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: Seider to remain in Germany until he’s re-signed

Red Wings restricted free agent Moritz Seider has been training in Mannheim, Germany with both Lucas Raymond and Seider’s German team, the Adler Mannheim.

Seider spoke with Mannheimer Morgen in a behind-the-paywall article a couple days ago, and HockeyWeb.de’s Timo Helfrich shared a bit of the article with the rest of the interweb:

Ex-Adler player and NHL star Moritz Seider practiced last week, together with teammate Lucas Raymond, with the Adler Mannheim, to prepare for the upcoming season.

Seider had invited Raymond and his personal skills coach to do sightseeing in the region in addition to intensive training sessions. “The week was incredibly fun, but also went by super fast,” Seider summarized to the Mannheimer Morgen newspaper.

While Seider will still remain in Mannheim, Raymond traveled back to his Swedish homeland last Thursday.

When asked how long he wants to stay in Germany, Seider replied: “Until the last contract details have been clarified.”

So now we know.

Who are these ‘Prospect Games’ prospects, anyway?

The Detroit Red Wings are holding a pair of Prospect Games against the Dallas Stars next Saturday and Sunday at Centre ICE Arena in Traverse City, and the games will be streamed on the Red Wings’ social media platforms…

But few folks have examined the rosters in any detail ahead of the tournament. Some of the players involved are well-known Red Wings draft picks, but there are Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted players up front, and the vast majority of the Wings’ blueline is constituted of free agent invites, with the goaltending trio constituted of goalies who may be battling for spots in Grand Rapids, if only eventually.

Let’s rectify the fuzzy picture of this year’s Prospect Games roster, shall we?

Continue reading Who are these ‘Prospect Games’ prospects, anyway?

Prospect round-up: Brandsegg-Nygard registers assist in Skelleftea CHL loss

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the Champions Hockey League, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard posted an assist, finishing at +1 with 2 shots and a faceoff won in 13:44 of ice time, but Skelleftea AIK lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Straubing Tigers.

Red Wings Prospects and IceHockeyGifs both captured Brandsegg-Nygard’s assist…

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Brandsegg-Nygard registers assist in Skelleftea CHL loss

Duff ponders the fates of three former Griffins

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes that three former members of the Grand Rapids Griffins find themselves jobless with just under two weeks before the start of NHL training camps:

Forwards Taro Hirose, Matt Luff and Joel L’Esperance are all unrestricted free agents who’ve yet to find a new hockey home.

Left-winger Hirose has been an ever-present in the Red Wings organization since 2019. He suited up for 60 games with Detroit, collecting 4-16-20 totals as an NHLer. Hirose also shows 51 goals and 151 assists in 248 AHL games for the Griffins. However, last year he was slumping to 9-27-36 numbers in 54 games and two assists in eight playoff games. He’d gone over 50 points in each of his two previous campaigns with the Griffins.

Injuries hampered right-winger Luff during his two seasons with the Detroit organization. When he did play, he certainly was playing well. Last season with the Griffins, Luff put up 10-8-18 numbers in 26 games. During the 2022-23 season, Luff was good for 25 points in 28 games with Grand Rapids and spent 19 games with the Red Wings, accounting for 2-2-4 numbers.

Center L’Esperance was playing for the Griffins on an AHL contract. He put up 16-12-28 numbers last season. That was down from the solid 25-24-49 totals he was posting in 2022-23.

Continued; all three players are likely to have to accept professional try-out contracts with NHL teams in order to earn AHL work.

THN’s ‘fantasy hockey outlook’ for the Red Wings attempts to discern the Wings’ crease crunch

The Hockey News’s Jason Chen breaks down the Red Wings’ 2024-2025 fantasy hockey outlook today, discussing potential break-out, bounce-back and bust players, as well as offering an assessment of the Red Wings’ goaltending situation:

This is arguably the most difficult position to project for the Wings, and certainly the most fraught part of its roster. There’s no reason to think Talbot will not be the No. 1 on opening night. He’s coming off an excellent season with the Kings and he’s far more experienced and reliable than anyone else they have right now. His stats likely won’t be as good as they were with the Kings, but the Wings have an high-upside lineup with an offense that can bail him out to secure wins. 

I wonder if the stylistically contrasting teams would affect Talbot’s play; I won’t reach for him but concede he’s a good zero-G option based on his play and the Wings’ goal support. 

Behind him will be Lyon, who was fantastic last season for a hot minute before he burned out, literally. The workload of a No. 1 is just too immense for a career journeyman backup such as Lyon, and he’ll likely factor in as the No. 2 behind Talbot. He’s a streaming option at best.

Then there’s the two wild cards: Ville Husso and Jack Campbell. Husso has a big contract and he was just fine for stretches in his first season with the Wings. Last season, he was limited to just 19 games due to injury with some strong starts and some really, really poor ones. He may force his way into the rotation ahead of Lyon, but he has to be really good and Talbot has to falter if Husso wants to be the No. 1 again. I’d add Husso to the watch list but fall short of committing a roster spot to stash him. 

Campbell was signed this summer as insurance. I doubt we’ll see him in the NHL barring some kind of catastrophe, but it’s amusing to see him ranked as the second-highest goalie on Yahoo, ahead of both Husso and Lyon.

Continued; when it comes to the outcomes for the Red Wings’ goaltenders, it truly is a guessing game.

Prospect round-up: Buchelnikov posts assist in Vityaz win

Of Red Wings prospect-related note on Saturday:

Red Wings prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov registered an assist in Vityaz Moscow Region’s 2-0 win over Amur Khabarovsk, finishing even with a penalty taken in 15:33 of ice time.

Here’s his assist, per Red Wings Prospects on Twitter:

Keeping the dream alive

Traverse City is beautiful in the early fall. The temperatures are essentially the same as Metro Detroit’s climate in mid-September, but the angle at which the sun rises and sets is different with the two-and-a-half degrees of northern latitude behind you.

There’s so much about the Traverse City trip that I’ve made every year over the last 15 years that has nothing to do with hockey, but soothes and restores my soul.

Bringing Aunt Annie along last year made the trip even better, oddly enough, because I wasn’t alone in a hotel for two weeks, and I had a copilot with which to enjoy the non-hockey parts of the trip.

As I stated this morning, it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that I’ll be able to raise enough funds to pay for the handicapped-accessible room that Aunt Annie’s new hips require at the hotel, or the rental car which we require due to our current automobile’s status as inoperable.

Long story long, unless a miracle happens over the next 3 or 4 days, I won’t be able to head up to Traverse City to represent you at the Prospect Showcase and training camp, and that’s gonna break my heart.

I’ll soldier on, because that’s what I try to do when bad things happen, and this has been a year of unexpected surprises (see: those two titanium hips Aunt Annie now sports), but it’s not going to be the same, for me or you.

So that’s why I’m still asking for a miracle in the form of continued donations toward an unlikely but still-possible Traverse City trip for The Malik Report’s constituent parts.

There’s nothing like being at the rink and taking notes on players as you watch them, observing drills and witnessing hockey on the dual sheets of ice at Centre ICE Arena as the “diggers” wait for their quotes, and there’s nothing like feeling that your in-person presence makes a difference.

If you’re still willing to help, we’ll gratefully take what you can give.

If you’re willing to lend a hand, have an official GoFundMe fundraiser page at https://gofund.me/c08de120; we have a PayPal option at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport; there’s Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2; if you’re into the, “I don’t want to use any of those pages” option, here’s always the Giftly option by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com…

And in the banking options, you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check, or “Zelle” me via my email, rtxg@yahoo.com. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”

As always, thank you for your readership and your time.