The Malik Report

The Athletic’s Craig Custance went behind the scenes with Team USA’s World Championship team and coaches to learn how the American hockey machine works. Custance penned a superb and lengthy article:

It’s 7 a.m. in Herning and it’s quiet on Ostergade, a rarity for the street that has been the gathering place for the outdoor party that is the men’s hockey World Championship. No music is coming from Piano Herning, the piano bar that was jammed a few hours earlier with hockey fans singing loudly into the streets. Karma, Fox and Hounds, the Old Irish Pub, all still. Only a slight breeze, flapping a string of flags connecting one side of the street to the other, makes noise, an empty fifth of Jack Daniels on a nearby stoop a reminder of what happened the night before. What’s going to happen again tonight. And the next.

A few blocks down, at the Scandic Regina hotel, Team USA coach Jeff Blashill wakes up.

In an hour, the coaching staff for Team USA will join him in a makeshift coaches office on the second floor of the hotel. He pulls on gray slacks, pulls over a navy USA Hockey shirt. Grabs a pair of boat shoes and puts them on without socks. Even this early, the stylish Blashill is polished.

At 44 years old, he’s still one of the youngest coaches in the NHL. But his fast track to the coaching heights has been derailed a bit, more by timing than anything. He got the job in Detroit as the coach of the Red Wings during a time in which the franchise was downshifting from contender to rebuilder.

“He’s a really good hockey mind,” Los Angeles Kings defenseman Alec Martinez says. Martinez has known Blashill since he was 16. Blashill recruited him to play at Miami. Blashill went to Martinez’s Stanley Cup parties when the Rochester Hills, Michigan, native was winning championships with the Kings, always careful not to touch the silver trophy. Blashill is one of the main reasons a veteran like Martinez is even playing in this tournament, typically a duty for the youngest American NHL players.

“He had one of the most rapid ascensions to the coaching ranks I’ve ever seen,” Martinez says. “There’s a reason for it. He’s won everywhere he goes.”

Custance continues (paywall)…

 

Filip Hronek’s progression as a member of the Grand Rapids Griffins’ defense was impressive over the course of this past season, and today, Hronek gets a “plug” from the Hockey News’s Ryan Kennedy:

Filip Hronek, D, Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL): Detroit Red Wings fans are very invested in the team’s future right now (with good reason) and Hronek is one of the players with a chance to make a difference. The offensively-inclined defenseman is getting a great opportunity at the World Championship right now and already has a goal for the Czech Republic through two games. NHL arrival: 2019-20

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff took note of Red Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff’s comments as relating to the play of Michael Rasmussen during the WHL playoffs, where Rasmussen racked up 33 points over the course of 17 games played for the Tri-City Americans:

“He’s a guy that got better as the year’s gone on,” Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff told Mlive.com. “This is the best hockey he played all year, obviously, and it couldn’t come at a better time.”

Of even more intrigue to the Detroit brass was the fact that Rasmussen skated on the wing in the playoffs, a position he’s most likely to occupy if he cracks the Red Wings lineup for the 2018-19 NHL season.

“He’s learning how to do that,” Horcoff said. “He never has, he’s normally been a center. We know him to be that and view him as that. But at the same time it’s always good to learn how to play wing, which makes him more of a complete player.”

The Wings liked how quickly Rasmussen adapted to his new role, and how well it suited his game.

“Once the playoffs started he found his groove,” Horcoff said. “He was more comfortable. He was hard on the puck. With his size and strength in that league he was really hard to knock off the puck down low. He was making some great offensive plays, some great passes, showing some really good vision from below the top of the circles, which is a nice asset to go along with his good hands and scoring touch out front.”

Duff and Horcoff continue, discussing the play of  Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds defenseman Jordan Sambrook…

 

Sportsnet’s Sean McIndoe, a.k.a. “Down Goes Brown,” has posted, “Hopeful thoughts for non-playoff teams,” including the Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings

The issue: The core is old and locked into long-term contracts. But they can’t do a full rebuild, partly because management doesn’t want to and partly because they’re never bad enough to end up with a top draft pick.

But just look at: The Wild. Neither team has had a top-five pick in the cap era. Both teams have a challenging long-term cap situation. Both teams have a questionable path to contention. But the Wild have managed to be consistently good for years. Not great, but good. Maybe we’re damning with faint praise here, since most teams aspire to be more than first-round fodder for the real contenders. But if the Red Wings don’t want to bottom out, maybe that’s the best they can hope for.

I hate to say it, but I firmly believe that the Red Wings’ destiny for the next 3-5 years is to “max out” by making the playoffs and possibly win a round or two. Until the team strikes a home run or two at the draft–perhaps in the later rounds thereof–fans like you and me are going to have to deal with mediocrity.

McIndoe continues at length, of course…And don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that “the kids are coming,” but until then, it’s gonna be rough sledding.

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe spoke with the Toledo Walleye’s players and coach ahead of Game 6 in Fort Wayne tomorrow. The Walleye face elimination in their second-round series heading into Tuesday’s game in Fort Wayne, but the Walleye believe that they can force a Game 7:

“Everyone is positive and upbeat,” veteran forward A.J. Jenks said. “We just have to go win a road game. It’s everything to us. We’ve been working since October and we’re not ready to hang it up yet. We’ve been through ups and downs. We’ve handled the adversity very well.”

The Walleye hope to force a Game 7 back at home Wednesday. Toledo has played in five Game 7s the past three postseasons, including a series win against the Komets in the division final round in 2015. Toledo went 5-1-0 against the Komets in 2016-17 and were 2-0 at Memorial Coliseum.

“We know we can get it done,” Jenks said. “It’s in our hands. If we go in there and do the right things and play the right way, we come back here for Game 7.”

Toledo went 0-3-1 in Fort Wayne in the 2017-18 regular season. But the Walleye split the first two games of this series in Memorial Coliseum, and had perhaps their best game of the postseason despite a 3-1 defeat in Game 4  on Friday.

“It will definitely be tough,” veteran Kyle Bonis said. “Fort Wayne is not an easy place to play, and that’s a good hockey team. But we’ll get some desperation to our game.”

The Walleye won eight straight on the road to end the regular season and have won 11 of their past 12 away from home.

“The last 12 road games, we’ve done a really good job,” coach Dan Watson said. “Our confidence is high, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be. We won a game there [4-3 in Game 3]. We will have a good mindset. We will draw on how well we’ve played on the road.”

Monroe continues…

 

 

Of prospect-related playoff note:

In the OHL championship series, Kaden Fulcher didn’t have the greatest night, stopping 28 of 33 shots, but that’s okay because his Hamilton Bulldogs scored 6 goals in a 6-5 win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Hamilton continued to give up goals after building up a 3-1 lead, but Hamilton kept scoring go-ahead goals, and as the highlight clip shows, the Bulldogs’ scorers came out on top.

Jordan Sambrook had an assist and finished even on one shot for Sault Ste. Marie, which now trails the best-of-7 series 2 games to 1.

Red Wings prospect Givani Smith posted a Twitter message thanking fans for their support this morning…

Thank you everyone for all the tweets and messages, I appreciate you.

— Givani Smith (@givanismith24) May 7, 2018

And the CTV News Kitchener’s Ryan Flanagan posted a follow-up article discussing the threats levied at Smith with Kitchener Rangers GM Mike McKenzie:

“It pains me to say it, but it’s probably not the first time that he’s dealt with something like this,” McKenzie said in an interview.

The Rangers alerted league officials to the messages. OHL commissioner David Branch says the league was told about “comments that were concerning,” but not specifically about any racial overtones. Still, what the league heard was enough that they agreed to provide extra security for Smith on the trip to Sault Ste. Marie for Game 7 – something that, according to Branch, the league had never done before.

“We chose to add some security for the benefit of Givani and ensure, hopefully, that his well-being, his safety, was well-looked after,” Branch said.

It wasn’t the first time this season Smith had been on the receiving end of racial slurs. Some were yelled at him during a game in Sarnia, after a fan somehow gained access to the players’ area.

Sault Ste. Marie general manager Kyle Raftis also spoke out against the comments directed against Smith, saying they don’t reflect the values the Greyhounds hope to see from their fans.

“You don’t want to see any person have to go through that,” he said. “There’s definitely a line that was crossed through social media.”

FYI:

Smith’s agent, G.P. Daniele, told CTV News that his client was “incredibly humbled by the support received.”

“Givani respectfully asks for privacy, as he and his family wish to move on from the incident,” Daniele said in an email.

At the World Championship in Denmark:

Frans Nielsen finished at +1 in 23:07 played for Denmark, which is pretty damn good given that Denmark lost 7-1 to Canada on Monday;

And Gustav Nyquist had 3 shots, finishing even in 17:37 played during Sweden’s 4-0 win over France. Sweden is 3-and-0.

On Tuesday, Filip Hronek and Libor Sulak’s Czechs will battle Switzerland at 2:15 PM EDT.

The American Hockey League has revised its divisional format:

A new division alignment for the 2018-19 season has been approved by the AHL Board of Governors.

Details: https://t.co/XMlTG4lJgN pic.twitter.com/aMOY1YhyTb

— AHL (@TheAHL) May 7, 2018

The Grand Rapids Griffins will lose a familiar rival in the Cleveland Monsters, and will welcome both the Texas Stars and San Antonio Rampage to the Central Division.

Here’s the AHL’s press release:

Changes from the 2017-18 season include:

• Colorado joining the AHL as its 31st active team and playing in the Pacific Division
• San Antonio and Texas moving from the Pacific Division to the Central Division
• Cleveland moving from the Central Division to the North Division

The playing schedule for the 2018-19 regular season, which begins Oct. 5, will be announced this summer.

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

Red Wings sign David Pope to entry-level deal

2013 draft pick led Nebraska Omaha in scoring in 2017-18