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!

Kulfan assesses the state of the Red Wings’ defense

The Red Wings have 10 NHL veteran defensemen under contract for the upcoming season, and 11 potential blueliners if you count super-prospect Simon Edvinsson. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted something of an audit of the Red Wings’ defensive corps this evening, and here’s what he has to say about the brightest lights:

► Simon Edvinsson: Edvinsson plays the left side, and has the athleticism and skating ability that could be immediately NHL caliber. Edvinsson (6-foot-6) can transport the puck, has a big shot, creates offense, and doesn’t shy away from physicality. There’s no question Edvinsson is an exciting prospect.

► Filip Hronek: There was growing speculation Hronek was going to be trade bait, but that didn’t happen. So, Hronek (right side) heads into camp looking to reverse what was an inconsistent season. Hronek’s defense continues to be a question mark, with his decision-making still an issue. 

► Moritz Seider: After an award-winning rookie season, it’ll be interesting to see how far Seider takes his game. Seider said he watched Colorado’s Cale Makar during the playoffs, watching how Makar controlled the puck and navigated the blue line. Chiarot, for one, is excited about having Seider on his side. “He’s an impressive young defenseman,” [Ben] Chiarot said. “Plays physical, which you don’t see a ton of any more with young guys coming in. He doesn’t back down out there. I look forward to getting out there with him.”

► Jake Walman: Walman made a favorable impression after arriving from St. Louis at the trade deadline, but offseason shoulder surgery will keep Walman out of the lineup to start the season. Inconsistency has plagued Walman in his young career, and he’ll battle for playing time on the right-side once he returns. Walman has great skating skills, and has a dangerous shot.

Continued (paywall)…

NHL.com’s Cotsonika profiles Carter Mazur

NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika posted a profile of Red Wings prospect and soon-to-be 2022 World Junior Championship participant Carter Mazur, who skated in the Americans’ WJC selection camp in Plymouth last week:

The moment came early last season. It helped Carter Mazur have a big freshman year at the University of Denver, and it says something about a 20-year-old forward who will play for the United States at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton from Aug. 9-20 and could make an impact for the Detroit Red Wings someday.

“This is when you know the kid really cares and wants to be a player,” Red Wings assistant director of player development Dan Cleary said.

Mazur, whom Detroit selected in the third round (No. 70) of the 2021 NHL Draft, reached out to Cleary in maybe November. He was having trouble finding the net, so he asked for video samples that could help with scoring. The Red Wings sent him a five-minute video with clips illustrating how to find areas in the offensive zone and get his shot off quicker. After that, something clicked.

“He went on just an absolute tear, and he just felt so much more confident, and he just took off,” Cleary said.

Mazur ended up with 38 points (14 goals, 24 assists) in 41 games for Denver, including two assists in a 5-1 win against Minnesota State in the NCAA title game April 9.

“It’s been pretty crazy,” Mazur said. “Winning the national championship is something I’ve always dreamed about, and to finally have it finally come true is just pretty surreal.”

Continued, and it’s a good read….

Detroit Hockey Now’s Duff profiles defenseman Anton Johansson

Detroit Hockey Now’s set of prospect profiles has moved onto the players who were drafted this year but did not participate in the summer development camp last month. Today’s target is defenseman Anton Johansson of Leksands IF in Sweden. He’s a lanky 6’4″ but only weighs 172 pounds, and he was drafted 102nd overall in July.

DHN’s Bob Duff offers a scouting report of the skinny defender:

Like the lemurs in the animated film Madagascar, Anton Johansson likes to move it, move it – both on the ice and up the ladder of Swedish hockey. The Red Wings’ 2022 draft pick began the 2021-22 season playing with Leksand IF in the J18 (under-18) division of Sweden. He quickly moved up to Leksand’s J20 club and even played four games for their SHL squad in Sweden’s top division before the year was done.

“I’ve had an incredible development,” Johansson told hockeynews.se. “I didn’t think that I was going to start on the J18 team and finish in the SHL at the beginning of the season. With patience and hard work, it paid off.”

According to Draftineu.com’s scouting report, Johansson gets around the ice smoothly and displays soft hands while in possession of the puck.

“I saw him play in the SHL,” Red Wings director of amateur scouting Kris Draper said. “He played a lot in the J20 and we like the size, the right shot, puck-moving defenseman that we were excited to get.”

…

“He was a player we identified,” Draper said. “It’s interesting. Now that you’re a couple of years from not being able to go to the all the rinks, video is kind of accepted in our profession now. So you can actually watch more video than you were supposed to back in the day. When we put our list together and started talking about players, you get on video and start watching them and have dialogue. We really like the path that he’s on.”

That conversation with Hockeysverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist might sound familiar because I translated it for you a couple of weeks ago. It’s a good starting point in terms of getting to know him.

Daily Faceoff’s McKenna: Nedeljkovic among 5 goalies likely to rebound from 21-22 seasons

Daily Faceoff’s Mike McKenna posted a list of five goalies which the former NHL goalkeeper feels will perform better during the 2022-2023 season, and Alex Nedeljkovic cracked McKenna’s list (as did former Red Wing Thomas Greiss):

Alex Nedeljkovic: It was a tale of two seasons for Nedeljkovic and the Red Wings last year. The first half was fantastic. The second half was miserable. And life as a goaltender reflects that.

Sure, there were a few blowup games where Nedeljkovic allowed a pile of goals. But Detroit’s defense last season — especially in the second half — was an absolute travesty. The fact that Nedeljkovic was able to post a .901 save percentage in 59 games is something of a minor miracle.

The Red Wings have added considerable talent throughout their lineup and brought in Derek Lalonde as head coach. There is every reason to believe that Detroit will not only be improved next season, but they could also make a run at the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

There will be competition in the crease with incoming goaltending partner Ville Husso. But never count out someone in a contract year. Nedeljkovic’s deal is up at the end of the 2022–23 season. Behind a restocked and rejuvenated team in Detroit, I fully expect his numbers to improve.

Continued; here’s hoping that a summer rehabilitating a “lower-body injury” will give Nedeljkovic the jumping-off point necessary to have a better season to come.

It’s Red Wings day on the NHL’s Swedish Twitter page

It’s Red Wings day on the NHL’s Swedish page and Swedish Twitter feed, so here are some in-Swedish Tweets regarding the “32 in 32 series about the Wings” (and yes, I’ve checked the articles, there’s nothing new to translate):

Continue reading It’s Red Wings day on the NHL’s Swedish Twitter page

A bit of talk about the Red Wings’ right wing depth

Take what you will from TSN’s Travis Yost determining that the Red Wings are in the “Fourth Tier” of teams in terms of depth at right wing:

This tier had more teams in consideration for a downgrade to tier five than an upgrade to tier one. Way too many questions across these lineups – a team like Calgary have depth but may lack the top-end talent, a team like Columbus has no less than ten (subpar) options to try and slot into a weak bottom-six, and teams like Detroit and New York are banking on some real growth from their younger weapons heading into next year.

I wanted to focus on those two, because I think they are in interesting spots. Detroit was the best tier four team and the only one I considered for tier three: Lucas Raymond looked outstanding in his rookie year (23 goals and 34 assists in his age-19 season) and is must-see television when he’s on; fellow first-round draft pick Filip Zadina also had his best season as well, but the scoring output just hasn’t been there in his first 160-games. I think Zadina deserves the benefit of the doubt considering how bad the Red Wings have been over the last few years, and he already looks a capable middle-six option, but this year will surely be about evaluating how high his ceiling may be. And David Perron is still quite the player, but as he crosses the 1,000 game mark, we can’t be certain of what his production looks like.

Continued

Press release: Grand Rapids Griffins’ ticket sales department named best in the AHL

Early August is time to give a shout-out to underappreciated folks, and here’s a press release that does just that, from the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRIFFINS TICKET DEPARTMENT COLLECTS TRIO OF AWARDS

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – At the recent league meetings in Allentown, Pa., the American Hockey League named the Grand Rapids Griffins the Ticket Sales Department of the Year for 2021-22. In addition, Griffins group events manager Bre’onna Raymo was named the Top Group Sales Executive, while senior account executive Michael Kiel garnered Rookie of the Year accolades in the Western Conference.

The Griffins finished third in the AHL last season with an average attendance of 7,029 and ended the campaign with 267,095 total fans. Kiel concluded the year with the highest group sales revenue by a rookie in the Western Conference while Raymo paced all AHL group sales executives in revenue.

The ticket department previously won the ticket sales department of the year honor in 2010-11 and 2013-14, the latter being achieved under active vice president of ticket sales and digital marketing Matt Batchelder. Raymo returned to the podium after finishing in second place during the 2018-19 season, the last time the AHL gave out department awards.

Grand Rapids will open the 2022-23 season against the San Diego Gulls on Friday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. with Opening Night presented by Huntington Bank.

Fans can secure their full-season, select-season or group ticket packages by calling (616) 774-4585 ext. 2 or visit griffinshockey.com for more information. Single-game tickets for the Griffins’ 2022-23 season will go on sale to the public later this summer through griffinshockey.com/tickets. Be sure to sign up to receive the Griffins Nation newsletters to be the first to know when tickets go on sale.

Tweet of note: A bit of Buchelnikov from HockeyNewsHub and Red Wings Prospects on Twitter

I never quite know what to do with these Tweets. Red Wings prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov scored a goal at the Sochi Open in Russia today…

🚨 #LGRW Dmitri Buchelnikov
🍎 Matvei Michkov #SochiHockeyOpen pic.twitter.com/N8HWpLiWIj— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) August 3, 2022

And Red Wings prospects on Twitter posted it…

Buchelnikov playing for the Russian U25 team in a pre-season tournament in Sochi. #LGRW https://t.co/uIcFKTmxWz— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) August 3, 2022

But it’s a preseason tournament, so it’s just a first glimpse of a Wings prospect. Take with salt.