The Malik Report

Not good news here: Red Wings prospect defenseman Alec Regula (knee injury) is going to miss the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth at the end of this month, per a press release from USA Hockey:

Continue reading Alec Regula will not take part in the World Junior Summer Showcase due to injury

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji examines Red Wings prospect Jesper Eliasson’s 2018-19 campaign “By the Numbers” this morning. Wakiji discusses Eliasson’s 2018-19 campaign, and Red Wings goaltending coach Brian Mahoney-Wilson also weighs in on Eliasson’s progress:

Quotable: “He’s going to be contending for the world junior team this year in the Czech (Republic) for Team Sweden. His development has drastically improved. I think it was a shock to him that he was drafted in the third round last year. It exceeded his expectations. But we thought highly of him and we set up a plan for him last year that he would improve specifically his lateral mobility and his secondary movement after rebounds and he did so. That’s very, very noticeable. Like most Swedish goalies, he’s structured but the one element that he has that separates him from his counterparts in Sweden is his ability to react and live those situations, react a little bit cleaner rather than have a little bit of a technical structure you can’t break. That’s one thing that Jesper is very, very good at is again, like Filip [Larsson], he has great hockey IQ and awareness, great reads, it’s just a matter of improving body control and that’s going to come over time, just like anything.

Continued

NHL.com’s spending July checking in with all 31 teams as they stand after the NHL Draft in Vancouver, and this morning, Nicholas J. Cotsonika examines the state of the Red Wings. Cotsonika assesses the Wings’ additions, subtractions, and possible training camp jobs to be won by rookies, but his bottom line is blunt:

What they still need

Difference-makers. Now that Yzerman is back in Detroit as the GM, he needs to find the next … well, Yzerman. The Red Wings kept their window open for so long because they replaced Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg at center while they still had defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, and they built around them. They have to draft and develop the next generation of stars.

Cotsonika continues, and this is a really good snapshot of where the Wings stand today–as a team that is in the process of getting better.

If you missed it, the Red Wings announced the details of their 2019 prospect tournament and main training camp in Traverse City this week, and the Traverse City Record-Eagle’s staff takes note of some of the details you might have skimmed over:

The eight-team Prospect event includes the Red Wings, as well as the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs. Columbus won the tournament last year.

Over the tournament’s history, over 600 players have moved on to play in the NHL, including 23 of the 38 players who played for the Red Wings in 2018-19.

The tournament will be divided into two four-team divisions, and teams will play each team in their division in a round-robin format before a crossover on the final day of the tournament. The first-place finishers in each division will meet for the Matthew Wuest Memorial Cup on Sept. 10.

Continue reading A little bit of repetition regarding prospect tournament/training camp details

I’m a little hesitant to write the final word regarding the drafting record of Tyler Wright and his amateur scouting staff, which was in charge of the Detroit Red Wings’ drafting between 2014 and 2019, as the players from many of Wright’s drafts are still developing, but The Athletic’s Max Bultman gave it an educated stab, and his article is superb:

In hindsight, the final public comments of Tyler Wright’s tenure as the Detroit Red Wings’ amateur scouting director were fitting.

With the 2019 draft over and Wright speaking along the back wall of the draft floor in Vancouver, he was asked about the team’s development camp that would begin in a matter of days. He spoke about its value for the team’s new draftees in terms of learning and testing, but he eventually ended on a thought that sums up both the draft process and what comes next.

“You’ve gotta be able to draft right,” he said, “you’ve gotta be able to develop (and) you’ve gotta sit there and cross your fingers and hope the players turn out.”

Wright’s job, of course, was the first step. Drafting is the lifeblood of a healthy NHL organization, and for the last six years, he has overseen it for the Red Wings. When Wright selected Michael Rasmussen ninth overall in 2017, it was Detroit’s first top-10 pick since 1991. Then the Red Wings picked sixth overall each of the last two years.

Continued (paywall), and if you want me to weigh in with a way-premature assessment of the Wright administration’s work, please let me know.

Pursuant to the news that the Red Wings have let their chief of amateur scouting, two pro scouts and two amateur scouts go, with Tyler Wright leaving for the Edmonton Oilers (all thanks to hard work from the Winged Wheel Podcast’s Ryan Hana):

The Detroit News posted a staff report in which former Red Wings chief amateur scout Jeff Finley confirmed that he, Wright and amateur scout Andrew Dickson’s contracts were not renewed by the team:

“Our contracts were not renewed,” said Finley, who scouted for 10 years with the Wings. “Steve (Yzerman) said basically they had different plans. It’s the nature of the business, putting your own people in place. We’ve had a few high draft picks lately in Detroit and we feel we’ve made good picks.”

Finley, a former NHL defenseman whose three-year contract with the Wings expired this year, said he’s already had job discussions with a few other NHL teams and is “looking forward to other opportunities.”

Finley said Wright and former Detroit pro scout Archie Henderson were hired on Thursday by former Wings GM Ken Holland in Edmonton.

Finley also said amateur scout Andrew Dickson was let go by the Wings.

Update: According to the Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson, Jeff Finley is in talks with the St. Louis Blues, where he may become the director of amateur scouting.

The Edmonton Journal’s David Staples offers a set of “takes” regarding the news that Red Wings director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright, chief amateur scout Jeff Finley and amateur scout Andrew Dickson have been allowed to leave the Detroit organization, with Wright heading to Edmonton to join former Wings GM Ken Holland.

According to Staples, Wright did a fairly good job of drafting prospects while with the Wings:

As head of amateur scouting in Detroit, Wright somewhat reversed a run of mediocre scouting in that organization. In 2014, the Red Wings drafted Dylan Larkin 15 overall, and he’s become the team’s top young player. Detroit appears to have missed with top 2015 pick Evgeni Svechnikov, but two d-men from the 2016 draft, Dennis Cholowski and Filip Hronek, are trending well. So in those three drafts, he appears to have added three good players, which is what is needed from a scouting department, at least one good player per year. It’s not known if Wright did the same in his last three drafts. It’s too early to tell. We don’t even know if top picks like Michael Rasmussen, Filip Zadina, Joe Veleno and Moritz Seider will be busts or great buys, though not one of them is obviously a great buy at this point in time. That could change fast, however.

Continued and I’m curious as to whether you feel that “one good player per year” is enough…

Via the Red Wings on Twitter, Western Michigan University’s Erin Flynn penned an article discussing Danny DeKeyser’s decision to finish his general studies degree at WMU over the course of the past two seasons:

Congrats to @DetroitRedWings defenseman Danny DeKeyser on completing his degree from Western Michigan https://t.co/upy2Mz667w pic.twitter.com/3bOxgrR0ih— College Hockey Inc. (@collegehockey) July 11, 2019

Here’s a portion of Flynn’s article:

Students enrolled in [Extended University Programs] can take as many or as few credits at a time as they choose, while taking classes on main campus, regional campuses or—like DeKeyser—entirely online.

“When we travel, we have a little bit of down time in hotels or on plane rides, so it gave me something to do and kept me busy while I was on the road,”  DeKeyser explains.

Juggling professional and student life—and having a new baby right in the middle of it all—wasn’t easy.

“There were a few times where it was tough and I thought, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ Getting in at 3 a.m. on the road and the next day we’d have practice, and then I’d have to do homework. It was definitely different than what I was used to,” says DeKeyser. “But, overall, I liked it and enjoyed learning.” 

Continued

The Athletic’s Max Bultman discusses the Red Wings’ contractual obligations as they apply to the 2020 free agent period today, looking a year ahead and examining what should be an in-flux Wings roster:

The most striking thing about the Red Wings’ cap sheet a year out is the mass exodus coming on defense. Three veteran defensemen (Mike Green, Trevor Daley and Jonathan Ericsson) are entering their final season under contract, so money and space will be freed up. Contrast that with the forward group, where not a single player under contract as of now will be an unrestricted free agent next July.

Detroit will have three high-profile restricted free agents in Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Bertuzzi, but all three are core pieces in the team’s rebuild, so none is likely to be going anywhere (barring an unexpected trade, or, *gasp* an offer sheet). Their situation could, however, affect the Red Wings’ plans significantly depending on the team’s comfort level with going into an open market with so much talent up in the air. Maybe they’re all signed before July, or maybe, like so many RFAs right now, they’re not. But as of now, all three would figure to have at least some incentive to back up their breakout seasons in 2018 in order to bolster their RFA positions in 2020. How long the negotiations take after that remains to be seen.

Detroit won’t, however, be crunched in a way even remotely resembling some of the notable RFA-heavy teams this offseason.

Continued (paywall)

Per MLive’s Ansar Khan (and great work by the Winged Wheel Podcast’s Ryan Hana yesterday):

Tyler Wright has been let go as director of amateur scouting for the Detroit Red Wings as part of a significant purge of their scouting staff under general manager Steve Yzerman, a source confirmed to M-Live.Wright, 46, had held the position since 2013.

Kris Draper is expected to be named the team’s director of amateur scouting. Draper had been serving as assistant to the general manager.

Wright is expected to join former Red Wings general manager Ken Holland with the Edmonton Oilers.

The Red Wings couldn’t be reached for comment.

Jeff Finley, chief amateur scout, and amateur scout Andrew Dickson also have been released.

Long-time pro scout Glenn Merkosky has retired. Fellow pro scout Archie Henderson is expected to join the Oilers.

And Sportsnet’s Mark Spector…

Changes coming to Edmonton Oilers scouting staff.
Former DET Dir. of Amateur Scouting Tyler Wright will join EDM staff, as will pro scout Archie Henderson.
Former DET scout Jeff Finley will not join GM Ken Holland in EDM.— Mark Spector (@SportsnetSpec) July 11, 2019

Update: Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff confirms:

On July 1, when Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman was asked if he planned any changes in the club’s hockey operations department, his answer was short and to the point.

“No I don’t,” Yzerman said.

Then he gutted the team’s scouting department.

Out of a job in Detroit is director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright, who oversaw last month’s NHL entry draft, as well as chief amateur scout Jeff Finley, amateur scout Andrew Dickson and pro scouts Glenn Merkosky and Archie Henderson.

A team source indicated that Merkosky, 59, had decided to retire. A former Wings player and coach of the AHL farm club when it was the Adirondack Red Wings, Merkosky had been a scout with the club for 21 years and part of the organization for 28 seasons.

Henderson, 62, a former NHL player as well, joined the Wings scouting staff in 2015.

Pro scouts Mark Howe, Bruce Haralson and Kirk Maltby were retained, as were North American amateur scouts Kelly Harper, Mark Mullen, Marty Stein and Ross Yates. Detroit’s entire European scouting staff – director Hakan Andersson, Vladimir Havluj, Nikolai Vakourov and Antonin Routa – all remain on staff.

Update #2: The Free Press’s Helene St. James also confirms:

New general manager Steve Yzerman has shaken up his scouting staff.

While there has been no official word from Yzerman or the Detroit Red Wings organization, the team’s home page no longer lists Tyler Wright, Jeff Findlay or Andrew Dickson among team employees. Those were the three men primarily in charge of running the amateur draft under former general manager Ken Holland. They were at the draft table when the Wings shook up the first round of the 2019 draft in June by selecting German defenseman Moritz Seider at sixth overall. The final call, , of course, belonged to Yzerman. 

A source familiar with the situation who did not wish to be quoted said Wright will join Holland with the Edmonton Oilers. So will pro scout Archie Henderson, who also worked under Holland in Detroit. No other Wings personnel is headed to Edmonton.

Holland was named general manager of the Oilers on May 7, less than three weeks after Yzerman was named GM of the Wings.

One of Yzerman’s first shakeups was to bring in Pat Verbeek, Yzerman’s right-hand man while he was GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Yzerman said during a June 13 meeting with reporters more changes could be coming to his staff. 

Hakan Andersson remains chief of European scouting, and Mark Howe remains director of pro scouting.

Update #3:

Can confirm that Tyler Wright, Jeff Finley and Andrew Dickson are all no longer with Detroit’s amateur scouting staff. Glenn Merkosky and Archie Henderson (on the pro-side) also moving on as reported.— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 11, 2019