On the Detroit Red Wings …
Ansar Khan of MLive: Frans Nielsen signed a six-year deal last offseason. Nielsen thinks they need to add more grit to their lineup.
“We just got to bring a little more mean attitude and play harder and do it a little more simple sometimes,” Nielsen said.
“I know they always had a tradition of playing a lot of nice hockey here with skill guys, but I think we got to learn how to play the other side of it, too. … It’s a tough league and you have to pay the price every night. … You can’t skill your way through this league today. It’s too hard.”
Nielsen added they need to add more players like Steve Ott.
Nielsen thinks that Jeff Blashill is a really good coach and that his system is not the issue.
“Sometimes it just comes down to us in here,” Nielsen said. “You’ve just got to bring it every night. It’s not going to be pretty sometimes; you have to grind it out and find other ways to win.”
On the Winnipeg Jets …
Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun: The Jets need to add another goaltender this offseason via trade or free agency. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff isn’t saying which route they could go.
“What direction we choose to go, we’ll look at all the different options that are available to us,” Cheveldayoff said during his year-end media address. “It’s a very unique year in the sense of the expansion draft and the possibilities that no one really knows how those are going to play out so those are something you talk about.
“We will look at a lot of different scenarios to see if there’s a chance to push it to move forward. Whether it’s a veteran or a young guy, these are things that I cant sit here and tell you in 100% certainty what’s going to happen because there are so many different things that can unfold, but we’re going to look at all the different options.”
