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!

Roughly translated: a single sentence (from Nicklas Lidstrom) sometimes tells the story

Lucas Raymond’s 8-year, $64.6 million contract extension was announced in the middle of the night in Sweden, so the news hit Stockholm a little late for the Swedish evening news cycle.

It’s also highly likely that Lucas Raymond himself is spending his morning traveling from Gothenburg to Detroit, so there aren’t any comments from Raymond himself as of yet.

This morning, Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom reacted to the contract with an article and a quip from Nicklas Lidstrom, and sometimes a couple of sentences get the gist of an article. That’s the case for these next couple of sentences, even when translated from Swedish:

“He was our best player in the second half of the season last spring. He’s starting to become a star in the NHL, and is fiercely checked by opponents, but I think he’s managed that challenge very well,” team icon Nicklas Lidstrom told Expressen last week.

“Lidas” belongs to the Red Wings’ management in the role of Vice President of Hockey Operations. He’s General Manager Steve Yzerman’s right-hand man.

No lies detected.

Summarizing the media’s takes on Lucas Raymond’s 8-year, $64.6-million contract

The Red Wings signed Lucas Raymond to an 8-year, $64.6 million contract on Monday evening, and as you might expect, the media had a fairly unified take on the deal: good for both sides.

First, there’s such a thing as taking too much credit, per The Fourth Period…

The Detroit Red Wings have signed restricted free agent forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract, as first reported by TFP’s David Pagnotta.

Pagnotta reported on NHL Network that the two sides were working towards a long-term extension, and the Red Wings and Raymond finalized their new deal, which comes with an $8.075 million average annual value, less than an hour later.

97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield left the comments to a certain somewhat reclusive GM who is probably not going to speak until the first day of training camp, and after that, the trade deadline…

Continue reading Summarizing the media’s takes on Lucas Raymond’s 8-year, $64.6-million contract

Shapiro: Should Danielson’s NHL internship start now?

EP Rinkside’s Sean Shapiro shares a slate of observations from the Red Wings’ Prospect Games, including the following, on Substack:

Daniel Cleary said the quiet part out loud.

While meeting with media members on Sunday in Traverse City, the Detroit Red Wings director of player development mused about where top prospects Nate Danielson will play this season.

“I have inner thoughts that I don’t want to say out loud,” Cleary said. “But not a lot would surprise me.”

Reading between the lines on that statement, my conversations with others at Traverse City, and watching Danielson play myself, it feels like a decent bet the 19-year-old is actually part of the NHL plans this season.

A member of the Dallas Stars brass, who closely watched the games, told me Danielson was the best player in the Traverse City prospect games and that the first-round pick, “looked NHL ready to me.”

It makes sense, in the long-term the Red Wings need Danielson to become the No. 2 center that unlocks their lineup. Why not start that process this season?

Continued; I don’t think that Danielson will end up playing in the NHL unless he’s playing in the NHL, but stranger things have happened.

Tweet of note: LeBrun on ‘eight straight’

According to TSN/The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond signed a contract which includes no signing bonuses or immediate no-trade protection. It’s just a contract for a lot of money:

Tweet of note: PuckPedia reports Red Wings have $8.75 million in salary cap space left

Get Seider done, Mr. Yzerman.

Red Wings re-sign Lucas Raymond to 8-year contract at $8.075 million AAV

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS RE-SIGN LUCAS RAYMOND TO EIGHT-YEAR CONTRACT

  … Fourth Overall Pick in 2020 NHL Entry Draft Has Recorded 174 Points in 238 Games …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today re-signed right wing Lucas Raymond to an eight-year contract with an average annual value of $8.075 million.

Raymond, 22, skated in all 82 games with the Red Wings during the 2023-24 season and ranked among the team leaders with 31 goals (2nd), 41 assists (2nd), 72 points (1st), six power play goals (4th), 16 power play points (6th), three overtime goals (T1st), four game-winning goals (T3rd), 163 shots (3rd) and a 19.0 shooting percentage (1st). The 5-foot-11, 188-pound forward also paced the Red Wings with 21 multi-point games, including his second career hat trick on April 11 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Raymond became the first Detroit skater to lead the team in points at season’s end at age 22-or-younger since Dylan Larkin, who did so in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Additionally, Raymond is the fourth Red Wings player in the previous 30 years to score at least 30 goals in a season at age 22-or-younger, joining Larkin (32 in 2018-19), Vyacheslav Kozlov (34 in 1993-94) and Keith Primeau (31 in 1993-94).

Raymond showed a 27-point improvement from his sophomore campaign, when he recorded 45 points (17-28-45) and 24 penalty minutes in 74 games during the 2022-23 season. He was named the NHL’s Second Star for the week ending Jan. 15, 2023 after logging seven points (3-4-7) in a three-game span from Jan. 10-14. Raymond made his NHL debut in 2021-22, collecting 57 points (23-34-57) and 16 penalty minutes in 82 games en route to being selected to the All-Rookie Team and placing fourth in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy, which was awarded to Red Wings teammate Moritz Seider. Raymond was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for November 2021 after leading all rookies in goals (5), assists (7) and points (12) in 14 games. Selected by Detroit in the first round (fourth overall) of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Raymond became the Red Wings’ highest draft pick since the team chose Keith Primeau third overall in 1990. In total, Raymond has compiled 174 points (71-103-174) and 70 penalty minutes in 238 NHL games, which is the second-highest point total in his draft class behind Tim Stützle.

Prior to arriving in North America, Raymond played in parts of three seasons with Frölunda HC, based out of his hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden. Raymond made his professional debut in the Swedish Hockey League at age 16, notching 33 points (14-19-33), a plus-13 rating and 16 penalty minutes in 87 games from 2018-21. He also won back-to-back Champions Hockey League titles with Frölunda in 2019 and 2020. Raymond developed in Frölunda’s system, totaling 62 points (16-46-62) and 32 penalty minutes in 54 games with the under-20 team, adding 84 points (38-46-84) and 20 penalty minutes in 56 games with the under-18 squad and accumulating 151 points (71-80-151) and 60 penalty minutes over 72 games at the under-16 level.

On the international stage, Raymond won a bronze medal at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, recording nine points (4-5-9) in 10 games. Raymond also represented his country at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, tallying eight points (2-6-8) in eight appearances. He competed in back-to-back IIHF World Junior Championships in 2020 and 2021, earning a bronze medal at the 2020 tournament. Raymond led Sweden to a gold medal at the 2019 IIHF World Under-18 Championship, where he racked up eight points (4-4-8) in seven games, including a hat trick and overtime winner in the gold medal game against Russia. He captured a bronze medal at the 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, registering seven points (4-3-7) in six games, and also won a silver medal at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup with a team-leading seven points (5-2-7) in five games.

When positional depth is a complicated thing

The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood attempts to break down the Red Wings’ goaltending depth throughout the organization this afternoon, and that isn’t an easy task.

Between Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon, Ville Husso, Sebastian Cossa, Jack Campbell, Carter Gylander, Gage Alexander and the AHL-contracted Jan Bednar, the Wings will bring at least eight goaltenders with them to Traverse City this Thursday, and the team is attempting to build enough developmental runway for at least Trey Augustine to join the organization in a couple of seasons.

Here’s what Connor has to say about the x-factor in oft-injured Ville Husso:

Ville Husso: After two lower body injuries last season, Husso appeared to be on the mend when he took on a conditioning stint in Grand Rapids last April. That lasted until warmups, when he tweaked an injury and had to leave the ice. That ended his season, but more importantly raised questions about his long term future. Going through so many injuries in one season is, frankly, scary.

After an offseason of getting his body right, Husso appears to be ready to go for the season. Yzerman and Lalonde have both maintained this offseason that Husso is 100%. More telling, Husso spent the summer working out with a group of elite NHLers in Plymouth this summer. Just a few of the names: Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Andrew Copp, Kyle Connor, Connor Hellebuyck, and all three Hughes brothers. You don’t face shots from NHL All-Stars if you aren’t fully healthy. Husso working out with that crew is as good a sign as any that he’s back to full health.

With health, where does Husso fit into the goalie room? He’s probably not getting his starting job right away with Talbot and Lyon in the mix, but he should be able to compete for the role. His starts, even when healthy, weren’t stellar in 2023-24, though nagging injuries may have played a part in that. Husso is starting on square one, in a way, though starting at all is a big win for him considering where he was five months ago.

Continued (at length);

At this point, the Wings’ goaltending situation looks like this:

Talbot-Lyon-Husso (NHL level), Cossa-Campbell-Gylander (AHL level) and Alexander-Bednar (ECHL level). That’s a complicated situation.

Duff on Ondrej Becher’s complicated situation

Red Wings 2024 draft pick Ondrej Becher missed the Red Wings’ Prospect Games with an ankle injury, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff explains why that’s important in a subscriber-only article.

Put bluntly (so I don’t swipe the whole article), Becher is 20 years old, and he played for the Prince George Cougars last season through his 20th birthday in February.

Once you turn 20, you’re considered an “overager,” and teams are only allowed to carry 3 players who are at or over 20 years of age, so it is completely uncertain as to whether Becher will play for Prince George again, whether he’ll be traded to another WHL team, or whether he’ll end up with the Toledo Walleye or even the Grand Rapids Griffins:

The optics of seeing a high draftee back for an overager junior season are not good. Secondly, Becher is coming off a 32-goal, 96-point campaign with the WHL Cougars. Would it be serving his development curve wisely to give him a third year of junior hockey against younger competition?

No, he needs to play pro. But where?

“It’s a great question,” Cleary frankly admitted. “Honestly, this certainly is not ideal. You know, the whole idea was, I guess, for him to come in and experience prospects, get into training camp.”

Before assigning the 6-foot-1, 1984-pound center a place to play, they’re going to need to see Becher play against other pros. Beyond that, they’ve also got to get his name on a contract.

So the Red Wings need Becher to get healthy, and they need to get him in some preseason games to determine whether they send him back to the WHL, whether they ink him to a pro deal and send him to Toledo, or whether he’s ready for Grand Rapids.

Tweet of note: PuckPedia reports Detroit has $16.8 million left to re-sign Raymond and Seider

Per PuckPedia on Twitter:

So Raymond and Seider’s contracts will have to come in at or around $8 million (or less).