Month: October 2020

Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner spotted this Tweet from Sportsnet 650 Vancouver this morning, and it surprised me a little bit:

“Sorry, if I was was a d****. I was paid to go play hockey and entertain fans.”

Todd Bertuzzi with @jamescybulski and @psolkowski. pic.twitter.com/sDPYhy2BbK— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) October 20, 2020

Bertuzzi did speak with James Cybulski and Perry Solkowski for “Sportsnet’s Starting Lineup” at 7 AM Vancouver time, and if you’re interested in Bertuzzi chatting about his career, sports of the day and his tenure with the Canucks…

Like the Jamie Macoun story, this isn’t necessarily Red Wings-related, but it’s an interesting “listen”:

A little under two weeks ago, something remarkable happened. My 8-year-old laptop broke (due to a botched repair by…well, me), and I asked you, the Malik Report’s readers, to help raise funds for a new laptop in time for the draft and free agency.

It only took a day to raise $1,000 of the approximately $1,500 needed to pay for the laptop; two days later, the laptop was more or less paid for, and I was able to cover the 2020 NHL Draft, 2020 free agency and the ramifications thereof for you on a brand new ASUS laptop.

The way the TMR community mobilized to fund what was a moonshot’s worth of hope was astonishing, at least to me.

Now that I’ve landed on the figurative moon that is a new realm of possibilities for the blog, I took a couple of days to regroup, and now that the Red Wings’ offseason has slowed down from a gazelle’s pace to something slightly slower, it’s time to explore what’s next.

Continue reading Reporting from Moon Base Alpha

As the title of this post suggests, today’s episode of “The Word on Woodward,” which airs from 12 PM EDT to 2 PM EDT, will include an interview with new Red Wings forward Bobby Ryan:

Update: FYI:

The #WordOnWoodward is live again today at 12!! We’ll be joined by @KenKalDRW, Tigers Prospect @parkermeadows3, writers @JohnNiyo & @EvanPetzold, and one of your newest Red Wings, Bobby Ryan!! Tune in on @DetroitRedWings and @tigers Facebook & YouTube pages!! pic.twitter.com/NmooP3dxVi— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 20, 2020

This isn’t really Red Wings-related, but there are times that remarkable stories require noting, and The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek’s tale of former Wing Jamie Macoun’s recovery from a paralyzed arm suffered during a car accident while playing for the Calgary Flames is damn good:

On his third day in the hospital after a 1987 car crash that almost took his life, Jamie Macoun was visited by a doctor who wanted to talk about amputation.

Even for a free spirit such as Macoun, it was a sobering conversation that immediately grabbed his attention.

“The doctor came up to me and said, ‘We have to have a serious discussion,’” remembered Macoun, who was playing for the Calgary Flames at the time.

“I said, ‘OK, I’ve only had three days of serious discussions since I’ve been in here — but whatever.’ But he said something along the lines of, ‘What do you want to do with your arm?’ And I’m going, ‘What do you mean?’ He says, ‘Well, you’re paralyzed — and the chances of you ever getting use of that arm again are zero.’ He explained that the human body, the damaged nerves, to regenerate even a centimeter, for some people, takes a month or more and the chances of me getting any use of my arm back was zero.

“I’m looking at him, going, ‘I don’t think you understand who I am or what I do. I’m a professional athlete.’ Either I was so stupid or it was just that athletic mentality kicking in, where you think, ‘OK, this is just a setback, but it’s going to come back.’

Continued (paywall; worth your time)

Sportsnet’s Luke Fox posted an article regarding his Top 15 unsigned restricted free agents, with both Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha making the list at 8th and 11th, respectively:

8. Tyler Bertuzzi
Age: 25
Position: Left wing
2019-20 salary cap hit: $1.4 million
Arbitration rights: Yes — and filed
Bargaining chips: Made first All-Star Game appearance. Back-to-back 21-goal, 47-point seasons. Skates nearly 20 minutes a night. Organization has invested seven years developing him into a first-line threat.

The latest: One of the few bright spots on a sad-sack Red Wings, Bertuzzi has over-delivered on his two-year, $2.8-million bridge pact signed back in 2018 and deserves a nice pay bump.

Of the three pending RFA forwards GM Steve Yzerman still must make decisions on, Bertuzzi is the most essential. Yzerman has been busy rebuilding his roster through smart, low-risk UFA signings, while clearing out veterans through buyout (Justin Abdelkader) or simply letting them walk (Jimmy Howard, Trevor Daley, Jonathan Ericsson).

Bertuzzi has 30-goal potential, brings grit to his game, and should be seen as a building block for a rebuild that needs as many as it can get.

Negotiations with Yzerman have begun as the sides try to work out a deal prior to arbitration Oct. 25.

Continued

Red Wings prospect Joe Veleno spoke with Hockeynews.se’s Mattias Persson regarding his start with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks. Here’s a rough translation of the Swedish article:

NHL-loaned forward about his form and first time in Malmö: “Will get into it”

He is seen as one of Detroit’s biggest hopes for the future.

But the transition from North America to the SHL and Swedish hockey has not been entirely easy for NHL loan Joe Veleno so far.

“I get to play a lot, and in many important situations, so I will get into it,” he says to HockeyNews.se.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Joe Veleno speaks to Hockeynews.se

The Athletic’s Corey Pronman analyzed and ranked the prospect pipelines of each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams prior to the 2020 draft, ranking the Red Wings 18th, but there’s some good news for Wings fans this morning: Pronman has reassessed said prospect pools after the 2020 draft, revising his rankings, and the Wings now sit 13th:

Detroit Red Wings

Pre-draft org ranking: No. 18
2020 NHL Draft grade: A-

Things are getting better in Detroit. There’s still a lot of work to do given the Red Wings won 17 games last season. In terms of young players, they still need a lot more, particularly of the top of the lineup variety, but things are moving in the right direction. Their No. 4 pick Lucas Raymond has the potential to be one of the keys to ending the tough times.

1. Lucas Raymond, LW
2. Moritz Seider, D
3. Filip Hronek, D
4. Filip Zadina, RW
5. Joe Veleno, C
6. Jared McIsaac, D
7. Michael Rasmussen, C
8. William Wallinder, D
9. Dennis Cholowski, D
10. Jonatan Berggren, RW
11. Elmer Soderblom, RW
12. Robert Mastrosimone, LW
13. Donovan Sebrango, D
14. Albert Johansson, D

Continued (paywall); you’ll notice that many of the Wings’ “top prospects” per Pronman’s estimation are at or near the NHL level, which is a bit of a concern, but the Wings really are rebuilding their prospect pool, so any progress forward is good progress.

I should note that Swedish sports tabloid Aftonbladet produced a tell-all article about Jonatan Berggren’s comeback from back and shoulder injuries a couple of days ago, but the article is regrettably behind a paywall. Berggren sits 2nd in the SHL in points right now, having posted 2 goals and 11 assists for 13 points in 9 games played.

The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe, a.k.a. Down Goes Brown, compiled a list of neutral and/or unfortunate things about the NHL that one may “blame” upon Eastern Conference teams, and he’s not wrong in suggesting that Red Wings senior Vice President Jimmy Devellano is to “blame” for the shootout loss point (and Ken Holland came up with the Regulation-or-Overtime Win tiebreaker):

Detroit Red Wings

Thank them for: The loser point

Who should we blame for the dumbest rule in the NHL? Everyone. From Gary Bettman to the GMs who could change it to the coaches who alter their strategies to the media that still lets the league get away with spouting nonsense about it, it’s a stain on the entire sport.

But who can we blame for coming up with the idea? That would apparently be Red Wings legend Jimmy Devellano.

The longtime Wings executive and former GM is the one that typically gets the credit for suggesting the NHL’s new overtime format in 1999. And at the time, it made at least a little bit of sense – teams were playing for ties in overtime, making sudden death a boring slog. Remember, this was before the shootout, so Devellano’s idea to encourage teams to go for the win had some merit. And he also got the league to adopt 4-on-4 overtime, which led to today’s 3-on-3, so if you like that then you can thank Devellano.

But yeah, that stupid loser point. Whatever sense it made in 1999 was wiped out by the shootout’s arrival and the end of ties in 2005, yet we’re still stuck with it to this day. Is that Devellano’s fault? Probably not, but like the mad scientist who sees his well-intentioned creation break free and wreak havoc, he’ll always shoulder at least some of the blame for the misery his idea has caused.

Continued (paywall)

Red Wings prospect and 2020 draft pick Theodor Niederbach has been tearing up the Swedish J20 league, posting 22 points in 13 games for the Frolunda Indians. This morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan profiles the Wings’ second-round pick:

“Every time I talked to Hakan (Andersson, Detroit’s director of European scouting) and discussed Niederbach with our other Swedish scout, Thomas Carlsson, the one thing they kept coming back to was how creative and how smart of a hockey player he was,” [Red Wings director of amateur scouting Kris] Draper said. “He has to get bigger and stronger, but we’ve been able to watch a lot of video on him because (their season) started, and this guy can do some special things with the puck. So, the things that really attracted us to him were his playmaking ability and hockey sense.”

Niederbach (5-11, 172) tied for ninth in Sweden’s top junior league with 48 points (including 15 goals) in 40 games in 2019-20. He is off to a strong start this season, with seven goals and 22 points in 13 games.

“We like that he’s very smart, he’s got really good skills, he’s a smooth skater,” Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said. “As an 18-year-old, 19-year-old, we’re hoping like most of them at 23 or 24 that they’re a little bit heavier, a little bit thicker, and more powerful.”

The Red Wings aren’t concerned that Niederbach missed the 2018-19 season due to a knee injury. Yzerman does not expect the injury to have a long-term effect.

“Guys get hurt at all different levels, at all different ages,” Yzerman said. “If anything, it delays things a little bit for him, just in getting up to speed, getting that full season of experience of playing.”

Continued; Niederbach’s playing alongside his brother, Adam, on Frolunda J20 team; I always take Under-20 stats with a grain of salt as they’re essentially the equivalent of playing in the Canadian Hockey League, but it is encouraging to see Theodor post the kinds of numbers he’s posting thus far.

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon gave a nod to five sets of free agency moves which should improve the fortunes of the respective teams that made said moves, including the Red Wings’ decision to sign Bobby Ryan…

Bobby Ryan and the Red Wings: Everyone in hockey is rooting for Bobby Ryan to re-discover his game in a new locale. The former Senators forward can leave all that contract baggage behind and start anew on a team that can provide him plenty of quality ice.

It will be a long climb out of the basement for Detroit, but adding pros like Marc Staal, Thomas Greiss, Troy Stecher and Vladislav Namestnikov means the Wings won’t roll over against anybody.

And, in a subscriber-only article, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan estimated probable fits for each and every one of the Red Wings’ four lines, three defensive pairs and goaltending pair:

►Vladislav Namestnikov – Robby Fabbri – Filip Zadina: A caveat here is the possibility of simply flipping Fabbri and Namestnikov.

Right now, it appears the Wings really want to try Fabbri at center, so this is assuming that scenario. But Namestnikov, though he can play all three positions up front, is a natural center and might thrive playing with two offensive players such as Fabbri and Zadina on the flanks. Playing with these two players would also help Zadina.

►Sam Gagner – Valtteri Filppula – Bobby Ryan: It’s easy to see Ryan flipped with Zadina, but let’s assume Ryan stays here.

This is a veteran line that knows how to play and they could create scoring opportunities with their hockey instincts and natural skills.

Ryan did say, however, one of the reasons he signed with the Wings was the opportunity to play with the likes of Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi and Fabbri. You have to expect Ryan will get that opportunity, often.

Continued (paywall)