Quick Hits: The NHL Draft Prospects Edition

Jeff Hancock

• 1 min read Front Page

In Red Wings Land

Ted Kulfan’s 2020 NHL Draft Big Board: Red Wings eyeing top-shelf prospect | Detroit News

1. Alexis Lafreniere, Rimouski (QMJHL) left wing, 6-foot-1, 192-pounds — Lafreniere has been projected as the top pick in this draft for almost two to three years. He’s a generational type of player, with few warts in his game. Lafreniere had 112 points (77 assists) in 52 games this season.

Quinton Byfield and Tim Stutzle come in right behind Lafreniere. Nothing out of the ordinary from Ted here.

However, I’d probably move Marco Rossi up a little bit. I wouldn’t mind the Red Wings taking him if they end up drafting 4th overall.

RIP

Stoudamire, Red Wings ‘Learn, Play, Score’ architect, mourned | DetroitRedWings.com

Stoudamire’s friendly, booming voice was silenced Tuesday, when he died at the age of 43 after contracting the coronavirus. He is survived by his wife, Valencia, and two young children.

”He was a light here in the city of Detroit. Unfortunately, the city is a little dimmer today with his loss,” said Kevin Brown, director of community relations & Red Wings Foundation for the team. “The great thing about Marlowe is that he provided a lot of hope and opportunity to people here in the city of Detroit.”

Around the League

The 1919 Stanley Cup Final and modern-history’s deadliest pandemic | Sportsnet

The 1919 Cup Final was a series abandoned before its deciding game because of an outbreak of a virulent and potentially lethal influenza known as the Spanish flu. The games were slated to play out in a city, Seattle, with an all-but-forgotten association with the National Hockey League, and saw the hospitalization of future Hockey Hall of Famers drawn from the lineup of one of the earliest iterations of the Canadiens, and the death of their defenceman Joe Hall.

Over 100 years later we’re dealing with another pandemic.