The Malik Report

Very, very briefly:

1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James noted that Daniel Cleary, Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula are golfing with Erik Karlsson in Scotland, and you’ll find a picture of Niklas Kronwall in Karlsson’s Instagram feed as well:

Another beautiful day. #trumpinternational

A post shared by Erik Karlsson (@erikkarlsson65) on Jul 10, 2018 at 4:09am PDT

2. The Red Wings are promoting their fantasy camp…

For the first time, #RedWings Fantasy Camp is coming to @LCArena_Detroit! Don’t miss your chance to skate with Hockeytown Legends! #LGRW

Participants must be 21 years of age or older to register. Presented by @budweiserusa.

Visit: https://t.co/vjO44v380x pic.twitter.com/agnAXSrmER

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 10, 2018

3. And this is a little late, but I could use a hand with a Filip Hronek interview given to Mountfield HK Hradek Kralove about a week ago. Hronek speaks at length about his pro career, but the Google translation thereof comes out as garble. Please let me know if you can lend a hand in translating the interview.

MLive’s Ansar Khan penned a profile of Red Wings prospect David Pope this morning, discussing the 24-year-old’s developmental curve:

“(College) was definitely the right route for me,” Pope said. “I needed a little bit more time to kind of figure out my game and grow into my body and get a lot stronger. Now I have my degree (in Kinesiology) and it’s all about hockey.

“I think the time in the NCAA kind of helps you hone-in your skills and develop your game, not only on the ice but how to be a professional as well.”

The Red Wings selected Pope (6-3, 198) in the fourth round in 2013 (109^th overall). He blossomed the past two years in college. As a senior, he picked up 20 goals and 41 points in 35 games.

Michael Rasmussen and Filip Zadina, the club’s past two No. 1 picks, appear to have the edge over other forward prospects in the competition for roster spots.

Pope said he needs to improve his skating, not technique, but stamina. He will continue working with skating coach Stacy Barber this summer.

“I’m one of those kids who just developed a little bit later,” Pope said. “I think a lot of it was just growing into my body. When you start to get a little bit of that man strength, everything kind of comes together from there.”

Khan continues, and he posted a short video of Pope speaking with the media during development camp:

 

 

The Hockey News’s Ken Campbell penned an article about The Russian Five documentary, and Campbell reports that the film went over particularly well with its target audience:

Moments after The Russian Five documentary film debuted at a film festival in Detroit in April, director Joshua Riehl was backstage preparing to appear on a Q&A panel when he was approached by former Detroit Red Wing Darren McCarty, who had tears rolling down his face. “The first thing he said to me was, ‘Brother, you captured it,’ ” Riehl said. “ ‘You captured what it felt like to be in that locker room.’ For someone who was in that locker room to give his stamp of approval meant a lot. The emotion was real. It wasn’t fake. Nothing is fake about Darren McCarty.”

That was Riehl’s second favorite moment from the night the movie debuted at the Freep Film Festival three months ago. The first was when Riehl realized that Vladimir Konstantinov was in the audience. That’s because Konstantinov was the main inspiration behind The Russian Five, which chronicles the Detroit Red Wings dynasty through the eyes of Konstantinov, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Slava Fetisov and Vyacheslav Kozlov from the moment Konstantinov and Fedorov were part of the best single-team draft in NHL history in 1989 to the back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and ’98 and the limousine accident that robbed Konstantinov of his career and left him permanently disabled.

Continued, and FYI:

Riehl said the film has been seen now by about 4,500 people, with the next showing at a film festival in Traverse City in August. (Unfortunately, the Toronto International Film Festival passed on it, largely because it now shows only world premiers.) But Riehl has been encouraged by the feedback he has received on it to this point. And he said if he makes another hockey film, he would like to document McCarty’s life journey.

“The pain that he suffered during his hockey career drove him to alcohol abuse and drug addiction,” Riehl said. “But he found something that works for him and he’s been sober for two years. I feel like that guy has an awesome redemption story in there somewhere.”

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan penned an article profiling Gustav Lindstrom, a strong-skating offensive defenseman who’s going to try to break into the SHL this season with the Frolunda Indians:

“Frolunda is a fantastic program, and it lost a lot of its defensemen,” said Shawn Horcoff, the Wings’ director of player development. “He’ll get a good chance, a lot of opportunities that we will monitor closely, and spend a lot of time on.”

Lindstrom was a somewhat of a surprise selection by the Wings, as many scouts considered he’d be picked a round or two lower.

But the Wings saw a 6-foot-2, 190-pound right-shot defenseman who, if not thoroughly outstanding in one area, was more than adequate while checking off a lot of other boxes.

With Almtuna IS in the Swedish junior league, Lindstrom had 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 39 games last season, with a plus-2 rating.

“He’s a guy that really came on the second half last season,” Horcoff said. “He’s physical, he skates well and has a good first pass.”

Kulfan continues…

On Sunday’s SportsWorks on Fox 2, WJR’s Sean Baligian spoke with Woody Woodriffe regarding the Red Wings‘ free agent signings as they apply to the youth movement, as well as the team’s goaltending situation. Baligian speaks from the 7-minute mark to the 9:18 mark of the following clip:

 

Earlier this morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan addressed Andreas Athanasiou’s trade value as part of a Monday mailbag feature. This afternoon, the Free Press’s Helene St. James addresses the same topic:

It would not be surprising to see the Wings trade Athanasiou. If they get a good offer – at least a second-round pick or a good prospect, preferably a defenseman – he could be flipped to help the rebuild.

As talented as Athanasiou is, he shouldn’t be as quiet as he is at times – last season he went for stretches of 10 and 15 games without a goal. That came even as he averaged 15:19 minutes per game, up from 13:28 in 2016-17. His average power play time increased to 1:44 from 1:13, yet he contributed only four points during man advantages.

Once restricted free agents Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha are re-signed, the Wings will have 12 forwards towards the 2018-19 roster: Athanasiou, Henrik Zetterberg, Frans Nielsen, Gustav Nyquist, Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Thomas Vanek, Luke Glendening, Tyler Bertuzzi and Martin Frk. Michael Rasmussen, the team’s first-round pick from 2017, is expected to grab a job, and June’s draft added the possibility there’ll be another fresh face in Filip Zadina. Other forward prospects expected to challenge for minutes include 2015 first-round pick Evgeny Svechnikov, and David Pope, a shooter dating to the 2013 draft.

That makes for a crowded field, though injuries crop up during training camp/exhibition season. Svechnikov and Pope may end up starting the season in Grand Rapids, but if they perform well, they should be called up.

Continued

From the Detroit Red Wings:

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a mailbag feature this morning, and Khan discusses Andreas Athanasiou’s status as the Red Wings’ best “trading chip”:

Continued

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji examines Andreas Athanasiou’s 2017-18 “numbers” this morning:

33 — The 33 points Athanasiou had in 71 games this past season represented a new career best, topping the 29 points he had during the 2016-17 season.

16 — Athanasiou had 16 goals, which tied him with Dylan Larkin and Frans Nielsen for third most on the team. Anthony Mantha was first with 24 and Gustav Nyquist was second with 21. He had 18 goals last season.

17 — Athanasiou registered 17 assists this season, a new career best, surpassing the 11 assists he had in 64 games last year.

Continued

 

WOOD TV’s Larry Figurski spoke with Red Wings prospects Filip Zadina and Givani Smith during the Wings’ summer development camp, and his interview appeared on Sunday night’s Sports OT: