The Malik Report

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a mailbag feature this morning. Among his questions:

Khan continues…

The Free Press has been holding a voting contest to determine Detroit sports’ “Greatest of All Time.” The Free Press’s Dana Sulonen reports that the final voting bracket pits an incredible baseball player against Mr. Hockey:

We have to give our readership some credit.

In the age of social media and highlight videos, the two finalist for our #DetroitGOAT tournament predate Twitter. And the internet. And computers. And color television.

But, that goes to show just how great these two finalists were and how influential they were in their sports.

One man still hold the highest career batting average in major league history.

The other’s nickname is literally the sport he helped make mainstream in America.

Ty Cobb vs. Gordie Howe.

Continued

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner examines Danny DeKeyser’s difficult 2017-18 season this morning. Regner’s analysis of DeKeyeser’s “numbers” includes a good summary of the lanky defenseman’s upside:

Since Detroit’s blueline is in flux, DeKeyser has been thrust into the role of being a top-pair defenseman, which has exposed flaws in his game.

Based on how he played in the second half of last season, he can still be a steady presence on the Wings blueline, helping his team more than hurting them in most games.

DeKeyser may never live up to the early hype which surrounded his career, but he understands his game and where it fits into the Red Wings system – steady not spectacular.

Continued, and Regner makes an apt comparison in describing DeKeyser as a Jonathan Ericsson-style defenseman. Ericsson was also seen as a top-pair defenseman in the making, but he’s settled into a role as a second-pair defender.

NHL.com offers a mid-July look at the Red Wings’ “roster reset,” as penned by Nicholas J. Cotsonika. Cotsonika states the obvious after highlighting the Red Wings’ additions…

What they still need: Difference-makers. The biggest reason the Red Wings have fallen off after a quarter-century of success is the erosion of their top-end talent. Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom retired in 2012. Center Pavel Datsyuk returned to Russia in 2016. Center Henrik Zetterberg is 37 and battling back problems, and although he is expected to return this season, it is not certain. The Red Wings need to draft and develop not just NHL players, but impact players. Can Zadina be one?

And fantasy hockey expert Rob Reese offers this take on the Wings’ fantasy hockey impact:

The Red Wings seem to be moving away from the veterans-first mentality we’ve come to know over the years with Rasmussen, Zadina and Svechnikov all expected to compete for roster spots. Rasmussen could slot in as the No. 2 center behind Larkin, potentially replacing Zetterberg. Zadina also had impressive production at the junior level. In a best-case fantasy scenario, Zadina would slot in on either the first or second line and could be counted on to provide scoring for the first power-play unit. The Red Wings have a bright fantasy future, and potential owners should get ahead of the curve by targeting their young core in late rounds. — Rob Reese

 

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan reports that Michigan’s resident summer pro hockey league is getting up and running again:

The idea was hatched 10 years ago by Steven Oleksy.

Oleksy, from Chesterfield Township, is a pro hockey player who has won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh and is currently in the Anaheim Ducks’ organization. Oleksy wanted to stay sharp and in game shape in the offseason.

“The college guys, pro guys, they can’t just go back and play in a regular senior league,” Oleksy said. “So what do you do to stay in game shape?”

Oleksy, 32, believes southeast Michigan has some of the best hockey talent anywhere in North America. So, why not gather a lot of that talent in one rink?

“I wanted to create something to bring everyone together,” said Oleksy, who started the Eastside Elite Hockey League. “It took some time to build it to where I wanted it to be. But what it’s become over the last 10 years is absolutely incredible.”

When Oleksy began he had eight teams with about 10 players on each roster.

“And I was lucky if I got six guys to show up for a game,” Oleksy said.

This summer, with the league approaching the midway point of its schedule, Oleksy has 15 teams and about 13 skaters and a goalie per roster — approximately 250 players competing in one of the best summer hockey leagues in the country. The league has a seven-week schedule that runs from mid-June to the end of July, with playoffs and an All-Star Game.

Continued, and you can find out more about the league here…

Red Wings forward Luke Witkowski will be attending a hockey camp this week in Holland, MI, and Witkowski prefaced his visit by holding a chat with the Holland Sentinel’s Chris Zadorozny:

The Athletic’s Craig Custance authored a fine interview with Ted Lindsay this morning. Among the stories Lindsay shared with Custance is the tale of Lindsay’s contentious founding of a players’ association:

Aside from being one of the best left wingers to ever play the game, Lindsay put all his personal success and comfort on the line by organizing the first NHL players’ association in 1957, along with Bill Gadsby, Doug Harvey, Fern Flaman, Gus Mortson and Jim Thomson. He did it because he saw young players shipped out on a moment’s notice. He saw injured players discarded. He observed a former Maple Leafs star selling broken sticks for a quarter, in an attempt to squeeze out extra money. So he organized. And those efforts had massive repercussions.

From a pure hockey standpoint, it likely cost the Red Wings a few more Stanley Cups, because Lindsay was banished to the Blackhawks in a trade with fellow Hall of Famer Glenn Hall — an attempt by team management to cut off any union talk by removing Lindsay from the equation in Detroit.

From a personal standpoint, it cost Lindsay a relationship with Red Wings general manager Jack Adams and, on some level, Gordie Howe, whose support for the association efforts wasn’t on Lindsay’s level.

“Jack Adams was my Godfather,” said Lindsay’s son Blake Lindsay. “They still said, ‘Get rid of him. Chop the head of the snake off.’ Dad was the organizer. (Red Wings owner James) Norris had all the arenas, and Chicago back then was the worst team in the league. They sent dad there.”

Custance continues (paywall)…

NHL.com’s Dave Hogg offers a profile of Red Wings first-round draft pick Joe Veleno this evening, noting that the 30th overall pick received “exceptional” status in the QMJHL:

Veleno first made news in 2015 when he was the first player from Quebec to receive exceptional-player status from Hockey Canada. That allowed him to be drafted into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at age 15, one year younger than usual. Saint John selected him with the No. 1 pick of the 2015 QMJHL draft.

He never had a season to match some of the other players who received exceptional-player status, among them Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid, Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad and Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares, all of whom entered the Ontario Hockey League at age 15 and were the No. 1 picks in their respective NHL draft years.

But Veleno took a major jump forward last season. Veleno had 31 points (six goals, 27 assists) in his first 31 games last season, but with Saint John struggling he was traded to Drummondville on Dec. 8. He had 48 points (16 goals, 33 assists) in 33 games after the trade, and 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 10 playoff games to help Drummondville reach the second round.

His 79 points (22 goals, 57 assists) in 64 regular-season games were almost as many as he had in his first two QMJHL seasons (83).

“At Saint John things weren’t working out as well and I got the opportunity to be dealt to Drummondville, a contending team with some really good players, and I kind of found my game after that,” he said.

Hogg continues…

We’ll call this midsummer essay from WXYZ’s Brad Galli a bit of a lark. Galli wonders aloud whether the presence of a gaggle of Red Wings at the annual Cleary-Horcoff Invitational might mean a tug or two at Erik Karlsson’s free agent goose. Might they flock together in the future?

I don’t see it happening, but there are worse ways to spend 30 seconds fantasizing about hockey lineups in the middle of July.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji spoke with Dylan Larkin at the Larkin Hockey School in Waterford today, and Larkin spoke with Wakiji regarding a number of topics, including the drafting of Filip Zadina:

“Got the chance to skate with Filip Zadina last week when he was in town and a couple of the other young guys,” Larkin said Thursday during the Larkin Hockey School at Lakeland Ice Arena in Waterford. “Looked really skilled and he’s a great kid and seems really excited to be here. We talked a little bit and I told him there’s a couple teams that went over him that he’s happy that he’s here with us and I’m happy he’s here with us.”

It has only been four years since Larkin was the Wings’ first-round pick, 15th overall, in the 2014 draft.

Larkin was asked if he offered Zadina any advice.

“I just said, ‘Hey, man, there’s opportunity, we need a player like you and hopefully I get to play with you and work as hard as possible when you go home. Enjoy summer but when you come to camp, there’s a spot there and take everything as seriously as you can,'” Larkin said.