The Malik Report

The Grand Rapids Press’s Peter J. Wallner has penned a lengthy article explaining the player personnel changes made by the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins:

The look of the Grand Rapids Griffins changed dramatically over the weekend following a number of moves and signings by the Detroit Red Wings.

The team signed four players who most likely will wind up with the Griffins this season, including two past AHL scoring champs.

The look in goal also promises to be different after veteran goalie Jared Coreau left for Anaheim.

Plus, veteran goalie Tom McCollum told MLive on Monday that he will not return to the Griffins.

Here’s a look at the newcomers to get you up to speed, along with others from last year’s team still out there and some other recent moves.

Continued

Per the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye:

WALLEYE EXTEND QUALIFYING OFFERS TO SIX PLAYERS

(Toledo, OH) – The Toledo Walleye announced today its list of players that have received qualifying offers for the 2018-19 season. Information regarding qualified players is listed below.

Defensemen Simon Denis, Kevin Lohan and Ryan Obuchowski received qualifying offers along with forwards Connor Crisp, Colin Jacobs and Christian Hilbrich.

Each team was entitled to reserve the rights to a maximum of eight qualified players. Of the eight qualified players, no more than four could be veterans (260 regular season professional hockey games played as of the start of the upcoming 2018-19 season). Players on open qualifying offers cannot be traded.

The qualifying offer must remain open for acceptance until July 16 at which time the qualifying offer becomes null and void and the team may sign the qualified player to any salary or may elect to take no further action. Teams that extend a valid qualifying offer to a non-veteran player shall retain the rights to that qualified player for one playing season.

A team that extends a valid qualifying offer to a veteran player will retain the rights to that veteran until July 16. After July 16, if the veteran player is not signed to a contract by the team, the veteran shall be deemed a restricted free agent and shall be entitled to seek and secure offers of employment from other ECHL teams. Restricted free agents may not be traded. When a restricted free agent receives a contract offer from a team other than the team with the player’s rights and the restricted free agent wishes to accept the contract offer, the restricted free agent and the offering member must, within 24 hours, notify the ECHL, the team with the player’s rights and the Professional Hockey Players’ Association. The member with the player’s rights shall have seven days after the date it is notified to exercise its right to match the contract offer.

If a restricted free agent is not signed to either an offer sheet or a contract by an ECHL team by Aug. 1, the player shall be deemed an unrestricted free agent.

FYI from Newsday’s Andrew Gross and CapFriendly:

#Isles have also signed F Matt Lorito, 27, to a two-year deal with a cap hit of $675,000. He’s played 2 NHL games for Red Wings. Last season with Grand Rapids (AHL) 23 goals, 26 assists in 59 games. Has also played in Devils’ system.

— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) July 2, 2018

Of the 127 contracts that were signed yesterday we’ve managed to confirm roughly half of them so far.

A few players that signed yesterday which flew under the radar:

Joey LaLeggia #Blues 2x$675k
Joe Cannata #Avs 1x$665k
Matt Lorito #Islanders 2x$675khttps://t.co/hB1IQ2Q7Na

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) July 2, 2018

Red Wings GM Ken Holland appeared on 97.1 the Ticket this morning, speaking on the Stoney and Riger show regarding the Red Wings’ free agent signings:

USA Today’s Kevin Allen also weighed in on the first day of free agency:

Update: CBS Detroit’s Will Burtchfield took note of some of Holland’s remarks:

“I’m gonna do what I believe is right in the rebuild of a franchise. I’m not gonna cut corners,” Holland said. “I think it’s important to have blockers, these veteran guys. I think it’s important to try to have your young players get opportunity and play with veteran players, but at the same time they gotta be challenged and they gotta compete on an everyday basis. I don’t believe in entitlement, and I think if we entitle our young players they’re not gonna fully develop.”

It all goes back to maintaining the competitive culture the Wings have come to be known for.

“You can’t go to the rink and know that before the game even starts that you have no chance of being involved in any kind of a hockey game. It’s a negative environment, the kids lose their confidence and go backwards,” he said.

I can only scratch my head at this Ken Holland quote from today’s post-free agent signing conference call, per the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

“We are trying to transition from older people to younger people,” general manager Ken Holland said Sunday afternoon. “We signed some veteran players because it’s important we have some veterans around our kids, but at the same time, it’s important that those kids get an opportunity. We believe we can make both things happen.”

Recent forward draftees Michael Rasmussen and Filip Zadina and defensemen Filip Hronek and Dennis Cholowski are among leading candidates to grab jobs either out of training camp or early in the season.

“We’re going to give a lot of young players a long look in preseason and the plan is, the hope is, to have two or three kids crack our lineup,” Holland said. “But they have to be ready. And if they don’t make the roster on opening day, that doesn’t mean they’re not up two weeks later. It’s a six-month season, and lots happens. Zadina and Rasmussen were just here at development camp and the message to those players is you have to come in and win a job. We are going to give them every opportunity.”

The Wings want to create a competitive situation balanced with rebuilding.

“The hope is we can hang in and the longer we can hang in, I think the better the environment is for the fans, for our players, especially for our young players,” Holland said. “Ultimately my focus as the manager is probably on this team a little bit down the road. I don’t want it to be way down the road, but a little bit down the road, we can be in the playoff race.”

St. James continues, and if there ever was a single-article summary of Ken Holland’s system of beliefs as they apply to his managerial moves, the above-quoted paragraphs are that philosophy distilled. The man truly believes that he’s threading the needle between a veteran-laden team and a youth movement.

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa suggests that Red Wings general manager Ken Holland lacks the patience necessary for a “full rebuild,” for better or worse:

The weekend brought the solace of a clear increase in talent among the Wings’ prospects, at the development scrimmage. It also brought reconfirmation, if ever any was needed, that Holland’s approach to the rebuild remains more dutiful than eager.

It is evermore clear he is entirely unwilling to risk a 50-loss season to vastly increase the odds of drafting an assured star, like Dahlin or Hughes.

But Holland can boast that this season his strategy brought Zadina, Joe Veleno, Jonatan Berggren and Jared McIsaac, and he has five picks in the first three rounds in 12 months.

For those who expected a more vigorous approach to rebuilding the Red Wings a few seasons ago, disappointment escalates.

Holland is moving at his pace. It will hasten, somewhat, in 12 months when, making another 10 selections in the draft, Jimmy Howard, Nick Jensen, Kronwall, Gustav Nyquist and Vanek become free agents, and Cholowski, Zadina, Veleno and Givani Smith might be ready for the NHL, in Holland’s eyes.

But for now, it is a matter of getting Athanasiou, Larkin and Mantha signed, consulting with Zetterberg, opening training camp … and patience.

Krupa continues…

This was coming. That’s my “bottom line” thought about the Red Wings and Ken Holland’s decisions to re-sign Mike Green, bring Thomas Vanek back and ink Jonathan Bernier to a generous 3-year contract–that all of this was coming.

When I left the Wings’ summer development camp on Saturday, I understood that Ken Holland was going to put some roadblocks in the faces of the players the team had spent the week promoting, and I knew that from the instant the Wings re-signed Holland himself.

In my opinion, there’s just nothing to be enraged or infuriated about not because Kenny wasn’t gonna do what he does, but instead, precisely because Kenny Holland has never, ever changed his stripes as it relates to padding the roster with veteran players.

It happens every summer, no matter how damn good the young players are, and the only people that can fight the battles against the Old Guardian are the Wings’ young players, not you nor I, so I just try my best to sigh heavily and move on with my day.

I hope that you can find your happy place and know that the enthusiasm I conveyed regarding the Red Wings’ young players this past week is still very real, and that they are still the future, regardless of how many roadblocks Holland places along their path toward the NHL. In the end, talent prevails, and over the long haul, the Wings’ best players will shine through…

It’s just going to take a little longer to get to that bright future than you or I would like, because “our team’s” general manager is one stubborn old codger.

That’s my take, at least.

Filling in some loose ends, Grand Rapids Griffins goalie and Calder Cup winner Jared Coreau is heading to Anaheim…

Former Red Wings goalie Jared Coreau signs a 1-year deal with the Ducks worth $650/$450K.

— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) July 1, 2018

While Valtteri Filppula is not going to end up with the Red Wings, despite strong rumors to the contrary:

Source says #Isles have indeed signed C Valteri Filppula, though team has not confirmed.

— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) July 2, 2018

 

Xavier Ouellet thanked the Red Wings and Griffins on Instagram as he signed a 1-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens today:

Before l talk about how excited l am about signing with the @canadiensmtl , I want to take a second to thank the @detroitredwings organization and the city of Detroit for giving me an opportunity to make my debut in the NHL—it was an amazing experience! The cities of Detroit and Grand Rapids brought me so much. It was an honor to wear the Redwings jersey and I’m sad to leave Michigan behind as I move back home to Montreal. Thanks again to all my teammates, all the fans, and the organization. #detroit #RedWings Maintenant c’est le temps de dire a quel point ma famille et moi sommes excité pour ce nouveau depart à Montreal, la ville ou j’ai grandi, devant le support de ma famille et mes amies. Now l want to say how truly excited my family and l are about this new opportunity in Montreal. A fresh start in my hometown in front of my family and friends is going to be amazing. #montreal @canadiensmtl

A post shared by Xavier Ouellet (@the_xman16) on Jul 1, 2018 at 1:07pm PDT

Of Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. The Associated Press’s Stephen Whyno penned an article regarding today’s Red Wings’ free agent signings…