In Red Wings Land

Detroit Red Wings’ 2016 draft has promising defensemen, goalie of future | Freep

Promising is a good word for this Red Wings draft class. Filip Hronek was the best defensemen at this World Championships and will constantly be in the lineup next season. Dennis Cholowski was up and down last year, but should be an every day NHL player. The wild card is goaltender Filip Larsson. He was excellent for the University of Denver last season and it’ll be interesting to see what he can do with the Griffins.

The biggest miss? It looks like it’s Givani Smith. He might be a good player one day, but Samuel Girard and Carter Hart were the next two players taken after him. Both of those guys would look great in a Red Wings jersey right now.

Around the League

NHL looks at expanding video review, Commissioner Bettman says | NHL.com

“The ability to review and parse plays down to the millisecond has become both a blessing and a curse,” Commissioner Bettman said. “If we are to extend video replay, and we will be looking at that possibility, we must find the right balance when it comes to how much more to use and when to use it without affecting the flow, pace and excitement of our game. Perhaps most important, we’ve got to have a system that enables us to be consistent. This is the challenge, and it’s a challenge we are focused on and we will meet.”

The right balance is key, for sure. I absolutely hate the stupid offsides reviews where you’re looking at whether a player’s skate is a millimeter on or off the blue line, but I also understand the need for replay so team’s aren’t winning games in overtime via hand passes. Good luck to the NHL on this one.