In Red Wings Land

Red Wings mailbag: Tyler Bertuzzi, defense prospects, Jeff Blashill
It’s a light day on the Detroit media side, so here is one of Helene’s mailbags. Nothing earth-shattering here, but oh well.

Around the NHL

31 Thoughts: Inside the Matt Duchene-Kyle Turris blockbuster – Sportsnet.ca

Elliotte Friedman, as always, has a lot of interesting things in his 31 Thoughts article. In addition to some behind-the-scenes info on the Duchene trade, he has a bunch of interesting stories this edition. One of them is the story of how David Booth came to join the Red Wings this year.

One of the conversations that stuck with me over the years was with Wade Redden. After the Rangers sent him to AHL Hartford, Redden planned to retire. But Curtis Leschyshyn told him to continue, basically saying, “You’ve given your life to hockey, you can’t retire angry. Go, have fun and leave it on good terms.”

Last summer, David Booth was in the Vancouver airport, returning from a charity event in the Yukon with Mike Smith and Eric Gryba. Booth was thinking of quitting after two unfulfilling years in the KHL. He ran into Ray Ferraro, who told him not to do it, play as long as he can. So, Booth emailed Ken Holland. How long did it take for Holland to reply? “He got back to me in less than two hours. I was really impressed.” He signed a one-year, $700,000 deal with Detroit. He didn’t dress in Ottawa, but came off the ice with a huge smile, simply glad to be part of it — even though he cleared waivers while skating.

There’s also Friedman echoing my thoughts on the seeming dilution of the Athanasiou – Larking – Mantha line. Goodbye, LAM Line. We hardly knew ye.

(Of course it could be a function of being on the road and we’ll see it back together when they next play at home.)