In Red Wings Land
Notes: Nielsen misses practice with illness | DetroitRedWings.com
MANTHA, ATHANASIOU UPDATES: Forward Anthony Mantha, who was injured Dec. 21 at Toronto, is still not skating.
”Mantha won’t be ready coming out of the break, he’ll be a little longer than that,” Blashill said.
Andreas Athanasiou has missed the last four games with a lower-body injury.
”Athanasiou, I would say he won’t be ready by the weekend, he’d like to be ready before the break,” Blashill said. “I don’t know whether he will be or not.”
There’s plenty of news in this one from Dana Wakiji. You’ve got the injury updates on Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou above. Plus, lineup notes that include Madison Bowey working on the power play in practice and there’s an update on Michael Rasmussen’s return with the Griffins.
Speaking of which…
Down on the Farm
A look at revolving-door first half for Grand Rapids Griffins | MLive
The Griffins reached midpoint of the season Wednesday with an incredible amount of transactions. In 38 games, the Griffins have already used 38 players. That’s three shy of last season’s total, one fewer than in 2016-17 and more than all of 2017-18 (32).
Since the AHL’s season began on Oct. 4, the Red Wings have recalled or assigned a player from or to Grand Rapids 62 times.
They’ll be getting two players back very soon.
The @DetroitRedWings have reassigned defenseman Moritz Seider from Germany’s U20 National Team to the Griffins and center Joe Veleno from Canada’s U20 National Team to the Griffins.
— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) January 9, 2020
Around the League
2020 NHL Draft Prospect Rankings: January | Sportsnet
1. Alexis Lafreniere, LW, Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL): Any doubt about him going No. 1 overall was removed during the WJC.
2020 DRAFT RANKINGS: HOW THE WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP SHOOK UP THE FIELD | The Hockey News
1. Alexis Lafreniere, LW, Rimouski (QMJHL): Talk about putting a stamp on a tournament. Despite getting injured in the middle, Lafreniere was named MVP of the world juniors thanks to his incredible performance for Canada. The competitive left winger lit up the scoresheet and dominated with his physical play, proving he’s the type of player who simply will not be denied on the ice.
It’s no surprise that Lafrenière is at the top of both rankings here with Quinton Byfield right behind. If the Wings end up not picking in the top two, I think I’m going to jump aboard the Tim Stützle train.
First it was the Russian Five, then it was all about the Swedes, now let’s just draft all the German-born players.
