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: NHL Network’s ‘Brett Hull Day’ includes two Red Wings games

Per the NHL Network:

Tweets of note: A little bit of MBN’s interview with Norran and WJSS roster news

Of prospect-related note from Twitter/X:

  1. IceHockeyGifs shares the headline from Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s interview with Norran yesterday:

2. And Red Wings Prospects shares some news regarding the World Junior Summer Showcase:

Time ticks on regarding the Raymond and Seider extensions

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a mailbag feature this morning, and the first question he answers involves the time that it’s taking for the Red Wings to sign restricted free agents Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider to long-term contract extensions:

In my view, the biggest reason they have yet to be completed is because of their importance: If Seider and Raymond sign long-term, their new deals (along with Dylan Larkin’s contract, which runs through 2031) will form the long-term foundation of Detroit’s cap structure. From Seider and Raymond’s perspective, such deals would cover the majority of their prime earning years.

Both sides need to try to maximize the potential value of a long-term deal. As with any contract, it’s hard for both parties to do that at the same time.

Another potential reason it’s taking this long involves the effects of the rising salary cap — this year and the expected rises in the future. It’s easy to see the potential for wide discrepancies between team and player on what a fair deal should look like in this new market, especially one that could stretch up to eight years, with the potential for seven new cap raises in that span. Using percent-of-cap adjustments helps to mitigate that in Year 1, but there’s still some potential for sticker shock on the team side, compared to what Seider and Raymond’s peers have signed for in the past few years.

Detroit will get deals done with both players. But the big question at this stage is whether it leads to a bridge for Seider and Raymond. I wouldn’t recommend that route with Raymond, as his production seems the likeliest to shoot up again, but it would involve less long-term guesswork for all parties.

Continued (paywall); if I may be blunt, the Red Wings are negotiating against some pretty dumb $10+ million-average deals that other young players have been awarded by teams like the Sabres, and those “comparables” are definitely tying up some time in terms of negotiating more realistic cap numbers for Raymond and Seider.

Augustine earned rave reviews this past season

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a subscriber-only profile of Red Wings goaltending prospect Trey Augustine this morning, with Duff noting that Augustine played in 35 NCAA games for Michigan State University, 4 games at the World Junior Championship and 4 games at the men’s World Championship:

Taken to the senior worlds as the third goalie for USA Hockey. Augustine, 19, was pressed into action by an injury to Red Wings goalie Alex Lyon, and managed to win a couple of games.

“I’ve had some pretty unbelievable opportunities,” Augustine admitted. “I’m super glad for everyone that’s helped me get to this position I’m in today. It’s super cool and obviously I’d like to have some more cool ones in the future.”

Teaming with Augustine at the worlds, Lyon remarked at how wise beyond his years the teenaged puckstopper was proving to be.

“Obviously when I hear stuff like that it means a lot to me,” Augustine said. “Alex is a great guy. He kind of taught me a lot in the time he was there. I think just kind of seeing him prepare, seeing how serious he takes it on game days, it was super different than what I’ve seen from my past teammates. Very grateful that he was around.”

Continued (paywall); as Duff notes, Augustine is a kind of quiet young man, but he’s sharp and is a bit of a rink rat (according to teammate Red Savage), which may have something to do with his tremendous work ethic.

Vladimir Tarasenko, ‘brick house’

The Red Wings aren’t getting the same Vladimir Tarasenko that the Russian forward was when he was 25, but the 32-year-old winger provides thick body at 6’1″ and 219 pounds, and he possesses a wee bit of a mean streak, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes:

“For sure,” Detroit GM Steve Yzerman said, acknowledging the uniqueness of Tarasenko on his club’s roster. “A left-shot winger, a bigger body, a different-type player than our other wingers like Lucas (Raymond), Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat. He’s a scorer, a straight-ahead guy who’s big and strong and will go to the net. We feel it’s a really good addition.”

There are different methods through which a bigger player can utilize their body to bring successful outcomes on the ice. Tarasenko isn’t a Brendan Shanhan type. He’s not going to be banging bodies, dropping the mitts and collecting Gordie Howe hat-tricks.

Nor is he James van Riemsdyk. Tarasenko won’t be camping out at the net front, tipping home pucks and knocking in rebounds.

His big game is more about maximizing his frame to get and maintain possession of the puck in the offensive zone.

“He’s obviously a skilled guy, a great shooter, but he works so hard,” said Kane, Tarasenko’s teammate with the New York Rangers in 2022-23. “He’s hard on pucks. He wins a lot of pucks back, and he’s got a great knack for getting open as well, so I think it’d be a good fit.”

Continued

A bit about Ondrej Becher

This evening, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan discusses the Red Wings’ decision to draft 20-year-old center Ondrej Becher with the 80th overall pick in this past June’s NHL Draft.

“It just looked like everything potentially that he had as a 17-, or 18-year-old kind of hit as a 19-year-old,” said Kris Draper, the Wings’ director of amateur scouting/assistant general manager, after the draft. “He got a great opportunity and took advantage of it and was comfortable in it. He certainly put up great numbers. His skating is something that when you watch him play, he has that extra gear. He’s just sort of starting to come into his own and starting to feel comfortable about the type of player that he could possibly be.”

Becher realizes there’s plenty of more work ahead.

“I have to work hard every day, more than even before,” Becher said at the conclusion of the Wings’ development camp earlier this month.

Becher exploded for 96 points (32 goals, 64 assists) for Prince George (WHL) last season, and also had an impressive world junior championship for his native Czechia, with 10 points (seven assists) in seven games.

Considering Becher had 38 points for Prince George the season before, it was a monumental offensive improvement for a 6-foot-1, 184-pound center who many scouts actually grade out better defensively. Becher felt concentrating on the defensive end this past season helped him achieve success all over the ice.

“I start(ed) playing more defensively, so I become two-way player now,” Becher said. “I wasn’t a two-way player before. I try to improve in defensive zone, and I did. That’s why I am here now.”

Continued; as Kulfan notes, the Red Wings aren’t quite sure where Becher will play this upcoming season. The WHL’s Prince George Cougars can only have 3 20-year-old players on their roster, so Becher may be traded to another WHL team, or he may end up playing for Grand Rapids or Toledo.

Be aggressive, b-e agressive…or not?

The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood asks, “How long until the Red Wings get aggressive in their rebuild?” today, and I’m afraid that the answer is “they won’t.” I don’t expect Steve Yzerman to be anything less than methodical and patient with the Red Wings’ slow-but-steady growth as a team, regardless of how much cap space he has to play with.

Here’s Eargood’s argument:

The 2026 offseason projects to see a paradigm shift for the Red Wings’ approach. In that offseason, Yzerman has set himself up with a blank canvas on his cap sheet with a number of prospects ready to join the fold as NHLers. The table is set for this offseason to be the one where Detroit can swing for the fences, where the rebuild shifts into the contention window.

The biggest reason 2026 is the turning point is sheer cap flexibility. Just five current forwards — Larkin, DeBrincat, Copp, Compher and Rasmussen — will still be under contract by then, while RFA Lucas Raymond is likely to join them with his upcoming extension. On the blue line, the only defensemen under contract will be Moritz Seider on his upcoming extension and Simon Edvinsson as an RFA that offseason. In net, Yzerman doesn’t have a single contract extending past 2026.

Such a clear cutoff date for so many contracts might point to instability in the long term. Having a cohort of just six to eight players under contract for more than two seasons shows a lack of longevity for the current roster, a sign of immense change to come. But that’s all fine and well for Detroit, because the current roster isn’t one it’s planning to rely on down the road. The open contract situations of 2026 lend themselves to the construction of a more long term roster, where the Red Wings can pick and choose who they want to keep around to surround the arrival of some high-upside prospects to the NHL fold.

he maturation of prospects by 2026 projects to fill a lot of the open roster slots, if all goes according to plan. By leaving so many spots open, Yzerman has left paths for prospects like Jonatan Berggren, Marco Kasper and Carter Mazur to become contributors and earn their place by unseating established veterans. The Red Wings should also get more recent picks like Nate Danielson, Axel Sandin Pellikka and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard into the lineup by 2026, too, again bringing them along on their own timeline by forcing players to beat out established vets. In net, goaltender Sebastian Cossa should be in position to play NHL games by then, and the lack of goalies under contract allows Yzerman to decide whether to make him the starter or bring in some help.

Continued; I won’t deny that a $92 million-estimated salary cap will help the Red Wings, as will the maturation of their top prospects…

But I don’t see the Red Wings’ management stopping adding veterans who they believe are necessary to the rebuilding process just because 2026 seems like the date by which most of the Wings’ prospects will fold into the NHL roster.

For better or worse, Yzerman gets a little overly aggressive when free agency hits, sometimes to roster flexibility’s detriment, and until we know who’s available to “swing for” in the summer of 2025, and whether the Wings land their big fish or have to move on to Plans B or C, like they did this summer…

I’m not willing to make the kind of admirable predictions that Eargood is willing to suggest. I’m more conservative about that sort of thing, and that’s just me.

Three things: on the fourth line, MBN training in Sweden and Veleno’s worth

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

First and foremost, the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton posted an article which discusses the state of the Red Wings’ fourth line:

With the bulk of the offseason’s reshuffling done, the Red Wings’ fourth line is taking on new character from the one it occupied a year ago.  Daniel Sprong and Robby Fabbri are out.  Joe Veleno and Christian Fischer are re-signed.  Tyler Motte has joined the effort.  And some combination of Nate Danielson, Jonatan Berggren, Carter Mazur, and Marco Kasper are lurking in the wings.

A year ago, Sprong and Fabbri spent a significant portion of the season as Detroit’s fourth line wingers, often with Veleno between them.  Neither player was a conventional fourth liner.  Both made their living on scoring.  They weren’t penalty killers by trade; they helped out on the power play.  At times, it served the Red Wings well.  At others, their willingness to trade offense for defense was exploited.

This year, with players like Fischer and Motte likely to wind up the two fourth line wingers (at least to open the year), Detroit will be adopting a more traditional approach to its last forward line, in keeping with an offseason’s objective of defensive tightening.

“We scored a ton more goals this year,” coach Derek Lalonde said at his end-of-season press conference. “We went from 26th to 13th in goals for. Those goals helped us, but we want to keep pushing, and you hope to get over that line. I still think it’s team defense and keeping it out of your net.”

Stockton continues…

Second, Norran’s Johanna Salo posted an article about Red Wings first-round draft pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard training with Skelleftea AIK this summer, and while I cannot punch past the paywall to share the article, I can share a positive picture (and I can tell you that MBN tells Ms. Salo that he’s preparing to play for Skelleftea this upcoming season):

Third and finally, EP Rinkside’s Ryan Lambert posted his weekly “What We Learned” article, and let’s all be surprised that he believes the Red Wings overpaid Joe Veleno:

Detroit Red Wings: Doesn’t this contract seem like a lot? It does, doesn’t it?

I’m not dancing naked in the street about the Red Wings paying Veleno $2.275 million for 2 years as a 24-year-old 3rd or 4th-line center, but that’s market value. Bashing Steve Yzerman’s every move is very much so in fashion right now, especially for anti-Wings folks like Lambert, but he made an expedient signing.

Veleno’s 24, he had arbitration rights, and he posted 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points this past season, his 3rd full season in the NHL. For better or worse, that’s a $2 million player in today’s NHL.

Three Tweets of note: 80 days, Walleye signings and NTDP single-game tix on sale

Of Twitter/X-related note this afternoon:

First, from the Red Wings:

Second, per the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:

And third, from the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth, MI: