The Malik Report

I don’t believe that Patrick Kane will sign with the Red Wings when he recovers from hip resurfacing surgery, plain and simple.

I believe that Kane has better options in terms of sliding into the middle of a Cup contender’s lineup, and that playing for a winning team is his priority, not reuniting with former linemate and Detroit forward Alex DeBrincat.

The Kane rumors were a a fun end-of-summer remembrance of the days when the Red Wings could pick and choose their free agent signings from the “pick of the litter,” but they were never realistic.

This morning, Bleacher Report’s Sara Civian examines the “Pros and Cons” of a scenario in which Patrick Kane actually does sign with the Red Wings, and while stranger things have happened, I’m 99% certain that I can guarantee that Kane won’t be signing with the Wings:

Pro: It’s a low-risk, high-reward move

Kane to the Red Wings would be a low-risk move on several fronts.

First, raise your hand if you expect Detroit to hoist the Cup next season. No one? A handful of you at best. Good coaches hate viewing just making the playoffs as a success, so expect Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde to say otherwise. But truthfully, the next stop on the general manager Steve Yzerman’s Yzerplan train is the Wings simply making it to the playoffs in the ridiculous East. It’s hardly the end of the world if the Red Wings sign Kane for a mostly off-ice benefit.

Next, we can’t imagine Kane’s contract costing a fortune, especially with particularly hard salary-cap constraints this year, and Kane’s eagerness to be a part of another winning team (which, yes, could be the Red Wings).

Best-case scenario, he has some second wind-y, bounce-back season where he finds a groove and hovers around his career numbers one more time (indulge in the delusion). Worst-case scenario, he’s cheap and still usable on the power play. Not much to lose, here.

Civian lists three “pros” and two “cons” as to whether Kane might sign with Detroit, and her bottom line is a really good one:

Continue reading Civian’s ‘Pros and Cons’ of Patrick Kane

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a behind-the-paywall article this morning which discusses the 40 Red Wings alumni, past and present, who were born in Michigan:

It’s no secret that Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman gains his motivation from winning. Stevie Y is driven is driven to succeed.

That being the case, you shouldn’t be thinking that Yzerman isn’t in possession of a strong understanding of Michigan’s hockey heritage and the role the Red Wings play in that lore.

The club goes to training camp later this month in Traverse City, Michigan. When they do so, the Red Wings will be listing no less than seven Michigan-born among their training camp roster. Four of them figure to be key figures in Detroit’s fortunes during the 2023-24 NHL season.

That list begins with captain Dylan Larkin (Waterford). Forward Andrew Copp (Ann Arbor) is back for his second year with the Red Wings, while winter Alex DeBrincat (Farmington Hills) and defenseman Jeff Petry (Ann Arbor) were offseason additions via trade.

Continued (paywall), with a list of the 40 Michigan-born Wings who’ve played in the NHL, from 1935-36 onward.

This is a fun article to read to learn about Red Wings history!

The Athletic’s Harman Dayal posted an article which discusses “tanking” this morning, separating teams into two categories: those who are “ready to graduate from the basement” and a top five list of teams that are still well-positioned to win the 2024 NHL Draft lottery.

Surprisingly, Dayal says that the Red Wings are “ready to graduate from the basement”:

Detroit Red Wings

2022-23 finish: 24th

Key acquisitions: Alex DeBrincat, J.T. Compher, Jeff Petry, Daniel Sprong, Shayne Gostisbehere, Justin Holl

Key departures: Dominik Kubalik, Pius Suter

Steve Yzerman’s aggressive offseason has positioned the Red Wings to take a meaningful step this season. There were a couple of questionable contracts handed out in free agency, but there’s no denying that the club is significantly deeper. DeBrincat gives them a new top-of-the-lineup scorer, Compher solidifies the top-nine center situation and Sprong will inject crucial secondary scoring. On the back end, Petry, Gostisbehere and Holl will offer more stability behind the solid top pair of Moritz Seider and Jake Walman.

Lucas Raymond is expected to take a big step in Year 3, while you could continue seeing progress from the likes of Jonatan Berggren and Michael Rasmussen.

Put it all together and you have a team that’s much more likely to contend for a playoff spot than a prime lottery position.

Continued (paywall); that’s probably the most optimistic outlook for the Wings that I’ve read this offseason.

Ideally, the Red Wings are in the mix for a playoff spot throughout the 2023-2024 season. That’s my hope.

Per the ECHL:

The ECHL announced on Monday that eight ECHL on-ice officials, along with Manager of Officiating Riley Yerkovich, will work the 2023 NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan from Sept. 14-17. This marks the 11th consecutive tournament that ECHL officials have worked games.

Debuting in 1988, the NHL Prospects Tournament will feature four clubs this year – Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yerkovich will be responsible for the selection and scheduling of the officials for each game of the tournament and will assist any playing or rule situation that takes place during the tournament. The officiating staff for the tournament includes four referees and four linesmen.

“The ECHL Officiating Team would like to thank the NHL, Detroit Red Wings and participating teams for hosting one of the best off-season events in hockey,” Yerkovich said. “The Traverse City Prospects Tournament allows our officials to officiate high-caliber hockey and is incredibly important to the development of our on-ice staff. Furthermore, the ECHL Officiating Team would like to thank the support staff for all teams and Centre Ice Arena. Our officials always feel welcome at the event, and it is a highlight of many of their careers.”

ECHL officials who will work during the Prospects Tournament include referees Chad Ingalls, David Lilly, Hunter Mottinger and Brendan Schreider along with linespeople Zach Carson, Luke Pye, Tyler Willie and Kirsten Welsh.

Here’s a video of Lucas Raymond speaking with Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman for 10 minutes, as part of their “32 Thoughts” podcast. This was filmed during the NHL’s European Media Tour:

I’ve only rented a car once before in my life, so I headed to Enterprise today in my rolling deathtrap, a.k.a. my mechanically-deemed-unsafe Chrysler Pacifica, to pick up a rental car for the trip.

There were several terms and conditions which, as you might expect, popped up at the last minute, but I was a little stunned when the nice young lady at the counter told me that the red Chevy Equinox came with a $300 deposit that I had to make immediately, in addition to the rental fee to take the vehicle into my possession.

Continue reading Nobody expects the $300 deposit

The Detroit Red Wings’ 2023 Prospect Tournament gets underway this Thursday as the Red Wings’ prospects will battle the Dallas Stars at Centre ICE Arena.

Detroit’s prospects will play in 3 games over the course of 4 days, battling Dallas, Columbus and Toronto, and the prospect tournament is an excellent warm-up for the break-neck pace of instruction and pace of play at the Red Wings’ main training camp.

Here’s a “Getting to Know You” summary of the Red Wings’ prospects, free agent invites and one Grand Rapids Griffins player participating in this year’s tournament:

Continue reading Getting to know the Red Wings’ prospect tournament roster

Sportsnet’s staff posted a lengthy article assessing the Atlantic Division’s teams, and they’ve ranked the Red Wings in their third tier: “How High Can They Go?“

DETROIT RED WINGS
Key additions: Alex DeBrincat, J.T. Compher, Klim Kostin, Daniel Sprong, Christian Fischer, Shayne Gostisbehere, Justin Holl, Jeff Petry, James Reimer
Key subtractions: Dominik Kubalik, Pius Suter,

Expectations: Do you still believe in the Yzerplan? Admittedly, this has not gone quite as patiently as many expected, as the Red Wings haven’t been shy to spend money on middle-of-the-lineup contributors, presumably to speed up the process and introduce a winning culture. The results have been improving, little by little, but last season’s Wings still finished over 10 points off the playoff pace.

This summer, GM Steve Yzerman made a splash for a top-liner, acquiring Alex DeBrincat, who they need to return as a 40-goal scorer or something close to it. But these Wings will be competing against the more deliberate rebuilders from Ottawa, Buffalo and even Montreal to rise up, and have to hope one of the contenders atop the division steps down. The Red Wings might be at the lower end of this tier, and you might even be able to argue for them to join Montreal at the bottom. Behind that, though, progress needs to be made.

Continued

Consider this a heads-up: two weeks from today, I’ll be taking part in a podcast which will discuss several prospect tournaments taking place around the NHL, including the Red Wings’ prospect tournament in Traverse City:

After this week on the @DPR_show, we will be covering the Sabres prospect challenge, Vegas rookie faceoff, and NHL prospects tournament in Traverse City (MI) with @TylerBall497 @megangley and @georgemalik. If you have players participating you want to hear about, let us know.

— Fantasy Hockey Lifer – Victor Nuño (@VictorNuno12) September 11, 2023

This week’s “32 Thoughts” podcast includes an interview that Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman conducted with Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond, during the NHL’s European Media Tour.

Raymond appears at the 39:40 mark of the podcast. Click on the link to listen.