The Malik Report

Meinbezirk.at’s Michael Kurz spoke with Red Wings forward Marco Kasper regarding the lessons learned over the course of Kasper’s sophomore NHL season, his offseason training and his goals going forward. Here’s a rough translation of the German-language article:

Marco Kasper on his summer training and the upcoming season

MeinBezirk.at met with Marco Kasper in Klagenfurt [Austria], where Carinthia’s ice hockey export in the National Hockey League resides. The forward with Detroit willingly gave information about his summer in Klagenfurt, his off-season training, his time in the NHL so far and his upcoming third season in North America.

Marco, what did you focus on this summer in offseason training?

Marco Kasper: At the beginning of the summer, there was still a lot of rehab for my knee, because of which I also missed the World Championship. Basically, however, you always try to get faster and stronger. Summer training is always a development process. Whether that’s with a strength workout in the summer or a game in December, I always try to give my best.

You also took the title in the Sunshine Hockey League with the Lendhafen Seelowen. What does that mean to you?

Marco Kasper: First and foremost, it was fun that we players came together in the summer. In addition, many fans always come to Ferlach and also the finale in Klagenfurt–that’s great. Of course you want to win, but it’s a great opportunity for all of us, especially for the younger players. This year, for example, J.J. Peterka, Damian Clara and Phillip Sinn were all active, with Michael Grabner and some former players from the NHL, which was really casual.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Red Wings forward Marco Kasper speaks with Meinbezirk.at

Situational awareness is essential when you’re talking about the context surrounding any topic. It offers you the ability to generate sympathy for an opinion or to support an argument based upon what you know about the wider scope of what you’re trying to discuss.

As much as I like the Hockey News’s Ryan Lambert, I believe that his situational awareness is lacking a bit in suggesting that the Red Wings’ next general manager and/or president of hockey operations must trade Alex DeBrincat as soon as he or she takes the reins of Detroit’s hockey franchise:

3. Trade Alex DeBrincat

If you’re accepting that you have to trade Larkin, then why on earth would you keep DeBrincat, a pending UFA who scores boatloads of goals and can only veto a trade to half the league?

The odds that he wants to return to Detroit at the end of this contract have to be extremely low, so you might as well face facts and move on. This doesn’t have to be a training-camp deal, by any means, but if he’s still on the team around the holiday roster freeze, that seems like a bit of mismanagement.

He’s a very good player who can help just about any team, but look at where the Red Wings have gotten with his help for his entire tenure, despite the fact that he has 107 goals over the last three seasons.

And unlike Larkin, the lack of complete control over his destination leave you open to let teams either consider him a pure rental, or find a landing spot that he’s amenable to beyond this season. It doesn’t hurt to put some lines in the water.

But his stuff is here. His wife, his kids, his parents, his home town, the franchise he wanted to play for. As Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff suggested earlier this summer, it’s hard to believe that DeBrincat will simply “want out” when this is the team that he asked to be traded to because he wanted to “go home.”

Don’t get me wrong, DeBrincat could always want to move on to the next big thing, but there’s been no indication of discomfort with the team as of yet, and until we learn otherwise, “he seems happy here” is the prevailing theory.

Lambert continues, suggesting that the next GM and/or president of hockey operations needs to both re-sign Simon Edvinsson (yep!) and simply “cut bait” on Dylan Larkin and trade him for whatever return is out there (not necessarily!) …

Continue reading Dumping DeBrincat doesn’t strike me as the smartest idea for the next GM’s ‘need to do’ list

Frank Seravalli appeared on Sportsnet’s The Fan 590’s The Fan Morning Show today, and Sportsnet posted some nuggets of speculative wisdom from Seravalli’s appearance this afternoon:

Larkin staying in Detroit?

Way back near the beginning of June, it was known that Dylan Larkin had requested a trade away from the Detroit Red Wings.

So far, there’s been nothing doing on that front, leading Seravalli to wonder if a trade might be happening at all, particularly with Steve Yzerman out of the picture.

“Look, he’s a Michigan kid,” Seravalli said of Larkin. “Has absolutely loved playing for the Detroit Red Wings and did not have a good relationship with Steve Yzerman, who was, essentially, dismissed. Like let’s call it for what it is. …

“Because of that relationship (between the Red Wings and Yzerman) and the way that it soured, if I’m Dylan Larkin there’s a chance to save face here and say, ‘Look, I’m going to give it another shot under this next manager to see if he can turn this around in relatively short order because this is the place I’ve always want to be. I’ve wanted to win here.'”

Continued; I don’t know what’s going to happen with Larkin and the Red Wings–a commenter asked why good reporters don’t just call the guy and ask, and to that, my answer is that Larkin doesn’t give out his phone number, nor did the members of the Yzerman edition of the front office, so communication is definitely a problem there…

But we’re at a point that, should Larkin change his mind, he’s going to have to do a shit-ton of damage control and public relations of the communicative variety to emphasize that there were/are no hard feelings.

Otherwise, he’s going to have to wait his turn.

Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell posted a Red Wings season preview today, and he has the same questions that we do:

BURNING QUESTIONS

1. When are the Red Wings hiring their new general manager? The timing was certainly weird on Yzerman’s “promotion.” Detroit gave him free rein to operate at the draft and free agency to set the team up for the season, and only then did they decide to move on from him. It’s an awkward situation for the incoming GM to come into, overseeing a team they didn’t have any say in creating, but it also gives them a year free of blame. But with two other big looming decisions entering the season, Detroit needs a GM in place to get everything done. It’s been a month and a half since Yzerman stepped down from the role, so why hasn’t a new GM been named yet?

2. What will happen with Dylan Larkin? One of the biggest stories of the summer was Larkin’s trade request. It sounds like he wants to move on from his boyhood team in hopes of winning a Stanley Cup, and it’s hard to blame him with the Red Wings’ lack of success during most of his tenure. But he also isn’t making it easy for Detroit to make a move, as he initially only gave them three teams he’d accept a trade to before adding one more to the list – and none of them is bustling with trade assets and cap space to pull off a deal. Does Larkin hold strong on the few teams he’d accept a trade to, or does he budge and open up his options even more if a deal doesn’t get done soon enough? Or does he rescind the trade request and give the new GM a chance to build a contending team?

3. When does Simon Edvinsson sign? The obvious answer is “when the new GM is hired,” but there is more to this decision than that. Cap space isn’t the problem for Detroit, as they have almost $20 million available to sign the defenseman, according to PuckPedia. That doesn’t mean the Red Wings should use all of it, but it doesn’t mean Edvinsson will bend to whatever Detroit wants either, and they don’t have the defensive depth to play without him. Was the new deal far along when Yzerman stepped down, and how much longer will it take to come to an agreement?

Continued at length (it’s a very good preview, as much as any preview uncertain about Dylan Larkin’s future can be); we’re in the “everything’s an open-ended question” period right now, and until the new GM is hired, the organization has never been very good at communicating (see, most recently, the fact that the team can’t even share its new players’ numbers)…

So we wait. And we shall see, hopefully sooner than later.

The Athletic’s Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler and Harman Dayal have compiled a list of their top 20 Calder Trophy candidates, and one Red Wings player made their list:

18. Michael Brandsegg-Nygård — RW, 20, Detroit Red Wings

Brandsegg-Nygård had a big season in the AHL, showcasing his maturity and strength against men. He plays a highly projectable, pro-style game. He’s a tenacious competitor who wins a ton of puck battles and boasts a heavy, accurate shot. He’s not the flashiest offensive player but he has enough speed and skill to project to be able to tilt the ice at the next level. He’s expected to push for a full-time spot in Detroit this season. — Pronman

Continued (paywall); my gut feeling is that Brandsegg-Nygard is going to have a more Emmitt Finnie-like rookie campaign, but if he breaks out offensively, all bets are off.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a profile of Red Wings goaltending prospect Rudy Guimond this morning. Guimond stands at 6’4″ and 187 pounds, and the 21-year-old begins his college career at Harvard this fall.

Three Reasons Why Guimond Will Play in the NHL

1. Poised performer. Shows a calm demeanor regardless of a game’s importance. He was known for his composure at the CHL level.
2. He has an NHL frame. His size gives him plenty of net coverage.
3. Smart competitor who understands the game and what he needs to do to be successful. His game management skills continue to improve.

What May Hold Him Back

As impressive as Guimond was playing for Moncton, he’s still in the second tier of Detroit goalie prospects. He has work to do before he’s in the same category with Michal Postava and Trey Augustine. The main concern is about a perceived need to sharpen his footwork.

He has been called a long-term project, but that’s hardly a criticism. Aren’t all prospect goaltenders long-term projects?

Continued; Guimond is something of a “wild card” prospect. He dominated in the QMJHL with the Moncton Wildcats, but goalies from the “Q” are hard to project, and he put off his freshman year at Yale to commit to Harvard instead. He’s still got a lot of runway in front of him, but it’s going to take some doing to mold him into a top prospect.

This article isn’t necessarily Red Wings-related, but it’s what I’d suggest is an “essential read”:

Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen explains the changes that we’ll see this upcoming NHL season, from shorter exhibition seasons to an 84-game regular season schedule, regular “EBUGs” and some CBA changes:

Just over two months ago, the Carolina Hurricanes were winning the Stanley Cup, the Toronto Maple Leafs were drafting Gavin McKenna, and a flurry of trade action was re-shaping various teams around the league. Now, in what feels like a blink of an eye, a new NHL season is just around the corner — and it will begin a little earlier than we’ve become accustomed to.

Labour Day is next week, which will be followed by the Player Media Tour in Las Vegas, and then the opening of training camps across the league a week later. The pre-season schedule will be much shorter this year so we can get to what really matters, quicker. It’s hard to believe, but in less than a month from now, the 2026-27 NHL season will be off and running.

Continued; Boylen also discusses potential names in the 2027 free agent class, including Alex DeBrincat, who(m) I believe the Red Wings will re-sign:

Continue reading Getting ready for the 2026-2027 season with a fine ‘primer’ from Sportsnet’s Boylen

R.org’s Marco D’Amico spoke with Red Wings prospect and 19-year-old center Carter Bear recently. Bear tells D’Amico that he spent his summer in Detroit to prepare for his first professional season:

“First pro season incoming, a lot to learn about pro,” Bear said in an interview with R.org. “A lot of new faces and a new team coming as well. It’s pretty exciting to already know a bunch of the guys.”

Bear spent the summer training around the Red Wings organization, working closely with the team’s staff and getting to know several of the prospects who could be alongside him for years to come.

“Training here in Detroit is a privilege, to be around pro staff,” Bear said. “Trainers and stuff give me a sheet of what they want me to do, and I ask a lot of questions to make sure I’m doing it right. It’s a huge summer for me.”

For Bear, spending the summer in Detroit was about more than simply getting stronger or preparing physically for camp. It allowed him to become more familiar with the people, expectations and history surrounding an Original Six organization that has made no secret of wanting its young players to understand what wearing the winged wheel represents.

“It’s about having good chats and asking good questions,” Bear said. “Dan Cleary and Niklas Kronwall, they had a whole meeting with the players. They talked about what it means to be a Red Wing and talked about their stories and what they went through. It’s pretty cool how they talk about their experience and help get the best out of us.”

My understanding is that Bear spent the summer in a house with other Red Wings prospects who trained and practiced together…

Continue reading R.org profiles Red Wings prospect Carter Bear

Sports Illustrated’s Jason Fink constructed a Red Wings “Mount Rushmore” consisting of Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom and Terry Sawchuk. The most pertinent paragraphs in his article aren’t the profiles of the above-mentioned players, however, but instead, these remarks:

The Red Wings could build multiple Mount Rushmores from the players who didn’t make this one and still have four Hall of Fame-caliber faces staring down from the mountain.

Players such as Alex Delvecchio, Ted Lindsay, Red Kelly, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan, Pavel Datsyuk, Norm Ullman, Chris Osgood and Henrik Zetterberg could fill the other ones.

Howe, Yzerman, Lidstrom, and Sawchuk have something extra. Howe established the standard while Sawchuk backstopped a dynasty. Yzerman restored the franchise to glory while Lidstrom kept it there. And nearly eight decades after Howe first pulled on the Winged Wheel, those four careers provide a complete history of what made the Detroit Red Wings the Detroit Red Wings.

Continued; I once penned a guest column for Greg Wyshynski’s Yahoo Sports blog, suggesting that Howe, Yzerman, Lidstrom and Ted Lindsay were the Wings’ all-time best players, but there are so many names that could be raised to the rafters of franchise glory that it’s silly.

Which players have built your “Red Wings Mt. Rushmore?”

In referencing Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis’ inclusion of 5 Red Wings prospects on Ellis’ “top 75 NHL-affiliated skater prospects” list, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen insists that the Red Wings should not be viewed as a “tear-down” franchise by the next GM:

The Red Wings have picked at No. 13 or later for the last three draft years, and in four of the last five years.

The ranked Detroit prospects this year: 43. Right Wing Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (15th, 2024, should make the Red Wings roster); 44. Left Wing: Carter Bear (13th, 2025, Grand Rapids Griffins); 61. JP Hurlbert (23rd, 2026, University of Michigan); 63. Center Nate Danielson (ninth, 20243, Griffins); 64. Center-Wing Max Plante (47th, 2024, Minnesota-Duluth).

Some of this comes from behind the Detroit Hockey Now paywall, so I’m not going to include a huge chunk of the article, but Allen suggests this:

Continue reading An argument against a ‘full rebuild’