The Malik Report

Question for the blog: Would you be receptive to having Pro Stock Hockey write a guest blog article? I know it sort-of-kind-of skirts the commercial content angle, but I’ve been approached by PSH and I’m curious as to what they know regarding the Red Wings’ equipment preferences.

They tend to get pro stock gear from the team with more depth than Hockeytown Authentics, and I’d be curious as to whether they might share some of the secrets of the trade with us as well.

Just a thought. Let me know what you think.

Of Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. The Detroit News’s John Niyo lamented the “lack of star power” on the Detroit sports scene, saying this about the rebuilding Red Wings:

The other Ilitch-owned team in town seems a bit further along in its retooling. But considering the Red Wings’ last two All-Star representatives were 34-year-old Frans Nielsen and 32-year-old Mike Green, there are no sure things here, either.

Dylan Larkin, a homegrown talent who made a big splash as a rookie All-Star and expects to sign a contract extension after an impressive 2017-18 campaign, is the best bet to grab the torch carried by Henrik Zetterberg the last several years. And the most recent first-round pick, 18-year-old Czech forward Filip Zadina, a goal-scoring winger brimming with confidence, probably carries the greatest hopes.

There’s also strength in numbers, and with 21 draft picks the last two years — including four of the top 36 overall this summer — and 11 more penciled in for 2019, Red Wings GM Ken Holland figures the odds are in his favor when it comes to finding the next Pavel Datsyuk or Nicklas Lidstrom. Or at least the next bona fide star.

“I’m trying to put together lots of young players that give our franchise — and give our fans — some hope,” he said.

Hope is in longer supply than Niyo thinks given the performances of Larkin, Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou up front, but the Wings could definitely use some prospects stepping forward on the blueline and/or in goal over the next couple of seasons to round out the rebuild…

2. At the low end of the star spectrum, but very strong in the “folk hero” vein, the Holland Sentinel’s Chris Zadorozny spoke with Luke Witkowski as the Wings enforcer continues to coach young players at the Great Lakes Hockey Camp in Holland, MI:

Witkowski will continue working out and skating in the Eastside Elite League, which includes Dylan Larkin, Vlad Namestnikov, Igor Larionov, Dan DeKeyser and Tyler Motte, before training camp begins in September.

“It’s a really competitive summer league, best summer league I’ve ever played in and it’s helping me stay in good game shape,” Witkowski said.

He’s planning on coming in stronger next season and says he wants the Red Wings to be in the playoffs, to see Little Caesars Arena with a playoff atmosphere.

But giving back to his community and putting smiles on kids faces was a great way to spend three days in his hometown.

“I enjoy doing it, it’s not my first time doing it, I don’t expect it to be my last,” Witkowski said. “For it to be in Holland, kids growing up in Holland like myself, it’s very special for me.”

3. Finally, in the multimedia category, the Red Wings asked Joe Veleno to play a game of “This or That”:

 

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa takes note of some of Red Wings GM Ken Holland’s post-draft and free agency day comments regarding the “front office brain drain.”

As Krupa points, the Wings’ draft record hasn’t been stellar, really, since the Wings’ 2008 Cup win. Losing Steve Yzerman, Scotty Bowman, Jim Nill, Joe McDonnell and several scouts haven’t helped…

And the truth of the matter is that the final years of Jim Nill’s status as the Wings’ director of amateur scouting weren’t good, with the Wings whiffs including a long cast of characters, from Tom McCollum and Teemu Pulkkinen to a whole generation of blueliners in Brendan Smith, Ryan Sproul, Xavier Ouellet and Alexey Marchenko…

So now, with Tyler Wright as the director of amateur scouting and nearly half-a-dozen new scouts on the payroll, the Wings are trying to move forward, and they’re moving forward with the remaining members of the front office (see: Holland and Kris Draper) taking a more active scouting role:

“It’s up to me and my people to prove that the plan that we’ve got is a good plan,” Holland said. “How do we want to build our team?”

By moving Jiri Fischer from director of player development to director of player evaluation, and hiring Shawn Horcoff to direct development and Daniel Cleary to assist him, the Wings are hoping to improve the preparation of their prospects, Holland said.

After dispatching Jurco, Kindl, McCollum, Ouellet, Sheahan, Smith and Sproul, in recent seasons, development results clearly could improve.

 “We’re trying to develop the skill of the players that we’ve drafted,” he said.

For the first time this year, before the entry draft, he said the video and scouting staffs prepared a video of the top-10 prospects.

“Is there something in there, through video, through analytics, through numbers?” Holland said. “So, we’re trying to do things a little differently. Right now, we need good young players and lots of good young players. Next up will be trying to complement them by bringing in some players who are a little more experienced.

“I’d like to say a year or two,” before the team regains the playoffs, Holland said in April. “But, there are teams that run eight, nine, 10 years in a row, who miss the playoffs.”

Krupa continues… and I would also suggest that the Wings’ prospect development has seen a “long game” improvement since Fischer and now Horcoff and Cleary have come along. The Wings now allocate more resources to developing the not-quite-sure-things they draft, and they’ve done better in developing NHL’ers over the course of Fischer’s reign.

That being said, you can’t develop skill that isn’t there, and the Wings’ scouts will be judged as much on who they draft as much as how their draft picks develop.

 

The Red Wings filmed a 3-minute clip from Dylan Larkin’s hockey school at Waterford’s Lakeland Ice Arena:

 

I’ve been debating whether to post this article as it isn’t necessarily hockey-related, but the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe spoke with a hockey scout who’s advocating for both physical and mental health issues, and my blog has a place for that kind of story:

While Walleye head scout Ed Burkholder dreams of one day bringing a Kelly Cup to Toledo, his daily passion is aimed at erasing stigmas surrounding serious issues affecting all of society.

Burkholder, whose connection with Toledo professional hockey dates to 2003, hopes to spark an open discussion on two subjects most people find uncomfortable.

Burkholder, a 50-year-old native of Welland, Ont., has launched a podcast to encourage others to speak up about topics such as testicular cancer, depression, and anxiety.

His campaign called “Check Yourself, Express Yourself” is deeply personal.

“It’s OK to talk about these things,” Burkholder said. “Plug into each other. Let’s talk about it.”

Burkholder, who also is a TV broadcaster for the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League, was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 26.

He has been cancer free since 2007, and has become a staunch advocate of cancer awareness.

“Cancer affects us all. Everyone has a story,” Burkholder said. “You need to check yourself. It could save your life. Get to a doctor. It may be uncomfortable for a lot of people, but it could mean life or death.”

Burkholder has created T-shirts and cause bracelets with his slogan. Last month, he developed the idea of producing the podcast as another outlet. The first episode features a compelling story from former NHLer Jim Thomson. It can be heard at podomatic.com/podcasts/checkyourselfexpressyourself.

Continued

USA Hockey Arena will be hosting a charity hockey game on August 11th, and the game will include several Red Wings and NHL’ers, past and present:

2nd Annual Play With Purpose Charity Hockey Game Set For August 11

Charity Game Presented by Hockey Has Heart to be Held at USA Hockey Arena

PLYMOUTH, Mich.- The second annual Play With Purpose Charity Hockey Game presented by Hockey Has Heart featuring several notable hockey players from the NHL, NCAA and the junior ranks, will take place at USA Hockey Arena on Saturday, August 11, 2018 at 4pm ET; doors will open at 3pm.

The Play With Purpose Charity Hockey Game was created to honor the memory of the late Mitchel Kiefer and to increase the awareness of the consequences of distracted driving.

Mitchel was killed by a distracted driver on September 19, 2016, while driving to Michigan State University after a weekend at home. Mitchel played his last hockey game in August of 2016, when he joined the summer interns of Gallagher-Kaiser (GK), in an employee vs. intern game. The following year, the interns decided to dedicate the event to Mitchel, creating the annual Play With Purpose game.

This year, GK’s memorial game will be presented by Hockey Has Heart, with a portion of the proceeds used to support distracted driving awareness initiatives led by the PEERS foundation, BRAKES foundation and Stopdistractions.org.

Continue reading USA Hockey Arena to host ‘Play With Purpose Charity Hockey Game’ on August 11th

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff profiled Red Wings prospect Malte Setkov this morning, and this afternoon, DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner offers this scouting report on the 6’6″ defenseman from Jiri Fischer, as part of a “By the Numbers” look back at Setkov’s 2017-18 campaign:

“You notice his size right away, that will be something people will talk about for the rest of his career, that he is a big guy. He actually moves pretty well on the ice. With him being a defenseman it’s very important to make a good first pass, don’t lose one-on-one battles and get your shots through from the blueline. He did all those things in development camp, which is a high level of competition, but limited contact. He caught everybody’s eye with the skills he had and the way he plays the game responsibly.

He doesn’t gamble, he doesn’t try to cheat on pucks and he’s really making sure he’s sound defensively and makes a good first pass. I think it’s fair to compare development camp (2017) to development camp (2018) and he’s certainly taken another step in his maturity, his ability to make plays, the way he controlled and managed the puck as well as how he played defensively. His mechanics are great and now it’s just the matter of gaining some power, which will come by commitment and effort. When players are improving in general, including him, the organization gets excited about that, so I think there’s a lot of positives in his future.” Jiri Fischer, Detroit’s director of player evaluation.

Continued

 

From Michigan Hockey’s Stefan Kubus: Steven Oleksy’s Eastside Elite League will be holding its annual All-Star Game on July 26th:

Mark your calendars; the annual Eastside Elite All-Star Game is almost here.

League founder and Chesterfield native Steve Oleksy has announced that four teams of the Eastside Elite League’s very best will square off on Thursday, July 26 at the Mount Clemens Ice Arena.

This year, each of the four teams will wear specialty jerseys to represent a cause: ALS awareness, autism awareness, concussion prevention and the Special Olympics. Those jerseys will be autographed and auctioned off.

Those four teams will be headlined by some major hockey names, as Igor Larionov, Chris Chelios, Todd Bertuzzi and Sergei Samsonov are all involved in the 2018 Eastside ASG.

Continued

It’s one of the best #SummerHockey events out there.

The 2018 @EastsideElite All-Star Game is slated for July 26.

Info, with more to come in the upcoming days: https://t.co/e6dUej9uxH pic.twitter.com/1DMpSWzRGl

— MiHockey (@MiHockeyNow) July 18, 2018

 

The Free Press’s Helene St. James has filed a mailbag feature, and she posted an update on Dylan Larkin’s contract negotiations:

HSJ: The Wings are working on a long-term extension for Larkin — they’d prefer five years, but may have to go to six. Of the young forwards who were restricted free agents this summer (Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Bertuzzi and Martin Frk), Larkin is the one who’s earned a big commitment because of the growth and character he’s shown since being drafted in 2014.

Regarding the second question, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Wings trade Athanasiou in exchange for a high draft pick/prospect. His skill and speed should hold appeal (especially if he gets hot for a stretch) and yield a good return.

Continued

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff profiles Red Wings prospect Malte Setkov this morning. Setkov’s 6’6″ size and arms-and-legs build intrigue, but a bumpy season in the Swedish J20 league has yielded some caution:

“I think it was tough like one year ago,” Setkov admitted. “I didn’t really feel comfortable in my body, actually. But I think I’m learning it more and more now. I think I’m pretty mobile on the ice compared to my size.”

Last season, Setkov cracked the lineup of Malmo in the Swedish Elitserien, but just when he seemed ready to take another step forward, illness put him on the shelf.

“Yeah I was sick for one month just before the world juniors,” Setkov explained. “I got some kind of lung inflammation. It was tough and I lost like 20 pounds, so it was very tough for me. It was tough for me to eat.”

Up until that point, he felt like his development was on a steady upward curve.

“I started off very well actually,” Setkov said. “I got some games on the senior team in Malmo. After the world juniors, I kind of got back to it but it was still tough for me. My shape wasn’t that well. I think I got my old shape back maybe around the playoffs, so it was a pretty tough season, actually.”

Duff continues…