Oct. 16: Detroit announced Holl has been recalled back to the NHL roster today, suggesting his brief demotion yesterday was solely to delay his waiver exemption expiring and to bank a bit of cap space. Watson wasn’t part of the announcement and remains on assignment to Grand Rapids, so his demotion may be more permanent.
Oct. 15: The Red Wings have returned veterans Austin Watson and Justin Holl to AHL Grand Rapids, the team announced today. They now have a pair of open roster spots and over $2.5MM in projected cap space, per PuckPedia.
It was an extremely short stint on the NHL roster for Watson, who was just recalled yesterday. The 32-year-old enforcer made his Detroit debut in last night’s 4-1 loss to the Rangers, posting a -1 rating, a minor penalty, and two hits in just 4:54 of ice time. The veteran of over 500 NHL games attended Red Wings training camp on a PTO and landed a two-way contract as a result, but landed on waivers and began the season in Grand Rapids after going unclaimed. He had just two goals and four points in 33 games for the Lightning last year, all career-lows for him as a full-timer.
Watson was off to a strong start with the Griffins before the recall in what was his first AHL action since a brief conditioning stint in March of 2019. In two games, he had three assists and a +3 rating for Detroit’s top minor-league affiliate with 7 PIMs. The recall ended up shaving just one day and one game played off his 30-day/10-game waiver exemption, so it’ll still be a while before the Wings need to pass Watson through waivers again to return him to the minors.
Holl getting the boot stands out as more surprising. He and his bloated $3.4MM cap hit ended up on waivers and subsequently in Grand Rapids to begin the season, but he was recalled after Jeff Petry sustained an upper-body injury in the season opener. Holl was thrust into a top-four role as a result, responding with an assist, a +1 rating, and strong advanced possession metrics while averaging 18:38 per game. For a Detroit team that’s struggled to control play at 5-on-5 and has averaged 32.67 shots against per game thus far this season, Holl’s numbers stand out in a positive way.
Nonetheless, it’s back to the farm for him, where he could now be slated to see his first minor-league action since 2018. His reassignment suggests Petry is close to ready, if not completely ready, to return, while Watson’s demotion suggests the same for winger Christian Fischer, who’s day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
like I said before. Lalonde is terrible at his line-up & usage of players. Holl is better than Petry. Watson plays 4:54 last night. Over utilizing 71 & 53. Time to make changes. Same old boring style of hockey. Nothing has changed as far as systems go from Lalonde, Blashill.
Derek Lalonde is a better defensive coach than a head coach. Jeff Blashill is a pretty mediocre coach overall as I wishing Blashill was going to be hired by someone else so Tampa could get rid of him. I would like Lalonde back as Tampa’s defensive coach though if Detroit moves on from him.
Yea cause no one plays their best players the most… and no Holl is not better than Petry, you’re out of your mind.
Maybe Holl is just a paper transaction, let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Do they think Holl won’t get claimed but Petry will?
Holl does not go thru waivers again for 24 days or 8 more games.
Does the clock/game-counter reset if he plays an AHL game?
Wings: Six points possible so far, 2 points earned. By how many points did you miss the playoffs last season? Tick tok, tick tok, tick tok. Every one had better wake up.