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!

ESPN’s Wyshynski discusses 16 ‘fits’ for Steven Stamkos, including Detroit

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski posted an ESPN-insider-only article which discusses no less than SIXTEEN “fits” for one Steven Stamkos in free agency, and Wyshynski begins his list of “fits” with the team in red and white:

Detroit Red Wings: The connections here are obvious: No general manager spent as many years generally managing Steven Stamkos as Steve Yzerman, the current head of hockey operations for the Red Wings. Derek Lalonde, the team’s head coach, was Jon Cooper’s right-hand man in Tampa Bay during their two Stanley Cup championships with Stamkos.

The fit here is obvious: The Red Wings desperately need more offensive pop beyond their top line and have a glaring hole at center behind Dylan Larkin.

The Red Wings have a significant amount of salary cap space — $32.77 million, before bringing back Patrick Kane — and have cleared additional roster space with a (rather unpopular) trade that sent defenseman Jake Walman to San Jose. “We needed to move at least one contract to do some of the things we got to do,” Yzerman said.

Continued (paywall) with more talk of the Red Wings as a “fit” and much, much more…

Working on the back end of the roster

The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed Patrick Kane to a cap-friendly 1-year deal, we know that GM Steve Yzerman is interested in re-signing Shayne Gostisbehere and forward David Perron, and with about $27 million in cap space and 7 forwards, 5 defensemen and 2 goalies signed at the NHL level (per PuckPedia, with Jonatan Berggren, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Joe Veleno left to re-sign as restricted free agents)…

The Red Wings are going to need a couple more forwards to round out the third and fourth lines, the bottom of the defensive corps, and in goal, where Sebastian Cossa and Carter Gylander will at least need a mentor who’s willing to shuffle between Grand Rapids and Detroit as the Wings’ third goalie.

The Wings will have to be aggressive to find their next Christian Fischer or Daniel Sprong, especially as both players are likely to “walk” as unrestricted free agents-to-be who can earn more elsewhere.

As The Athletic’s Max Bultman put it earlier this evening…

Continue reading Working on the back end of the roster

Late-night Trouba talk from Brooks

The New York Post’s Larry Brooks posted an article which discusses the New York Rangers’ free agency options, but at the end of his article, he addresses Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman’s assertion that potential trade target Jacob Trouba is unhappy with New York Rangers GM Chris Drury and the organization for asking the Rangers’ captain to accept a trade to the Red Wings:

Monday is the day that Jacob Trouba’s no-move clause transforms to a 15-team no-trade list. There are apparently hurt feelings on the part of the captain, maybe even deservedly so over the way the club’s intentions were splashed all over the papers and the internet last week.

But it would be counterproductive for Trouba to put on a pout and attempt to make it as difficult as possible for the Rangers to trade him. Trouba has always played hardball in contract negotiations. He had leverage with then-GM Jeff Gorton after the Blueshirts obtained the defenseman from Winnipeg in 2019 with one year left on his deal ahead of potential free agency that he used to get his current seven-year, $56M contract that has two years remaining.

Now the Rangers have leverage via the limited no-trade clause and have decided they can’t afford an $8M cap hit for a defenseman who is projected to be on the third pair. It doesn’t matter whether he was Captain Courageous playing on a broken ankle in the playoffs or not.

If Trouba does not approve a trade to Detroit that is believed in place, he will ultimately be sent somewhere else, perhaps by waivers. The decision has been made.

Continued; Brooks’ Rangers intel is almost always spot-on, and if he was playing with a broken ankle during the playoffs, that might explain some of the Wings fan base’s concerns with the 30-year-old defenseman’s mobility (or the lack thereof).

I’m not the world’s biggest Jacob Trouba fan, but a right-shot defenseman who can hit like a freight train could indeed become an asset if utilized effectively (read: not expected to be a #1 defenseman).

The Rangers’ captain is a big man at 6’3″ and 209 pounds, he averaged 21 minutes per night last season, and he’s good for maybe 20 points and around 70-80 penalty minutes.

If the Rangers are willing to take a chunk of his $8 million salary, the Pontiac, MI-born Trouba could be a solid fit on the second pair.

Blogger’s note: Everything is happening (while I’m away)

Okay, plain truth here: it is a simple fact, since the Marian Hossa signing in 2008, that the Red Wings make news when George is “out of the office” in some way, shape, or form.

The Red Wings re-signed Patrick Kane while I was upstairs and away from the computer, making dinner (Swedish meatballs, toast and peaches) for Aunt Annie and putting out her medications.

Earlier today, they issued their qualifying offers while I was taking a needed afternoon siesta after two days’ worth of draft coverage.

There’s good news here, of the nonsensical kind, at least! Tomorrow at 12:30 PM EDT, half-an-hour into free agency, Aunt Annie’s visiting nurse, Gloria, is coming for a one-hour appointment.

Gloria usually needs me to take part in the first half of the appointment, so if the Red Wings do something big–let’s say signing another top-six forward, making a move on defense, or re-signing some of their own restricted and unrestricted free agents–it will probably happen in that hour.

Here’s hoping, anyway!

Tweet of note: Friedman breaks down Patrick Kane’s contract ($4 million base, $2.5 million in attainable bonuses)

Regarding the Red Wings’ signing of Patrick Kane, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman:

Update: More from TSN/The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun…

And PuckPedia:

Press release: Red Wings officially re-sign Patrick Kane for 1 year

It’s official:

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS SIGN PATRICK KANE TO ONE-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION

  … Three-Time Stanley Cup Champion Logged 47 Points in 50 Games with Detroit in 2023-24 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today signed right wing Patrick Kane to a one-year contract extension.

Kane, 35, joined the Red Wings during the 2023-24 season and ranked among the team leaders with 20 goals (4th), 27 assists (8th), 47 points (T6th), two power play goals (T10th), 15 power play points (7th), three overtime goals (T1st), seven game-winning goals (1st) and 147 shots (6th) in 50 games. The 5-foot-10, 177-pound forward split the 2022-23 campaign between the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers, recording 57 points (21-36-57) and 16 penalty minutes in 73 regular-season games, in addition to six points (1-5-6) in seven postseason contests with the Rangers. Kane played in 16 seasons with the Blackhawks from 2007-23 and ranks among the franchise’s all-time leaders with 1,161 games played (3rd), 446 goals (3rd), 779 assists (2nd), 1,225 points (2nd), 122 power play goals (4th), 398 power play points (3rd), nine overtime goals (T2nd), 67 game-winning goals (4th) and 3,866 shots (3rd). Additionally, Kane places among Chicago’s greatest playoff performers with 136 games played (3rd), 52 goals (4th), 80 assists (3rd), 132 points (3rd), eight power play goals (10th), 41 power play points (7th), five overtime goals (1st), 11 game-winning goals (T1st) and 422 shots (3rd). In total, Kane has racked up 1,284 points (471-813-1,284) and 442 penalty minutes in 1,230 NHL games since 2007-08, trailing only Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin for the most points among active skaters.

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings officially re-sign Patrick Kane for 1 year

Funny Tweet of note: WiiM’s Helmeroids offers perfect free agency abbreviations

Winging it in Motown‘s Helmeroids came up with a gem of a Tweet that I have to share, because it includes some hilarious NHL free agency abbreviations:

HSJ on moveable roster pieces (and a short discussion thereof)

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an interesting idea while discussing the Red Wings’ free agency plans on Sunday night, noting that the Red Wings can possibly move Olli Maatta (or Justin Holl? The Wings get a second buyout window if they file for arbitration against any one of their restricted free agents–Jonatan Berggren, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider or Joe Veleno) to alleviate their logjam on defense:

[Red Wings GM] Yzerman also has to sort out his defense. Does he manage to bring back Shayne Gostisbehere? He made a world of difference on the power play, and added offense from the back end. If that happens, who goes? Olli Määttä is highly tradable – 29 years old, one year left at $3 million – but he was also the defenseman who partnered best with Gostisbehere.

Yzerman said over the weekend at the draft in Las Vegas that he “can’t bring everyone back.” So the priority is Kane, then Gostisbehere, and then see how much money is left. The Wings have roughly $32 million in salary cap space, but half of that is earmarked for contracts for restricted free agents Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond.

…

If the Kane situation can get settled, it at least gives the Wings a little breathing room going into free agency. They still need some depth players up front, and a third-string goaltender.

The Red Wings only have thirteen players signed, per PuckPedia–6 forwards, 5 defensemen, and 2 goalies–so there’s going to be some movement in the second half of the roster. The Wings will need bottom-six forwards, another defenseman and a “bridge goalie” (to help Sebastian Cossa, Carter Gylander and the Griffins-contracted ECHL’er Jan Bednar) at the very least, with the aforementioned Berggren, Raymond, Seider and Veleno accounting for a potential 3 more forward and 1 more defensive spots.

I’m assuming that Daniel Sprong, Christian Fischer, James Reimer, Zach Aston-Reese, Taro Hirose and Wyatt Newpower will walk, the Wings didn’t qualify Jared McIsaac, and Radim Simek signed with Liberec in the Czech Extraliga, so the team will need depth pieces.

Which “down the roster”/depth players would you like to see the Red Wings approach?

Tweet of note: Red Wings qualify Berggren, Veleno, Raymond, Seider; McIsaac not qualified

Per the Red Wings, no surprises here:

Now Berggren, Veleno, Raymond and Seider can reject their “QO’s,” and the only ways to prevent offer sheets on any restricted free agents is for either the player or the team to elect salary arbitration.

As the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood notes, it’s too bad that McIsaac is going out the door:

McIsaac’s case was a little interesting because despite being a skilled, mobile defenseman when the Red Wings picked him, he struggled with injuries throughout his time under contract and could never quite establish a rhythm. McIsaac signed a one-year prove-it deal with Detroit last offseason, but he ended up going on loan to Switzerland and then to the AHL’s Providence Bruins because of a logjam on the Grand Rapids blue line. While a lack of a qualifying offer doesn’t mean he can’t return to the Detroit system, McIsaac is most likely going to sign with a different team, NHL or other.

LeBrun, Brooks, Friedman: Wings will sign Kane to 1-year contract

This is a surprise!

And as he’s 35, per MLive’s Ansar Khan…

No confirmation from the team yet or any word on the value of the deal, but it is likely to include performance incentives.

Kane, 35, was an ideal fit with the team, tallying 20 goals and 47 points in 50 games after signing in late November for the remainder of the season for a prorated $2.75 million. He stepped up in key moments and scored three overtime goals.

Update: The Associated Press confirms, as does the New York Post’s Larry Brooks…

And Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friemdan: