The Malik Report

Forbes’ Kurt Badenhausen has published Forbes’ annual list of the richest owners in professional sports. Red Wings owner Marian Ilitch is listed at the halfway mark of the 42-team-owner list:

24. Marian Ilitch

NET WORTH: $4 billion

SOURCE OF WEALTH: Little Caesars

TEAM(S): Detroit Red Wings

Continued; Mrs. Ilitch isn’t listed as the Tigers’ owner as the team is held in a family trust due to Mrs. I’s ownership of the MotorCity Casino.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Ilitches run Olympia Entertainment, Olympia Development, and several Foodservice companies in addition to Little Caesars.

The Athletic’s Scott Burnside posted a massive article this morning, discussing the “offseason priorities” for each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams. Burnside suggests that the Red Wings need to maximize their salary cap space by offering salary cap relief to another team in exchange for a roster reinforcement:

Continue reading On adding ‘bad contracts’ vs. ‘running lean’

The Toledo Walleye have been building their 2020-2021 season roster over the course of this past summer, and they’ve trended toward signing a younger and slightly undersized set of skilled players this year.

The Walleye have also tapped players with local ties, and the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe profiles their “hometown” signing in Sylvania, Ohio’s Gordi Myer, a 24-year-old defenseman who’s just graduated from Ohio State University:

Walleye coach Dan Watson said Myer’s skating ability allows him to be effective in all areas of the ice.

“He has the ability to defend because of his mobility,” Watson said. “He can certainly join the rush and beat opponents up ice and he can take time and space away.”

In his final 36 games at Ohio State, Myer tallied a career-high five goals and nine assists, putting him second in points among the team’s defensemen. Myer was a member of the senior class that earned three straight NCAA berths, including a Frozen Four trip in 2018.

“It was awesome,” Myer said. “As a freshman, I did not realize what it meant to play at Ohio State. But as it went along, being from Toledo and with the border battle being so big, it was everything I thought it would be and more.”

Watson said he also was drawn to Myer’s leadership abilities.

“He was a captain at a very good program at Ohio State. I think that alone shows that he has good character, is willing to get better, and wants to be a piece of the puzzle here in Toledo,” Watson said.

Continued;

This morning, I Googled what turns out to be a misunderstanding of presidential proportions: as it turns out, the familiar American metaphor insisting the Chinese word for “crisis” also means “opportunity” is, sadly, incorrect.

Instead, the Chinese character for “crisis” more readily translates to “danger = point of change” (thank you Wikipedia), and that the point at which we find The Malik Report today.

Put bluntly:

Continue reading Status update: Hooray, TMR’s server bill is paid off!

The Athletic’s Max Bultman flexes his creative instincts this morning, applying lessons which the Red Wings can learn from each and every one of the NHL’s Conference Final teams. Of Bultman’s four applicable lessons learned, his assessment of the Dallas Stars’ complementary “cores” will most likely apply to the Red Wings’ present and future generations of star players:

[The Stars’] standard bearers, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, are either deep into (or past) what most would consider to be their “peak” prime. Seguin is likely still there, although approaching the tail end, at 28. Benn is 31. Their running mate, Alexander Radulov, is 34. Heck, John Klingberg and Joe Pavelski are 28 and 36, respectively, too.

But it’s just the beginning for 21-year-old Miro Heiskanen, who has been a dominant force in this year’s playoffs and may well have a Norris Trophy in his future. Denis Gurianov, Dallas’ 23-year-old former first-round pick, is second only to Heiskanen in scoring for Dallas during these playoffs. Roope Hintz is 23.

Neither of those two cores, without the other, is likely still standing at this stage. One would likely be easing out of its window, another just entering the picture. Instead, the windows have merged, allowing Dallas to weather a slow restart by Benn and Seguin and pull the upset over an Avalanche team that could have very plausibly won it all.

Bultman continues (paywall)

The Grand Rapids Griffins posted a press release which highlights Grand Rapids’ connections to the NHL’s four remaining teams. As it turns out, no matter which team goes on to win the Stanley Cup, a Griffins alumnus will be part of the winning team:

Continue reading Press release: One way or another, a former Griffin will win a Stanley Cup this year

Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek is currently practicing with HK Mountfield (a.k.a. Hradec Kralove Mountfield) in the Czech Republic, and Hronek spoke with Sport.cz’s Jan Svanda today regarding playing for the team whose organization developed him into an NHL player.

What follows is roughly translated from Czech, and I need to emphasize the roughly part here (Czech is not Swedish or German):

Continue reading Roughly translated: Filip Hronek speaks with Sport.cz about playing for his hometown team

Former Red Wings forward Darren McCarty is the subject of an auction held by Detroit’s Higher Hopes, a charity that raises funds to combat child hunger. If you make a $1-or-greater donation to the charity affords one an entry or entries (one entry per dollar) in a raffle to win a round of golf with the Grind Time With Darren McCarty podcast host at the Links of Novi golf course.

The raffle will be held on September 12th, and McCarty spoke with Fox 2 Detroit’s Charlie Langton this morning regarding the raffle:

I’m never quite sure whether to post these “blurb” articles, but I’m going to err on the side of, “They might want to read it” in this instance. Anyway, 2020 NHL draft prospect Alexander Holtz scored a goal and added an assist for Djurgardens IF in a preseason tournament in the SHL, and Aftonbladet’s Anton Johansson noted that Red Wings director of European scouting Hakan Andersson was in attendance.

Andersson was asked about Holtz’s exploits, and here’s what he had to say (roughly translated, anyway) about NHL Central Scouting’s second-best-ranked European skater:

Alexander Holtz is expected to go high in the NHL draft to be held in October. Detroit’s longtime scout Hakan Andersson was also in attendance at the Scaniarinken to study the talents on the ice.

And he’s impressed by Holtz.

“In my world, he’s probably a top-ten player (in the draft),” he says in Sportbladet’s studio.

But Andersson also came with some constructive criticism of Holtz’s goal, wherein the 18-year-old chose to receive the puck instead of shooting right away.

“In the NHL, the chance is closed when you don’t shoot right away,” he says. “The goalies are faster and the defensemen cover shots better, so if he doesn’t shoot immediately, that chance disappears. But he will learn that, he’s so smart.”

Red Wings goaltending prospect Filip Larsson engaged in a very, very lengthy interview with Hockeysverige.se’s Rasmus Kagstrom this morning, and here’s a rough translation of the monster interview:

Filip Larsson: Many days were really hard

Former World Junior Championship goaltender Filip Larsson discusses his autumn in Almtuna, his difficult debut season as a professional in North America, the stomach problems that kept him away from the game for two months–and the details that will take his game to the next level.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Filip Larsson engages in a lengthy interview with Hockeysverige.se