OCTOPULSE

OctoPulse podcast: New-look Red Wings reach for .500 hockey, Cross Hanas interview

The Detroit News

Ted Kulfan takes a look at the improved Red Wings after Day 3 of free agency, the odds of Detroit reaching the .500 level for the first time in six years and 2020 draft pick Cross Hanas is the interview guest on The Detroit News' OctoPulse podcast.

The Red Wings haven't reached the .500 level since coach Jeff Blashill's first season in 2016 with a 41-30-11 record (+11 games over the .500 mark). 

2017: 33-36-13 (-3)

2018: 30-39-13 (-9)

2019: 32-40-10 (-8)

2020: 17-49-5: (-32)

2021: 19-27-10 (-8)

"It'll be a tall task (to play .500 hockey)," Kulfan said. "People tend to forget they'll be back in the Atlantic Division next year with Tampa, Toronto, a very good Florida team, Montreal. On paper, they may be a better hockey team but it may not translate in the standings."

Red Wings' 2020 second-round draft pick Cross Hanas has three assists in four games at the World Junior Summer Showcase at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth.

In the interview with Hanas, the 19-year-old winger from the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League and a product of the Dallas Stars' AAA hockey program talks about his father Trevor's 10-day tryout with the Red Wings in 1993.

Trevor Hanas was an 18-year-old free agent from the WHL's Regina Pats when he played on a line with Keith Primeau and Dallas Drake in a scrimmage and was in the lineup in a home-and-home series against Toronto Maple Leafs prospects.

"I was in awe the first day but then I had to go play my game," said Trevor Hanas, a scout with the Winterhawks and a coach in the Stars' AAA system. "The whole experience was top notch with so much tradition there. Then coming full circle here, 27 years later, and all of a sudden my son is picked up by them."

Cross Hanas, a second-round pick in 2020, has three assists in four games for the United States at the World Junior Summer Showcase at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth and will wrap up the tournament against Finland on Saturday at 4 p.m.

"There's a ton of great talent here," said Cross Hanas, who is trying to make the U.S. team for the 2021 world junior tournament in Edmonton. "It's been the first time I've been able to come up to Detroit and meet everyone in person. It's been a really cool experience."

Here are highlights from episode 58 of OctoPulse:

1:00: Steve Yzerman on team's improvement

5:00: Pius Suter on joining the Red Wings

8:00: Jordan Osterle on being a Nick Lidstrom fan

10:00: Cross Hanas interview

28:00: Nick Leddy on leaving the Islanders

30:00: Alex Nedeljkovic on trade to Red Wings

33:30: Sebastian Cossa on goaltending style