The Malik Report

Of brief Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Joe Starkey answered reader questions today, and one of those questions involved a hypothetical trade between the Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford and the Detroit Red Wings:

Dave Ryckman, @dryckman_13: With GMJR including a first rounder in [Kasperi] Kapanen trade I’m inclined to believe he feels he can get a first in a deal for [goaltender Matt[ Murray. Do you see a team out there willing to part with their pick to land him? Quite a few teams need a No. 1 goalie. Need to hit home run with that move imo!

Starkey: I’ll take a double, Dr. Ryckman. I’m not sure there are a ton of teams willing to part with something significant (such as a first-round pick) for Murray. Kevin Allen of USA Today recently told me he believes the Detroit Red Wings would be interested, but not at that price.

Might the Minnesota Wild and GM Bill Guerin be interested? I think that’s a distinct possibility. Carolina, Calgary or Edmonton might see Murray as a guy who could put them over the top in big games. All it takes is one. I’m just not convinced there is one — at least not at the price of a first-round pick.

At this point, the Red Wings don’t need to invest a first-round pick in a starting goalie. No way, no how.

2. DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji examined Frans Nielsen’s 2019-2020 season “By the Numbers” today, so this is your friendly reminder that Nielsen is signed for 2 more seasons at $5.25 million:

Continue reading Afternoon round-up: Discussing a hypothetical Wings-Penguins trade; on Nielsen’s ‘numbers,’ Matt Ellis moving up the hockey ladder and the ‘Rink2Reef’ program

Earlier this summer, Red Wings prospect Albin Grewe “crossed the pond,” signing with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit after the Canadian Hockey League’s import draft.

Grewe, a physical forward, hoped to play much more regularly than he did as a member of Djurgardens IF in Sweden.

Grewe had some harsh words for Djurgardens because he felt that he was unable to earn a regular shift with the team during the 2019-2020 season; instead, Grewe often played on the SHL team’s fourth line, as a 13th forward, or he played in the Under-20 league.

As it turns out, the OHL’s decision to not start their 2020-2021 season until December has Grewe looking for a little redemption with the team he “dissed.”

Hockeysverge.se’s Mans Karlsson reports that Grewe is walking back his harsher remarks as he prepares to spend a couple of months skating his way toward regular playing time. What follows is a rough translation of Karlsson’s article:

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Albin Grewe discusses his sophomore SHL season with Hockeysverige.se

Prospect guru Corey Pronman is working his way through the developmental systems of the NHL’s 31 teams at present.

This morning, Pronman ranks the Red Wings as having the 18th-best prospect pipeline in the NHL, based upon his ranking of the Wings’ top 11 (and, ultimately, 17 total) prospects.

Pronman’s assessment of Moritz Seider leads off his excellent article:

1. Moritz Seider, D, Grand Rapids-AHL

April 6, 2001 | 6-foot-4 | 207 pounds

Tier: High-end NHL player

Skating: 55
Puck Skills: 55
Physical Game: 70
Hockey Sense: 55

Seider had a great first season in North America, playing big minutes for Grand Rapids as a teenager and was one of the top defensemen at the world juniors. Seider isn’t a flashy player but he’s very well-rounded. He’s a 6-foot-4 defenseman who is highly mobile for his size, can move the puck well and is a top-end defender. His wingspan, great mobility and elite physicality allow him to make so many stops and project as a tough minutes defenseman in the NHL. Seider can move the puck, although I don’t ever see him as a big offensive player, as there will be stretches he can be quite bland with the puck. There are stretches he makes a very nice outlet pass with pace as well.

Continued (Paywall). I’ve got no problem with Pronman’s overall ranking of the Red Wings as having dropped from 13th to 18th overall in prospect rankings this season, but it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m a little more bullish on the Wings’ youngsters.

Here’s hoping that the Red Wings snag more NHL-caliber players during this fall’s NHL Draft. Perhaps that may move Pronman’s needle in a more positive direction.

Red Wings forward Darren Helm is teaming up with Humble Design, a non-profit agency that helps people exiting domestic violence shelters and homeless shelters furnish their places of residence, to hold a “Virtual 5K” to raise funds for the organization. Here’s a press release regarding Helm’s involvement with the charity…

Local Red Wings Player Darren Helm and his family want to share their support for a local nonprofit, Humble Design.

Several years ago the Detroit Red Wings and the Lady Wings, teamed up to completely furnish the home of the Finleys, who had been staying in a homeless shelter until they could transition to permanent housing. After learning that the Finleys had nothing but an air mattress, a few camp chairs, and not much else, they volunteered to work for a day putting together all the things the Humble Design team had curated from their warehouse.

It was an unforgettable experience for Darren and his wife, Devon. When they heard that Humble Design was hosting a Virtual 5K August 31-September 7, they wanted to help. Darren told us, “It’s important to me, my wife, and our kids that we do what we can during this time.”

The press release continues, and Humble Design‘s YouTube channel posted a short video in which Helm’s family promotes the Virtual 5K:

The Red Wings lost an assistant coach to the United States National Team Development Program this past week as Adam Nightingale headed to Plymouth to coach the U.S. Under-17 team. WXYZ’s Brad Galli posted a video report on Nightingale and Adam Muse’s hiring as the U-17 and Under-18 teams’ head coaches, respectively:

The Athletic posts its daily crop of articles around 7 AM each morning, so I’m probably going to post whatever they discuss regarding the Red Wings in a single post most mornings. I don’t want to lean on their paywalls too heavily, and I simply feel that posting separate entries for multiple articles is a little…Spammy.

So:

1. This morning, Red Wings beat writer Max Bultman examines the possible “fits” of this year’s unrestricted free agents on defense (click for CapFriendly’s list of UFA defensemen), including Livonia native Torey Krug, who’s been linked to the Red Wings by every Red Wings fan and every Red Wings pundit as a possible Hometown Hero:

Continue reading The Athletic morning round-up: Bultman discusses Wings’ UFA options on defense; DGB plays roster Sudoku

My Waffle House Hot Takes regarding the 2020 NHL Draft involve: (1) lot of complaining about the draft lottery being stupid (I don’t believe that the NHL should reward mediocre teams with a 50% chance of earning a top 3 draft pick at the expense of teams that really need help); and (2) the belief that the Red Wings should use their 4th overall pick to snag the player with the highest developmental ceiling, regardless of whom that player might be.

If I were to “show my hand,” I’d suggest that the Wings take Erie Otters defenseman Jamie Drysdale on October 9th and run for the hills, but one never knows what GM Steve Yzerman or director of amateur scouting Kris Draper are thinking.

That being said, there’s been a lot of buzz about the Wings snagging Ottawa 67’s center Marco Rossi, Frolunda Indians winger Lucas Raymond, and, more and more regularly, the Wings are tied to Saginaw Spirit forward Cole Perfetti over Drysdale thanks to the “local ties” (see: Draper and company have probably seen a lot of Perfetti as he’s in the Wings’ backyard, and both Chris Osgood and Jimmy Devellano have ownership stakes in the Spirit) and the Wings’ build-up-the-middle philosophy.

Chris Peters posted a mock draft for ESPN+ this morning, and he’s on the Perfetti train:

Continue reading ESPN’s Peters suggests that Wings should go for the Perfetti fit in the 2020 draft

The Detroit Red Wings’ salary cap situation looks pretty good heading into the 2020-2021 season. Per CapFriendly and PuckPedia, the Wings have somewhere between $32 and $34 million in cap space (under what will be a $81.5 million “flat cap” for the next two seasons) after having re-signed Robby Fabbri to a 2-year, $5.9 million contract.

The Wings have two more big priorities on the restricted free agent market: Tyler Bertuzzi will be looking for a big raise over his $1.4 million salary this past season thanks to a 21-goal, 48-point 2019-2020 campaign, and Anthony Mantha posted 38 points in a 43-game, injury-abbreviated season, so he’ll be looking for more than his $3.3 million salary this past season as well.

In terms of the team’s unrestricted free agents:

Continue reading Restricted free agent questions for the Wings: to qualify or not qualify?

The blog is back, up and running again, and there’s good news on the fundraising front: Day 1 of TMR, Take 3 produced $244 in funding, or just over half the $426 I need to cover the bills for this year’s Bluehost server bill, Jetpack’s web bill and Dlvr.it’s Twitter service.

I still need help, however, so if you can lend a hand, please head over to https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport or Giftly.com (using my email address, rtxg@yahoo.com). I’ll also utilize other fundraising sources if that would make your part of the process easier and simpler.

Thank you for your time and your readership.

The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press have installed paywalls, offering would-be subscribers a $3-a-month rate for the first three months of a subscription that increases to $9.99 per month.

For the past two weeks, the News has posted lengthy hockey articles. Last week, Mark Falkner profiled agent Dan Milstein, and, this week, Red Wings beat writer Ted Kulfan engages in a lengthy Q and A session with Columbus Blue Jackets goaltending coach (and former Red Wing) Manny Legace.

Legace accompanied the Blue Jackets into the Toronto “Bubble” for round robin and playoff play, and he spoke with Kulfan regarding his experiences in Toronto:

“I wish I was still there,” said Legace, alluding to his team being eliminated.

“I’m glad I was a part of it. It was actually really, really cool, because how often do you see eight teams walking around a hotel, a hotel that’s closed down for just NHL teams, and your meeting rooms are right across the hall from the New York Rangers, and you have the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto (Maple Leafs) downstairs. It was just real cool. It was amazing.”

For Legace, a hockey lifer who enjoys and appreciates every facet of the game, the entire bubble experience brought Legace back to when he was a youngster playing hockey.

“It reminded me of back when I was a kid,” Legace said. “Every hallway was set up with pingpong tables, so the guys are out in the hallways hanging out — you couldn’t go into anyone’s room — they’re hanging out and playing games in the hallways.

“It was a like big tournament, like the Quebec pee-wee tournament. You stay in the hotel, with everybody in the hallways, and it was just amazing to experience.

“The NHL has really done a great job with this.”

Kulfan continues (paywall)…