Author: George Malik

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman appeared on the NHL Network to speak with Jackie Redmond regarding the team’s decision to trade up for the opportunity to select Sebastian Cossa 15th overall:

After trading up to the 15th overall pick to draft Sebastian Cossa, he spoke with the media from Edmonton, via Zoom:

The Red Wings drafted Simon Edvinsson 6th overall, and Edvinsson spoke with the media via Zoom from Sweden:

The Detroit Red Wings traded their 23rd overall pick to the Dallas Stars for the 15th overall pick…

DALLAS TRADES WITH DETROIT FOR 15 per @KevinWeekes— George Malik (@georgemalik) July 24, 2021

DET moving from 23 to 15 in trade with DAL here— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 24, 2021

Here’s the big move: Red Wings have traded up to No. 15, per @KevinWeekes— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 24, 2021

23, 48 and 138 for 15.

That’s a big trade.— George Malik (@georgemalik) July 24, 2021

? TRADE ALERT ? #DRWDraft x #LGRW pic.twitter.com/bU6EYKtRuk— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 24, 2021

The Red Wings moved up to No. 15 overall in a trade with the Stars

The cost:
•1st round pick: 23 overall
•2nd round pick: 48 overall
•5th round pick: 138 overall— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) July 24, 2021

And…

DET moves into the 15 slot due to a deal with DAL. Lots of pre-draft chatter about DET taking a goalie and lots of that talks was Jesper Wallstedt. Don’t be surprised, though, if it’s Sebastian Cossa.— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 24, 2021

DET pick is Sebastian Cossa— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 24, 2021

Red Wings pick G Sebastian Cossa from Edmonton (WHL) — had monster numbers in the WHL the last two years, including .941 save percentage this season with Edmonton Oil Kings. 6-foot-6 goaltender. @coreypronman had him as the top goalie in this draft class, No. 10 player overall.— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 24, 2021

With the 15th pick in the 2021 #NHLDraft, the #RedWings select…

Goaltender Sebastian Cossa! ?#DRWDraft x #LGRW pic.twitter.com/2BSlBLhhTR— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 24, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings TRADE UP to select SEBASTIAN COSSA 15th overall! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/Dmne9HOMd5— Winged Wheel Podcast (@WingedWheelPod) July 24, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings have acquired the 15th overall pick from the Dallas Stars in exchange for the 23rd, 48th and 138th overall picks.

With the 15th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, the Detroit Red Wings select goaltender Sebastian Cossa from the Edmonton Oil Kings! pic.twitter.com/v62jB76g5K— Complete Hockey News (@CompleteHkyNews) July 24, 2021

The Red Wings finally have their Goalie of the Future (TM). And @hailey_salvian has everything you need to know about him: https://t.co/5cfKyPXcSu— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 24, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings select Sebastian Cossa with the 15th pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft! pic.twitter.com/h09rnfMbuj— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 24, 2021

In 2012, Steve Yzerman acquired an additional first round pick in the middle round ,used it to select the first goaltender in the draft – Andrei Vasilevskiy. Now, in 2021 with Detroit, Yzerman uses it to select the first goaltender in the draft, Sebastian Cossa— Lightning Insider (@Erik_Erlendsson) July 24, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings have drafted Frolunda Indians defenseman Simon Edvinsson with the 6th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.

Red Wings pick is Simon Edvinsson, big left-shot D out of Frölunda — big upside— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 24, 2021

The Detroit Red wings select Simon Edvinsson 6th overall! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/mVfzRRSRjJ— Winged Wheel Podcast (@WingedWheelPod) July 24, 2021

At No. 6 in #NHLdraft, Red Wings select Simon Edvinsson, big strong Swedish defenseman.

Pick was teed up by 10-year-old Harold Washington, Jr. of Detroit, who won the draw to assist Steve Yzerman.— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) July 24, 2021

The Red Wings just got the defenseman with arguably the highest upside in this whole draft. That is TOUGH with Eklund just sitting there but I get it #LGRW— nolan bianchi (@nolanbianchi) July 24, 2021

With the 6th pick in the 2021 #NHLDraft, the #RedWings select…

Defenseman Simon Edvinsson! ?#DRWDraft x #LGRW pic.twitter.com/iJEEG6xbXc— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 24, 2021

The first European is off the board and he’s heading to #LGRW ! pic.twitter.com/3eHMhTZjJw— DailyFaceoff.com Hockey (@DFOHockey) July 24, 2021

With the sixth overall pick in the 2021 #NHLDraft, the @DetroitRedWings select Simon Edvinsson!#NHLonSN | #LGRW pic.twitter.com/6IsJoUss7B— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 24, 2021

The gallbladder is out. My expert surgeon removed it last Wednesday at Ascension Providence in Novi, and it came out full of stones, but tested cancer-free, so that’s good. There were no surgical complications, I am being careful in terms of my diet, weight-bearing, etc. to recover as smoothly as possible, and my pain management was not too difficult.

I spent the first post-surgical week sleeping in our living room recliner to attempt to keep pressure off my laparoscopically-invaded belly, and that went all right, but I’ve returned to Moon Base Alpha (a.k.a. the basement) to sleep on my side, as I prefer, and it hurt too much to tolerate.

Long story short, I am still recovering from major surgery (as my surgeon told me, “There is no such thing as ‘routine surgery'”), and my long-haul COVID is still impacting my energy, but I already feel better in terms of my digestive system, and…

We’re gonna try to blog the draft here. I don’t know how reliable I’ll be for the first couple of weeks, but my goal is to attend the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and main training camp this fall as your representative, and to go from there.

FYI for TMR readers: I wanted to let you know that I do still hope to return to blogging at some point, hopefully this summer and/or before training camp.

At this time, I’ve been advised by my primary care physician that my gallbladder is unhealthy, and needs to be removed. Its issues (gallstones and “sludge”) do not fully explain my fatigue–it’s more likely at this point that my February “flu” was in fact undiagnosed COVID-19, and that I’m suffering from Long Haul COVID issues…

But having the gallbladder out should at least partially address the autoimmune symptoms I’ve been experiencing, and it should relieve other chronic health issues that have hampered my day-to-day health over the past couple of months.

I’m seeing a surgeon on Monday to discuss the procedure, which is laparoscopic in nature these days (i.e. they use a “scope” to remove the gallbladder), and we’re going to go from there.

Regarding the rest of the fatigue issues, I’ve struggled to find a rheumatologist to address the Long Haul COVID issues because there is a shortage of rheumatologists in Michigan at present, but I’m hunting for one that will take my insurance.

That’s where I’m at. I’ve been working as hard as possible to recover, I’ve been consulting with physician as possible, and I’m most likely going to find a new primary care physician after my gallbladder surgery is resolved as my current doctor simply responds to my fatigue issues with, “Oh, George, you’re always fatigued.”

I’m trying my damnedest to get back to work. I miss blogging about hockey, I miss being able to make enough money to help pay the bills, and I miss interacting with my readers on the blog, Twitter and Facebook.

You’ve all been damn good to me–I am typing on a computer that you helped me purchase last fall–so I feel indebted to all of you for helping me live a dream that is currently deferred, but not dead by any means.

Everybody,

Several TMR readers have reached out to me to ask how I’m doing, and I wish I had a positive report. I’ve been experiencing symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome for the past three months, and, I’ve seen neither improvement not any support from my family physician, who simply said, “You’re always fatigued, George.”

The problem is that my doctor, while hesitant to treat me, is also correct. I come from a family where auto-immune and immune-compromised folks abound, and, after three months and two Pfizer vaccines, I can rule out any coronavirus issues, but the utter exhaustion that’s keeping me in bed (and unhappy to be in bed!) most days has lingered.

As such, if I were to be honest about how I’m doing right now, I’ll tell you the truth–I’m pretty effing miserable. I want to get back to work doing what I love to do in following hockey stories and sharing them with readers on the blog and on Twitter, and this “being stuck in bed while feeling utterly exhausted” business is plain awful.

Because my primary care physician is dismissing my concerns, I need to find a new primary care physician so that I can begin to find some answers as to why I’m so damn tired, and I need those answers to determine whether the fatigue is something that can be treated.

At this point, I just want some damn answers as to whether I’m going to be able to come back, and that’s going to take time, but I hope that the journey is worth it, because I was finally doing my dream job a couple of months ago after three years of stops-and-starts due to my mom’s health, and now my health is preventing me from blogging and taking care of my aunt.

That’s all I want to do–blog about hockey and take care of my aunt–and I’m having a hard time doing either right now. I need to figure out why the chronic fatigue that’s stopping me from doing my job is stopping me from doing my job, and whether it can be treated, because I miss you all very much, I miss covering the Wings on a daily basis, and I promise that I am going to fight very hard to get back to blogging.

If I can’t come back, I’ll say as much, but I owe both you and me some answers as to why I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I’m holding out hope that there will be some way by which I’ll be able to get back to doing what I love the most in blogging about hockey.

I hope all of you are doing as well as can be expected, and I hope that if you are able to get a coronavirus vaccine, you’re getting it, because that’s another thing that we’re all sick and tired of having to deal with.

I’ll talk to you guys and gals and in-betweeners soon.

With love and hope for a better day for our Red Wings,

George

Hey everybody. My health situation is getting worse energy-wise, and I have an appointment with my primary care physician next week to hopefully start ironing the issue out. I’m barely able to get out of bed and the fatigue has been off the charts of late. I want to get back to work very, very badly, but my body’s not cooperating.

Briefly: some of you have wondered where I am, as have I, over the past couple of weeks. The simple answer is that I’m still ill with what I believe is influenza.

I was getting healthy about a week-and-a-half ago, but things have gone right back downhill since then, and I’m pretty much bedridden again.

As soon as I can sit up and function in even a limited capacity, I will return!