Month: August 2022

DHN’s Allen profiles Amadeus Lombardi

Detroit Hockey Now’s audit of the Red Wings’ prospect system continues this evening with Kevin Allen discussing 2022 draft pick Amadeus Lombardi of the OHL’s Flint Firebirds. Lombardi stands only 5’10” and 165 pounds, but the 19-year-old impressed the Red Wings’ scouts with a 59-points-in-65-games regular season, followed by a 15-points-in-19-games playoff run.

Put bluntly, the Red Wings saw enough of Lombardi this past season to draft him 113th overall, and, as Allen notes, the Wings hope that his competitiveness helps “Ammo” overcome his small stature:

He is like a tightly-wound spool of energy that seems to grow in intensity with each stride he takes on the ice. Lombardi netted a hat trick in a game in the 3 v 3 tournament at the Red Wings’ Development Camp last month.

Lombardi also scored a Michigan lacrosse-style goal in that tournament. He made everyone pay attention to him because of his energetic style.

“He’s a very competitive centerman, a guy we were able to see a lot being up in Flint and then had a real good playoff,” Red Wings director of amateur scouting Kris Draper said.

He lost a year of development because of COVID-19. He didn’t play anywhere in 2020-21. The Red Wings took note that he improved as the season wore on. He worked hard at his craft. In the playoffs, Lombardi registered seven goals and 15 points in 19 games.

“He’s a skater, he’s a worker and he’s very competitive and he plays center,” Draper said. “We like all those things about him.”

Continued; I was very impressed with Lombardi’s skill set at the Wings’ summer development camp, but a 19-year-old who’s as small as Lombardi is will have an uphill battle that’s going to need to be fought with relentless energy and enthusiasm, as well as some hard work in the weight room.

We’ll see what he can do in the fall prospect tournament, when he’s battling against AHL-level competition, and then he’ll go back to Flint for at least one more season of OHL development.

Your Friday afternoon ‘news dump’ post: It’s time to fundraise again

Okay, it’s Friday afternoon, when most news sites post the news they don’t want to post while heading out the door.

I am probably headed out the door at some point to pick the big bag of prescriptions that awaits me at Rite-Aid, but then I’m coming right back to monitor what will probably be a quiet weekend ahead of the World Junior Championship’s start on August 9th…

And, as much as I hate to do this, it’s time to start fundraising for several reasons:

  1. I have to renew my website by the end of the month, and everything comes out to be about $400 for the various Bluehost subscriptions and the Jetpack plug-in;
  2. It’s also time to start getting ready for training camp and the prospect tournament. I’ve scheduled my hotel reservations for September 14th to 28th, and they are…expensive…as is everything in this financial landscape, as I’m certain you already know. It’s going to be a long slough to try and raise everything necessary to make the cut financially…
  3. And, in the interim, there are bills that need to be paid.

So, while I’m not a fan of requesting financial help, this is still a blog without ads and a blog without commercials, so I will need your assistance to get through the month, frankly, never mind head up to Traverse City.

This is just the way things are right now, and while it’s a warm, muggy weekend in August here in Southeastern Michigan and Southwestern Oakland County, the news cycle is about to take a jump forward with the WJC going on, and it’s going to continue from there.

So let’s do this:

If you’re willing to lend a hand, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check.

Tweet of note: An excerpt from the NHL Network’s interview with David Perron

Per the Detroit Red Wings on Twitter:

“I joined a team in Vegas that no one expected us to do anything the first year so I kind of have a chip in my shoulder, trying to recreate that [in Detroit].”

New @DetroitRedWings left winger @DP_57 knows how it feels to be the underdog… and how to exceed all expectations. pic.twitter.com/o3SZm9yzwP— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) August 5, 2022

I happened to post this one yesterday:

Tweet of note: quick and to the point

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman got down to business with DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce during their recent conversation:

Update: FYI:

Kulfan audits the Red Wings’ goaltending

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has examined the Red Wings’ forwards and defense, and today, he examines the team’s goaltending pipeline:

► Ville Husso: He formed a good goaltending combination in St. Louis with Jordan Binnington and is optimistic he’ll be part of one with Nedeljkovic.

“It’s always nice to have a good guy or goalie partner with you,” Husso said. “Me and Binnington were pushing each other every day. That’s one thing I learned from him. With Alex, I want to do the same thing, push each other every day in practices and games to get better every day.”

► Alex Nedeljkovic: Yzerman felt Nedeljkovic could take away positives from this past season.

“He at times had great games; he had some not-so-great games,” Yzerman said. “Some of that was due to our overall team play. What I’m really encouraged by is this could have been a tough situation for any goalie, particularly a young guy who doesn’t have a ton of experience. He survived it and he’s not a basket case today.

“It showed his mental toughness, and it’s good for him that he battled the ups and downs. He didn’t get too carried away when things went well for him, and there were some tough nights and he had to go back in the next night and stop pucks.

“At the end of the year, it was a positive year for him.”

Continued (paywall)

Toledo Walleye sign Lukas and Sam Craiggs

The Toledo Walleye signed a pair of brothers this morning:

🚨 PLAYER ANNOUNCEMENT(S) 🚨

Forwards (and brothers) Lukas and Sam Craggs are joining the Fish for the upcoming season.

👉 https://t.co/3AdYN4VrfD pic.twitter.com/yyiZP6zxLb— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) August 5, 2022

Here’s the story from the Walleye’s website:

Continue reading Toledo Walleye sign Lukas and Sam Craiggs

Mills’ notebook: A bit more about Donovan Sebrango’s leadership role with Team Canada

Among DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills’ morning notes:

When Red Wings prospect Donovan Sebrango represents Team Canada at the 2022 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship from Aug. 9 – 20 in Edmonton, he’ll do so with an “A” on his chest.

On Tuesday, Team Canada announced that Sebrango, who was Detroit’s 63rd overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, was named an alternate captain for his native country.

“In the room, you try to be a leader, lead by example and take it day by day,” Sebrango said on July 11. “They’re still (Team Canada teammates) the same age as me, so you don’t want to come in like you’re better than them.”

Last season, the 20-year-old defenseman had one goal and six assists in 65 games for the Red Wings’ American Hockey League-affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins. According to the Ottawa native, he’s ready to show his fellow countrymen “what pro hockey is like and what it takes to get there.”

“I just try to bring my leadership and experience playing against men,” Sebrango said. “And hopefully, that takes us to gold.”

Continued

An interesting theoretical trade from The Athletic

The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman posted a set of theoretical trades submitted by hockey fans this morning, using Prashanth Iyer’s “Trade Machine” to determine who “wins” the deal, and one of those theoretical trades involves a Red Wings player going to Calgary for an offensive defenseman:

Continue reading An interesting theoretical trade from The Athletic

Morning Khan: On Simon Edvinsson, Theodor Niederbach and William Wallinder

The 2022 World Junior Championship resets and restarts on Tuesday, August 9th, and the Red Wings’ organization should have as many as 9 prospects taking part in the event.

Three of the nine prospects will be playing for Team Sweden, and MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an early-morning story which discusses Simon Edvinsson, Theodor Niederbach and William Wallinder:

A trio of Detroit Red Wings prospects will impact Sweden’s fortunes at next week’s World Junior Championship in Edmonton.

The tournament will serve as a warmup for Simon Edvinsson prior to training camp, where the sixth overall pick in 2021 will compete for a spot on the Red Wings’ blue line.

Defenseman William Wallinder and forward Theodor Niederbach, second-round selections in 2020 (32nd and 51st), will return to Sweden for another season of development with Rogle BK.

The event was rescheduled from December, when it was canceled four days after it began due to COVID-19. Sweden, seeking its first gold medal since 2012, opens Wednesday against Switzerland.

“When I was a little kid, I always wanted to play in the World Junior Championship,” Edvinsson, 19, said. “I just played two games. That hunger goes a little bit more. I think that’s a good run-up to be prepared for training camp.”

Khan continues…