This morning, I Googled what turns out to be a misunderstanding of presidential proportions: as it turns out, the familiar American metaphor insisting the Chinese word for “crisis” also means “opportunity” is, sadly, incorrect.
Instead, the Chinese character for “crisis” more readily translates to “danger = point of change” (thank you Wikipedia), and that the point at which we find The Malik Report today.
Put bluntly:
Continue reading Status update: Hooray, TMR’s server bill is paid off!The Athletic’s Max Bultman flexes his creative instincts this morning, applying lessons which the Red Wings can learn from each and every one of the NHL’s Conference Final teams. Of Bultman’s four applicable lessons learned, his assessment of the Dallas Stars’ complementary “cores” will most likely apply to the Red Wings’ present and future generations of star players:
[The Stars’] standard bearers, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, are either deep into (or past) what most would consider to be their “peak” prime. Seguin is likely still there, although approaching the tail end, at 28. Benn is 31. Their running mate, Alexander Radulov, is 34. Heck, John Klingberg and Joe Pavelski are 28 and 36, respectively, too.
But it’s just the beginning for 21-year-old Miro Heiskanen, who has been a dominant force in this year’s playoffs and may well have a Norris Trophy in his future. Denis Gurianov, Dallas’ 23-year-old former first-round pick, is second only to Heiskanen in scoring for Dallas during these playoffs. Roope Hintz is 23.
Neither of those two cores, without the other, is likely still standing at this stage. One would likely be easing out of its window, another just entering the picture. Instead, the windows have merged, allowing Dallas to weather a slow restart by Benn and Seguin and pull the upset over an Avalanche team that could have very plausibly won it all.
Bultman continues (paywall)
The Grand Rapids Griffins posted a press release which highlights Grand Rapids’ connections to the NHL’s four remaining teams. As it turns out, no matter which team goes on to win the Stanley Cup, a Griffins alumnus will be part of the winning team:
Continue reading Press release: One way or another, a former Griffin will win a Stanley Cup this yearRed Wings defenseman Filip Hronek is currently practicing with HK Mountfield (a.k.a. Hradec Kralove Mountfield) in the Czech Republic, and Hronek spoke with Sport.cz’s Jan Svanda today regarding playing for the team whose organization developed him into an NHL player.
What follows is roughly translated from Czech, and I need to emphasize the roughly part here (Czech is not Swedish or German):
Continue reading Roughly translated: Filip Hronek speaks with Sport.cz about playing for his hometown teamFormer Red Wings forward Darren McCarty is the subject of an auction held by Detroit’s Higher Hopes, a charity that raises funds to combat child hunger. If you make a $1-or-greater donation to the charity affords one an entry or entries (one entry per dollar) in a raffle to win a round of golf with the Grind Time With Darren McCarty podcast host at the Links of Novi golf course.
The raffle will be held on September 12th, and McCarty spoke with Fox 2 Detroit’s Charlie Langton this morning regarding the raffle:
I’m never quite sure whether to post these “blurb” articles, but I’m going to err on the side of, “They might want to read it” in this instance. Anyway, 2020 NHL draft prospect Alexander Holtz scored a goal and added an assist for Djurgardens IF in a preseason tournament in the SHL, and Aftonbladet’s Anton Johansson noted that Red Wings director of European scouting Hakan Andersson was in attendance.
Andersson was asked about Holtz’s exploits, and here’s what he had to say (roughly translated, anyway) about NHL Central Scouting’s second-best-ranked European skater:
Alexander Holtz is expected to go high in the NHL draft to be held in October. Detroit’s longtime scout Hakan Andersson was also in attendance at the Scaniarinken to study the talents on the ice.
And he’s impressed by Holtz.
“In my world, he’s probably a top-ten player (in the draft),” he says in Sportbladet’s studio.
But Andersson also came with some constructive criticism of Holtz’s goal, wherein the 18-year-old chose to receive the puck instead of shooting right away.
“In the NHL, the chance is closed when you don’t shoot right away,” he says. “The goalies are faster and the defensemen cover shots better, so if he doesn’t shoot immediately, that chance disappears. But he will learn that, he’s so smart.”
Red Wings goaltending prospect Filip Larsson engaged in a very, very lengthy interview with Hockeysverige.se’s Rasmus Kagstrom this morning, and here’s a rough translation of the monster interview:
Continue reading Roughly translated: Filip Larsson engages in a lengthy interview with Hockeysverige.seFilip Larsson: Many days were really hard
Former World Junior Championship goaltender Filip Larsson discusses his autumn in Almtuna, his difficult debut season as a professional in North America, the stomach problems that kept him away from the game for two months–and the details that will take his game to the next level.
If the coronavirus has taught me anything, it’s taught me that there are very few things that I’m not willing to give up for the sake of staying healthy.
I’m the caregiver of an immune-compromised person, and I’ve been very lucky: I already have to socially distance myself from people for the most part; I have to be careful where I go and when and where I go places for the sake of not exposing Aunt Annie to dangerous “bugs”; wearing a mask has been an annoying addition to my out-of-doors ensembles, but I’ve learned to embrace the concept of protecting others from my germs.
I haven’t had to make too many sacrifices during a time in which so many people are surrendering personal and social freedoms in bulk for the sake of not getting sick from this awful virus. During a year in which teenagers have surrendered senior year shenanigans, parents have learned to home school on the fly, so many people have surrendered their social lives, and people are getting sick and dying from this awful virus, my aunt and I are relatively healthy, and in that sense, we are very lucky.
Continue reading ‘There’s a certain Slant of light’ (with apologies to Emily Dickinson)I don’t buy the “Torey Krug to Detroit” narrative. I simply believe that there will be better “fits” for the 29-year-old defenseman than a rebuilding Red Wings team. I sure as hell don’t believe that Krug would be willing to give any sort of “hometown discount” to a team that’s at least a couple years’ worth of high draft picks and lucky breaks in both free agency and player development away from playoff contention.
I understand that sentimentality is big in hockey, but the only small defenseman who’s headed back to Detroit was Brian Rafalski, and he joined a Red Wings team that was gunning for a Stanley Cup.
All of that being said, the hockey world seems to believe that the Krug-to-Detroit storyline is an inevitability only matched by death and taxes, and Krug’s end-of-season comments to the Boston media were definitely intriguing. The well-spoken Krug readily admitted that he’s probably not coming back to Boston because he wants to maximize his earning power on a long-term, big-money contract, and, perhaps to the disdain of Wings fans, Krug pointed out that he was the longest-tenured Boston athlete without a sports championship ring.
This morning, in his “Quick Shifts,” Sportsnet’s Luke Fox wonders aloud what the salary cap-strapped Bruins will do to their roster to remain championship-viable for a couple of years to come, despite an aging core, and Fox brings up the inevitable angle in the process:
Continue reading More Torey Krug-to-Detroit talk, devil’s advocate styleRed Wings prospect Kaden Fulcher is a “forgotten man” in the Red Wings’ goaltending pipeline. Fulcher remains a solid goaltending prospect for the Wings, but Filip Larsson, Keith Petruzzelli, Victor Brattstrom and Jesper Eliasson are the most-recognized goaltending prospects at present.
Fulcher’s descent down the list of Wings prospects has had to do in part with an injury-plagued 2019-2020 season with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye.
Today, DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji reports that Fulcher eventually had surgery for a “lower-body injury” that he couldn’t shake this past season, and Wakiji spoke with Red Wings goaltending coach Phil Osaer regarding Fulcher’s trajectory as a prospect trying to hone his craft during a pandemic:
Continue reading Wakiji discusses Kaden Fulcher’s development