The Malik Report

Updated at 8:21 AM: Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. MLive’s Ansar Khan noted Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill and GM Ken Holland’s comments regarding the competition for jobs on the team’s NHL roster at training camp:

“I think after two years of not being good enough, it’s as wide open a camp as we’ve had here in a long, long time,” Blashill said. “I hope that a bunch of guys we’ve had on our team got better this summer. Then I hope a bunch of young guys are in position to really challenge and try to take other guys’ jobs.”

The Red Wings anticipate the most competitive camp and preseason they’ve had in some time. After drafting high the past two years, the team has assembled a group of talented prospects, some who are expected to be NHL-ready this season.

When camp starts Friday at Centre I.C.E., forwards Michael Rasmussen, Filip Zadina and Evgeny Svechnikov and defensemen Filip Hronek, Joe Hicketts, Libor Sulak and Dennis Rasmussen will be among the group of young players vying for jobs. At least two spots at forward and one on defense are open.

“We’re hoping young people not only are pushing for jobs on the team but pushing for bigger roles on the team,” general manager Ken Holland said. “Part of that is these younger players got to come in and either take a job or take a bigger role on the team. As we go forward, either this year or next year, the plan is to work more and more young people into our team and then hopefully they’re going to have a bigger role on our team and they’ll eventually take the team over.

“It takes a period of time, it doesn’t happen over a month or a few games. You earn that right. That’s what the last generation of Red Wings did. They came in and took it – (Pavel) Datsyuk, (Henrik) Zetterberg, (Niklas) Kronwall, (Johan) Franzen and all those players, they came in and earned the ice time. That’s why we were able to, from 2005 to 2015, have a great decade. I don’t believe in entitlement. Those younger players got to come in and earn the ice time.”

Khan continues…

2. And on yesterday’s “Shep, Shower and Shave” show on WDFN, Matt Sheppard spoke with Red Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff…

Continue reading Two Things: Blashill and Holland on the Wings’ competition for jobs at camp, and ‘Shep, Shower and Shave’ clips

The Grand Rapids Griffins’ website posted a Q and A with coach Ben Simon conducted just prior to the Red Wings’ prospect tournament:

Are there parallels between how a person played and how they coach?
Just because you’re a phenomenal player doesn’t mean you’re going to be a phenomenal coach. And I don’t think because you’re a terrible player you’re going to be a terrible coach. It’s good to draw on your experiences both good and bad and to use those experiences to help convey to these players that, hey, we’re not that far removed from the game, and to learn from our mistakes and to use our experiences that were positive to help these guys along.

The roster is not close to being set, but can you comment on just the pool of players that will be eligible for Grand Rapids this season?
Detroit has always done a phenomenal job of, I won’t say stocking, but putting good veteran players down here to help the younger players develop. Now that being said, there’s a lot of opportunity that’s available in Detroit right now, so I don’t want to say ‘he’s going to be here, he’s going to be here’ because you never know. Up top, they’ve got an open mind.

The old philosophy in Detroit was the tie goes to the veteran, the older guy. Now I think if it gets to a close fight between a younger guy and a vet, they’re going to try to find a way to help that young guy in a rebuild to make Detroit. There’s a lot of opportunity in Detroit, but in terms of guys who could be here, we’re looking at some guys that have great offensive capabilities. We’re going to be a little bit young defensively and we’ll have to learn quickly.

How excited are you for the start of training camp?
There’s always that rejuvenation. It’s a new season, it’s fresh, everyone’s got a clean slate. It’s the excitement of the new year and a new beginning for everyone. It’s another season but it’s another adventure with a different group of guys; that’s always exciting. The adventure, that’s what you remember the most. It’s not the wins and losses, it’s the people and the players along the way, and the learning mistakes and the learning accomplishments.

Continued

I had my annual pre-training camp anxiety attack, so I was down and out for a couple of hours this afternoon. As a result, here are this evening’s crop of Red Wings-related stories:

1. The Red Wings posted a clip of Jeff Blashill’s Thurdsay presser with the media. The Free Press, MLive and the Detroit News also posted shorter clips of the full 12-minute media availability:

Continue reading Thursday night round-up: Blashill’s remarks regarding the Rasmussen-Veleno-Zadina line, Larkin’s responsibilities, getting better; numbers games and more

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff doesn’t believe that Steve Yzerman would fit the bill as the Red Wings’ GM:

Wings fans must ask themselves one question? Would this be the way they would want to remember Yzerman?

The GM can’t pick up the puck in a tie game and score a memorable goal. He can’t be the hero. Only the goat.

Perhaps Wings owners Mike and Marian Ilitch family best expressed the feelings of the Wings faithful as Yzerman left to be GM of the Lightning.

“It’s hard to imagine Steve Yzerman in anything other than the red-and-white Winged Wheel,” the Ilitches said in a statement at the time. “He has been synonymous with the Red Wings and Hockeytown for as long as most of us can remember.”

To run the Wings, Yzerman would risk more than the difference between winning and losing. He’d risk his reputation.

Duff continues

The Athletic’s Max Bultman estimates the Red Wings’ lines as training camp begins:

After​ months of waiting,​ training camp​ is almost here​ for​ the​ Detroit Red​ Wings. Following a golf outing​​ in Traverse City on Thursday, players will hit the ice for the first time Friday morning to kick off what could be a competitive training camp for the franchise’s top young players.

There will be intrigue over three recent first-round picks, Filip Zadina, Michael Rasmussen and Dennis Cholowski, all looking to make the roster for the first time. There’ll be a glimpse at the progress of players like Evgeny Svechnikov, coming into an important camp for his trajectory in Detroit. And of course, curiosity over Henrik Zetterberg’s future with the team, which looks bleak given the condition of his back heading into the season.

All of those factors will go into solving the puzzle that is an NHL depth chart. The few baseline assumptions are these: Dylan Larkin is in for a big promotion as a first-line center and the player other teams will focus on. It stands to reason he’ll be flanked by the team’s top goal scorer, Anthony Mantha, creating a solid foundation but one that could still struggle to match up against some of the elite top lines in the Eastern Conference. Andreas Athanasiou should start the season at center; Rasmussen feels like a good bet to make the team at this point, and Zadina is likely to have that opportunity as well with a good preseason.

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

Getting fit for 2018. #DRWTC pic.twitter.com/ZYEn7FsAMU

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 13, 2018

#DRWTC begins with fitness testing. pic.twitter.com/j0fZ05nQ7f

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 13, 2018

#RedWings Blashill said defenseman Jared McIsaac not likely to be available during training camp due to the shoulder injury.

— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) September 13, 2018

Blashill says Zetterberg update tomorrow…says there will be 3 teams split evenly in this camp; kid line of Zadina-Veleno-Rasmussen will stay intact #RedWings

— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) September 13, 2018

Will have full training camp roster breakdown shortly, but Jeff Blashill said he’s keeping Joe Veleno, Michael Rasmussen & Filip Zadina together after the chemistry they had in prospects tournament. Offers opportunity to see how they scrimmage against NHL defenders. #RedWings

— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) September 13, 2018

From the Detroit Red Wings:

Red Wings release 2018 Training Camp teams and daily schedule

Seventy-two players hit the ice from Sept. 14-18 in Traverse City

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today released their training camp roster and schedule, comprised of 72 players who will hit the ice on Friday, Sept. 14 at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Mich., for five days of camp before returning to Detroit to begin preseason play on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

I apologize for posting a single Wing on The Athletic’s Corey Pronman’s prospect list. Here’s a modified post noting that five Wings make the Top 100 cut:

6. Filip Zadina, RW, Detroit

Skating: 55
Puck Skills: 65
Physical Game: 55
Hockey sense: 55
Shot Grade: 60

Zadina skates well, with a powerful stride that eats up ice efficiently. He has near elite-grade hands, which allow him to be quite elusive. He can create as a playmaker and tends to make good decisions moving the puck, but he’s known as a trigger man with one of the better wrist shots in the draft class. What I love about Zadina is how multi-dimensional he is. He can attack defenses by dangling through guys, he can protect pucks and drive around guys, and he can power his way past defenders or utilize an inch of space to score from long distance. He is a highly competitive player who gets high marks for his character and competes his butt off to win puck battles on the ice.

Continue reading Take two: 5 Wings prospects on The Athletic’s Pronman’s Top 100 list

Red Wings TV headed to Longueuil, Quebec to visit Anthony Mantha in his home town this past August, and a 9-minute video is the result:

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with Wings GM Ken Holland regarding the top story lines for the team as training camp begins on Friday…

“This is going to be a competitive camp for a variety of reasons,” general manager Ken Holland said. “We want the young kids to push for a spot on the team. I’m holding a spot on the back end and I’m holding a spot or two, maybe three, up front.

“But they have to earn it. I just can’t throw out a Kiddie Corps out there. I’m hoping some of these kids we have to send back, that they’re ready, and they’re going to be up here as the year wears on.”

Holland also sees plenty of competition among returning veterans.

“There’s internal competition,” Holland said. “We’re in rebuild mode and there’s going to be more opportunity. I’m hoping for young people (to claim some jobs) but if they don’t, the veterans who are here will have to.

“Some of these veterans maybe haven’t been doing these jobs (special teams, scoring lines) and maybe they pick up the responsibility because the kids haven’t grabbed it. We’ll see.”

Kulfan continues…

2. And the Oakland Press’s Pat Caputo weighed in regarding what he believes is an inevitability in Steve Yzerman returning to the Red Wings to work as their general manager:

The Lightning were floundering when he took over as GM. He did inherit Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, first and second overall NHL Draft picks, but made the most of it, finding gems such as free agent Tyler Johnson, and landing one of the league’s great players, Nikita Kucherov, in the second round.

Yzerman has been gutsy, letting a solid goalie, Ben Bishop, depart, while being one of the rare GMs in recent years to lead an organization in identifying a first-round goalie with actual different-making talent in Andrei Vasilevskiy.

My favorite Yzerman move was taking advantage of the Canadiens need for splash moves by trading former third overall pick Jonathan Drouin, who has mostly underachieved, for a potential first-pairing defenseman, who contributed immediately at age 19, Mikhail Sergachev.

Honestly, I didn’t think Yzerman would come back. The Red Wings are in a difficult situation when you compare expectations to reality, while the Lightning are set up to contend for The Cup for a decade. But Yzerman, interestingly, really took over the celebration after the final game at Joe Louis Arena in 2017. It was as if he was “The Captain” again. He spoke so eloquently and from the heart, I told people at the time it looked like he wanted to come back.

Maybe he will. Certainly it’s more of a possibility than it had been.

My best and educated guess is he will.