Author: 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, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

Tweet of note: Red Wings hype their ‘opening week’

In the “Free Advertising” department…

Tweet of note: A bit about Sandin Pellika’s injury status from IceHockeyGifs & Norran

Of prospect-related note via Twitter:

IceHockeyGifs and Norran’s Robin Lindgren have a report on the status of Axel Sandin Pellikka, who re-aggravated a summertime injury in his last Champions Hockey League game:

Roughly translated: Raymond’s Swedish agent, Peter Werner, speaks with Hockeysverige.se

Red Wings restricted free agent Lucas Raymond is represented in the U.S. by CAA’s J.P. Barry, but in Sweden, Peter Werner works with Raymond.

Werner spoke with Hockeysverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist regarding Raymond’s situation. Here’s a rough translation of Ronnqvist’s article:

The Agent: “Hopefully it will be ready before camp”

Lucas Raymond and the Detroit Red Wings have yet to agree on a new contract. Next week, the NHL team’s training camp begins.

“We believe and hope, of course, that it will be ready before camp. That is the goal,” says Peter Werner to Hockeysverige.se.

We are writing on September 10th and still one of our strongest stars in the NHL, Lucas Raymond, has yet to sign a new contract with Detroit.

Lucas Raymond has played out his rookie contract with Detroit, and is a so-called restricted free agent. That means that Detroit still owns his rights, but they still have to agree on an extension.

The negotiations have dragged on and now there is just under a month until Detroit meets Ottawa in the season opener.

Detroit has also not agreed on a new contract with German star defender Moritz Seider. Raymond and Seider have been training together with Swedish skills coach Andreas Larsson in Germany while waiting for their new agreements, says hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin.

“That’s the goal”

Peter Werner is Lucas Raymond’s agent.

“We are in the process of negotiating, but have not quite reached the goal. We believe and hope, of course, that it will be ready before camp. That is the objective.”

“In the meantime, as he has always done, Lucas focuses on figuring out to get better.”

Lucas Raymond is currently training in Germany.

“Yes, that’s right. He has trained with (Moritz) Seider there. They are in a somewhat similar position. The same team, and none of their contracts are finished.”

“I can imagine that in terms of hockey it’s nice to be with someone who’s in a similar position.”

Is the goal for Lucas Raymond to play in Detroit next season?

“Oh yes, without a doubt, but with a reasonable agreement.”

On Monday, the hockey world (and the Red Wings’ captain) mourned the Gaudreau brothers

I don’t like reporting this, but NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti attended the Gaudreau brothers’ funeral on Monday, and so did the Red Wings’ captain:

St. Mary Magdalen’s was filled with family, friends and mourners from around the hockey world, including NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players’ Association executive director Marty Walsh. The Blue Jackets had a contingent of 60 players and staff, headed by general manager Don Waddell and coach Dean Evason.

The Flames were represented by president of hockey operations Don Maloney, general manager Craig Conroy and players Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman and Rasmus Andersson. Former Flames GM Brad Treliving (now GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs) and former Flames president of hockey operations Brian Burke (now executive director of the Professional Women’s Hockey League Players’ Association) also were attendance along with Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, who coached Johnny with Dubuque in the United States Hockey League, Philadelphia Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones and Flyers coach John Tortorella.

The mourners also included Johnny’s former Flames teammates Matthew Tkachuk (now with the Florida Panthers), Sam Bennett (Panthers), TJ Brodie (Chicago Blackhawks), Jacob Markstrom (New Jersey Devils) and Chris Tanev (Maple Leafs) and former Blue Jackets teammate Patrik Laine (Montreal Canadiens). Laine was joined by Canadiens president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton, coach Martin St. Louis, Canadiens players Cole Caufield, Cayden Primeau and Mike Matheson, Seth Jones and Connor Murphy of the Blackhawks and Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings.

“It just shows the true honor and respect that everybody gave them,” said Caufield, who announced last week he is changing his number to 13 to honor Johnny Gaudreau. “Just can’t imagine what they’re going through. Just the amount of people that are here today and yesterday, just anything we can do to help.”

Continued; the North American hockey world may consist of a couple thousand professional players in the U.S. and Canada, but it’s a tight fraternity.

At this point, all we can do is hope that the Gaudreau family knows that the entire hockey world is ready to support them when they’re ready for us to do so.

A bit of talk about Raymond and Seider

This morning, NHL Rumors’ Mark Easson quotes a Daily Faceoff podcast for a bit of talk regarding Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider:

Daily Faceoff: Frank Seravalli and Jason Gregor talking about two of the Detroit Red Wings RFAs – defenseman Moritz Seider and forward Lucas Raymond. The Edmonton Oilers are looking at Justin Schultz, and Mark Giordano still looking to play.

** NHLRumors.com transcriptions

Gregor: “What about Seider and Raymond?

Seravalli: “I wonder if the, well, so Detroit has been grinding for a while on these deals, I want, and, and Steve Yzerman is the ultimate grinder. I wonder if they’re, this (Seth) Jarvis deal being his second contract, is this, open up potential different options or things, ways to think about trying to handle these cap hits? Because Jarvis just did it, and Seider and Raymond now have something to think about.

Detroit has other business that they’d like to get to. They ultimately like to sign another defenseman and another forward. You know, closer to the league min (salary) world, but they can’t do that until they get these two deals done and know exactly what they have left over, if anything.

So I think time is of the essence, not just from a training camp perspective, 13 days from now, but also from hey, there’s other teams, other guys around the league, that are waiting for answers from players, vets that they’d like to sign that can’t, you can’t do it.

Continued; I’d be surprised if the Wings sign “another defenseman and another forward,” but that’s just me. That other forward is probably Jonatan Berggren.

Anyway, here’s the clip:

A mushy rebuild?

Let’s all be surprised that The Athletic’s Corey Pronman is not impressed with the state of the Red Wings’ rebuild. This morning, Pronman ranks the Wings 12th out of 16 non-playoff teams:

12. Detroit Red Wings

Detroit has a quality NHL team. The Red Wings were top 10 in the league in goals last season. They also have a solid farm system with some excellent high picks on the way who will be pushing for NHL time soon. So why 12th? If this was about becoming a playoff team, I could rank Detroit higher, but I’m looking at the path to winning it all, and other than Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider, I don’t see the true premium pieces in this organization to carry them the distance.

Continued (paywall); I’m not going to disagree that there’s a lack of superstar power in the Wings’ prospect brigade, but I’m pretty lost as to why Pronman discounts Lucas Raymond as merely a good foot soldier on a team that’s hopes to merely compete for a playoff spot on a regular basis.

Just as was the case with The Athletic’s Harman Dayal’s assertion that the Red Wings are destined to inhabit the NHL’s “mushy middle,” it’s going to take the Red Wings proving their critics wrong on the ice–and finding some surprise performances from their prospect pool–in order to take the next step.

More about Anton Johansson

On Monday, DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills profiled defenseman Anton Johansson, and this morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses a two-goal performance from the two-way defenseman over the course of the SHL preseason:

It’s Anton Johansson and he’s doing his utmost to also get noticed. Saturday, in Swedish Hockey League preseason action, Johansson was scoring twice, pacing his club Leksand IF to a 6-3 victory over Valerenga.

“In the second and third period, we may not reach the level we want to be at, but we still maintain a good level and win the match,” Anton Johansson told Leksand’s website. “I think we take steps every day and every match. It looks good. We are ready for next week when we will face two SHL teams.”

Fellow Leksand defenseman Fred Nilsson left no doubt as to who was the best player on the ice in the club’s Saturday victory.

“Anton (Johansson),” Nilsson said. “He still scores two goals. Anton reduces (the Leksand deficit) to 1-2 in the first period and then scores a power play goal in the middle of the second.”

Johansson, 20, certainly appreciates putting two goals in the net. However, the player chosen 105th overall by Detroit in the 2022 NHL entry draft knows what he needs to improve in order to be taking further forward steps in his game.

“I think the defensive part,” Johansson said. “I did a good job in the playoffs. I’m gonna still work on that and try to keep up my offense.”

Continued; here are Johansson’s preseason markers, per Red Wings Prospects on Twitter:

Continue reading More about Anton Johansson

Alex DeBrincat cracks EP Rinkside’s ‘Top 20 Left Wingers’ rankings

EP Rinkside’s “JFresh” is posting a set of top 20 lists ranking players by position, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Alex DeBrincat make the list of left wings. He’s not ranked highly at 18th, but coming off a subpar season goals-wise, it’s something:

18. Alex DeBrincat – Detroit Red Wings

2023 Ranking: Not ranked

Two-time 40-goal scorer DeBrincat is still having trouble living up to his scoring pedigree since leaving Chicago, but his first stint with the Red Wings showed some promising signs under the hood, even if the point totals were almost identical to the 2022-23 season. The formerly-elite finishing touch is lagging a bit – his 5-on-5 scoring rate since leaving the Hawks is down 25 percent compared to his first five seasons in the league – but his overall offensive package was always underrated, and he’s finding a way to create quality looks, at a high rate. Defence is an issue, and you’ll rarely find him in the corners, but he knows his role and plays it well. Does he still have 35-plus goal upside?

Continued (paywall); DeBrincat is never going to vie for the Selke Trophy, and he’s not the world’s greatest forechecker, but he’s a smart passer, he skates well, and he snipes goals. It’s his job to be more consistent this year in the goal-scoring department.

Roughly translated: Jakub Rychlovsky discusses his time in Czechia, decision to join Detroit

Red Wings free agent signing Jakub Rychlovsky spoke with iDnes’s Michael Havlen regarding his decision to join the Red Wings after spending over 10 years in the Bili Tygri Liberec organization. Here’s a rough translation of the article from Czech:

Rychlovsky is already in Detroit: the team probably won’t miss me, says the former Liberec forward

Last week, hockey forward Jakub Rychlovsky boarded a plane and headed to Detroit’s training camp, with whom he signed a two-year entry-level contract after his last great season in Liberec. “I’m really looking forward to it, it’s been too long here in Czechia. I trained for four months, it was probably the longest preparation in my career,” confided the 23-year-old player before his departure.

“I think I prepared well. Now it’s just up to me now to show myself in the best possible light in Detroit and make a good first impression. I will do my best to fight my way onto the NHL team,” he told the Liberec team website.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Jakub Rychlovsky discusses his time in Czechia, decision to join Detroit

Prospect round-up: Buchelnikov posts 5 shots in Vityaz win

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the KHL, Red Wings prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov didn’t fare in the scoring as Vityaz Moscow Region won 5-4 over HC Sochi, but Buchelnikov registered 5 shots and a blocked shot in 16:53 of ice time.