The Malik Report

Earlier today, Pro Hockey Talk’s Scott Billeck examined the questions facing the Red Wings coming out of the 2018-2019 season to kick off “Red Wings day” on PHT, and three articles followed:

1. In the first article, Billeck pondered where Wings coach Jeff Blashill fit into GM Steve Yzerman’s plans…

Yzerman now has his eyes squarely on the man leading the troops from ice-level. And contracts for coachings mean very little. Blashill’s leash will be as long as Yzerman permits it to be.

Yzerman knows how to build a winner. He did so as GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2010-2018. And he knows what a good head coach looks like, whether it’s Jon Cooper in Tampa or Scotty Bowman, the GOAT and the man who Yzerman won his three Stanley Cups under as a player.

Blashill faces the pressures of any coach in a rebuild. There has to be tangible progress seen on the ice. The young core needs to get better and move into leading roles.

But Blashill also faces the pressure of not being Yzerman’s hand-picked bench boss. He could very well earn that title, of course. But he could also fall victim to the realities of a new GM coming in and wanting his fingerprints everywhere.

2. Billeck then examined the “Yzerplan“…

Continue reading Pro Hockey Talk’s ‘Red Wings day’ coverage continues

NBC Sports’ Pro Hockey Talk blog will be examining the Red Wings via a series of articles posted over the course of this afternoon and evening.

Scott Billeck kicks off “Red Wings day at PHT” with an examination of where the Wings stand after the 2018-19 season:

Rebuilds aren’t about the win-loss record or the position in the standings. Instead, they focus on the bigger picture — long-term success with bouts of short-term growth to get them there.

And if we use that metric, and strip away the record and the fact that they’ve missed the playoffs now three years on the trot after making it 25 straight times before that, we can certainly find some positives.

Most importantly, the young core that will one day lead this team took another in terms of production.

Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi all took steps in terms of production, with all four setting career highs in goals and at least tying career highs in points. All four of those guys are also 25 or under, so there’s plenty more of where that came from to come and where the optimism in Detroit lies.

Billeck continues…

NHL.com’s “31 in 31” series of season previews focuses on the Red Wings today.

NHL.com has posted five articles and a series of videos previewing the Red Wings heading into the 2019-2020 season, and Nicholas J. Cotsonika leads off NHL.com’s coverage with a discussion of the biggest change the Wings made to their team–the hiring of Steve Yzerman:

“I know everyone feels his presence already, just him being around, him being back with our organization,” center Dylan Larkin said. “Everyone’s on their toes. Everyone’s prepared. It’s a great thing to have.”

Yzerman played his entire 22-season NHL career as a center for the Red Wings from 1983-2006, winning the Stanley Cup in 1997, 1998 and 2002. He won the Cup again with the Red Wings in 2008 as vice president before leaving for the Tampa Bay Lightning, for whom he was GM from 2010-18 and senior adviser last season.

“Obviously, knowing who he is, you’re nervous when you’re around him,” Larkin said with a laugh. “But he’s a great guy. He’s a classy guy, and he does the right things all the time. He’s here to help us and help our organization, and he’s back home. So we’re thrilled.”

Cotsonika continues, speaking with both Larkin and Danny DeKeyser, and you may not be comfortable with this, but you’d better get used to it: the Red Wings’ players are going to insist that they can make the playoffs this season, and as athletes, they’re wired to believe that they can win, so here we go:

“I think it’s all excitement,” Larkin said. “I think a long summer like we’ve had, you can’t forget the young guys that we have.”

The focus is on the long term, but there is hope in the short term too.

“I think we’re close,” DeKeyser said. “We want to make the playoffs. I definitely think we have a team that can do it. We’ve got some high-end skill up front and some speed too. The way the game’s going, it’s all about speed and getting up and down the ice and that kind of thing. So I think that works well for us. We’ve got young players who are growing and getting better every year, so I think guys will take another step this year.”

Here’s the rest of NHL.com’s “31 in 31” Wings coverage:

Continue reading NHL.com’s ’31 in 31′ series previews the Red Wings

Cool clip from the Detroit Red Wings, who followed along as Jimmy Howard gave Emka Nnaka a helicopter ride over Metro Detroit:

Jimmy Howard partnered up with @yourdmanz Foundation to sponsor a helicopter ride around Detroit for @emekannaka. #HockeytownCares pic.twitter.com/ovQvMxU4L5— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 10, 2019

If it’s too much information for you, just scroll on:

Realitor.com’s Eric Alt reports that Gustav Nyquist is pulling up stakes in Michigan after signing a long-term contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. If you’re interested…

After being drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in 2008, Gustav Nyquist spent seven seasons wearing the winged wheel.

Naturally, the Halmstad, Sweden native settled in the Motor City during his tenure with the Wings, purchasing a 5,111-square-foot home in the exclusive Bloomfield Village area of Michigan. The forward is now ready to skate away from his Bloomfield Township home, which is on the market for $2.25 million.

In February, the rebuilding Red Wings traded Nyquist to San Jose to help the Sharks with their playoff push. After the season ended, Nyquist became a free agent and opted not to re-up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He instead agreed to a new four-year, $22 million contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Continued

Red Wings prospect Givani Smith posted a blog entry on DetroitRedWings.com today, and Smith discusses

My summer’s been going pretty good. I’ve been training in Detroit since June at Barwis Methods. It’s pretty much a repetitive day. I wake up in the morning pretty early, then grab a bite to eat for breakfast. Then head over to Barwis for a workout, 9:00 lift. Then from there, we do a full-body workout for about two hours. Then I head down to Little Caesars Arena to skate. I’m with other prospects (and) guys who signed with the Grand Rapids team. On a daily basis, it’s myself, Filip Zadina, Troy Loggins, Alec Regula, Taro Hirose, Ryan Kuffner, Vili Saarijarvi, Evgeny’s also there, Svechnikov and Joe Veleno, him as well. We see each other pretty much every day. We hang out, too, while working out and training, we talk a lot. Pretty much the only people we really see besides our trainers and the medical staff and stuff like that. So we kind of formed a secure bond.

Continued

From Russian Machine Never Breaks’ Ian Odland: Dylan Larkin, Alexander Ovechkin, Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, PK Subban, Andrei Vasilevskiy and David Pastrnak are getting “Funko Pop!” dolls:

Coming Soon: NHL Pop! https://t.co/A9DwKNMWp4 pic.twitter.com/bjhesFHODA— Funko (@OriginalFunko) August 9, 2019

Of Red Wings reminder-related note this afternoon:

1. On Sunday, August 11th, in Sudbury, Ontario, Tyler Bertuzzi will be participating in Nick Foligno’s “NHL vs. Docs” game on Sunday, as noted by ColumbusBlueJackets.com’s Jeff Svoboda:

For those in Sudbury, the offseason home of the Foligno family, it’s a chance to see high-level hockey in the summer and raise money for the NEO Kids Foundation, which raises funds to purchase vital pieces of equipment, conduct life-changing research and increase awareness for children’s health needs in the region. 

Sudbury, located north of the Georgian Bay northeast of Lake Huron, is a more than four-hour drive from Toronto and more than five hours from Ottawa, cities that have children’s care facilities. The ultimate goal of Foligno and the NEO Kids Foundation is to build a similar such facility in Sudbury, the largest city in Northern Ontario and home to more than 160,000 people. 

Last year’s event raised more than $215,000, and the hope is to bring in even more this time around. Players from around the NHL, including Foligno and his CBJ teammates as well as Matt Duchene, John Tavares, Marc Staal, Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Duclair, will arrive for a lake day on Saturday before taking part in the charity game on Sunday. 

There will be a autograph session before the game, which features the NHL players and doctors from the community. All will skate together before the NHL players finish things off by playing against one another, and a meet-and-greet will follow the game.  

Around 3,000 fans are expected, Foligno said.  

There’s more information on the event available from Sudbury.com…

Continue reading Two reminders: Bertuzzi taking part in ‘NHL vs. Docs’ game in Sudbury on Sunday; Red Wings’ blood drive takes place on Tuesday, August 13th

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels appears with DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner on the latest episode of the “Red and White Authority”:

#RedWings broadcaster Ken Daniels joins us to discuss Detroit’s offseason, look ahead to the upcoming season and to preview the 2019 Celebrity Roast of Mickey Redmond to benefit the @JDanielsFund.

Listen/download: https://t.co/tUIOEUh2bZ pic.twitter.com/dPHwH75NhK— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 9, 2019

The Red Wings and Labatt Blue teamed up to help renovate Detroit’s Clark Park today, as noted by DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji:

Many people aren’t aware of it, but there has been outdoor ice skating in the city of Detroit since the late 1800s. Clark Park is not just one of those places, it’s the last one standing.

“It’s always been known for their ice skating programs here. We have photographs of people skating in 1890,” said Anthony Benavides, the director of the Clark Park Coalition. “The ice rink’s been here, this is the third ice rink that’s been put up in this place. They keep putting new ones up but I remember coming here as a child and ice skating here and that was the ’60s. This is where I learned to skate. Learned on Detroit ice rinks.

“Detroit, at one point, had probably about 10 outdoor ice rinks. We’re the last surviving one. So that’s why it’s so special to keep this one alive and keep investing in it with people hours and funds. It’s a very expensive piece of equipment to maintain and keep going. But we love it.”

That is where the Detroit Red Wings and their partner, Labatt Blue, along with Fabiano Brothers Inc., have stepped in to lend a hand with a $15,000 investment and dozens of volunteers.

As part of the Hockeytown Cares platform, volunteers from all three of those companies and from the Detroit Tigers, spent most of the day Friday at Clark Park.

“Days like this are what Hockeytown Cares is all about, bringing together the Detroit Red Wings with our great partners like Labatt to impact our community in such a way that will truly live on throughout the entire hockey season for the kids and the families who play hockey here at Clark Park,” said Kevin Brown, director of community relations and Detroit Red Wings Foundation.

Continued

Update: Fox 2 Detroit posted a video from today’s event: