals out of 26 points in 26 games for the USNDT last season. He will be moving on to play for Red Berenson at the UofM this fall and will certainly benefit from experience. Larkin recently spoke to mlive and talked about his recent experiences with the draft and development camp: Its been pretty crazy. I didnt really prepare for this at all. I had no idea where I was going to get drafted. It just happened to work out to go to Detroit. With all the local newspapers its been pretty crazy. Everywhere I go, everyone knows. Its been good. Ive met a lot of new people and talked to a lot of people so its been good. I grew up watching the Wings and never thought Id be here. But its pretty cool. Everyone is supporting me, which is good. Theres no pressure because everyone is rooting me on. About playing at UofM this fall: Just the coaching staff and the history there. Red Berenson, Billy Powers and especially Brian Wiseman. Theyre all so passionate about hockey and developing their players and moving them on to the next level. Its been pretty cool. You still have Datsyuk and Zetterberg there. Those guys are the reasons why the youth have fit in so well because theyre such good role models. Those guys are true Red Wings who are in the class of Yzerman and Lidstrom. Those guys are the reason the Red Wings are what they are today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Ryan Sproul Talks About First Experience With Red Wings Ryan Sproul was the ninth player to make a debut with the Red Wings this season, he was called up and played in the regular season finale on 13 April in St Louis. Sproul had two shots on goal in the Wings 3-0 victory as well as registering two hits, including a big one on Derek Roy. He also blocked two shots in his 18:25 of ice time. Earlier he had spent a day practicing with the team on 25 February as the Wings were preparing to return from Olympic break. Sproul also had a good year with the Griffins this past season, being named to the AHL All Rookie Team. He played in 72 regular season games for the Griffins and tallied 11 goals out of 32 points. Before joining the Griffins Sproul recorded 153 points, 57 of them goals, out of 172 games for the OHL’s Sault St Marie Greyhounds. In 2012-13 he was awarded the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHLs most outstanding defenseman and was also named the CHL Defenseman of the Year. Sproul recently talked about his first experience with the Red Wings as reported by redwings.nhl: “I felt pretty good. It’s nice to get that over with, even though it is the end of the year, it’s nice to get that and hoping the best for these guys in the playoffs. “It’s kind of nice to be in there. (Everyone) at my house back in GR, these guys are up here now. Calle (Callahan) came up, too. It’s definitely nice to be up here and be a part of that. “More in the beginning, before I even stepped onto the ice I think it was more jitters. Kind of just turned the nerves into excitement and energy and that’s the way I try to play. “I feed off that a lot. It’s not really my style of game but when I can do it, it definitely fires me up a little bit.” Coach Babcock had this to say about Sproul also via redwings.nhl: “He’s 6-foot-4, he can skate, he shoots BBs and he’s smart and he moves the puck. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Green Looks to be Right Choice for Wings, Source Says Hes Trade Target The Red Wings would still like to add a veteran defenceman to the blue line, preferably one who shoots right, before the new season. It seems that Mike Green, currently with the Capitals, fits that criteria. According to Art Regner on foxsports an unnamed team source says Green is Wings top trade target. When the Capitals signed Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik, Green became essentially superfluous. However the Capitals are saying that they dont intend to move Green but that could be a negotiating tactic. Washington only has $1.1 million in cap space with 12 forwards and eight defencemen under contract. It is typical for teams to have 13-14 forwards on their roster and only seven d-men. Obviously they need to move a defenceman. Green is especially attractive to the Wings not just because he shoots right and has a proven record but he could also come at the right price. There are other possibilities that could be available, Tyler Myers of the Sabres or Cody Franson of the Leafs, but any of those are expected to require one of the Wings top young forwards in return. That is something that Ken Holland has consistently said is off the table. Green is in the final year of a six year contract and could likely be had for high draft picks. With just the one year left on his contract Green would likely opt to test the free agent market next season. That would probably be fine with the Wings because its expected that by next summer some of the right shooting d-men in the system would likely be ready to move up, players like Sproul and Marchenko. Green has had some trouble with health, prior to the 2010-11 season he had established himself as a top league defenceman and was frequently mentioned in Norris Trophy talks. Since then he has been troubled with groin issues and concussions. He had a pretty good year this past season and heading into potential free agency will be looking to add to his value. He appeared in 70 games for the Capitals last season and recorded 9 goals with 29assists and averaged 23 minutes of ice time. Green will be 29 this Octobre and is known as a great skater with a terrific wrist shot and an ability to run a power play. That combined with the right hand shot are definitely qualities that interest the Wings. The Capitals seem to be taking a wait and see approach with Green, they have said theyre not interested in moving him but that seems to be just talk. The longer they hold onto him the more interest hes likely to generate and therefore a better price. The Stars and the Sharks are also in the market for defencemen. With the addition of Niskanen and Orpik if the Capitals were to keep Green there would likely be a battle for icetime among the three of them. Moving him also frees some cap space to add a forward or two. If the Wings do acquire Greens services, or pick up any additional defenceman, it is very likely that Jakub Kindl will be moved. Kindl didnt have that great year this past season and has moved down the depth chart. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Information from mlive, redwings.nhl and foxsports was used in compiling this post. BELEIVE! ~~Red
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 11:00:00 +0000
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