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!

Via WiiM: Rogle coach Cam Abbott discusses Moritz Seider’s NHL future

Via Winging It in Motown’s Kyle McIlmurray comes this set of quotes from Habs Eye on the Prize’s Patrik Bexell, who spoke with Rogle BK coach Cam Abbott regarding Moritz Seider:

Toledo Walleye sign JC Campagna

The Toledo Walleye added another scoring winger to the fold on Thursday afternoon:

(Toledo, OH) – Forward J.C. Campagna (cam-pag-nah) has agreed to terms with the Toledo Walleye for the 2021-2022 season.

The native of Dallas, TX has appeared in 171 career ECHL games over five seasons, collecting 123 points (65G, 58A) and 127 penalty minutes. His best season came with the Fort Wayne Komets in the 2018-19 campaign that featured a career-high 35 goals to go along with 14 assists. Prior to playing in just four games this past year, the 6’4”, 205-pound forward spent the 2019-2020 season in Norfolk with 13 goals and 15 assists spanning 43 contests.

Prior to turning professional, the 28-year-old spent three years in the Canadian College ranks between St. Thomas University and the University of Prince Edward Island. In total, Campagna appeared in 84 games with 29 goals and 26 assists. His college career came after spending five years playing junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. His best year came in the 2013-2014 year with Moncton with 45 points (21G, 24A) in just 47 contests. He is familiar with Ohio, having played 56 games for the Ohio Blue Jackets 16U AAA team in the 2008-2009 season (22G, 34A).

Update: Here’s what Toledo Walleye coach Dan Watson had to say about Campagna to the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:

“He will add some offensive punch to our lineup and some size,” Watson said. “He knows our league, knows how to navigate the Central Division, so adding that experience was valuable. I’m looking forward to seeing him compete in training camp.”

Campagna also had the second-most power-play goals (13) and tied for the lead in shootout goals with four in the ECHL in 2018-19. He had 49 points in 61 games for the Komets.

Last season, Campagna played in one game for the Florida Everblades and three for the Wichita Thunder, notching one assist.

Via KK: Jonathan Bernier explains why he left the Wings for New Jersey

This story comes from a Tweet from Kukla’s Korner’s Paul Kukla, pointing out a story from The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin.

Larkin has written an article in which former Red Wings goaltender Jonathan Bernier explains why he left the Wings to sign with the New Jersey Devils as an unrestricted free agent (after a short detour to Carolina in the Alex Nedeljkovic trade), and it sounds like Bernier wasn’t happy on the ice in Detroit:

Despite the pride in his individual effort, playing on a team going nowhere weighed on him. By his age-32 season, he’d started five career playoff games. It was hard to block out the notion that, despite his outstanding year, he was the tree falling in the forest that didn’t make a sound. He couldn’t move the needle on a team in a scorched-earth rebuild, and that tested his morale.

“It is easy to get on that train, to be honest,” Bernier said. “Living in Toronto where expectations were very high, I was there through the rebuild, and I took a lot on my shoulders, and probably that’s why I was out of there – because I stopped focusing on my own job and worried too much about what was going on the outside. Coming into Detroit with the rebuild, I’d lived it in Toronto on a much bigger scale in a bigger market, and that gave me a lot of experience and confidence that I could just worry about my own job.

“But you’re playing every year to make the playoffs, so it’s tough when you hear that we’re just going to be OK and hopefully get a great draft pick and all these things. As players you don’t get many opportunities to win a Stanley Cup, but it’s really hard just to make the playoffs. So it’s tough mentally. You want to win, you want to play in the playoffs, you play 82 games just to make it in, so it’s not fun when you’re out of it at mid-season.”

Continued, with an explanation from Devils senior advisor Martin Brodeur as to why the Devils pursued Bernier’s services…

WDIV’s Bartkowiak wonders what Filip Hronek’s next contract will look like

WDIV’s David Bartkowiak Jr. offers an analysis of the Red Wings’ re-signing of Jakub Vrana, and Bartkowiak also looks forward to the next big question that the Wings’ management has to face:

We’re waiting to find out defenseman Filip Hronek’s deal. The 23-year-old now has played 167 NHL games — 16 goals and 64 assists. He led the Red Wings in ice time this past season at an average 23:23 per game. He appeared in all 56 games.

If you look around the league at other young defenseman who help anchor the blue line then you might expect a deal for Hronek that pulls $4 million year on a three to five-year term. Obviously the money per season would fluctuate based on term length. I think he’s worth $3-4 million against the cap right now. I would be very surprised to see Yzerman sign him for longer than five seasons, and ideally no more than three. But probably five because he’s only 23.

After the Vrana signing, the Red Wings remain about $20 million below the cap.

Continued; I’d guess that Hronek will earn $3.5-4 million as well.

Red Wings post Jakub Vrana’s Zoom call (plus press reaction)

Updated 4x at 4:34 PM: Jakub Vrana met with the media earlier this morning, and here’s his Zoom call:

Update: Here’s a bit more from NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika:

Continue reading Red Wings post Jakub Vrana’s Zoom call (plus press reaction)

On Wings prospect Donovan Sebrango’s fall playing plans

The Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers own the OHL rights to Red Wings prospect Donovan Sebrango, who spent 31 games with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins this past season, but Kitchener chose to acquire a defenseman from the Sarnia Sting on Tuesday–because Kitchener believes that Sebrango, 19, will spend the upcoming season in the AHL.

The Kitchener Record’s Josh Brown explains why the Rangers are expecting to play without Sebrango’s services:

Normally, 19-year-old players who were drafted into the OHL, such as Sebrango, can only play junior or in the NHL at that age. But TSN’s Darren Dreger reported earlier this summer that a new agreement between the Canadian Hockey League and the American Hockey League was in the works that allows junior players to return to the AHL, if they played 20 or more games in the league last season.

Sebrango played 31 tilts for the Grand Rapids Griffins while the OHL was shutdown due to the pandemic.

Nothing official has been released on the reported CHL/AHL change, but the Rangers are moving forward as if it’s a done deal.

“We’re planning for life without him,” said [Rangers coach/GM Mike] McKenzie, adding that there is always a chance, albeit slim, that Sebrango gets sent back to Kitchener.

“It is what it is. As they say crap flows downhill. It’s just part of being in a development league. It’s nice to know that teams want our players and we have players that are good enough to make that jump. But it will definitely leave a big hole.”

Continued; Sebrango’s fate–be it as a member of the Griffins in the AHL, the Walleye in the ECHL, or the Rangers in the OHL–will probably be determined by his performance over the course of the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and main training camp, but most liquids do indeed flow downhill.

Dylan Larkin gives Bultman a health update

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin had to miss the end of the 2020-2021 regular season after being grazed on the neck by a cross-check from Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn. While Larkin avoided surgery for his neck injury, he was limited in his mobility for a good chunk of the offseason.

As such, his report to The Athletic’s Max Bultman regarding his health, while the Power Edge Pro camp visits Detroit, is all good news:

“I feel great,” Larkin said. “Kind of a little blessing, I think, with how my summer’s been — it’s been a lot of rehab, a lot of recovery. I think I needed that.”

In reflecting on the 2020 offseason, Larkin said he thought he might have overdone it a bit while pushing himself so hard during the extra-long, pandemic-induced offseason. (The Red Wings were one of just seven teams that were in their offseason for 10 full months between 2019-20 and 2020-21.)

This time, he was forced into a period of recovery, and as Larkin now gears up for the start of the 2021-22 campaign, he said he’s feeling “refreshed and ready to go.”

The exact timeline, however, is still unfolding, with contact an obviously important benchmark.

“It’s something that is weekly, daily, it depends — I just have to still be cautious,” Larkin said. “I’m trying to push myself to be ready, and I think I will, but there’s still a little bit of an unknown with how everything’s going to respond. But so far, it’s looking good and I’m excited.”

Continued (paywall)