Happy Simon Edvinsson Day in America to all who celebrate!
No seriously, though. What a way to bounce back after Saturday’s ugly loss against the Hurricanes. The Toronto Maple Leafs gave the Red Wings a lot to handle on Sunday. The first period was a defensive battle before Matthew Knies opened the scoring in the middle frame. Moritz Seider would have the equalizer with less than a minute left in the second. Simon Edvinsson would eventually put the game away in OT thanks to a sweet display of how soft his hands can be in tight areas.
Let’s go ahead and ignore Mason Appleton’s game-tying goal in the third period, which was a pretty awesome play all things considered. Never a bad thing to get scoring from your depth players. Anyway, I’m marveled at what we’re seeing from Seider and Edvinsson so far this season. Look at Seider, the guy is two goal away from tying his career-high in goals scored for a season and we’re not even at the halfway point. Edvinsson has meshed well with Seider and has ascended to being one of the best pairs in all of hockey. It’s a good sign for this team that their two best defensemen haven’t even hit 25 years old yet.
I know there was a lot of noise about why we didn’t want to part ways from Edvinsson in a potential deal for Quinn Hughes, but I think the majority of us can agree that staying the course and letting your six-foot-six unicorn develop into an important role with this team was a good decision.
Also worth mentioning, if you missed the game last night, Patrick Kane made his return to the lineup. No points to show, but a solid way to come back having been out of it since December 13. PK88 played nearly 18 minutes of ice time and registered four shots on goal. They gotta keep this guy healthy for the long run, so I wouldn’t mind seeing him get some of the “old man rest” here and there as we enter the second half of the season.
So the standings in the Atlantic Division are still tight, but the Wings, who are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games, have a two-point hold on first place ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Not too shabby, and there’s three games on the schedule this week. That will include a game to say “farewell” to 2025 and another game the next say to say “hello” to 2026. All three of these games (one against Winnipeg, two against Pittsburgh) should be winnable for this team.
Haven’t mentioned this much of anywhere, but the Red Wings have a handful of prospects at the World Juniors in Minnesota currently:
🇨🇦 Carter Bear (2025, pick 13)
🇺🇸 Max Plante (2024, pick 47)
🇸🇰 Michal Pradel (2025, pick 75)
🇸🇰 Michal Svrcek (2025, pick 119)
🇸🇪 Eddie Genborg (2025, pick 44)
I’m keeping a close eye on Genborg, Svrcek, and Plante. All three are “quiet risers” in my eyes, meaning they may not be well-known or get much coverage across the hockey world right now, but the skill to be impact NHLers is there. Same with the others listed above, but these three have most of my attention. It’s nice to have good prospects even after your good ones have graduated to pro hockey. 🙂
Finally, speaking of prospects, the Griffins are a certified wagon. After back-to-back shutouts (one from Sebastian Cossa, the other from Carter Gylander), the Griffins have a record of 26-1-0-1, and are currently in a 15-game winning streak. That’s tied for the longest in franchise history and for the sixth-longest in the AHL’s 90 years of existence. Just insane numbers from the team, and Dan Watson has already recorded his 100th win as head coach, which ties Danton Cole for the second-fastest to reach the mark. Check out Saturday’s recap here.
