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!

A bit about Dylan Larkin’s fantasy hockey impact from Dobber Hockey

Dobber Hockey’s Michael Clifford has advice for fantasy hockey players looking to pick up a Red Wings player during their fantasy drafts:

Detroit – Dylan Larkin

It seems every year I’m saying the same thing: Dylan Larkin is undervalued. We are saying the same thing again this year. He is going very late in drafts, after guys like Bo Horvat, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Claude Giroux. Now, whether he’ll end up better than all three is unlikely, but this is a different Detroit team. Jakub Vrana is elite offensively, Tyler Bertuzzi is healthy, and there are some kids who are only getting better. It is a concern that he is hitting less, but it isn’t as if that aspect has fallen off the map completely, and he still grabs PIMs at a good rate. If that shooting percentage rebounds in a big way, look out.

Continued

Pronman’s ‘most interesting NHL prospect to watch’ at Detroit’s training camp is Lucas Raymond

The Athletic’s Corey Pronman posted an article in which he discusses the most interesting prospects to watch as NHL training camps open up next week, and he’s not going with Moritz Seider for the Red Wings:

Detroit: Lucas Raymond, LW, Frolunda-SHL

Why is this not Moritz Seider? Because realistically he’s going to be playing and playing a lot next season for Detroit. Where Raymond fits is more of a debate. He was good in Sweden last season but wasn’t amazing. The skill level for the 2020 fourth pick is off the charts, but how a summer of development changed his strength level will be interesting to see at his first NHL camp. I don’t expect him to make Detroit — although I’m not ruling it out — but with his size and lack of elite speed, I’ll be curious how he looks initially and how far away he seems if at all.

Continued (paywall); Raymond was battling through an elbow injury while he “wasn’t amazing” playing for the SHL’s Frolunda HC last year.

A trio of quick takes from Detroit Hockey Now

Of note from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen and Bob Duff:

  1. In the “odds” department, Duff suggests that Alex Nedeljkovic is a decent bet to earn a Vezina Trophy with the Wings, in the parlance of sports betting…

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook BetMGM appear to share Yzerman’s optimism. They’ve established Nedeljkovic as the co-eighth betting choice to win the Vezina Trophy this season. Both Nedeljkovic and Tuukka Rask are opening at odds of +1400. Rask is currently seeking a new contract. Expectations are he’ll rejoin the Boston Bruins at some point this season.

Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning is the +600 favorite. The odds on Nedeljkovic are only slightly longer than that what bettors can get on former Vezina and Hart Trophy winner Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens (+1200).

Among those assigned longer Vezina odds than Nedeljkovic are Stanley Cup winner Jordan Binnington (+2200) of the St. Louis Blues, former Wing Petr Mrazek (+1800) of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Robin Lehner (+1800) of the Vegas Golden Knights, two-time Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky (+2700) of the Florida Panthers and Carter Hart (+3200) of the Philadelphia Flyers.

2. Duff also discusses offer sheets in his daily “Duffer’s Dabbles”…

The Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet drama has concluded. Are there any other NHL teams that might consider going the offer sheet route with a restricted free agent? Pittsbugh Hockey Now contemplated this issue and came up with a short list of likely candidates.

Detroit Red Wings RFA forward Givani Smith was among those who made the list. It’s purely speculative and the Wings certainly have the salary cap space to match any offer made to Smith but it is intriguing, considering he’s the only Red Wings player left without a contract.

3. And, among Kevin Allen’s “Ten Facts Guaranteed to Make a Detroit Red Wings Fan Feel Old“…

Nicklas Lidstrom hasn’t played an NHL game in nine years and he still might be better than anyone on the Red Wings’ defense.

Chris Chelios turns 60 in January.

Dylan Larkin was 11 months old when the Red Wings ended a 41-year old drought by winning the 1997 Stanley Cup.

Scotty Bowman hasn’t coached the Detroit Red Wings in 19 years and he’s 87 now.

The Hockey News’s Larkin discusses the Wings’ uphill battle

The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin chose Monday afternoon to issue a gloomy forecast for the Detroit Red Wings for both the present moment and years to come:

For now, there is no Pavel Datsyuk-caliber of forward on the horizon for Detroit. There is no Nicklas Lidstrom-quality of defender, either. That’s as much a compliment about Lidstrom and Datsyuk as it is a negative comment about the prospects Detroit has in its development system. Sure, they have bright lights such as forwards Jakub Vrana, Tyler Bertuzzi and Robby Fabbri, and defensemen Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek to indicate the cupboard isn’t completely bare, but they remain a longshot at best to earn a playoff berth. And maybe that’s for the best in the bigger picture; does anyone envision them winning a playoff round this season? What they need is more high-end young skill, and you don’t get that by finishing eighth or ninth in the Eastern Conference. You have to go through more pain, and five years of pain clearly hasn’t been enough to position them as a team to keep your eye on.

Yzerman proved in Tampa Bay that he could build a champion, but the situation in Detroit isn’t nearly the same as it was when he started out his managerial career with the Bolts. He has the full confidence of Wings ownership, but all the confidence in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t have the assets to back it up. And as it stands, they don’t look capable of making that competitive jump into the mix with the bonafide Cup frontrunners. You know that has to gall Yzerman, but what can he do? He was a superhero on the ice, but that doesn’t translate to team-building. His reputation is among the best in the league, but that doesn’t mean squat through an 82-game season.

Continued

A pair of Tweets of note: Logo games and ‘breakfast break’ with Jordan Oesterle

From the Red Wings:

  1. Via the Red Wings on Twitter, hockey analyticist JFresh of EliteProspects asked fans to rank the NHL’s best logo, and…

2. And this comes from the Red Wings:

Update: Let’s go for three Tweets of Note:

ECHL announces that their officials will work the Red Wings’ prospect tournament

From the ECHL:

The ECHL announced on Monday that eight ECHL on-ice officials, along with Manager of Officiating Operations Stephen Thomson, will work the 2021 NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan from Sept. 16-20. This marks the ninth consecutive tournament that ECHL officials have worked games.

Debuting in 1988 with four teams, the NHL Prospects Tournament will feature five clubs this year – Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Thomson will be responsible for the selection and scheduling of the officials for each game of the tournament and will assist any playing or rule situation that takes place during the tournament. The officiating staff for the tournament includes four referees and four linesmen.

“I would like to thank the Detroit Red Wings for trusting us with managing the officials for such a highly regarded prospects tournament,” Thomson said. “The Wings and staff at Centre Ice do a phenomenal job of hosting, and with the absence of the 2020-21 tournament, we all can’t wait to get back up to Traverse City.

“This will certainly be a highlight on each of the officials’ resumes and an experience they won’t forget,” Thomson continued. “The opportunity to officiate these players competing for NHL roster spots is invaluable to the officials’ development and will be a good challenge for them as they kick off their 2021-22 season.”

Continue reading ECHL announces that their officials will work the Red Wings’ prospect tournament

Detroit Hockey Now’s Allen offers prospect tournament picks to pluck roster spots

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a subscriber-only article in which he examines the prospects taking part in the Red Wings’ prospect tournament who have the most to gain in terms of attempting to sway Detroit’s brass in the process of earning a roster spot with the big club at some point this season.

Allen offers a few surprise names on his list of seven possible additions:

Joe Veleno: It seems like he can play in the NHL now. The question is whether he would benefit from playing in Grand Rapids for part of this season. The other question is where he will play in Detroit? Would he replace Michael Rasmussen as the No. 3 center and Rasmussen shifts to the wing? Or would it be the other way around? We know he will be a solid NHL player. The question we need answered is how much Veleno will be able to score at the NHL level? Could he eventually be a No. 2 center or do we pencil him in as a No. 3? Veleno turns 22 this season. He’s already played 54 American Hockey League games, a full Swedish season and five NHL games.

Chase Pearson:  Don’t be shocked if Pearson ends up on Detroit’s fourth line this season. But if there are no injuries in training camp, he will have to ‘wow’ coaches to make the team in training camp.

…

Wyatt Newpower:  With Seider already penciled in, there’s no spot on the Red Wings’ defense. But in training camp, young defenseman will be vying for the opportunity to be the call-up if there are injuries. Newpower’s positive is that he is 6-foot-4, skates well enough and competes hard.

Continued (paywall)

Sunday Fund-day

As of Sunday, September 12th, we’re just short of the halfway mark in terms of fundraising for the hotel bill, and I’m heading out grocery shopping to prepare for two weeks of camping out in said hotel room in Traverse City, so the get-up-to-TC fund is going to need some replenishment.

We’re doing great thus far–with the Paypal account at $800 of the $2,100 hotel fundraising goal (it’s up from $2,000 due to extra taxes this time around) and the Venmo account at $200, but Venmo money’s heading toward grocery shopping today, so that’s going to be the issue in terms of trying to raise another $120 or so to for gas, snacks and food to get me up to Traverse City.

The margins are tight, but they’re always tight at this time of year, and with my dry cleaning and other non-food supplies paid for, we’re inching closer to a real halfway mark with two days to go till I head up on Tuesday, and the first half of the hotel bill comes due.

Then we work on second-half fundraising to ensure that I can come home on the 29th instead of taking a job at the hotel 😉

If you’re willing to lend a hand, you can use Paypal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com, and yes, you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check.

Thanks again for your readership and time.