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!

Roughly Translated: Aftonbladet reports that Jonatan Berggren will play in the Karjala Cup

According to Aftonbladet’s Anton Johansson and Tomas Ros, Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren, who has posted 2 goals and 14 assists over the course of 10 SHL games played for Skelleftea AIK this season, will be playing for Sweden during the Karjala Cup in Finland this November. This is a big deal as the Karjala Cup is seen as one of the warm-up tournaments for the World Championship.

Johansson and Ros report that Sweden’s official Karjala Cup roster will be released to the public on Monday.

Early morning Wings SHL .gifs: Seider scores for Rogle; Berggren posts 3 assists for Skelleftea

Updated 3x at 11:31 AM: Of Red Wings Swedish .gif-related note early on a Saturday morning:

  1. Moritz Seider scored a goal for Rogle BK to open the scoring against Skelleftea AIK…

2. But a kick pass from Jonatan Berggren to teammate Andreas Wingerli tied the game at 2…

3. And Berggren set up the go-ahead goal (which didn’t last as the “go-ahead goal” for long in a high-scoring game):

C More also posted a 5-minute profile of Lucas Raymond before the Frolunda Indians’ game vs. Lulea Hockey:

Albert Johansson (Farjestads BK vs. Leksands IF), Joe Veleno and Malte Setkov (Malmo Redhawks vs. Oskarshamn) and Matias Brome (Orebro vs. Vaxjo) are also playing today as all 5 SHL games being played today feature Red Wings prospects.

For Frolunda, Elmer Soderblom got demoted to the 13th forward, and Theodor Niederbach sat out the game…

Laget är här. Karl Henriksson är tillbaka i spel, sätts i kedja med Patrik Carlsson och Johan Sundström. Theodor Niederbach utgår och Johan Mattsson vaktar kassen. pic.twitter.com/pAgSMQoGSx— Frölunda Indians (@frolunda_hc) October 24, 2020

Elsewhere, Kirill Tyutyayev will be playing in Belarus today; Victor Brattstrom (KooKoo) and Eemil Viro (TPS Turku) will play in Finland; the Swedish J20 league is underway, and Kienan Draper and the Chilliwack Chiefs will play a game early this evening.

Update: Berggren avoids a nasty bodycheck…

Continue reading Early morning Wings SHL .gifs: Seider scores for Rogle; Berggren posts 3 assists for Skelleftea

Chris Osgood appears on ‘The Cam and Strick Podcast’

Red Wings alumnus and Fox Sports Detroit commentator Chris Osgood appeared on “The Cam and Strick Podcast” with Cam Janssen and Andy Strickland today, speaking for an hour and forty-five minutes regarding all things Wings-related:

Here are your other options for listening…

And a couple of teasers:

Continue reading Chris Osgood appears on ‘The Cam and Strick Podcast’

Ramble time: kudos to the Wings for expressing their displeasure with the damn draft lottery

It appears that Steve Yzerman made the Red Wings’ position regarding a draft lottery which has dropped the Red Wings a total of 8 spots over the past three years known to the rest of the league’s general managers on Friday, because Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported the following regarding today’s GM’s “meeting” (via conference call)…

A good chunk of the two-hour discussion was spent on the draft lottery. There are calls to change the format, to increase the odds for teams that finish lowest. While there’s a recognition this was a unique year and not the norm, Detroit was incredibly upset with dropping to fourth after a season where it was clear the Red Wings were not tanking.

The league last tinkered with the odds in 2015, dropping the last-place finisher’s chances of winning from 25 to 20 per cent. Detroit does have support for its position, but the league asked for specific proposals.

And TSN’s Frank Seravalli corroborated the discussion:

Continue reading Ramble time: kudos to the Wings for expressing their displeasure with the damn draft lottery

Prospect round-up: Brattstrom backstops KooKoo to a win; Lindstrom posts 2A for Almtuna; Niederbach 2+2 in J20 league

Of prospect-related note this afternoon:

In the ICE Hockey League, Jesper Eliasson served as the back-up in the Red Bulls Salzburg’s 4-1 loss to the Vienna Capitals;

Michael Rasmussen remained injured as his Graz99ers won 3-2 in OT over HCB Foxes;

In the Finnish Liiga, Victor Brattstrom stopped 16 of 17 shots as KooKoo won 4-1 over Jukurit;

Eemil Viro finished at -2 in 19:25 played as TPS Turku lost 4-1 to Lukko;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Gustav Lindstrom had 2 assists, finished at +3 and played 24:49 in Almtuna IS’s 4-2 win over AIK;

And in the Swedish J20 league, William Wallinder scored a goal in MODO Hockey’s 5-4 loss to Leksands IF;

And Theodor Niederbach had 2 goals and 2 assists in the Frolunda Indians’ 9-2 win over Oskarshamn, finishing at +4.

Theodor Niederbach (DET) has 26 points in 14 games.

But not enough to make the national team, apparently.— Jokke Nevalainen (@JokkeNevalainen) October 23, 2020

Update: Kienan Draper took 3 minor penalties in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 3-0 loss to Surrey.

Khan: Wings, Bertuzzi submit arbitration briefs

Per MLive’s Ansar Khan:

Tyler Bertuzzi will more than double his salary from last season. How much remains to be seen.

The sides have submitted their briefs prior to Sunday’s arbitration hearing. Bertuzzi is asking for $4.25 million and the team countered with $3.15 million, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Bertuzzi, 25, earned $1.4 million last season, when he led the Red Wings with 21 goals, the second year in a row he’s reached that total, and tallied 48 points, one more than his career high from the previous season.

Update: Here’s more from the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

It’s common practice for a player to aim high and a team to aim low. The sides can continue to negotiate with one another even after an arbitration hearing has started.

In 2018, then-RFA Andreas Athanasiou filed for arbitration, but the sides reached an agreement before needing an arbitrator. 

If an arbitrator decides, it will be for a one-year deal, leaving Bertuzzi an RFA again next summer.

Bertuzzi, 25, certainly has earned a raise on the $2.8 million deal he’s coming off. He led the Wings last season with 21 goals, the second consecutive season he’s hit that mark. He also reached a career-high 48 points.

DobberProspects’ Zahorak posts Wings-heavy SHL report

DobberProspects’ Tomas Zahorak posted a Swedish Hockey League report, and said report includes discussions regarding four Red Wings prospects:

Jonatan Berggren, LW, Skellefteå AIK (Detroit Red Wings): Imagine a missile flying full speed right through your defense. That is the perfect description of  Jonatan Berggren’s game during this season. Right from the start, it seemed like he already forgot about a little underwhelming preseason and started producing on a whole new level. But do not get me wrong, I have been high on him since the beginning of September, but the production just did not come until the serious games started. Then he exploded just like the missile, hitting the back of the net twice and setting up teammates for 11 goals in nine games. 

Berggren plays all-around the ice. He is just everywhere. Focused, more mature, and in the best shape, I have seen him in a while. He is still very fast, very skilled, but now also more physical, confident, and just better overall. I, personally, have loved him since game one. If he can stay healthy, I am pretty sure that he is going to have a huge season.

…

Lucas Raymond, LW, Frölunda HC (Detroit Red Wings): Raymond’s game has been steadily progressing and evolving very well. It is not a secret that he is an excellent overall player with a tremendous skill set and a very accurate wrist shot. He has been using all these tools to its full potential while adding physicality, which is paying off perfectly. The fourth selection in the 2020 NHL Draft has already scored three goals and recorded 5 points in nine games. He has been averaging slightly over 15 minutes of ice time per game and collecting seven hits, which ties him for the sixth place on the team. 

Continued, with scouting reports of Albert Johansson and Matias Brome…

Bultman posts a Q and A with Shawn Horcoff

The Athletic’s Max Bultman and Prashanth Iyer spoke with Red Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff in their latest “Wings For Breakfast” podcast, and this morning, Bultman posted part of his Q and A with Horcoff in article form:

You mentioned Nik [Kronwall], his first year with the player development department last year. What did you notice as the early advantages of that? What have been the impacts of Nik joining?

First off, we needed a defenseman. … Danny (Cleary, the Red Wings’ assistant director of player development) was a winger, I played center, we talked a little bit about trying to add a defenseman to the group, especially someone that played. And then when Nik came by, that’s hitting a home run, to be able to get one of the better Red Wing defensemen of all time. Obviously someone that played his position at an elite level for many years, but also just the road he took to get there.

We didn’t have anyone on the development staff that had played in Europe; obviously Nik grew up there and played there. He took his time coming over, he played in Grand Rapids. His development curve was a little bit longer, so that really also helped really round out our experience as a development staff.

We feel like there’s over 3,000 games or close to it between the three of us, and really there’s not a situation that we haven’t been in before, whether it’s a scoring winger to a grinding centerman to a defenseman (that) played all special teams out there, in the important times of the games, out there in the last minute, and obviously leadership as well. We’ve all held leadership positions on our team before. So I think we feel like we’re in a great position in terms of what we can offer these kids as a staff.

Continued (paywall)

Two things: A bit about Blashill from LeBrun and ‘Way Too Early’ power rankings

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

  1. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun posted an article which discusses whether certain coaches are close to contract extensions, and LeBrun included Jeff Blashill on his list:

Jeff Blashill, Detroit Red Wings: Blashill had his one-year option picked up by the rebuilding Red Wings after last season. I don’t have any hard intel on this situation but my gut tells me not to expect anything on this front, either way, anytime soon.

2. Also, NBC Washington’s J.J. Regan compiled a list of “Too Early 2020 NHL Power Rankings,” and the Red Wings are mentioned first…as the last-place team:

31. Detroit Red Wings: The offseason was a nice change of pace for Detroit as the team picked up some actual NHL players. In all seriousness, GM Steve Yzerman did some good work in picking up cheap, experienced players who can make the team better right away while also not mortgaging the team’s future. They are still not great, but they won’t be the embarrassment they were in 2019-20.