Wrapping a bit of a bow on the Petruzzelli situation

The Athletic’s Joshua Kloke penned an article regarding the Toronto Maple Leafs team ahead of a team-held development camp preceding their entry in the Red Wings’ prospect tournament, and Kloke included this…comment…From Red Wings draft pick Keith Petruzzelli, who chose to sign with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies after waiting until his Red Wings rights expired:

Petruzzelli was named NCAA (ECAC) Goaltender of the Year after posting a .926 save percentage through 29 games for Quinnipiac University last season. [Erik] Källgren won the Swedish Hockey League championship with the Vaxjo Lakers last season, posting a .937 save percentage through 10 playoff games.

Petruzzelli was a 2017 Red Wings draft pick but opted not to sign in Detroit.

“It was about getting a fresh start, feeling wanted and feeling appreciated,” Petruzzelli told The Athletic in August. “The Marlies, through speaking with (Marlies GM Ryan Hardy), was a great opportunity for myself to really get some work in, a couple years of experience of pro hockey under my belt and see where things go.”

Continued; every indication over the past couple of seasons was that the Wings considered Petruzzelli one of their “goalies of the future,” so this just reiterates the point that it’s not the Wings who passed on signing Petruzzelli–it was the other way around.

It was his call…

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.

5 thoughts on “Wrapping a bit of a bow on the Petruzzelli situation”

  1. I understand it was his call but I think The Red Wings sent a message with the latest signing of the Goalie ” who thinks he can chirp’s say like Hextall.

    Like my Son in the 1st seasons “attempting to be a goalie”, I hope he knows he will pay in many different ways.

    He will not get the calls from some officials, players are NOW NHL players, etc. I guess he will learn some lessons in GR. Being 6’6″ just means he will fall farther.

    I am not a fan of his mouth being open a the pucks enter the Net.

    Respect is earned and will be a part of his success or failure with the Big Boys.

    Personally, I don’t like that part of his game. Does he use his mouth too much outside of sports? If he has Mohammed Ali kind of talent he may survive.

    Let your play do the talking, the low times will be tough to get out of with the returning chirpers.

    Will see if it effects his career. At this point I am not a Fan of his.

    1. Everything I’ve heard about Petruzzelli’s technical game is that he uses his size and perhaps relies upon it too much instead of being patient…and maybe that’s a message he struggled to figure out personally as well.

  2. I don’t understand how he can talk about a “fresh start” when he never even signed with the Wings. That’s the type of thing you hear from a guy who spent 2-3 years buried in the minors and hasn’t gotten a sniff of the NHL, not someone who never even signed. It’s bizarre, to say the least. What’s even weirder is that he didn’t sign with the Maple Leafs and was placed with the Marlies, he signed with the Marlies. As far as I can tell, any NHL could still sign him to an ELC since he is not listed as property of the Maple Leafs. I thought he was walking away from the Wings because he’s a Massachusetts kid who wanted to sign with the Bruins, so I was shocked when he signed with the Marlies.

    1. He is trying to Blame Wings but failed. He still has to make the baby Laffs.

      I thought he was progressing. I guess all I can do is wish him luck, it will be needed IMO

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