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!

Danielson’s gotta believe

This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses the possibility of Red Wings prospect Nate Danielson making the Wings’ roster out of training camp this upcoming season. Duff notes that GM Steve Yzerman isn’t one to award prospects a job based upon their status alone…

“They’re gonna have to really take a step and that’s possible, if they have a good summer and a good preseason,” Yzerman said of young prospects like Danielson. “But we anticipate most of those kids at least starting in GR. Again I don’t have a hard and fast guideline. If we’re in camp and they look like they’re gonna play, we’ll find a spot for them.”

Based on how close he came a year ago, completely ruling out Danielson making the grade seems a bit unwise. He remains someone who oozes belief in himself.

“I thought I had a good camp and I thought I got more comfortable as camp went on and into the preseason and things like that,” Danielson said of Detroit’s 2023 training camp. “I just kept on getting more comfortable, more familiar with it. So yeah, that gave me confidence. Definitely. It gives me confidence going into this year, too, knowing I can have success and play at this level.”

Continued; I don’t know whether Danielson, Marco Kasper, Carter Mazur or any of the Red Wings’ other young players will make the team out of training camp…

But I can make an educated guess that the Wings will want Danielson to acclimate to the AHL in a scoring role instead of playing on the Red Wings’ third or fourth line–unless he proves that he’s absolutely ready for the NHL via a tremendous preseason’s worth of play.

At this point, I think that Carter Mazur’s the most likely player to earn a spot out of training camp given that he plays a supporting, gritty role. As Duff notes, however, Danielson possesses tremendous self-belief, almost to the point of being a bit cocky, so it’s entirely possible that he beats out his fellow forwards to “steal a job” off the Wings’ roster.

Video link: Stoney and Caputo discuss the Red Wings’ free agency moves on SportsWorks

97.1 the Ticket’s Mike Stone and Pat Caputo joined Fox 2’s Dan Miller on SportsWorks to discuss several topics on Sunday night, including the Red Wings’ free agency performance.

I can’t embed the video, but at the 6:45 mark, Stone and Caputo discuss the Red Wings’ free agency moves (or the lack thereof) as framed by Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s remarks this past week.

Caputo believes that Trevor Zegras and/or Marco Rossi may be available via a trade route (I would be surprised if that happens!), and they at least address the fact that Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider’s looming restricted free agent contracts slowed down the free agency momentum.

Press release: Tigers, Red Wings to partner with Ashley Furniture (and there will be giveaways and meet-and-greets as a result)

Normally, I would just post this as a press release, but the Tigers and Red Wings’ new furniture and mattress partnership with Ashley will yield a couple of summertime events which might be of interest to you and me:

Dufresne Spencer Group (DSG), the largest licensee of Ashley stores, is now the exclusive furniture and mattress partner to the Detroit Red Wings (NHL) and Detroit Tigers (MLB), joining the brand’s partnership roster alongside the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, and Memphis Grizzlies, among others.

The long-term partnership marks the first-of-its-kind in the furniture and mattress category for both teams, owned by Ilitch Sports + Entertainment and aims to engage their fans by offering unique experiences, while leaning into the brands’ shared mission and commitment to positively impact their communities. As part of the partnership, awareness and funds will be raised to help children in the foster care system find a permanent home.

“We are thrilled to partner with these two iconic Detroit teams,” said Todd Garten, Chief Marketing Officer of DSG. “We love the passion of the fan base and see this as a tremendous opportunity to enhance the fan experience, while also making a significant impact in the local community. We are committed to working with local organizations and agencies to help find a permanent home for every child in Michigan.”

To kick off that commitment, Ashley DSG will be donating 124 beds to Detroit-area foster children through their “Hope to Dream” initiative, which works to ensure all children have access to a safe place to sleep at night.

To celebrate the game-changing news and the Tigers 124th season this summer, Ashley will be giving away over $124,000 in furniture, mattresses, team merchandise, and fan experiences in July and August. As part of the giveaways, one sweepstakes winner will receive a $24,000 Ashley shopping spree and four (4) tickets to the Detroit Tigers game of their choice.

Here are the events of note:

Continue reading Press release: Tigers, Red Wings to partner with Ashley Furniture (and there will be giveaways and meet-and-greets as a result)

With free agent fireworks receding, Red Wings’ focus shifts to re-signing Raymond and Seider

The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau posted an article which discusses the high likelihood that each and every one of the NHL’s top restricted free agents will earn substantial pay raises, and he includes Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond and defenseman Moritz Seider on his list:

4. , RW, : With $19.9 million in cap space, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman has more than enough room to sign Detroit’s two biggest RFAs – Raymond and defenseman
(more on him below) – and still have some notable cap flexibility. The
22-year-old Raymond led his team in assists (41) and points (72), and
those numbers were career highs for him. Raymond may skip the bridge
deal opportunity and go straight for a seven-or-eight-year contract that
pays him $5-6 million per season. He’s integral to Detroit’s chances of
getting back into the playoffs, and Yzerman knows he’ll have to fork
over a massive raise to keep the Swede happy. It’s hard to envision
Yzerman draws a financial line in the sand for Raymond; instead, they’ll
give him enough of a raise to reflect his importance to the
organization.

5. , D, : If defenseman
is worth $11 million per season, what should the 23-year-old Seider get
from the Red Wings? Yzerman needs to give the German D-man at least
$8-9 million, and while that would make Seider the highest-paid
blueliner on the team, his value to the present and future of the Wings
cannot be overstated. Seider is a cornerstone component of the Original
Six franchise, and while Yzerman will be looking to cut costs wherever
possible, it won’t come at the expense of Seider. If Seider wants a deal
in the eight figures per season, he might need a bridge deal that gives
him more leverage a few years from now, but we suspect Yzerman wants to
sign him to a longer-term pact that underscores his value to the team.

Continued; the Red Wings’ relative lack of free agent signings was in part muted because of the fact that the Red Wings need to re-sign Raymond and Seider long-term, and it may take all summer for new contracts for Raymond and Seider to emerge.

I can’t imagine any animosity popping up amidst the contract negotiations, but, as Proteau notes over the course of his article, it’s going to be difficult to “sell” either player on earning a team-friendly deal given the $10+ million contracts earned by restricted free agents who’ve produced similarly to the Red Wings’ duo of rising stars.

Tweets of note: Junior Red Wings win ‘the Brick’

Via the Red Wings on Twitter, Henry Howard and the Detroit Junior Red Wings won the Brick Invitational Hockey Tournament in Edmonton today:

You can see Jimmy Howard, one of the assistant coaches, in the background of the team’s championship picture:

Tweet of note: Splat!

Red Wings alumnus Jimmy Howard’s son Henry is taking part in the Brick Invitational in Edmonton today, as part of a Junior Red Wings team which represents hockey players from throughout Michigan.

As EP Rinkside’s Cam Robinson Tweeted, old traditions remain for anybody wearing red and white:

Tweet of note: Friedman confirms no arbitration hearings filed by NHL teams

Yesterday evening, the Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy helped us learn that no NHL teams filed for salary arbitration hearings with their restricted free agent players, which means that Jonatan Berggren remains a RFA who needs to work out a contract with his team sans arbitrator (as opposed to Joe Veleno, who filed for salary arbitration through the NHLPA on Friday). Today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed Conroy’s news…

And another Boston scribe, the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont, explained what that means for both the Bruins and Jeremy Swayman and the Red Wings and Berggren:

Turning Steve Yzerman into a pinata isn’t beneficial to Wings hockey discussion

The Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons suggests that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman isn’t getting the job done in Detroit:

Not long after he won an Olympic gold medal in Sochi as architect of the most dominant any Canadian hockey team has been at a modern Winter Games, Steve Yzerman and his Tampa Bay Lightning played for the Stanley Cup for the first time.

Stevie Y seemed on top of the world then — the great player turned great hockey executive. He had done the pressure-filled thankless work to bring Team Canada to gold and put together the best team in the NHL.

That was then. Now we wonder: Where did that Steve Yzerman go? How did he lose his way after returning home to run the Detroit Red Wings, the only NHL team he ever played for?

This is five seasons now of Yzerman in Detroit and nothing much to show for it. The Wings missed the playoffs the three years before he was named general manager and other fancy titles, and have missed the playoffs five straight years under his direction. They have one great draft pick — defenceman Moritz Seider — who was selected just days after Yzerman was hired in 2019, which meant he really had little to do with the pick.

Since then, they’ve added Lucas Raymond with the fourth pick overall, Simon Edvinsson with a sixth pick, Marco Kasper with an eighth pick and Nate Danielson at ninth in the draft.

Chopped liver, I guess..

This year in free agency, Yzerman added some unusual choices such as goalie Jack Campbell, diminishing forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenceman Erik Gustafsson, who has played for seven teams the past five seasons.

The Red Wings might be the 12th best team in the Eastern Conference this season. Might be. It’s a long road back for what used to be the brightest operator in hockey. He used to be Steve Yzerman.

Continued; that’s a pretty flerbing lame critique if you ask me.

The rebuild in Detroit clearly hasn’t gone along as planned, but that’s not a surprise. Yzerman had to tear down what Ken Holland had built (or not built) before working on rebuilding the team, and the Red Wings’ management team is just getting to a point where they’ve developed a pool of prospects that should start to vie for NHL jobs over the next couple of seasons–a pool of prospects that many analysts say is one of the best in the NHL.

After a middling free agency performance, sure, this is the perfect time for the Steve Simmonses and Mike Valentis of the world to bag on Yzerman for having “lost his golden touch.” But the reality is that he’s a human being and a general manager who makes mistakes like everyone else.

Continue reading Turning Steve Yzerman into a pinata isn’t beneficial to Wings hockey discussion

HSJ in the morning: Examining the Wings’ altered roster

This morning, the Free Press’s Helene St. James takes note of the fact that the Red Wings’ free agency moves have altered the look of the team’s roster at forward, on defense and in goal:

The priority here was keeping Patrick Kane, and now the Wings should have the benefit of Kane coming to camp and being with them the entire season, instead of making a December debut, as he did last season. He’s a game-changer, a sublime talent who makes everyone around him better.

There was also interest in keeping David Perron, but the Wings weren’t about to come anywhere close to the $8 million (over two seasons) the 36-year-old got from the Ottawa Senators. Daniel Sprong wasn’t a fit to bring back, once he sat on the sidelines late in the season.

To buffer some of the offense lost in those two (a combined 35 goals), Yzerman signed Vladimir Tarasenko for $9.5 million over two seasons. Tarasenko, 32, was the only headliner left after the opening day of free agency. He fleshes out the top six — literally, at 6 feet 1 and 219 pounds — and gives the Wings a top-notch shooter with six seasons with at least 30 goals.

In order to fit Tarasenko under the salary cap, Yzerman traded Robby Fabbri and his $4 million cap hit to the Anaheim Ducks. The Wings have about $20 million left in salary cap space, and that should be just enough to sign restricted free agents Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Joe Veleno and Jonatan Berggren.

Christian Fischer was re-signed in free agency, and Michigan alumnus Tyler Motte (St. Clair), a veteran of 400 NHL games, was added for depth at the center position.

Continued (paywall) with takes on the changes on defenes and in goal;

St. James doesn’t necessarily pass judgment upon the team’s roster moves as much as she summarizes the changes made, and she affords the reader the ability to render a verdict on their own.