Month: August 2021

Red Wings prospect Sebastian Cossa spoke with Fort McMurray, Alberta’s “Mix 103.7 FM” regarding signing his entry-level contract with the Wings this past weekend.

Mix1037FM.com’s Jaryn Vecchio took note of Cossa’s remarks…

“They want me there and there’s high expectations, but there’s nothing more that I want.”

Cossa was interviewed by all 32 NHL teams ahead of the draft. When chatting with the Red Wings, he had the opportunity to speak with former goalie Chris Osgood.

“You know they have a lot of interest in you if they’re going to have a guy like that talk to you and him just talk about his career and his ups and downs.”

During the last season for the Oil Kings, Cossa put an 17-1-1 record. In those 19 games, he .941 save percentage and 1.57 goals against average.

“There’s a lot of work to be had, I’m just gonna have to show Detroit that they made the right decision,” added Cossa.

And you can listen to Cossa’s interview here, as part of “Ford McMurray Matters”:

It’s been three weeks since I returned from my long-haul-COVID and gallbladder surgery-related hiatus from blogging. TMR is up and running again, and I am hoping and praying that my health will continue to improve as we get closer to September.

Now I need to ask for your financial assistance, because my financial reserves are extraordinarily limited, and my advertising agreements are up in the air.

My hopeful goal is to raise enough funds to pay the web server bill that’s due on August 31st ($600) and to raise enough funds to attend the prospect tournament and main training camp in Traverse City on your behalf (~$2,500).

That’s going to require help on your part. I have absolutely no clue whether any of it is feasible, but all I can do is ask, and ask again, and hope and pray.

If you’re willing to lend a hand, no matter how small, it would be greatly appreciated. The goal here is to 1) sustain the website and 2) get up to the prospect tournament and training camp, but there’s hope regarding some 3) sustainability longer-term as well.

So if you’re willing to help, https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport is a place you can donate, https://venmo.com/george-malik-2 is another place you can donate, and quite a few of you like https://www.giftly.com using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, because you don’t need to sign up for PayPal or Venmo to use Giftly.

I can’t do it without you, and I hope that those of you who’ve stuck around the TMR community are willing to lend a hand. Let’s see where this goes. We’ve done it before; let’s try again.

HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek posted an article in which he reveals that two of the Frolunda Indians’ top prospects, Montreal draft pick Mattias Norlinder and New York Rangers pick Karl Henriksson will both take part in their respective NHL rights-holders’ training camps.

According to Ek, Red Wings draft pick Simon Edvinsson is slated to remain with the Frolunda Indians as he did not sign with Detroit by August 15th, and it doesn’t sound like Edvinsson is going to be attending the Red Wings’ training camp. That would nix him from participating in the prospect tournament.

Here’s what Ek and Frolunda GM Fredrik Sjostrom say about Edvinsson, roughly translated:

The great defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who was Detroit’s first pick in this summer’s NHL draft, will remain with Frolunda for at least one more season, and did not sign a contract before the [European player signing deadline] on August 15th.

“Not exactly. You can never really know, but there was never anything to talk about, at least not something we’d gotten to with ourselves. Simon should be here and it feels great for us of course.”

Frolunda has paired Edvinsson on a defensive pair with the NHL-merited SHL champion Christian Folin. Detroit follows the development [of their prospects] in the Gothenburg team with great interest Detroit has more prospects with them.

“We have close dialogues with them, and they’re interested in their guys, and of course, they get in touch with us, and are down here [to watch], so there are quite close conversations between us. I hope and believe that they are also satisfied with us,” says Fredrik Sjostrom.

Take that for what you will. It’s still possible, but not that probable, that Edvinsson, Elmer Soderblom and Theodor Niederbach might take part in the prospect tournament, but given that the SHL’s regular season starts on September 11th, and the prospect tournament doesn’t start until September 16th…I don’t see it happening.

Updated 2x at 6:34 PM: The Detroit Red Wings held a short Zoom call with Adam Erne and the media today, subsequent to Erne signing a 2-year, $4.2 million contract:

Adam Erne on his performance last season: “Its about being able to do something with the opportunity when you get it. I was able to do that. It felt good to have a year like that.” #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) August 16, 2021

#LGRW

?: https://t.co/hedG0akNGy pic.twitter.com/9Qo4yJrp0D— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 16, 2021

Update: Here’s a bit more from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:

Former Red Wings forward Riley Sheahan is an unrestricted free agent at present, but he’s spent part of his summer producing a podcast focused on mental health, partnering with TorchPro‘s stable of athletes.

Sheahan discussed his podcast with both The Hockey News’s Ryan Kennedy today and NBC Sports’ Sean Leahy recently. Here’s part of his conversation with Kennedy….

The off-season is a perfect time for players to rest, recover and train. For center Riley Sheahan, it was also an opportunity to get out of his comfort zone and try something different: a podcast on mental health.

Sheahan, a free agent who spent last season with the Buffalo Sabres, holds the cause near to his heart. Back in 2012 when he was still a prospect for the Detroit Red Wings, Sheahan was arrested for drunk driving, an offense made all the more notable by the fact he was wearing a Halloween costume at the time. For some outsiders it was humorous, but it was very serious for the youngster, who thought he might have frittered away an NHL career before it even started.

In the aftermath of the incident, a psychologist diagnosed Sheahan with depression and the Red Wings made sure he got the space and time needed to reset.

“It was huge, it was such a relief,” Sheahan said. “That really allowed me to focus on hockey and play a little more free. I solidified my role on the Red Wings and from there, built some momentum. When you have people in your corner you can be at ease. It definitely opens up your thinking patterns and allows you to be stress-free.”

But battling depression and anxiety has been a constant for Sheahan, which is why he wanted to start his ‘Speak Your Mind’ podcast on TorchPro, the website co-founded by Dallas veteran Joe Pavelski.

“I wanted to work my mind in a different way and do something uncomfortable,” Sheahan said. “I had gotten into a routine of being a hockey player where I’d wake up every morning, train, skate and come home and I thought I had a lot of time on my hands. And adding my voice to the group of athletes speaking out about this is fun for me.”

Kennedy and Sheahan continue, and here’s part of his Q and A with Leahy:

Q. The alcohol issues in Detroit that led to your arrest, did that incident make you realize you needed some help.

SHEAHAN: “Yeah, I definitely think that was a little bit of a wakeup call. I don’t think that issue was a one-off thing for me. It was just a matter of time that I got caught doing something really stupid. Even then, it still is a process to figure it out. I was fortunate enough as I grew older I started to really understand and I started to build a little bit of a fear and anxiety towards drinking, which was good for me to start to figure out how to cope with those stresses. That was an eye-opening experience that allowed me to start learning more about myself and try to figure some things out.”

Q. That happened during your rookie year. A lot of young players may not think to go get help. How did the organization assist you during that period?

SHEAHAN: “They were supportive in me getting help and whatever I needed to do to figure it out. That was meaningful to me and it was a relief to me. Being at that age, if you need help and you need to go get it, obviously you’ve got to do it and I don’t think anyone will judge you for it. Just at that age being cognizant of some of the feelings, if you’re going to go out and have a good time, that’s awesome. I think there’s a lot of camaraderie, things you can build [going out]. But I think if you’re drinking to the point where you’re starting to have these crazy thoughts and you’re blacking out, maybe you’ve got to learn from it and don’t be shy to start to dig and do some self-thinking and maybe some of those issues can be brought to the surface and you can learn from them.”

Leahy and Sheahan also continue; it’s good to hear that the Red Wings were supportive of Sheahan during his time of need. Whoever signs the 29-year-old center will gain a solid citizen on and off the ice, and I wish him well going forward.

The Red Wings have posted a video which profiles prospect Lucas Raymond today:

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes, Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic is still eligible for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie despite playing in 23 games this past season:

The 25-year-old goaltender played 23 games for the Hurricanes last season. Under the Calder Trophy eligibility rules, there are three ways by which a player relinquishes their rookie status.

To be eligible for the Calder Memorial Trophy, a player cannot have played more than 25 games in any single preceding season nor in six or more games in each of any two preceding seasons in any major professional league. Beginning in 1990-91, a player must not have attained his 26th birthday by Sept. 15 of the season in which he is eligible.

Let’s check off the list. He only played 23 games last season. In 2019-20, Nedeljkovic appeared in four games for the Hurricanes. He saw action in two other one-game stints prior to that, in 2018-19 and 2016-17.

He won’t celebrate his 26th birthday until January 7.

Yes sir, Nedeljkovic is still Calder-eligible. But wait – will the shortened 56-game NHL season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic make any impact on rookie status? Based on an 82-game season, Nedeljkovic’s 23 games would translate to 34 games during a typcial NHL campaign.

According to the NHL, that doesn’t matter. Totals are not being prorated because of the shortened season, just as they weren’t in 1994-95 or 2012-13, two NHL seasons that were shortened to 48 games due to owner lockouts of the players.

Continued

From the University of Michigan‘s Kristy McNeil:

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — University of Michigan ice hockey head coach Mel Pearson announced Monday (Aug. 16) the hiring of former Wolverine Brandon Naurato as an assistant coach.

“I’m extremely excited to welcome Brandon, his wife Sarah along with their children back to the University of Michigan,” Pearson said. “Brandon will bring a cutting-edge skill development component that is critical to today’s student-athletes as they pursue on ice excellence. He is a ‘think outside the box’ type coach whose goals are to help each individual reach his potential. His past experience working with the Detroit Red Wings and NHL players will greatly benefit our student-athletes. I can’t wait to get to work with Brandon and Billy Muckalt as we embark on what should be another exciting season of Michigan Hockey.”

“It is an honor to have earned the opportunity to come back to Michigan and work with Mel, Billy, and the rest of the hockey staff. The life lessons and relationships that were built during my years in Ann Arbor as a player have helped shape who I am as a person today, and I can’t wait to get started. I am grateful to Coach Pearson and Warde Manuel for the new position and opportunity have a positive impact on all of our student-athletes as players and more importantly, people.”

A native of Livonia, Mich., Naurato spent the last three seasons with the Red Wings, serving as a player development consultant. In his role, he worked with both the Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins coaching staffs to implement individual skill development into the team identity. Year-long individualized plans for each player, team tactics and the identification of current trends through analytics and video analysis were focus areas for Naurato during the season.

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler posted a list of his top 50 NHL prospects (non-goaltenders) this morning, and you’ve heard of four of them: Lucas Raymond is ranked 9th, Moritz Seider is ranked 11th, Simon Edvinsson is ranked 22nd, and Jonatan Berggren makes the list at #48. Wheeler hints heavily that Sebastian Cossa will make his list of the top 10 goaltending prospects as well.

Here’s what Wheeler has to say about Raymond and Seider (sorry, but his text is too broad to share everything):

9. Lucas Raymond, RW, 19 (Detroit Red Wings — 4th overall, 2020)

I debated having Raymond as high as No. 7 and as low as No. 10, which speaks to both his persisting talent level and some of the reservations I still have about how it will come together for him at the NHL level. Raymond’s always going to be able to craftily run a power play from the flank or the point. He’s always going to be able to feed pucks into space for his linemates, control play under pressure and dictate with his clever on-puck skill. He’s always going to work hard when he doesn’t have it to apply pressure, come up with steals on the backcheck and intercept passes. His wrist shot has improved, adding a bit of oomph to make it more threatening than it once was. His straight-line speed has picked up half a step and is complemented by the impressive edge work he has always possessed. But I’m still waiting for him to find another gear in that acceleration so that he can get to the middle of the ice with a little more pace. And even with his improved shot, he’s never going to be a marksman scorer. And while I’m very confident in his ability to become an impactful top-six creator who picks up some freebies on the power play, I’m still not convinced he’s going to be the true game-changing star this next version of the Red Wings will sorely need.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a list of the 5 greatest one-season Red Wings this afternoon, and I’m a little sentimental, so I’m going to share Duff’s take on a particular defenseman with a hard-to-pronounce name:

Fredrik Olausson (2001-02): Of all the acquisitions made by Detroit to assemble the epic 2001-02 Stanley Cup championship roster, Oluasson’s addition seldom registers. After all, he wasn’t a Hall of Famer like Dominik Hasek, Brett Hull or Luc Robitaille.

He was however, the ideal partner to pair with Nicklas Listrom in Detroit’s top defensive tandem. The 14-season NHL veteran spent the 2000-01 campaign with SC Bern in Switzerland. Olausson signed a free-agent deal with Detroit in May of 2001.

His play that season earned Olausson, 34, a spot on the Swedish Olympic team. He scored two goals during Detroit’s 2002 playoff run. One of them was an overtime winner in Game 3 of the Western Conference final against the Colorado Avalanche.

Following the season, Olausson signed with the Anaheim Ducks.

Continued; Olausson eventually needed a liver transplant after his playing days are over, but he is happy and healthy in Sweden at 54 years of age.