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!

Mills’ notebook: Kasper discusses pluses of playing in the SHL

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills filed a late-Monday-night notebook which discusses Marco Kasper’s experiences playing with Rogle BK of the Swedish SHL, which were made during Kasper’s appearance at the Wings’ summer development camp last month:

Buoyed by his support system and self-confidence, Kasper handled himself well in the SHL last season by tallying seven goals and four assists in 46 regular-season games. He also recorded six points and a plus-4 rating in 13 postseason contests, helping Rogle BK reach the SHL Semifinals.

Prior to joining Rogle BK, Kasper collected 13 points in 12 games for the club’s Jr.-20 team, including a goal and two helpers in a playoff game.

When reflecting on his first full season in the SHL, Kasper said he learned a lot about specifics within the game.

“I think we play a fast-paced game,” he said. “(We) try to get out of the o-zone fast and go and get the puck deep, and then work in the offensive zone as much as possible to create scoring chances from there. It’s been great playing there.”

As a result of embracing Rogle’s system and structure, Kasper feels he is a better player than who he was before the 2021-22 campaign.

“I think I’ve developed over the year,” Kasper said. “We always have a really good team in Rogle, so I think just trying to fit into the team again (this season), trying to do our best as a team and taking responsibilities too.”

Continued

Allen wonders which Red Wings skaters might lose out to strong rookie pushes

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen wonders aloud whether several members of the Red Wings’ roster currently slated to start the upcoming season in the NHL might lose their spots to young players who compete for and win roster spots:

After watching defenseman Moritz Seider dominate in the Swedish Hockey League in 2020-21, the Red Wings brass was confident he would earn a roster spot last fall.

General manager Steve Yzerman was less sure about Lucas Raymond. He was younger and less experienced than Seider. But Raymond was so impressive in training camp and preseason that he forced the Red Wings to keep him.

That could happen again this season with another rookie or two.

Even though the Red Wings currently boast 27 players with NHL experience on their roster, Yzerman has said he will find a way to keep a rookie if he earns a place on the team.

As the Hall-of-Famer points out, it would be a good problem to have if one of the rookies asserts himself the way Raymond did.

Continued, with discussions as to whether Simon Edvinsson, Jonatan Berggren, Elmer Soderblom, Albert Johansson, Pontus Andreasson might leave Jordan Oesterle, Steven Kampfer, Joe Veleno, Givani Smith or Adam Erne might lose their spots…

WJC Notes: Cossa makes Team Canada’s cut; Mazur, Savage will play for Team USA; Buium bows out

Hockey Canada named its World Junior Championship roster about an hour ago, and Sebastian Cossa will reprise his role as one of the team’s goaltenders [edit: as will Donovan Sebrango, on Canada’s defense]…

And Team USA named Shai Buium, Carter Mazur and Red Savage to their preliminary 27-man roster for the World Juniors on yesterday, but FloHockey’s Chris Peters reports that Buium had to bow out:

Continue reading WJC Notes: Cossa makes Team Canada’s cut; Mazur, Savage will play for Team USA; Buium bows out

DHN’s prospect profile of the morning involves an ‘unknown quantity’ in Maximilian Kilpinen

As Detroit Hockey Now’s audit of the Red Wings’ prospect pipeline continues, we come to one Maximilian Kilpinen, a 6’1,” 179-pound center who was picked 129th overall by the Wings this past July.

Kilpinen didn’t take part in the Wings’ summer development camp, so Detroit Hockey Now’s Nate Brown offers a brief summary of the Orebro center’s game:

Playing in Sweden, Kilpinen checked off two common boxes of Yzerman’s drafting strategy: playing overseas and being a forward. The former is a theme through four seasons; The latter, the theme of the 2022 draft. In all, Kilpinen was one of seven forwards taken in nine picks. Kilpinen is on the left wing and with Örebro HK J20 he had 25 points (14-11) in 27 games. Some outlets have also shown him as a center.

NHL Central Scouting listed Kilpinen as the 61st best European skater out of 157 total. He wasn’t even listed in the midterm rankings.

Continued; Kilpinen needs to establish himself as a young player at more than the Swedish J20 level next, and he’ll take his game through there.

Take the compliments where you can get ’em

TSN’s Travis Yost deems the Red Wings’ depth at left wing to be an NHL-average in terms of the quality thereof, but he issued a compliment toward the Wings in an article which surveys the depth at left wing possessed by every team:

On a brighter note: two Atlantic division teams in Ottawa and Detroit have made huge investments at this position. The Senators bringing in 41-goal scorer Alex DeBrincat gives them a ferocious top-six, whereas Detroit has four reliable left-wing options, including Tyler Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana, Dominik Kubalik, and Adam Erne that head coach Derek Lalonde will surely play with. I think this is a very intriguing group and, with some improvement at the centre position, could surprise to the upside next year.

Continued

Red Wings sit 20th in The Score’s power rankings

The Score’s staff compiled a list of power rankings reflecting each and every team’s offseason roster moves, and the Red Wings come in at 20th out of 32 teams:

20. Detroit Red Wings (32-40-10): The Red Wings addressed needs at all position groups this summer and the “Yzerplan” looks to be in great shape. It’s not the end of the world if Detroit misses the playoffs this coming season, but it’s fair to expect some progress.

Continued

David Perron speaks with The Athletic’s Rutherford about his departure from St. Louis

New Red Wings forward David Perron spent three stints in St. Louis with the Blues, and he spoke with The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford regarding his decision to sign with the Red Wings this past July:

“I’m still in a little bit of shock that it didn’t work out, just kind of the way the years went,” Perron said. “I guess if you see my performance declining or something, then you’re like, ‘Maybe there’s something there.’ That’s still like raw to me. I had to let some of the dust settle and I guess I still have to let that happen.”

In 2020-21, the third of Perron’s four-year, $16 million contract with the Blues, he had 19 goals and a team-high 39 assists, and his point-per-game pace of 58 points in 56 games also led the club. He missed the playoffs with COVID-19.

Prior to the start of the 2021-22 season, a team source said that Perron was offered a two-year, $8 million contract ($4 million AAV) that was declined. Another source familiar with the negotiations said it was a one-year, $4 million offer, and after a successful season, he was looking for a longer contract.

“I didn’t understand why that offer was made, but I was respectful,” Perron said. “There’s a pecking order and I understand (Blues general manager Doug Armstrong) had to re-sign Colton Parayko; he signed eight years and deserved it.

“So yeah, the progression of the young guys, and maybe (Blues coach Craig Berube) wasn’t sure about me. Maybe my performance as I get older, like you don’t want to get burned. We kind of wanted to see some things.”

Continued (paywall) and worth your time…

Seider still third-best in Wheeler’s 2019 re-draft

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler re-drafted the NHL’s class of 2019, attempting to assuage any mistakes made in terms of evaluating players incorrectly as The Athletic’s resident prospect guru…

And it’s a little surprising to see him ranking both Jack Hughes and Trevor Zegras ahead of Moritz Seider:

Continue reading Seider still third-best in Wheeler’s 2019 re-draft

HSJ in the morning: Why Klingberg’s got Duck’s wings

The Detroit Red Wings did not sign defenseman John Klingberg to the 1-year, $7 million contract which the Swedish rearguard signed with the Anaheim Ducks for several reasons, including team fit (or the lack thereof), the team’s strength on its right side defense, cap space, and, very frankly, probably because Klingberg chose to go to Anaheim after he received their offer.

This morning, the Free Press’s Helene St. James offers her answer as to why Klingberg didn’t end up wearing red and white, per a reader mailbag question:

Had [GM Steve] Yzerman signed Klingberg, it would have meant jettisoning [Filip] Hronek, and Yzerman made it clear on July 14 that he wasn’t interested in being put in such a situation: “What I wouldn’t want to do is go and sign another free agent, a significant free agent, and put myself in a position where I have to trade somebody, because that’s not a good time to do it.”

Hronek is coming off a subpar season in which he struggled to adapt to losing his spot as the Wings’ top defenseman to Seider. But Hronek is five years younger than Klingberg, and has a respectable 118 points in 245 games on a team that, since Hronek entered the NHL in 2018-19, has not had as much talent as the [Dallas] Stars.

Yzerman signed Hronek for three years, $13.2 million last September. Yzerman clearly sees Hronek, drafted at No. 53 in 2016, as part of the rebuild. Hronek plays bigger than his 6-foot frame, and is a good shooter and passer.

Since being named GM in April 2019, Yzerman has been careful about the contracts he has given to free agents.

When he signed forward Andrew Copp on July 13, it marked the longest (five years) and highest annual average value ($5.625 million) for a deal, but the Wings didn’t have a second-line center. They do have two talented, young right-handed defensemen in Seider (21 years old) and Hronek (24) and with the signings of Chiarot and Määttä, now have two partners who project to strengthen the top-four corps. 

Continued; I’m not certain whether Filip Hronek’s presence alone is the reason the Wings didn’t end up signing Klingberg, but I do believe that St. James hits at the nail on the head by suggesting that the Red Wings didn’t need to put themselves in a salary cap bind by signing the soon-to-be-30-year-old Klingberg.

Between the fact that he’s a right-shooting right defenseman, which the Red Wings already have, and the fact that they have to re-sign Filip Zadina and Jake Walman, the Wings didn’t need to tie their hands salary-wise…

And, quite frankly, Steve Yzerman tends to tell you what he’s thinking on the rare occasions that he does speak.

He was blunt and frank in stating that he would be more interested in pursuing a trade with a salary cap-stressed team than he would be interested in signing any more unrestricted free agents this summer, and I believe that he’s going to be good upon his word.