In Red Wings Land

Red Wings prospect Eemil Viro looking great
Marco Bombino has been very impressed with the play of Eemil Viro, picked 70th overall in last year’s draft by the Detroit Red Wings (We had him ranked 86th). He has emerged this season playing against men in the Liiga and looking like another one of Steve Yzerman’s gems in the pipeline.

It would be fantastic if a third round pick could be a productive NHL player. We’ll see what happens.

Around the NHL

31 Thoughts: No easy answers for addressing Sabres’ messy situation
No matter what, Sabres coach Ralph Krueger contorts to project positivity, but I’ve never seen him look as ashen as he did following that game. Then came Monday’s 6-0 defeat to Washington, the team’s 11th in a row. Told the Sabres looked like they quit on him, Krueger replied, “I don’t feel the quit of anybody.”

Next up was Sam Reinhart. Asked by Buffalo News columnist Mike Harrington to provide evidence the players haven’t quit on each other, Krueger or the fans, Reinhart replied, “I don’t know what you want me to say, Mike. It’s not a good result…. Love the group of guys, love the coach — the result isn’t good enough.”

There are 29 more games of this.

Man, this season has been hard at times, but there’s a big difference between us and Buffalo.