Author: George Malik

I have a rule that saves me a lot of stress each and every year: don’t fall in love with undrafted prospects, because there’s a 1-in-31 chance that any particular player is going to be drafted by your team.

There are prospects that I grow to admire and hope that the Red Wings draft, but I try to not get so emotionally involved with any player who doesn’t have an NHL home.

The Detroit Red Wings’ decision to draft German-born defenseman Moritz Seider with their 6th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft caused more than a little consternation with the Red Wings’ still-sensitive fan base. I, too, am a little puzzled as to why the Wings picked a top-25 player so early, but I believe that the Wings’ scouts had to see something that the rest of us did not in order to make the pick that they did.

GM Steve Yzerman spoke with the Associated Press to discuss the Wings’ drafting of Moritz:

“He has excellent hockey sense. Obviously a big kid at 6-foot-3. Real good skater. In our opinion he’s one of the top defensemen in the draft,” Yzerman said. “Our next pick was 35. We had to make a decision. He wasn’t going to be there at 35.”

Yzerman has a huge job ahead in trying to re-establish the Red Wings as one of the premier clubs in the NHL. After 25 straight playoff appearances, the Red Wings have failed to reach the postseason in the past three years. Yzerman won the Stanley Cup three times as Red Wings captain and is back in Hockeytown after eight years as Tampa Bay Lightning GM and another as an adviser.

And clearly Seider was his first target.

“I wasn’t really going by position. I think anyone we would have picked we would have felt we were filling a need,” Yzerman said.

Cross your fingers, folks. The draft is not an exact science, and post-draft analysis would suggest that the Wings may have pulled off a relative coup here…But we won’t know for at least a couple of years whether Seider was a steal or a swing-and-a-miss.

Updated 9x at 1:10 AM Saturday: The Detroit Red Wings selected Moritz Seider with the 6th overall pick in the NHL Draft on Friday, and here’s a bunch of information about him, starting with NHL.com’s prospect profile:

Seider was named Rookie of the Year in the DEL – Germany’s top men’s hockey league – in 2018-19 after the defenseman posted 2-4—6 in 29 games during the regular season and five assists in 14 postseason contests to help Mannheim capture the league championship.

• A member of back-to-back championship teams with Mannheim’s junior club in 2017 and 2018.

• Internationally, Seider skated for Team Germany at the 2019 World Championship where he scored twice in five games and captained his country to a gold medal at the 2019 World Junior Championship – Division 1, Group A where he was named Best Defenseman after leading all blueliners in points with 1-6—7 in five games.

• Models his style of play after Predators defenseman Roman Josi.

Seider is 6’3,” 208 pounds, and hails from Zell, Germany. He did play for Mannheim’s men’s team.

The Detroit Red Wings have drafted DEL defenseman with the 6th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

With the 6th pick in the 2019 #NHLDraft, the #RedWings select D Moritz Seider.#DRWDraft | #LGRW— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 22, 2019

With the 6th pick in the 2019 #NHLDraft, the Detroit Red Wings select D Moritz Seider! pic.twitter.com/dUU82Dyqe1— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 22, 2019

The Red Wings picked German defenseman Moritz Seider with the sixth overall pick.

Seider was openly surprised. pic.twitter.com/LHNT0nnBOS— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) June 22, 2019

Big, great skater and can absolutely crush the competition. I think of all first rounders, he has the most potential to improve as he gets more ice time in the DEL. Played some of his best offensive hockey at the #IIHFWorlds. #NHLDraft— Steven Ellis (@StevenEllisTHN) June 22, 2019

The @DetroitRedWings select Moritz Seider with the No. 6 pick in the #NHLDraft.

NHL Draft Tracker: https://t.co/gJrtpV1CPj

(Presented by Esso Canada) pic.twitter.com/mzYC4YTfkZ— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 22, 2019

German D Moritz Seider is selected by the Red Wings at No. 6https://t.co/XsAOg3GjhN pic.twitter.com/t7Hm8itXp1— SI NHL (@SI_NHL) June 22, 2019

Detroit claims D Moritz Sieder (Adler Mannheim, DEL) at #6 overall.

From McKeen’s: “He is calm on the puck and when he lets a pass go, it is crisp, quick and easy to receive. His poise with the puck speaks to his overall maturity.”— Tom Dorsa (@TomDorsa) June 22, 2019

6. Seider, Det: First German born-and-trained defenceman drafted in first round is major surprise this high. He entered the draft ranked No. 15 on Bob McKenzie’s final TSN ranking. Big move by new GM Steve Yzerman.— TSNquizmaster (@TSNquizmaster) June 22, 2019

There’s the REAL mock draft buster! In his first draft as #redwings GM, Yzerman takes D-man Moritz Seider from Mannheim of German League.— Mike Zeisberger (@Zeisberger) June 22, 2019

1/6 DET Moritz Seider D

We had Seider 10th on our list, absolutely love this kid. He was our 2nd best D available in the draft. Two-way D with great size and skating ability. He stole the show at the combine, Detroit media will love this guy.— Jérôme Bérubé (@Jerome_Berube) June 22, 2019

At No. 6 overall, Steve Yzerman and the #RedWings went a bit off the board to select German defenseman Moritz Seider at No. 6 overall.

? | https://t.co/Ckv10uUd4k pic.twitter.com/vhLmlyPWN6— MiHockey (@MiHockeyNow) June 22, 2019

6th overall: @DetroitRedWings
Moritz Seider | Mannheim (Germany)
More #NHLStats: https://t.co/VrO9OhMNBt #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/sgsyoR8ikH— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 22, 2019

Getting drafted is kind of a big deal.

Right, Moritz? ? #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/bXIyMRdMeH— NHL (@NHL) June 22, 2019

Yzerman post-pick: “That was not a curveball for us.”— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 22, 2019

Why the defenseman? Yzerman explains. pic.twitter.com/pvkpxF8sQA— Jeff Riger (@riger1984) June 22, 2019

Here’s the Red Wings’ press release regarding Seider:

NHL.com’s Dan Rosen spoke to several coaches after the NHL Coaches’ Association met in Vancouver today, and Rosen discussed the expanded criteria by which a coach’s challenge may be levied during the 2019-2020 season.

According to Rosen, the fact that a minor penalty can be assessed for any incorrect challenge minimizes the likelihood of a, “Hell, let’s challenge it and see what happens” call from the bench–the kind of call that Wings coach Jeff Blashill has often made in the past:

The added punitive measure of making a failed challenge result in a two-minute minor for delay of game and all subsequent failed challenges in the same game result in a double-minor has coaches thinking about how often they’re going to use a challenge.

There previously had been a minor penalty associated with a failed offside challenge, but going forward it will be equal across the board in all three challenge categories.

“The consequence has gone up if you’re challenging and you’re not right,” New Jersey Devils coach John Hynes said. “Although the rule is it has to be clear-cut, sometimes the definition of clear-cut are also different. But it’s something that you have to find a way to be good at it and make the right decisions any time you have to challenge something with a consequence.”

It will be an increasingly difficult decision considering that power-play percentages have risen recently. The NHL average has been above 19 percent in each of the past three seasons after 22 straight seasons of it being 18 percent or lower.

“There’s no question that will create less challenges,” Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “The definition of 100 percent right is probably different between every coach, but our job as coaches now is to learn what the standard of 100 percent right is. I just think you’re going to end up with less challenges.”

Rosen continues…

TMR readers,

After seven months’ worth of time spent addressing my mother’s health issues, including two hospitalizations, a psychotic episode, and somewhere around 60 days spent in rehabilitation facilities, things have finally settled down in the Malik household.

My mom’s healthier than she’s been in a very long time, we’re awaiting the results of a her long-delayed breast biopsy (things will get interesting again if mom has cancer, but the family will take it one day at a time), and the aunt’s health is stable enough that I am now able to devote some of my time to blogging.

It’s been a difficult seven months in terms of the mental, physical and emotional strain, but the three of us gave ourselves about a month to recover from the worst of it, and as anxious and nervous as I am about returning to blogging, it’s time.

I missed blogging terribly while I was gone, and I exhausted my savings making sure that I was taking care of others first, so I both want and need to get back to work.

I don’t know how realistic the reader-contribution-without-commercials funding model is for this blog, but I’ve got about five-and-a-half months until the State of Michigan’s medicaid work requirement goes into effect, and if I can make $750 a month by the end of the year (the equivalent of 20 hours of minimum wage work per week), I can keep blogging on a full-time basis.

Such an endeavor would mean adding value to the Patreon part of the equation (Columns? Podcasts?), holding fundraisers (For travel, training camp, and to replace my outdated computer) and other ideas that have yet to germinate (Merchandise? Hiring a prospect expert?), but all of that is for the near future to decide.

Tonight, the Red Wings draft 6th overall, and on Saturday, the Wings have 9 more picks, and I hope to provide information on each and every one of the 10 new members of the Red Wings’ prospect family. Next week, I am crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to attend the Wings’ summer development camp at Little Caesars Arena, and we’ll take it from there.

I’m back. It’s time to get to work.

So my mother is in the hospital again. We had to admit her last week due to another urinary tract infection, for which she is being presently treated.

Over the course of her admittance, the doctors also determined that it might be a good idea to vacate her psychiatric medications to determine whether her confusion was being caused by the antidepressants that she has been taking for the better part of the last 40 years.

This was a BAD IDEA, and myself, my uncle and two aunts (I had a bit of a “posse” with me after her admittance) all implored the physicians to not stop her psychiatric medication…

But they did so anyway. As a result, over the weekend, my mother became psychotic.

I don’t really want to get into details about her episode online, but it is a great understatement to suggest that both my mother and the nurses taking care of her had tremendously difficult weekend experiences.

As of Monday afternoon, the psychiatrist on staff was resuming her medication, but mom was still not herself. We are hoping that as she resumes her medications, her psychiatric symptoms will ease, but that’s going to take some time.

In the interim, she’s still being treated for her urinary tract infection, but the psychiatric crisis caused by her lack of medication is of current precedence.

I have no idea what’s going to happen in terms of being able to blog over the course of the end of the Red Wings’ season, beginning of the Grand Rapids Griffins’ playoff push, or the lead-up to the World Championship. I wish I could be doing that stuff right now.

Right now I am dealing with mom’s acute health issues, and I am needed there.

Everybody,

After a month’s worth of progress and setbacks, my mom’s health has reversed course, and her levels of confusion and falling have returned to pre-hospitalization levels.

My aunt and I are physically and mentally exhausted from trying to keep the mom’s struggles quiet, and trying to take care of her on our own; we are likely headed to a neurologist to determine what’s going on.

Like any caregiver, I’m upset, I’m heartbroken over mom’s struggles, and I’m scared regarding what happens next.

I really don’t know what will happen in terms of my return to blogging. I miss doing my job very, very much, but my life revolves around taking care of the mom right now, and it feels like that priority is swallowing me whole these days.

Hey gang,

My mother returned home from what was a 32-day stint in the hospital and then rehabilitation approximately a week-and-a-half ago.

The aunt and I have been adjusting to having mom back home, and we’ve been very busy with her post-stay follow-up care (there’s quite a bit of it to help reduce hospital and rehabilitation facility recidivism).

Mom came back with a walker, which we are learning to accommodate, and we’re having “grab bars” installed in the restroom and are ensuring that mom gets some physical and occupational therapy to learn how to move around in a safer manner.

As soon as I can take a breath and get mom’s care sorted out, I’ll get back to work. I miss the work and I miss the community of readers on the blog, FB and Twitter, and I hope all of you are doing well.

My mother has been discharged from the hospital and has spent the better half of the past two weeks in a rehabilitation facility in Novi.

Mom’s kicked the Urinary Tract Infection, but she needs physical and occupational therapy to prevent falls at home, and she’s been working very hard to learn how to use a walker to help her lack of lower-body strength.

I’ve spent most days at the rehab facility spending time with the mom, so I’ve barely had time to do more than bookmark the day’s hockey stories, and the Bye Week was a big help given that I missed a couple of games when mom was in the hospital.

We are hoping that mom can come back home in a week or two, and in the interim, it’s just the daily grind of trying to visit when possible and navigate the health system when I’m at home.

I still plan on returning sometime this season, hopefully before the trade deadline, and I’m really sorry for the inconvenience that this has caused, but right now, mom comes first.

Everybody,

My mother’s been in the hospital for the past week, and she will be transferred to a rehabilitation facility as she begins a third course of antibiotics to treat a severe urinary tract infection.

An ambulance took her to the ER last Sunday, and my little 2006 Pacifica may very well know the route from South Lyon to Novi (and back) by itself now. The aunt and I are a little worn out, but are soldiering through.

It’s hard to concentrate on the little things like “self-care” right now, so my return to hockey blogging has been delayed a bit. I’m sorry for the inconvenience–I miss covering hockey very much.

A biopsy is still on the radar for the mom. It’s been delayed until early February. I’d imagine that she’s the most tired of all of this rigamarole, but “Old Fart Shit,” as my Uncle Paul calls the medical complications of aging, takes no prisoners.