Author: George Malik

The Red Wings posted a video in which Red Wings TV chronicled the Joe Kocur Foundation’s charity softball games in Highland, MI last weekend:

I’ve raised approximately $600 toward server fees and the cost of the hotel stay for Traverse City, which is fantastic, but having no savings due to mom’s illness + paying for dry cleaning, the oil change and the server = the server fees have pretty much wiped me out.

I need your help to get me up to Traverse City, so I’m asking that you please lend a hand if you are able. I’ll take anything from a couple-hundred-dollar donation down to a couple of bucks as it all paves the road to Traverse City, where I’ll be heading for two full weeks to cover the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and main training camp.

The hotel costs about $1,800, and add gas and groceries and I’m looking to raise over $2,000 for the trip.

I’m working with Paypal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport to raise funds, but I’ll happily add services if necessary to facilitate making your part of the equation easier. Email me at rtxg@yahoo.com if you want to send a check or send $ through an alternate source.

Thank you for your readership, your time and your support. We’ve got about a week to raise at least half the hotel $, and I believe that we can do it!

MLive’s Ansar Khan issues a 2019-2020 season outlook for Valtteri Filppula this morning, and Khan suggests that Filppula and Frans Nielsen will end up serving defensive roles:

Experience, versatility and familiarity were among the reasons the Red Wings brought back Filppula, whom they drafted 95th overall in 2002, for his second stint with the organization.

Andreas Athanasiou played well at center the final six weeks of the season, but his long-term future is at wing. Filppula fills a role as the second- or third-line center (with Frans Nielsen in the other slot). He’ll join the core of penalty-killing forwards led by Luke Glendening and Darren Helm and play on the power play. A strong skater with solid defensive awareness, he can match up against the opposition’s top line.

One of the biggest criticisms with Filppula in his first stint with the Red Wings was his reluctance to shoot. That hasn’t changed. In fact, he seems even less inclined to shoot now. He managed to score 17 goals last season but that will be difficult to replicate with his tendency to pass first.

Continued

St. Louis Blues color commentator and “Friend of Yzerman” Darren Pang appears on the latest edition of Arthur J. Regner’s “Red and White Authority” podcast:

NHL Network analyst and St. Louis Blues broadcaster Darren Pang is our guest on Episode 127 of #TheRWA to discuss Steve Yzerman's impact on the #RedWings.

Rate/Listen: https://t.co/DceiQY6Amq pic.twitter.com/hE8fGADgtf

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 30, 2019

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji examines Dennis Cholowski’s 2018-19 campaign this morning, discussing significant figures and adding commentary of note regarding Cholowski’s rookie season:

“I also think on the defensive side of the game, not so much the thinking but I don’t think through his young career growing up, he was ever in a situation where he really had to defend. He was always relied upon to produce offense. So now all of a sudden, he leaves college and two years later, he’s in the NHL where you’ve got to defend the best players in the world every shift every single night and he gets exposed a little bit. But that’s the same thing that most young players go through. It’s the best league in the world for a reason. It’s not easy to play against the best players every night and I thought he did a good job of it. He’s learning as he goes here how to defend in the National Hockey League and we focused a lot on that in the offseason. I think you’re going to see a better defender in him this year.” — Shawn Horcoff, Red Wings director of player development/assistant director of player personnel

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MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a 2019-2020 season outlook for Christoffer Ehn earlier today, and he asks a pertinent question regarding a center who looked like a fourth-line workhorse in 2018-19: is Ehn expendable due to the Wings’ free agent additions, at least for now?

Ehn surprised by earning a roster spot out of training camp in his first season in North America. The 2014 fourth-round pick (106th overall) was better-prepared for the NHL than some others due to his age and experience of playing in the Swedish men’s league with Frolunda.

The coaching staff and front office were swayed by Ehn’s attention to detail and responsible defensive play. Aside from two relatively brief stints in the AHL, Ehn was a fixture on the Red Wings’ fourth line.

The organization is hoping he has a little more offense in him, but he hasn’t shown that at any level. If he’s going to remain in the NHL, it will be as a bottom-six checking forward and penalty killer who can play center and the wing.

Ehn’s primary competition for a roster spot in training camp might come Ryan Kuffner. Both are young, waiver-exempt players who will only stick around if they’re in the lineup regularly.

Continued

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn previews the Detroit Red Wings’ 2019-2020 team this morning, and his prediction for the Wings’ season outcome is gloomy:

Last season the Red Wings finished with 74 points. The year before it was 73 points. The most likely landing spot for next season is right in the same ballpark with a 45 percent chance of landing somewhere between 70 and 80 points and an average projection right in between at 73.7 points.

It’s an extremely bleak projection, one exacerbated by the fact the team arguably plays in the league’s toughest division, one where three playoff spots are basically spoken for already. It would take everything going right for Detroit and everything going wrong for plenty of teams in front of them for the team to have a winning season. The Red Wings were one of the league’s weakest clubs last year and only got worse after dealing Gustav Nyquist and Nick Jensen. Prior to the deadline, the Red Wings had an expected goals percentage of 46, but that already bad number dropped significantly afterwards, all the way to dead last in the league at 39 percent.

There should be no surprises about how dire this projection is, especially after they didn’t do much to improve their underlying talent (unless you count adding two fourth-line calibre players) in the offseason, all while many other teams made tangible improvements.

Continued (paywall)

Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser appeared on 97.1 the Ticket’s Jamie and Stoney Show yesterday, and he suggested that the Red Wings are not so far removed from a playoff berth as some might think:

“Obviously it’s a little bit different here for Wings fans, used to being in the deep playoff runs. But the last couple years haven’t gone our way,” he told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket. “We got a great youth movement coming in here, a lot of good talent. Larks, Double-A, Mantha, Bertuzzi, a lot of good young players.

“We’re trying to get back into the playoffs, and I think we have a team that can do it. It’s just about being consistent every night. We see flashes throughout the season at some points and then at other points, for whatever reason, we don’t have it. For us to get back into the playoffs, we’re going to have to be at the top of our game every night.” 

While the Wings finished third to last in the East last season, 24 points out of a playoff spot, they did make strides. Led by the core of forwards DeKeyser mentioned, they proved capable of hanging with some of the best teams in the league. 

They showed a sense of resiliency that wasn’t so evident the couple years prior.

“I agree,” DeKeyser said. “I think a lot of that is having younger guys on the team who are coming in with a fire under them and trying to make an impression on the staff and the coaches. It’s always good when young players have that fight and have that energy, because I think it pushes everybody to be a little bit better as well.” 

Here’s the interview:

Good news from the London Free Press’s Ryan Pyette, who spoke with Red Wings prospect Alec Regula. Regula has recovered from a nagging knee injury that limited his summertime activities without requiring surgery:

He went through a month and a half of rehabilitation at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena to be cleared for this week’s action and get ready to report to Traverse City, Mich., next week for the NHL rookie tournament.

“It was a long summer,” the 19-year-old defenceman said, “and especially with being so young, I wanted to be cautious with it. It feels good to be playing and skating around and healthy again. It means a lot to be game ready and I want to be a good leader for the guys and play the right way.”

Regula’s knee woes developed after the Knights season and were diagnosed shortly after reporting to the Wings’ American league affiliate in Grand Rapids. He is a critical part to London’s success this year as the most experienced rearguard left on the team.

He had 11 goals and 39 points in 66 games last season with a plus-32 rating, but is expecting more with major minutes forthcoming and Bouchard, Boqvist and Will Lochead graduating.

“The Wings always tell me if I’m going to play in the NHL, it’s going to be as a defender, not an offensive guy,” he said, “but in my fourth year of junior and third year here, it’s time to take a step and I think I can hold that responsibility. I’ll shoot for 20 goals and see what happens. It’s not easy to do.”

Continued

In an NHL.com video, commentator Stan Fischler suggests that Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux is the modern-day analogue to Sid Abel: