The Malik Report

This Tweet from Sportsnet’s Michael Grange opens up some possibilities for one Tyler Bertuzzi, who was not on the ice this morning:

Opposing NBA players who are unvaccinated will able to enter Canada/play in Toronto vs. Raptors under a ‘National Interest Exemption’ (covers MLB and NHL too) but will require testing upon entry, league-mandated testing while here and be restricted to hotel and arena.— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) September 27, 2021

Update: FYI:

To clarify, the NHL has not applied for a National Interest Exemption for this season. https://t.co/0LpMwtupCe— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) September 27, 2021

Update #2:

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly in an email to CP: “At this point in time we have made a decision not to seek a National Interest Exemption” for the 2021-22 season. https://t.co/Fmixzzg0gl— Joshua Clipperton (@JClipperton_CP) September 27, 2021

Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic spoke with Bally Sports Detroit’s John Keating today:

FYI from Centre ICE Arena:

UPDATE: There is a slight adjustment to the @DetroitRedWings Training Camp schedule on Tuesday, September, 28. A skills skate has been added at 8:30 am and practices will begin at 9:00 am. Doors will still open at 8:30 am as previously scheduled. Thank you for attending! pic.twitter.com/DDzW2ATajR— Centre Ice Arena (@CentreICEArena) September 27, 2021

The Score’s staff posted a set of power rankings which encapsulate every team’s best offseason move. The Wings don’t rank highly, but their offseason move was pretty good:

29. Detroit Red Wings: This one’s a no-brainer, as the Red Wings‘ fleecing of the Hurricanes for Calder finalist Alex Nedeljkovic was by far Detroit’s best offseason acquisition. The move was one of the best in the league, with Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman landing the promising 25-year-old goaltender from Carolina for 33-year-old netminder Jonathan Bernier and a third-round pick.

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Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen offers 8 takeaways from training camp in a subscriber-only article. Among them:

Expectations for Mo Seider

Fans got a trip back to reality in the Red and White game when Pius Suter stripped the puck from Seider and scored.

“Seider got careless there,” Blashill said. “He stayed inside, Suits stayed with it and found a way to score, so good for him.”

This was one play. It doesn’t mean Seider won’t be an elite defenseman. He will be. But it was a needed reminder that Seider is still young. He needs time to adjust to NHL-caliber competitors. But he has adjusted quickly everywhere he’s been. He will here too, but you have to expect growing pains. 

“I thought the first half of the game he was real good,” Blashill said. “He was strong on the puck, did a lot of good things. I think the second half, he wasn’t quite as good. It’s that consistency that you gotta be great at in this league. I have full belief that he’ll learn that. I hope he keeps gaining that consistency as quickly as possible.”

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The Traverse City Record-Eagle’s James Cook posted a Red vs. White Game recap, discussing new Red Wings forward Mitchell Stephens‘ two-goal performance and his “fit” with the Wings:

Yzerman drafted Stephens in the second round in 2015 while with Tampa Bay, then acquired him for a 2022 sixth-round pick in late July. Stephens played for the Saginaw Spirit from 2013-17.

Stephens played in 45 games over the past two years for Tampa Bay, winning the Stanley Cup both seasons. He had three goals and four assists.

“When you’re on good teams, those teams tend to do it right on a consistent basis,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “You bring that kind of maturity in your game and make sure you’re practicing right and you’re doing it right in games. You get to see how the very best team in the league attacks every practice, attacks every day. Just bringing that by example is important.”

Stephens, who spent a day with the Stanley Cup this summer in his hometown of Peterborough, Ontario, said he’s looking to get the same bump in Detroit that Adam Erne did when Yzerman similarly acquired him from Tampa after drafting him in the second round in 2013.

“Adam came in and ran with that opportunity that he got here,” Stephens said.

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The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a subscriber-only article this morning, discussing Pius Suter’s impressions made on the team over the course of training camp and Sunday’s Red vs. White Game:

Tentatively, Blashill has Suter paired with Robby Fabbri, to see if they can build chemistry similar to that between Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi.

“I envision Larks and Bert playing together and we’ll see who plays on the right side,” Blashill said. “With Suits, it certainly could be with Fabs. That line was good today. Suits brings a lot to the table in a lot of different ways. He’s a really smart player. I’ve been impressed with him so far. He’s a very head-y player.”

Suter, 25, is a late bloomer to the NHL: Attempts to catch on with the Ottawa Senators (2017) and New York Islanders (2018) fizzled, and Suter played five seasons in his native Switzerland before a successful stint with the Chicago Blackhawks last season. When he wasn’t extended by the Hawks, Yzerman signed Suter to a two-year, $6.5 million deal.

The message when Suter met with Blashill before camp was to play the style of hockey that netted 14 goals and 13 assists in 55 games.

“Just keep doing what I did,” Suter said. “For me, it’s just to keep doing what I did last year and make the team better.”

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MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses Filip Zadina this morning, noting that the 21-year-old forward is expected to make the jump from regular NHL’er to regular offensive contributor this season:

“We would love for him to take that next step offensively,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “If he’s occupying a top-six role he has to take that next step offensively, otherwise somebody else will get that opportunity.”

Blashill said he hopes to keep Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi together all season. Zadina has been on that line during the first three days of training camp, but if he doesn’t click with them, Blashill said he will put someone else in that spot.

It’s a terrific opportunity for Zadina, who scored only six goals, in addition to providing 13 assists, in 49 games last season.

“I would be really excited for sure,” Zadina said. “I’m doing the best I can to stick with them as long as I can.”

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Red Wings forward Joe Veleno has always been projected to become a solid second or third-line center at the NHL level, but the Detroit Red Wings’ roster is well-stocked in the middle right now. As such, The Athletic’s Max Bultman wonders whether Veleno’s most direct path to the NHL involves taking (to the left or right) wing:

Looking at Detroit’s roster — with Larkin, Pius Suter and Michael Rasmussen all roster locks, and Carter Rowney and Mitchell Stephens among those battling for the fourth-line center job — I’m left wondering if Veleno’s quicker path to the NHL might be on the wing.

So, this weekend, I posed this question to Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill: is there a world in which Veleno is battling for a job on the wing this fall? Or is he exclusively competing down the middle — with the fourth-line center spot the most conspicuously vacant.

“There’s a world where he’s competing on the wing, for sure,” Blashill said. “There’s no doubt that I think if he ends up a much better player than some of the guys that we foresee in those spots, and he’s a better player than those guys and we can find him a spot in the top nine somewhere, then I think it’s a discussion. The discussion for fourth-line center, we’d have to talk what’s best for Joe Veleno at that point, too. Not just necessarily is he a little bit better than another guy; is that the best thing for our organization and the best thing for him in terms of his development? And those are talks that Steve and I will have as we go through exhibition season. And obviously, there’s unforeseen things like injuries. So let’s see where it goes. I think the biggest thing is he just needs to make a statement every time he’s on the ice, that he’s going to make us better.”

Not only was that a clear “yes” on the possibility of Veleno competing at wing — it actually sounded more plausible to me that Veleno makes the team at wing than he does at fourth-line center. Reading not-so-thinly between the lines, there’s a clear implication that Detroit wants Veleno to be a top-nine player if he’s going to make the team, whether that be down the middle or on the wing.

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The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has authored a subscriber-only article regarding Pius Suter and Mitchell Stephens’ offensive performances during the Red vs. White Game at Centre ICE Arena on Sunday. Here’s a pertinent part regarding Suter:

Suter signed a two-year deal worth $6.5 million ($3.25 million cap hit) after scoring 14 goals with 13 assists in Chicago. He had options, but the Wings were his focus.

“There’s opportunity here, there are some spots open,” Suter said. “I want to play and I also want to help the team grow. There’s a lot of guys around my age (25) that you can grow up together and gain experience and win more games every year and go from there. They were interested in me and I felt it was a good spot and a great organization with a lot of history and definitely will be fun.”

Suter got position inside of defenseman Moritz Seider to a loose puck, drove to the net and beat goalie Calvin Pickard for his goal.

Coach Jeff Blashill likes what he has seen from Suter thus far in camp.

“He’s a real smart player, I’ve been impressed with him,” Blashill said. “He’s a very heady player. He won’t wow you physically. He doesn’t shoot it a million miles and doesn’t skate like crazy. But he’s a real heady player and super smart. He knows where to be … offensively and defensively.”

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