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Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff touched upon the preseason performances of Red Wings prospects and 2022 draft picks Marco Kasper, Anton Johansson and Dmitri Buchelnikov today (and I happened to talk about Kasper and Buchelnikov yesterday).

To me, the most interesting situation involves Buchelnikov, who’s making a very hard push to skip the MHL, the Russian version of Major Junior Hockey, in attempt to make SKA St. Petersburg’s KHL roster as an 18-year-old:

In an article on KHL.ru, KHL TV commentator Anton Vasyatin was touting Red Wings draft pick Dmitri Buchelnikov (52nd overall, 2022) as a contender for the Alexei Cherepanov Prize as the KHL’s top rookie performer.

Describing Buchelnikov as a “fast, nimble forward,” Vasyatin is also noting that it will be a challenge for Buchelnikov to crack the SKA St. Petersburg lineup.

The fact that he shoots right, a rare quality among Russian players, could help him earn the opportunity. Though he’s been skating on the fourth line in preseason, Buchelnikov is producing on the SKA power play.

“His main advantage is his shot,” Vasytin noted of Buchelnikov. “Even in the most difficult situations in terms of receiving the puck, Buchelnikov manages to handle it without problems and shoot it very sharply and accurately.”

The article which Duff references is on the KHL’s Russian-language website, and Anton Vasyatin is asked to compile a list of players who might compete for the above-mentioned Cherepanov Prize. Buchelnikov is listed 6th out of 10 players that Vasyatin names. Here’s a rough translation of what he says:

Continue reading Via DHN’s Duff: Talking about Dmitri Buchelnikov’s surprising preseason

Red Wings prospect Albin Grewe spoke with HockeyNews.se’s Alexander Nilsson recently regarding the 21-year-old winger’s bumpy road over the past couple of seasons. Here’s a rough translation of their conversation:

Grewe about his strange time in Finland and the missed move to Canada

SUNDSVALL, Sweden. His OHL dreams crashed. The move to Finland was a flop, and then he was absent for two months. Albin Grewe’s last couple of hockey years have been messy.

“I think it was strange that they took me in from the beginning, to be honest,” he tells HockeyNews.se about his short stay in Finland.

Fiery forward Albin Grewe had been able to show himself in the SHL with Djurgarden and on the Swedish national junior team before Detroit drafted him in the 3rd round [66th overall] in the 2019 draft.

A year later, Grewe, together with Detroit and Djurgarden, concluded that playing in the Canadian Major Junior league the OHL was the best way forward.

The now 21-year-old forward had therefore prepared himself for a move to North America in 2020, but that didn’t happen.

Due to the pandemic, the start of the OHL season was postponed, and Grewe remained with Djurgarden before he had to go over [the Atlantic] at the end of the 2020-2021 season, then for games in the AHL with Grand Rapids.

“It was tough. I would have liked to go over and play in the OHL, I think it would have been good for me to play over there high up in the lineup and get a lot of confidence, which was the plan. So it was clear that when it didn’t turn out that way, it was a shame. But I earned the chance to play in the SHL instead, which I thought was incredibly fun,” says Grewe to HockeyNews.se.

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Albin Grewe speaks with HockeyNews.se

Okay, so it’s 2 AM on a Saturday in late August, and it’s annoying me that nobody’s talked about this, so it’s my blog, and I’m going to talk about it.

Filip Zadina was signed to a 3-year contract at $1.825 million in its Annual Average Value, or AAV. But the contract vacillates pretty wildly from year to year.

In its first year (use PuckPedia or CapFriendly, whatever you prefer), Zadina will only earn $915,000 in real-world dollars, which is easy to swallow and fairly easy for a GM to say, “Well, if we have to waive him to put him in the AHL, we’re not losing much, nor is a team that might want to take a chance on him.”

But there’s a catch. In year two, Zadina makes $1.83 million, and by year three–2023-2024, when the salary cap is expected to rise significantly–Zadina earns $2.73 million, for a total of $5.475 million in salary.

Continue reading A little late-night ramble about Filip Zadina’s contract structure

The last post on Marco Kasper and Dmitri Buchelnikov’s preseason performances is a case of “putting the cart before the horse,” and as much of a Simon Edvinsson believer as I am, I still think that NHL.com’s Fantasy Hockey crew of Pete Jensen and Anna Dua might be doing something similar.

They were tasked with picking the Top 10 fantasy hockey rookies, and I’m all for accentuating the positive here at TMR, but there are caveats to this line of thinking:

Simon Edvinsson, D, DET
No. 6 pick in 2021 NHL Draft
NHL.com fantasy rank: 216

He has yet to make his NHL debut with the Detroit Red Wings but should benefit from them acquiring goalie Ville Husso (from St. Louis Blues) and signing forwards David Perron and Andrew Copp. In a best-case scenario, Edvinsson (left shot) would play on the top pair with reigning Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider (right shot) and should be considered a top 50 fantasy defenseman after his success in the Swedish Hockey League (19 points in 44 games last season).

Continued; it would be fantastic if Edvinsson ends the regular season on the Wings’ top defensive pairing, but, as Jensen and Dua suggest, it’s definitely a “best-case scenario.”

Let’s see what he does at the prospect tournament, training camp and during the exhibition season first.

Now it’s the preseason in Sweden, where the SHL doesn’t even play hockey until after the Red Wings are in training camp (I believe they start on the 17th), but Marco Kasper scored two goals today in Rogle BK’s 4-0 win over the Vaxjo Lakers, as noted by the must-follow IceHockeyGifs on Twitter…

Marco Kasper sneaks in a bad angle goal to give Rögle a 1-0 lead #LGRW pic.twitter.com/mWoXRwbF1N— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) August 26, 2022

Marco Kasper snipes his 2nd goal of the game #LGRW pic.twitter.com/BAFwZZAXfw— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) August 26, 2022

And you can watch Kasper speak near-perfect Swedish, and goaltender Calle Clang do the same thing (and coach Cam Abbott speak in English), in the latest episode of “Grönt & Vitt,” or “Green and White”:

Rogle will be headed overseas to play in Champions Hockey League games on the 1st of September against Polish club GKS Katowice.

For what it’s worth, Dmitri Buchelnikov is ripping it up in the KHL preseason, too. He’s slated to play in the MHL, the Russian Under-20 league, this season, but he’s making a big push for the KHL (with the KHL season near–SKA’s regular season starts on September 3rd):

🚨 Dmitri Buchelnikov PP #LGRW
4-1 SKA #Puchkov #KHL pic.twitter.com/dWWNIyLsvb— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) August 26, 2022

I highly caution you to not get carried away with these achievements, as the SHL and KHL preseasons are a month long, but it’s cool to see nonetheless.

I’m not thrilled to be posting this, but nobody else seems to have noticed this report from Saskatoon’s CKOM 580:

Mike Babcock is hanging up his whistle for good. Maybe.

During a chat with Gormley guest host Brent Loucks on Friday, Babcock said he was retiring from coaching hockey. When Loucks asked the former University of Saskatchewan Huskies head coach if he would listen if an NHL team called, Babcock left the door open a crack.

“We always said we were going to retire at 60 and I’m 59, so basically that’s what it is,” he said. “Now, if things change, I guess they change, but surely that’s not our plan.

“Believe me, we’ve talked to lots of people about opportunities and enjoyed those conversations. In the end, we feel this is best for us and best for our family and so that’s what we’re doing.”

Continued

This is text because I’m sitting in a Walgreens pharmacy on an emergency run for the aunt…

But the Red Wings have Tweeted that Filip Zadina has been signed to a 3-year extension at an AAV of $1.825 million dollars.

This is a solid contract for a player who will hopefully reestablish himself as a promising prospect in the third line with Suter and Kubalik.

UPDATE: The #RedWings today signed forward Filip Zadina to a three-year contract. pic.twitter.com/APrLPGoHhc— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 26, 2022

FIL! ✍️🙌 pic.twitter.com/7OxdrKNi7B— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 26, 2022

Detroit Red Wings #LGRW update after signing Filip Zadina to a 3 year $1.825M AAV contract

$8,171,111 cap space
Roster size: 23 (13F – 8D – 2G – 1IR)https://t.co/GaaasGkfKA

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) August 26, 2022

After signing Zadina for $1.825M, the #RedWings have $8.1M Cap Space with a full 23 players on roster (14F/7D/2G) + Pysyk IR.https://t.co/HAIiEpHuTX pic.twitter.com/jiBs7UxJKp— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) August 26, 2022

Friday press release:

Continue reading Red Wings re-sign Filip Zadina for 3 years at $1.825 million AAV

It’s a day of unpleasant tasks for me, so I may as well do this one as well:

After having to pay some bills that were unexpected in nature, I still find myself significantly short in terms of being able to afford the yearly payments that I make to Bluehost ($251.88) and Jetpack ($99) to host my site, and the “fix the Pacifica,” “Shop for Traverse City (dry cleaning included)” and “Actually pay the hotel bill” funds are, as of yet, empty, so I have to ask.

If you’re able to lend a hand, I’ve got just under three weeks until I leave for the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and training camp in Traverse City, and I need your help to get up there.

Let’s see whether we can get it done.

If you’re are willing to help, 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 you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check.

The Red Wings website’s Jonathan Mills’ “Roster Reset” discusses the team’s depth at the left wing position this morning:

Headlining the group is Tyler Bertuzzi, who finished as the Red Wings’ second-highest scorer last season by setting career-highs in goals (30), assists (32) and points (62) in 68 games. It was a bounce-back campaign for the 27-year-old, who played just nine games in 2020-21 due to a nagging back injury.

Bertuzzi, who enters the final season of a two-year contract he signed in 2021, remains focused on his development.

“I think every year, I’ve gotten a bit better in different skillsets,” Bertuzzi said on May 4. “Juniors, I got better every year just because you’re so young. And in the pros, I think I’m gonna continue to get better every year.”

Another player who impressed last season was Lucas Raymond, who earned his way onto Detroit’s Opening Night roster last October and never looked back.

In his debut NHL campaign, the 20-year-old finished third among all rookies in points (57), fourth in assists (34), tied for second in goals (23) and was one of only three first-year skaters to play all 82 games.

Continued, with both Dominik Kubalik and David Perron listed as left wingers. Something tells me that both players will shore up the Wings’ second and/or third lines playing to the right of their respective centers.

I know that some Red Wings fans are already freaking out about the fact that the Wings have yet to re-sign two players who could become unrestricted free agents in Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi.

I’m more of a, “Wait and see” person, and I assumed that both players’ extensions are both a) inevitable and b) difficult to negotiate, so I’ll only start worrying if both players are still un-signed come next January or February.

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the likely shape of a prospective Larkin extension this morning. Khan notes that Larkin has both changed his representatives in terms of player agencies and that Larkin has a no-trade clause in his current contract:

Coming off his most productive season since 2018-19, picking up 31 goals and 69 points in 71 games, Larkin is due for a sizeable bump from the $6.1 million cap hit on his current contract. Where does he slot in? That might not be sorted out until well into the season.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Larkin’s camp is seeking more than $9 million a year. According to capfriendly.com, 35 players currently have a cap hit of $9 million or more, including 10 centers.

Sam Reinhart of Florida isn’t one of them but has remarkably similar statistics as Larkin. Reinhart has 167 goals and 210 assists in 532 career games; Larkin has 147 goals and 211 assists in 504 games. Both have averaged .71 points per game. Both are 26 and drafted in 2014 (Reinhart second overall, Larkin 15th).

Reinhart signed a three-year deal one year ago that has a $6.5 million cap hit. Larkin will get much more than that, perhaps in the $8 million range.

If talks extend well into the season, Larkin’s performance could influence the cap figure. It likely will be an eight-year deal, the maximum term to which teams can sign their own players. Including the upcoming season, that would take the contract through the 2030-31 season when he’s 34.

Khan continues; bluntly speaking, I’d place the “odds” of Larkin being traded very low, at or under 5%, and numbers-wise, I’m guessing that he’ll earn $7-8 million per season.