Mailbag: The August slog, Red Wings GM search, time machines, Matt Duchene, and offsides

Your questions, my attempt at answers.

Happy Monday.

All though August has had some high points — including seeing some of you in person two weeks ago — it is always a bit of a slow march toward hockey season.

“Is Zach Benson good hockey?” arguments can only keep us so occupied. Videos of Daniel Sprong, seemingly taunting his own bench in the KHL are a fun distraction, but also a reminder it’s about a month until the NHL season really kicks off.

I’ve been lucky to already watch some high-level hockey this season at the Hlinka Gretzky Tournament, but for many of you, it’s still a couple weeks till you can be greeted by a cool rink and sub-par arena coffee.

That’s a very poetic way of telling you, it’s time for a mailbag.

Let’s get into it.

I’m planning on traveling to Detroit for the prospect tournament this September, who are a few players you are excited to see showcased for the Stars? Also do you have any tips for a journalist on their first “work” trip? Local food recs are appreciated 😅

Emil Hemming is intriguing to me, I’m looking forward to see his starting block for this season after he struggled to start last season in the AHL, but then popped off in his return to the OHL.

The prospects tournament, for me, can be a telling sign of where a player should or shouldn’t be going into camp. Hemming is at the spot where he should look like one of the best players on the ice, he should enter with confidence, and that type of performance could parlay him into a stronger AHL season, and potentially, eventually an NHL call-up this season.

Cameron Schmidt also highly intrigues me.

As far as the journalist on their first work trip, and I’m assuming you are footing the bill yourself based on the quote usage, enjoy it. Taking a risk on yourself, in this case financially to pay for a trip, is worth celebrating and soaking it all in. One of the best pieces of advice I got from someone in this field came from Jim Vertuno, who works for the Associated Press in Austin and would higher me for freelance gigs.

I was covering an event at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, I believe it was a MotoGP race, and Jim asked me I’d taken the time to go just watch a couple laps outside of the media center. Take some time, enjoy the moment, realize where you get to be right now, and soak it all in.

So that’s my best advice, soak it all in, don’t be afraid to be yourself and don’t be afraid to talk to as many people as possible.

When it comes to food, assuming you are coming up from Dallas, it’s a cop out, but get some Detroit-style pizza at Buddy’s.

(Detroit-based readers, feel free to tell me in the comments whether you agree or not, or what would be a better option.)

Do people in Dallas care if the next TX franchise is in Houston or Austin, and if so is there a favorite?

I’m not sure what people would prefer, but the Stars, I believe would prefer Houston. It’s less of an infringement for them, and causes less headaches with potential territory/rights.

Who is your dream candidate for Detroit Red Wings GM/PoHO? (can be one or both)

First on the Red Wings’ hockey leadership search.

The team is currently conducting interviews, and from my understanding in the hockey world Florida AGM Brett Peterson, San Jose AGM Jeff Kealty, and Dallas AGM Scott White have all been looked at by the Red Wings/TurnkeyZRG.

We also have pretty strong indications that Jeff Greenberg, the Tigers GM, is in the running for the job.

On a personal level, my job would be much easier if Scott White got the job, but that’s selfishly a note, for me, where I’d already have a working precessional relationship with the new Red Wings GM.

I don’t know Peterson personally, but based off people I’ve spoken with and my impression of how he handles things/views the game, he would probably be my top candidate right now to run the Red Wings hockey operations.

What is your ideal red wings timeline/series of events from now up until 31 December? (Ie if you thought all pieces feel into place, what would it look like to you?)

Well it starts with hiring a GM before we get to September, which then quickly parlays into signing Simon Edvinsson to an extension.

But let’s put some dates on things to have some fun.

Sept. 1 — Red Wings hire a new GM, let’s go with Peterson for this thought exercise.

Sept. 2 — Red Wings sign Simon Edvinsson to an extension in the $8 million AAV range.

Sept. 10 — The Red Wings trade Dylan Larkin, avoiding the awkward training camp and then announced Moritz Seider as the new captain.

I think, from there, you see what happens. There’s too much right now that can shuffle, in my view, for us to feasibly see what happens into late December.

If you had a single use time machine and could go back and undo one NHL decision/rule/change that you think did the most damage (besides the 05 lockout), what would you fix?

The lockout is a good one, that’s probably the easiest answer.

I would like us to go back to home teams wearing white at home, but that’s not worth a trip in the time machine.

Let’s go with going back to Matt Duchene’s infamous offside goal, where he scored when he was about 10 feet offside and it counted, let’s go back and help the officials catch that play in the moment.

Look, I don’t mind video replay, but I think that moment was such a flash point that led to the overreaction and frustrations we have today with replay. Maybe if they got that call right in the moment, maybe we have a better replay system today instead of an over-reaction to on egregious miss.

Have you spoken with anyone from the organization about Tyler Seguin’s rehab progress? And do you expect a contract extension for him after his current deal ends?

The contract extension I’m gonna wait on, but I do think we could see something if he comes back healthy and is now eligible for a 35-plus deal next season.

Having spoken to some people from the Stars, including Stars coach Glen Gulutzan, there is a lot of enthusiasm about Seguin’s progress and where he’ll fit in this season. Obviously, you have to take that with a grain of salt, but there is excitement there.

Is the ability to “force” posts/crossbars a repeatable skill for a goalie?

I love this question, I’m going to ask goalies and goalie coaches about it throughout the season.

My initial thought is technically yes, because ideal positioning should, in theory, create more opportunities for players to try and pick corners and thus hitting more bars/posts.

But let me research it and get back to this.