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!

NHLPA.com praises Ted Lindsay on his 96th birthday

This is really cool:

Today, on what would have been Ted Lindsay’s 96th birthday, we remember the trailblazing Hockey Hall of Famer’s impact and legacy.https://t.co/YQPHf1NGSw revisits the stories of No. 7, as told by Ted himself: https://t.co/ueX3Ey1Dza pic.twitter.com/qqslWu6efZ— NHLPA (@NHLPA) July 29, 2021

Red Wings post a ‘thank you’ video for Luke Glendening

Here’s the Red Wings’ video paying tribute to Luke Glendening, who signed with the Dallas Stars yesterday:

Larkin on Glendening. #LGRW

?: https://t.co/fhHaTSKOVe pic.twitter.com/h5PvY8kF0I— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 29, 2021

Red Wings post Pius Suter’s Zoom call

Red Wings free agent signing Pius Suter held a Zoom call with the Wings’ beat writers this morning:

HSJ in the morning: on free agency so far, and the Wings’ rebuild

The Free Press’s Helene St. James wrote an article discussing the Red Wings’ offseason moves this morning, suggesting that the Wings’ trades for Nick Leddy and Alex Nedeljkovic, the re-signings of Marc Staal, Sam Gagner and signings of Pius Suter and Jordan Oesterle all suggest that Detroit will ice a more competitive team this upcoming season.

She focuses on the comments made by Sam Gagner, who spoke with the media yesterday afternoon, comparing and contrasting Gagner’s remarks with those of Luke Glendening, who left the Wings to pursue a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars:

There will be one noticeable loss in the dressing room, as Luke Glendening’s decade-long tenure with the franchise ended when he signed a two-year, $3 million deal with the Dallas Stars. Glendening, an alternate captain since 2019, called it one of the toughest decisions of his life, “leaving what I’ve known, what’s been comfortable to me. But you never know if you don’t try.”

Gagner didn’t want to try free agency.

“I really enjoyed my time last year,” he said. “Right from the end of the season until now, my thought process was to hopefully be back with the Wings. I’m looking forward to getting back there and getting to work.”

Gagner had seven goals and eight assists in 42 games last season, despite missing two weeks in January after testing positive for COVID-19. He’s a right-handed shot with high-end smarts, and a calming presence. He has been a great resource for first-round picks such as Filip Zadina, as Gagner was the No. 6 overall pick in 2007. Gagner’s career has gone through some turbulence, and that’s part of what makes him so valuable as a mentor.

“I was a high pick in Edmonton and one of the guys who was expected to help turn things around,” Gagner said. “Handling that adversity has made me a better persona and it helps in the situation I’m in now, being able to impart some of that on our young group. You want to be a good hockey player. That’s the best way to help the group. If I can bring my best every night, my voice, it travels a little farther in the room. That’s what I’m focused on, making sure I come to camp ready.”

Continued; I don’t know whether the 2021-2022 Red Wings will make the playoffs in a stacked Atlantic Division, but my hope is that the Wings will be more bearable to watch–and more competitive–as the rebuild kicks into high gear.

Bultman discusses the Wings’ roster, including Pius Suter’s probable role

The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted an estimation as to where the Red Wings’ 2021-2022 season roster stands as of July 29th, and he offers this take on where Pius Suter fits into the Wings’ “top six”:

How exactly [his] role shakes out remains to be seen, and will likely come down to training camp, but as things stand now, Suter may very well project as Detroit’s second-line center. Michael Rasmussen may yet give him a run, but Suter showed an ability to bring offense last season, and that’s something the Red Wings badly need high in the lineup.

With that said, there may be a bit of a transition shock in terms of the supporting cast. Suter’s most frequent linemates with the Blackhawks were Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat, and Detroit simply cannot match that. It’s also impossible to know how well Suter’s strong debut season will translate to a full 82-game schedule.

But it’s easy enough to envision a world in which Suter plays with scorers Filip Zadina and Robby Fabbri on a true scoring line that could earn favorable offensive-zone deployments, which could help maximize his productivity. And for the short term and relatively low cost the Red Wings paid, he looks like a really strong bet to place.

Continued (paywall)

Midnight ramble: With 6 restricted free agents to re-sign, and the Griffins to build, the Wings just aren’t done with the free agent marketplace yet

I’m bleary-eyed from an incredibly long first day of free agency, and my guts are still in flux as I continue to recover from my gallbladder surgery, but I stayed home from the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth to cover the Wings news that would come our way today, and I’m glad I made that decision.

If I may offer a big of a roster projection:

My take on the Red Wings’ free agency moves is that it’s impossible to grade a team that’s not done. Steve Yzerman usually makes one of his rare media appearances after the Wings have made their Free Agency Day moves, and while he was probably watching the WJSS today, we haven’t heard hide nor hair from the Wings’ general manager yet.

That would be telling in itself, but NHL.com, CapFriendly and PuckPedia also all do fine jobs of summarizing fact that the Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins’ rosters are still works in progress (and yes, building both clubs’ rosters are the responsibility of the Detroit Red Wings’ management).

The Wings still have 6 restricted free agents of note to re-sign, in Tyler Bertuzzi (with trade rumblings still swirling around “Bert”), Filip Hronek, Adam Erne, Jakub Vrana, Givani Smith and Chase Pearson.

The fates of several NHL players who played for the Red Wings are still uncertain: Darren Helm, Valtteri Filppula, Bobby Ryan, Evgeny Svechnikov, and AHL’ers Turner Elson, Kevin Gibson and Hayden Verbeek are all unsigned and available as unrestricted free agents.

We already know that the Wings have lost the services of Luke Glendening (to Dallas), Jonathan Bernier (New Jersey), and at the “depth” level, Dominic Turgeon, Joe Hicketts (both to Minnesota), Dylan McIlrath (Washington) and Alex Biega (Toronto), all as unrestricted free agents;

The Wings did retain the services of Sam Gagner and goalie Calvin Pickard prior to 12 PM EDT on Wednesday (and Taro Hirose and Kyle Criscuolo inked two-way deals on Tuesday).

After noon, they brought in AHL defenseman of the year Ryan Murphy and Dearborn Heights native Jordan Oesterle to bolster the blueline, and made a savvy signing in Pius Suter as a second-line center…

But the long story long is that the Wings have 8 forwards signed, 7 defensemen signed (including Moritz Seider), and 3 goalies in Nedeljkovic, Greiss and Pickard.

At the AHL level, there’s a bare-bones Grand Rapids Griffins roster but a glance at CapFriendly or PuckPedia will display a painfully young depth chart’s worth of prospects, and the Wings are going to need more veteran bodies to round out their AHL team.

I fully believe in “running lean” and giving “the kids” as much rope as they can take to make ’em or break ’em, but the management group isn’t going to let “the kids” twist in the wind.

Again, long story long, Wings fans will have to wait until at least the end of Thursday to see where several “fan favorites” end up–both as restricted free agent re-signings and unrestricted free agents–and the roster needs more filling out before we can determine how Yzerman and company “did” during the offseason.

Once Steve Yzerman speaks to the media–and there’s a good chance that he will on Thursday as there are no practices at the World Junior Summer Showcase–we’ll probably have a better idea of what the 2021-2022 Red Wings’ roster will look like, as well as where Helm, Filppula, Ryan and Svechnikov will end up.

We need to know at least most of those things before the captain of the ship gives us the state of the franchise.

Tweet of note via WXYZ’s Galli: Glendening discusses joining the Stars

The Red Wings lost long-time forward Luke Glendening to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday, and WXYZ’s Brad Galli posted a pertinent clip of Glendening explaining why he chose to leave the Wings to chase a Stanley Cup with the Stars:

Luke Glendening is leaving the Red Wings for the Stars.

“This was one of the toughest decisions of my life, leaving what I’ve known and what’s comfortable,” he said. “This opportunity was something I couldn’t pass up on.” pic.twitter.com/Ih7KQCndHr— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) July 29, 2021

Here’s the clip in YouTube form:

Monroe: Walleye believe they’ll be ‘Back at Full Strength’ in the fall

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe spoke with the coach and GM of the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye, who did not play during the 2020-2021 season due to the pandemic, about the Walleye’s 2021-2022 season theme, “Back at Full Strength”:

The Toledo Walleye unveiled a comeback campaign on Wednesday, as the team’s reinvigorated officials expressed appreciation that a return to the ice is finally on the horizon.

With pro hockey on hold in the city for nearly 16 months, the Walleye organization will use the slogan “Back at Full Strength” for its 12th season as an ECHL franchise.

“I’m so excited,” said Neil Neukam, the Walleye’s executive vice president and general manager. “I just can’t wait. We’re going to blow the roof off the place. Sixteen months-plus of not having any sort of hockey … it’s going to be great. You can feel the enthusiasm from the fans.”

Continued; let’s hope that the delta variant doesn’t screw up the Walleye’s plans…

Monroe: Walleye sigh Gordi Myer, Brandon Schultz

Per the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:

The @ToledoWalleye have signed D Gordi Myer and F Brandon Schultz. Myer is a Sylvania native who had signed to play for his hometown team last season. Schultz played at Northern Michigan and will start his pro career in Toledo. pic.twitter.com/NE8pfDsNq8— Mark Monroe (@MonroeBlade) July 28, 2021

Detroit News’s Bianchi discusses prospect development as it applies to three of the Wings’ WJSS participants

The Detroit News’s Nolan Bianchi rather cleverly weaved comments made by Eemil Viro, William Wallinder and Theodor Niederbach, who are all participating in this week’s World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, into an article assessing the “how’s” and “why’s” of European prospect development by North American-based pro teams (like the Red Wings):

Because players are typically drafted for a range of different upsides, the pre-NHL goal for prospects is threefold: You want them to maximize their strengths, shore up their weaknesses, and help them reach a level of play that allows for creative luxury to work in tandem with necessary, less attractive plays. 

Whereas an NHL player might retrieve the puck near the half-wall and try to chip it off glass to get it out of the zone, a European player is probably more likely to look for the open pass and try to hit a streaking winger. 

An ideal NHL player will be able to read the situation and perform whichever option is best, which is why it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to pull Wallinder out of the Sweden, for example, and stick him in the more physical AHL while he’s still learning to make read breakouts from his own zone.

“It’s hard to play on a small rink,” Wallinder said. “Back home, we’ve got so much more time. It’s way easier.”

And lastly, a player’s comfort level is important, too. Most of the Wings’ top prospects in Europe aren’t even old enough to drink stateside, which is an important thing to remember when talking about career and personal development. Despite technically being adults, it’s common for prospects to offhandedly be referred to as “kids.”

Continued