The Malik Report

The AHL has announced home openers for its 30 franchises, and the Grand Rapids Griffins will open their 2019-2020 campaign against the Chicago Wolves on Saturday, October 5th before returning to Van Andel Arena for the home opener on Friday, October 11th vs. Milwaukee.

Then the Griffins head to Rockford to open the IceHogs’ season on Saturday, October 12th.

The AHL will release its regular season schedule tomorrow at 3 PM.

October 11. See you then.

Check back tomorrow for the full schedule!

? https://t.co/AXAYMaoe1w #GoGRG pic.twitter.com/Rz7r7aeaX2— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) July 9, 2019

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan continues to empty out his notebook from development camp. Today, he discusses Filip Larsson’s progress made as the University of Denver netminder “turns pro”:

“I know it’s a good opportunity,” Larsson said of playing with the Griffins. “I’m not looking at NHL this upcoming season. I want to make the AHL team and get as many games as possible and develop. In future years, maybe have that opportunity (in the NHL).”

If Larsson adapts to the pro game as quickly as he did from junior to college hockey, the Wings’ organization will be thrilled.

Two years ago, Larsson starred in junior, going 18-10-0 for Tri-City in the USHL, with a tidy 1.65 goals-against average and .941 save percentage.

Last season after missing the first two months of the college season because of a groin injury, Larsson debuted Nov. 24 and was named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s goaltender of the month in December — his first full month of college play.

In 22 games for Denver, Larsson had a 13-6-3 record with a 1.95 GAA and .932 save percentage, and four shutouts.

Continued

The Calumet Coliseum will receive $150,000 to renovate their facility ahead of a September 26th exhibition game between the St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings. The Marquette Mining Journal’s Jamie Glenn reports that the renovations are “just the start” of the planning process for hosting the game:

Planning is underway for a week full of fun leading up to the early fall game. Tickets for the main event will be free and will be offered on a lottery system.

“We’re planning a lot of the activities the week before the game itself,” [ Calumet Hockey Association board member and media relations coordinator John] Carroll said. “That has us really busy. As a committee, we meet every week and we’re in communication every week and are in communication with the NHL, the players association and the other partners almost daily. (We just met) to iron out details and put together events that we would like to have planned for that week.

“The tickets will be dispersed through a lottery system. As far as capacity for the building goes, we’re working with the NHL, the players association, NBC and Kraft, trying to figure out how many people we’re going to be able to seat. Right now we don’t know. We expect to have more information on that in (early) August.”

With the top Hockeyville prize came $150,000 in renovation money for the rink.

“What we were able to do is start work on a few things in the building, things that have been on our wishlist,” Carroll said. “We’ve already done a lot of work over the last several years, so we’re in really good shape to host the game. At this point, it’s just doing things that will keep the building (and) the ice plant going for the next (many) years.

“The great thing about winning this is that it gives us a jumpstart to make improvements and make repairs that will keep the building going long into the future. It takes the stress off the hockey association and the other users of the building.”

Continued

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. Earlier this morning, DetroitRedWings.com’s Bob Duff reported that Red Wings prospects Robert Mastrosimone and Alec Regula will represent Team USA in the World Junior Summer Showcase later this month in Plymouth, MI.

This morning, USA Hockey posted a press release stating that Mastrosimone will be replaced due to his broken ankle, and USA Hockey also broke down its White and Blue teams for the tournament:

#TeamUSA’s Blue & White rosters for the 2019 #WJSS are set! ??

Details, schedule & tickets → https://t.co/yymvqo8eqq pic.twitter.com/aYO8yYYNtt— USA Hockey (@usahockey) July 9, 2019

2. And HockeySverige.se is teasing an interview with Red Wings signee Patrik Nemeth, who is actually Swedish:

https://t.co/plNfjflVw4 lät Patrik Nemeth prova sin nya matchtröja. Intervju kommer på @hockeysverige @DetroitRedWings pic.twitter.com/j560T5Zo1e— Ronnies Skrivsmedja (@skrivsmedjan) July 9, 2019

Via Kukla’s Korner on Twitter comes sad news out regarding a Red Wings alumnus:

Tragic. Always enjoyed his game.

Greg was Canucks sr. director of development Ryan Johnson’s brother. https://t.co/bAQdECG5YC— Patrick Johnston (@risingaction) July 9, 2019

Former National Hockey League player and Thunder Bay native Greg Johnson, 48, passed away on Monday in Detroit, according to friends close to the family.— cjsports_tb (@cjsports_tb) July 9, 2019

The Red Wings posted a video of Dylan Larkin playing rather rough with NHL Playmobil figures in order to announce that the single-game tickets for the 2019-2020 season will go on a pre-sale on Wednesday, July 17th. The Wings are asking fans who are interested to sign up at http://detroitredwings.com/presalelist

That suggests that the Wings will place their tickets on sale on either Friday the 19th, Saturday the 20th, or Monday the 22nd.

ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski posted an Insider-only list of free agency grades for each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams. Here’s what they had to say about the Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings: C+

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Detroit won’t be rebuilt in a summer, according to Steve Yzerman’s first moves at the helm of the Red Wings. Patrik Nemeth is a nice addition to the blue line at two years and $3 million AAV. Valtteri Filppula‘s return to Detroit for two years is the kind of move for which Ken Holland would have been demolished, but for which Yzerman gets a “because he’s Steve Yzerman” pass.

Next summer is when he’ll really be able to put a stamp on the roster. — Wyshynski

Continued (paywall), and I was surprised with the amount of flak Yzerman got for drafting Moritz Seider and then signing Filppula. The Yzerplan may be popular, but Yzerman himself isn’t bulletproof by any means necessary, and the Red Wings’ fan base is still…itchy and twitchy.

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff penned an article for DetroitRedWings.com, and the article focuses on two very small forwards in Otto Kivenmaki and Ethan Phillips. I feel that the final couple of paragraphs are the most important ones, however:

WORLD JUNIOR SUMMER SHOWCASE IN METRO DETROIT: The future of the Wings will be well represented when the World Junior Summer Showcase comes to USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth from July 26-Aug. 4.

The top prospects for this season’s world junior championship will be on the ice in the four-team tournament that includes Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United States.

Kivenmaki will play for Finland. Goalie Jesper Eliasson (84th, 2018) and forward Jonatan Berggren (33rd, 2018) are part of the Swedish team. Forward Joe Veleno (30th, 2018) and defenseman Jared McIsaac (36th, 2018) are on the Canadian roster, although shoulder surgery will keep McIsaac out of the tournament.

Defenseman Alec Regula (67th, 2018) and forward Robert Mastrosimone (54th, 2019) are on the USA roster. Mastrosimone suffered a broken ankle at the Wings’ development camp, so he’ll also be out of action.

Michigan State goalie Drew DeRidder, who attended the Wings development camp as a free agent, is also part of the USA team.

Continued, and my summer vacation to Grand Marais, MI is up in the air, so I may very well be in Plymouth for the last week in July/first week of August.

From WXYZ:

The Detroit Red Wings will once again travel throughout the state of Michigan starting in July to take over the parking lots of Meijer locations to host free street hockey clinics for children ages 7-12.

New to this year’s program, the first stop of the Street Hockey Summer Tour will be hosted at Little Caesars Arena in The District Detroit. On Tuesday, July 9, the event will take place in the Chevrolet Plaza, adjacent to the Meijer Southwest entry. The tour is open to children of all skill levels and hockey experience. The first hour of each session will feature a clinic, followed by a 30-minute pick-up street hockey game. The clinics will be instructed by Red Wings representatives and local hockey players and coaches.

Each stop on the tour will feature two sessions, one each for children ages 7-9 and 10-12. The younger age group will start at 10:00 a.m. at each stop of the tour, while the older group will begin at 1:00 p.m. each day. Parents or guardians must register their children online in advance of each tour stop at https://www.nhl.com/redwings/community/youth-hockey/street-hockey-summer-tour

Continued

Valtteri Filppula conducted a fair amount of interviews recently, but the spate of Finnish-language discussion has more to do with Filppula’s participation in the annual, NHL-alumni-laden Bermuda tennis tournament in Helsinki than anything else.

What I’m assuming to be the last of Filppula’s tour of the Finnish hockey press comes from MTV.fi, where Filppula spoke in video (regrettably unavailable outside of Finland) and text form. What follows is roughly translated:

Valtteri Filppula returns home and is thinking about life after hockey–“I hope I will remain healthy for at least two years”

Valtteri Filppula talked about his participation in the Bermuda tournament on Saturday.

Valtteri Filppula left the Detroit Red Wings in 2013 after six seasons. After winning a Stanley Cup there, the two-way forward played in Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and for the New York Islanders before returning to the Motor City for the upcoming season.

Filppula said that he was particularly pleased with the two-year contract.

“It’s a familiar place and there are still some familiar players left there. It’s nice to see that it went smoothly,” said Filppula to MTV Sports in the suburb of Helsinki on Saturday.

Filppula admits that the return of Steve Yzerman to Detroit was important for the Finn’s decision. Yzerman has been the GM of Tampa Bay since 2010.

“That was one thing. Otherwise, it was an old and familiar team. And the two-year contract was a big part of the decision.”

The Finn has not yet had more detailed discussions about his role in Detroit.

“I’m playing in the middle. It’s really the only thing that we’ve talked about,” Filppula laughs.

“In the early stages, your role can go different ways, but the smooth playing of the games will ultimately determine how big it will be.”

After the two-year contract, Filppula can’t say what will happen.

“It was nice to get a deal. I’ve played hockey for so long that I started to think I couldn’t do it any more. Hopefully for two more years I’ll stay healthy, and after that I’ll reconsider,” Filppula said.