Not much going on in Red Wings world to start the week, but that’ll change soon enough. The NHL Draft gets underway in Las Vegas Friday-Saturday. Steve Yzerman held his pre-draft press conference on Friday, you can find some takeaways and the entirety of the presser right here, in case you missed it.
Meanwhile, former Red Wings GM and current Oilers GM Ken Holland picked up some honors over the weekend:
NHL News
The Arizona Coyotes are back in headlines after the Arizona State Land Department has canceled a land auction that was pivotal to get the Coyotes back into the NHL. Here’s a partial statement from ownership:
“The organization has worked in good faith with the ASLD and has been on track to win the auction next week until the sudden reversal,” the team said. “By cancelling the land auction, the state is forgoing millions, and potentially billions, of dollars that would have gone directly to K-12 education.”
Dragging K-12 funding into this was a choice, but all signs point to Coyotes ownership operating in poor faith, despite what they say. Fans are not happy with Alex Meruelo, the owner, and I have seen a lot of messages from Yotes fans asking him to go away. Don’t think we’ll see NHL hockey back in the desert anytime soon.
Game seven of the Stanley Cup Final is tonight in Sunrise, Florida. The Edmonton Oilers have rumbled back with three wins in a row to push it to the very last game. The Associated Press has a fun article out that lists nine other teams that have forced a game seven after going down three games to none. The Red Wings are actually on this list:
2011 Wings vs Sharks, second round: Detroit had won three straight tight games to even the series but fell behind quickly in Game 7 in San Jose. The Sharks got first-period goals from Devin Setoguchi and Logan Couture to take the lead and Patrick Marleau added a key insurance goal in the third for his first point of the series after the Red Wings pulled within one. San Jose held on for a 3-2 win but lost in the next round to Vancouver. Antti Niemi made 38 saves.
Ah, memories.
The NHL offseason will rip into gear after tonight — with the NHL Draft starting later this week, and then free agency opens July 1. Buckle up.
