The Malik Report

The Red Wings’ “forgotten man” in terms of their free agency signings was one Olli Maatta, a 27-year-old defenseman whose one-year contract wasn’t announced by the Red Wings until just after 7 AM this morning.

Maatta spoke with the Wings’ media corps today, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan asked Maatta why he left an up-and-coming Los Angeles Kings team to join Detroit:

“You see some of the players they already had before free agency started, and adding some big pieces, it’s a great place and exciting times,” Maatta said. “You can definitely see it, they’re up and coming and they want to be contenders and I want to be part of it.”

Maatta, who’ll be 28 in August, has been known as a defensive defenseman throughout his nine-year career. But Maatta feels he can contribute in other ways, as well.

“I have more offense in my game, more than in the last couple of years, and it’s definitely something I’ve been working on,” said Maatta, whose extensive playoff experience with Pittsburgh should be a benefit to a young team. “I hope so, but when you come to a new team you want to be yourself and just try to fit in and find your spot and just fit in well.”

Los Angeles teammates Andreas Athanasiou and Troy Stecher, both former Wings, gave Maatta glowing reports on the Wings organization.

“Nothing but good things to say, organization- and team-wise,” Maatta said. “My agent said there were teams that were available, but to be honest, there was nothing bad about Detroit and it was all great things, and how exciting the team is, and they definitely want to be a contender.  It felt right.”

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97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield discusses Red Wings prospect defenseman Simon Edvinsson’s uphill climb in terms of attempting to make Detroit’s roster this upcoming season:

There’s no such thing as a complete defenseman at the age of 19. But Edvinsson, who doesn’t turn 20 until next February, is about as close as it gets. One of the top prospects in hockey, he strengthened his game playing against men for two seasons in Sweden and now he has his sights set on Detroit. When the Red Wings start the season Oct. 14 against the Canadians at Little Caesars Arena, Edvinsson intends to be there.

“To take a roster place, to be in the lineup of the first game, that’s the main goal,” Edvinsson said.

It’s not a given, just as it wasn’t last year for Seider. And Edvinsson’s challenge is, well, taller, after the Wings signed a pair of top-four left-shot defensemen Wednesday in Ben Chiarot and Olli Maatta. That leaves Edvinsson, who has no North American experience, to battle Jake Walman and Jordan Oesterle for the final left-side spot on Detroit’s blueline. If he doesn’t outplay both of them in training camp and the preseason, his season will start Oct. 14 in Grand Rapids.

Which would be just fine for his development. Grand Rapids is where Seider spent his first season in North America, too. Indeed, the experience he gained there in 2019-20 is a big reason he adjusted so smoothly to the NHL last season. Who knows if he makes the Wings’ opening night roster without it.

But that’s the thing. Seider leapt from the SHL to the NHL without a hitch. So did Lucas Raymond, Edvinsson’s former teammate with Frolunda, and he did so without ever testing the AHL waters. Naturally, Edvinsson said he wants to “make the same journey as they did.”

“You need to have those expectations that you’re going to take a place on the roster, and to want to do that,” he said. “The SHL is a hard league, there’s a lot of good players and hard games, so it’s a good run-up for the NHL. Watching Lucas and Moritz do that, it gives you more confidence to really do this right here now.”

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The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan offers a set of bullet-pointed notes from Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s post-free agency day press conference:

► Signing [Dominik] Kubalik, who became an unrestricted free agent when Chicago surprisingly decided to not give a qualifying offer to the restricted free agent, making Kubalik unrestricted Wednesday: “He’s big, can skate, has a great shot and the contract we think is very reasonable. It’s a guy who has a lot of upside, and another player that gives more scoring depth. We reached out to him through Jiri Fischer and he expressed an interest in coming here. We’ve very pleased.”

► Yzerman expects the Wings to be tougher to play against: “Harder to play against isn’t necessarily running guys through the glass. It’s being more dogged on the puck, being more responsible with the puck, tighter and diligent defensively, competing harder. We want to be harder to play against because we’re better defensively and we’re more competitive and we have more depth up front. We can match up better.”  

► Yzerman was pleased to sign [Andrew] Copp, who appears to fill a big need at second-line center, but can play all three forward spots and both special teams: “At 28 years of age, he’s a very good athlete, very versatile, a good face-off man and at I’m comfortable giving (that kind of player) a five-year contract. That’s not a concern for me.”

► Signing [David] Perron also helps the Wings in a variety of ways: “He’s a pretty competitive guy. We like he’s a (right-handed) shot, a natural winger with a right shot, very good on the power play and he’s been through a lot of playoff runs. He’s very experienced and excelled in the playoffs, played on St. Louis’ Stanley Cup team (in 2019). He really fills a need for us, I like the veteran leadership he can provide.”

► Rebuilding the left-side defense with [Ben] Chiarot and [Olli] Maatta: “Defense-first defensemen, bigger bodies, they get in the way and are kind of hard to play against. I would expect those two guys will play with Moritz and Filip (Hronek), they’re good complements for them. They’re big guys, good length, block shots and are a little harder to play against.”

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NHL.com’s Tracey Myers surveyed the comments made by both the Red Wings’ free agent signings and their new general manager to offer this particular take on Detroit’s post-July 13th roster:

“I think we’ve improved the team, but we have to go on the ice in September and play in October,” [GM Steve] Yzerman said. “I think we’ve addressed some needs. I’m hoping we’re a better team. I think we’re progressing slowly in this rebuilding of the Red Wings.”

Yzerman showed he can reshape a team when he was Lightning GM from 2010-18. Under his watch, Tampa Bay drafted forward Nikita Kucherov, goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, hired Jon Cooper as coach, convinced captain Steven Stamkos to re-sign for eight more seasons in 2016, and acquired defenseman Mikhail Sergachev in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens.

The Lightning reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2015, then won back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021 and advanced to the Final in 2022, where they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in six games.

“Not to take anything away from [current Lightning GM Julien BriseBrois], but Steve was there for a while and drafted a bunch of guys and turned that into a big part of where they’re at today,” [Andrew] Copp said. “So, I think that trust stems from there.”

The players seem determined to bring the Red Wings back to prominence. Yzerman said he is certainly hoping for a more competitive squad.

“Are we good enough to make the playoffs next year? I don’t know,” Yzerman said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll score more goals, we’ll give up fewer goals, I’m hoping our power play will be a little bit better (26th in NHL last season), our penalty killing is a little bit better (last in NHL), our goals-against is a little bit better (3.78 last season, second-most in NHL) and that pushes us higher up in the standings.”

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DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted a notebook article which mostly focuses on Theodor Niederbach and Simon Edvinsson’s remarks regarding what they’re going to be taking away from the Red Wings’ summer development camp, but the most interesting part of Mills’ article comes in the form of a comment from the GM regarding the camp as a whole:

The Detroit Red Wings’ promising young prospects concluded 2022 Development Camp on Thursday morning at the BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena, competing in a three-on-three tournament that saw Team Draper defeat Team Watson, 3-1, in the championship game.

Speaking to the media in a free agency Zoom call on Thursday afternoon, Red Wings executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman described this year’s camp as “excellent.”

“I thought Danny Cleary and our entire staff did a really good job in preparing it and organizing the camp,” Yzerman said. “The feedback and watching the players, they really seemed to enjoy all the different aspects of the week.”

Continued; the development camp was excellent except for the fact that it started at 8 AM or earlier for five straight days…

Former Red Wings forward, sports commentator, rock band leader, amateur wrestler and cannabis entrepreneur Darren McCarty weighed in on the Red Wings’ free agency moves on the Woodward Sports Network today…

As did the Winged Wheel Podcast’s Brad Krysto (nobody asks me to come on sports talk radio…yet…):

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen took note of this quip from Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s post-free agency day (day one, anyway) press conference:

Yzerman believes strongly that youngsters shouldn’t be given a roster spot until they earn it. That was how Lucas Raymond made the Red Wings last season. He was exceptional in training camp and in the preseason.

“If our young guys are really good, we are in a position that we will we will create a spot for them,” Yzerman said. “Having too many good players is never a problem.”

Yzerman believes he’s buying free agents. He has more than $10 million in cap space, although he still needs to re-up Wallman and Filip Zadina.

“I don’t have a blockbuster in the works or anything like that,” Yzerman said. ” I think we get through free agency and kind of explore some teams that have to make moves in light of what’s happened. It’s important to keep looking around, keep communicating with other teams around the league to see if there is any potential fit, but I don’t expect to announce any future signings. “

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MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Simon Edvinsson’s media availability after the late-arriving prospect impressed at the Red Wings’ summer development camp today. Edvinsson was asked whether he’s modeled himself after Moritz Seider, and he offered this response:

“I had a great mentor in Sweden, Christian Folin, a former SHL player that helped me a lot with defensive work, how to think in all situations and how to build muscles to be able to compete against those guys,” Edvinsson said. “The longer the season went, I (made) more offensive plays, started to do new stuff, developed my game.”

Working with former Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall, an assistant director of player development for the team, has helped.

“He’s always positive. He’s a great thinker,” Edvinsson said. “You think of those small details in your game, just how to move, how to think at every position on the ice.”

Daniel Cleary, another assistant director of player development, lauded Edvinsson’s talent, attitude and approach.

“It was unbelievable to watch him last year in Frolunda live, just to see the way he skates, the way he moves on the ice, his size and athleticism, his creativity, his vision,” Cleary said. “He’s an excellent prospect. Great kid.”

Edvinsson hasn’t spoken much to Seider but kept in steady contact with former Frolunda teammate Lucas Raymond throughout the season, “Telling him he was good every game that he played.”

“Lucas said be confident in what you do,” Edvinsson said. “You have played in the SHL and have been good there. Just take that with you to Detroit,” Edvinsson said. “Just do everything I’ve been doing and even better. SHL is a hard league, a lot of good players. It’s a good run-up for the NHL. Watching Lucas and Moritz (transition) gives you more confidence to do this right here and right now.”

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Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman spoke with the Wings’ media corps today, and the Free Press’s Helene St. James took note of Yzerman’s remarks regarding the state of his significantly-changed team:

“We had needs to be addressed,” Yzerman said. “We filled an important need at center in Andrew Copp, a right-hand-shot forward in David Perron, kind of a pleasant surprise in what we consider a scoring winger in Dominik Kubalik, and adding some defensemen that we think will improve and help us on our special teams, in particular on penalty killing, and then defensively 5-on-5, as well. These are all areas we talked about in the spring that we needed to improve on. We were in position to bring in some new faces and players we think addressed some of these needs.”

The Wings will need depth as forward Robby Fabbri (ACL) and defenseman Jake Walman (shoulder) both will miss the start of the season. Copp gives the Wings the second-line pivot they’ve long needed and adds faceoff prowess that also will help both special teams. Perron is a scorer and former Stanley Cup champion, and Kubalik is only three seasons removed from scoring 30 goals. Chiarot (6 feet 3, 234 pounds) and Määttä (6-2, 210) add size to the back end. Copp (28) Määttä (27) and Kubalik (27) are in the same age range as Dylan Larkin (26 on July 30) and Tyler Bertuzzi (27), two of the core pieces of the rebuild, and Perron (34) and Chiarot (31) add experience and will help bring along the Wings’ younger players: Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson.

It’s as aggressive as Yzerman has been in four years and reflects a growing confidence.

“I think we’ve improved our team, but we have to go on the ice in September and then play in October,” Yzerman said. “I’m hoping we’re a better team. I think we’re progressing slowly in this rebuilding of the Red Wings. Are we good enough to make the playoffs next year? I don’t know. I’m hopeful that we’ll score more goals, we’ll give up fewer goals, our power play will be a little bit better, our penalty killing a little bit better. Our goals against is a little bit better, and that pushes us up higher up the standings.

“Time will tell. I’m optimistic we’re progressing, but the plan really hasn’t changed. I’m sticking with what I intended to do and keeping our younger guys and be patient with them, keep our draft picks and continue to build this way.”

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The Detroit Red Wings signed Dominik Kubalik to a 2-year, $5 million contract on Wednesday, and he spoke with the Wings’ media corps today…But the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope is first to the internet punch with this take on what the 26-year-old Kubalik had to say about leaving the Chicago Blackhawks to come to Detroit:

“It’s a fresh start, it’s a clean table, and I’m very excited about the opportunity,” Kubalik said Thursday. “Hopefully I’ll start like I did in Chicago.”

That’s what the Wings are betting on. Kubalik seemed destined for a long Hawks career after his explosive 2019-20 rookie season, in which he tallied 30 goals and 46 points in 48 games. The past two seasons were never the same, though. Kubalik actually expected to be moved out of Chicago at the trade deadline this past March, then was confused when he wasn’t.

“All the rumors were out [there] and I felt, ‘It’s going to happen,’” he said. “But eventually it didn’t. So I didn’t know what to think… The situation was tough because I didn’t know, until now, what was going to be the plan or what they were going to do with me.”

Closure on his Hawks tenure finally came last week, when he was informed he wouldn’t receive a qualifying offer.

“I got better every year,” he said. “For me, it’s not usually [about] the points or my game. Sometimes it’s even better if you grow like a man, like a human being. … I feel more confident about [myself] and I know what to expect and I know how to play [in the NHL]. I had a great three years [in Chicago]. My hope was that someone still believed in me and would give me a chance, which happened.”

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