The Malik Report

Here are my interviews with Team Sweden defensemen Axel Sandin Pellikka and Anton Johansson on Thursday, July 27th at the 2023 World Junior Summer Showcase.

The Red Wings have three participants in this week’s World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI in Axel Sandin Pellikka and Anton Johansson of Sweden, as well as Trey Augustine of the United States.

As such, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen spoke with USA Director of Hockey Operations John Vanbiesbrouck regarding the summertime tournament:

“I’m a little biased but I think (Augustine) was the best goalie in the (2023) draft,” said John Vanbiesbrouck, USA Hockey’s director of hockey operations.

As one of the top American-born goalies in U.S. Hockey history, Vanbiesbrouck owns the credentials to evaluate Augustine’s potential. He also oversees the U.S. national team program.

“The No. 1 thing that is universal in the position is your compete,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “Trey has trained himself well to compete. He stays in the game. Very few mental lapses in his style of play. The part that I like the most…He makes it look easy.”

Tickets are available for the games that begin Saturday at 1 p.m. with Sandin Pellikka’s and Johansson’s Sweden team facing off against the USA (Blue) squad. Augustine’s USA (White) Team plays at 4 p.m. against Finland.

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ESPN’s Greg Wysyhski engaged in a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh, and the product thereof is not behind a paywall (so everyone can read it). Here’s part of their conversation:

Over the last decade, the NHL has seen franchise valuations boom, to the point where it was reasonable to expect a team like the Ottawa Senators would sell for over $1 billion. (Michael Andlauer’s winning bid came under that, but just barely.)

The NHL has considerable media rights deals in the U.S., Canada and abroad for its games. Sponsor United reported that the NHL’s sponsorship revenue grew 21% in 2022-23 to reach $1.28 billion. The NHL salary cap in the 2012-13 season was $70.2 million. The salary cap for the 2023-24 season is $83.5 million.

Walsh said in his conversations with players, he heard concerns about the salary cap’s lack of growth. But the “flat cap” due to the COVID pandemic certainly played a role in that lack of exponential growth for the salary cap.

“The salary cap is based off the revenue and in the last couple of years, COVID threw a huge curveball at everyone. If COVID doesn’t happen, the salary cap is going up. Because of COVID, there was a debt that was owed [by the players], and hopefully that’s resolved by the end of next season,” said Walsh. “Then what you have is a system that will be tied into growth and revenue.”

By 2025-26, the cap is expected to rise above $92 million.

That’s growth. But is it growth commiserate with the revenues the league is generating? Is it growth that would put the NHL’s top stars closer to the salaries of counterparts in other pro leagues, or growth that would “un-squeeze” the salaries of veteran role players whose earnings have frequently been casualties of the cap?

“I’m not being critical, but team franchise wealth is certainly growing at a disproportionate [rate] compared to what the players are making,” said Walsh. “You now have a lot of teams in the next couple of years that will be worth a billion dollars, and then you’ll be talking about the $2 billion team.”

Continued (give this one a read)

Okay, I’m at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Michigan for the majority of the next eight days.

The event has a combination of daily practices and inter-squad games on July 29th, 31st, August 2nd and August 4th as Team USA White, Team USA Blue, Sweden and Finland battle for supremacy here at USA Hockey Arena.

If you can’t make it out here, the games will be streamed on USAHockeyTV.com.

If you haven’t already heard, Red Wings 2023 2nd round pick and goaltender Trey Augustine will represent Team USA White, and 2023 1st round pick/defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka and 2022 4th round pick/defenseman Anton Johansson will represent Sweden.

Right now Sweden is hitting the ice and both the forwards and defensemen are warming up their goaltenders with point shots and a layered screen/tip…

Anyway, if you have any questions about the event or the players involved, please send me a blog comment, Tweet or email (at rtxg@yahoo.com).

NHL.com posted a 2:20 clip of the NHL Tonight’s experts suggesting (during Atlantic Division Week on the NHL Network) that the Buffalo Sabres are much more ready to take a “next step” than the Detroit Red Wings are due to the state of the Sabres’ defense and goaltending:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson spoke with Michigan State University coach Adam Nightingale regarding the competitive situations which freshman goaltender Trey Augustine and junior forward Red Savage find themselves in on MSU’s team:

“I think competition is the greatest driver in development,” Nightingale says. “I told Trey, if you’re looking for a place that’s going to tell you you’re the starter, this isn’t the place. You’ve got to earn it.”

Augustine, a South Lyon native, will compete with another freshman, Livonia native Luca DiPasquo, and senior Jon Mor for the starting goalie job this fall.

“I think between the three of them, we’ll have really good goalies,” Nightingale said.

Savage, a junior transfer from Miami (Ohio) who has two years of eligibility, is one of 15 newcomers to East Lansing this fall. He will play forward and is expected to provide a veteran’s savvy as well.

“We’re excited about the group we have coming in,” Nightingale said.

The Spartans won 18 games last year, their most since 2011-12, and just missed qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

“We took a good step last year,” Nightingale said. “But we want to be in that tournament every year. When you talk about the foundation we’re trying to lay for a program, we want it to be a sustaining one, not a fleeting one. We’re taking it one day at a time. It’s as simple as it sounds. Just focus on today, and tomorrow will take care of itself.”

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NHL.com’s Dave Hogg penned a profile of Red Wings prospect and Skelleftea AIK defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka, who will be taking part in the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI this and next week:

As always, development camp was as much about a player’s off-ice life as his game on it. Sandin Pellikka said he learned about everything from finances to better ways to work out to the best ways to get enough rest.

“It is a real eye-opener from a sense that this is my profession now,” he said. “It isn’t just something I love to do. I’m learning about how to invest my money and better nutrition and small things about sleeping that I had never heard before. It’s a lot of things I’m taking note of for my future.”

Especially in Sandin Pellikka’s case; right-shot defensemen are not an organizational strength now, and that could work in his favor.

“We knew we needed the right kind of right-shot defenseman, obviously, and we really like his hockey sense and his poise with the puck,” assistant general manager Kris Draper said. “When he was 17, he was running the power play for Sweden at the U-18s (21 points; five goals, 16 assists in 19 games in the 2023 tournament), and he has kept doing that at every level. He knows how to manage the puck and the game.”

Sandin Pellikka (5-foot-11, 176 pounds) will return home for his second season with Skelleftea of the Swedish Hockey League, after he had five points (two goals, three assists) in 22 games last season, as well as 36 points (16 goals, 20 assists) in 31 games for Skelleftea’s junior team. And with him, a detailed plan for improvement.

“I need to focus on my defensive game, he said. “My defensive coach in the SHL already works with me after every practice on 1-on-1 drills to be a better defender, but I still need to get stronger.”

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The World Junior Summer Showcase starts on Thursday in Plymouth, Michigan, with Team USA White and Team USA Blue facing off vs. teams from Sweden and Finland at USA Hockey Arena.

After two days’ worth of practices on Thursday and Friday, the squads will square off for four days’ worth of games on July 29th, July 31st, August 2nd and August 4th.

Red Wings prospects Trey Augustine (USA White), Axel Sandin Pellikka and Anton Johansson (Sweden) are taking part in the event, and NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman sets up the event this evening with an article discussing the WJSS’s importance to Team USA, as well as some of the bigger names to watch this week and next at USA Hockey Arena:

The event will be held at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, from July 29 to Aug. 4. It’s the first step toward those countries selecting their teams for the 2024 WJC, which is scheduled for Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Sweden.

The U.S. will have 45 players taking part, among them nine players from the team that finished third at the 2023 WJC in Halifax, Nova Scotia: goalies Trey Augustine (Detroit Red Wings), Tyler Muszelik (Florida Panthers) and Andrew Oke (2024 NHL Draft eligible); defensemen Ryan Chesley (Washington Capitals) and Lane Hutson (Montreal Canadiens); and forwards Gavin Brindley (Columbus Blue Jackets), Cutter Gauthier (Philadelphia Flyers), Rutger McGroarty (Winnipeg Jets) and Jimmy Snuggerud (St. Louis Blues).

Snuggerud was second for the U.S. with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in seven games, and Gauthier tied for third with 10 points (four goals, six assists) in seven games.

“I think experience is important,” U.S. coach David Carle said. “Those nine, for them to have that experience of coming up short a year ago, I think is a motivating factor in speaking with some of them. They are very excited to help build this team and to have the opportunity to be a part of it potentially again and try and go further and do what we want to do right.”

Carle, who is entering his sixth season as coach at the University of Denver, said what has impressed him is the speed, skill and depth of the group that will be in Michigan.

“I’m excited to get on the ice with them and to work on that and use our speed to create that transition when we don’t have the puck as well by taking away time and space, and then being able to quick-strike from those moments,” he said.

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Today, Hockey Canada announced that they invited 111 players–which is a significant number of hockey players–to participate in summer meetings at the Under-17 and Under-20 levels.

The Canadians usually hold their own version of the World Junior Summer Showcase in their headquarter city of Calgary, but it looks like this year, they’ve held virtual meetings with their top prospects for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the World Under-17 Challenge, the World Under-18 Championship and the World Junior Championship.

Red Wings 2023 NHL Draft first-round pick Nate Danielson was among the 45 players invited at the Under-20 level, as explained in Hockey Canada’s press release below…

Continue reading Press release: Hockey Canada invited Nate Danielson to its Under-20 team’s summer meetings

The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari is breaking down NHL teams’ prospect pools in significant depth, discussing the stand-outs, 2023 draft classes, and strengths and weaknesses of each team’s group of next-generation NHL’ers.

Here’s part of his introduction to the Red Wings’ prospect pool:

When a team is going through a rebuild, they accumulate bountiful and diverse prospect pools. Detroit is no exception as the ‘Yzerplan’ has taken full effect. The team has a prospect pipeline with talent at just about every position, and they should have players at each position pushing for NHL jobs sooner than later.

Marco Kasper has been a revelation since being drafted. While many, including myself, questioned his offensive skill and upside, he came out this past season and routinely showed he has confidence with the puck and was creating regularly at the SHL level. Kasper has a refined two-way game and understands the nuances of playing in the center of the ice. He joined the Red Wings for one game at the end of last year before a nagging knee injury prevented him from playing more. He could compete for a job in camp.

Another player with NHL games last season was ‘Lord Elmer’ himself, Elmer Soderblom. The towering behemoth found his way onto the NHL roster until just after the New Year, playing in 21 games with the big club before finishing the year in Grand Rapids. Soderblom has incredible skill that isn’t often seen in a player who stands 6-foot-8. His ability to shoot a puck from between his legs in tight or elevate with a defender riding his back is impressive. His skating isn’t a strength, but he’s shown time and time again that he can work through it at every level.

Carter Mazur has been deemed many times as the Red Wings’ next ultra-pest scorer, and while he appreciates comparisons to players such as Tyler Bertuzzi, among others, he brings his own flair to the game. Mazur has an excellent shot and can finish from all over the ice. His hands in tight are excellent, and he works hard in the tough areas to maintain possession. He could be an excellent complementary player who brings the finishing touch to any line.

The Red Wings drafted one of the most exciting players to watch in Dmitri Buchelnikov last year as an overage pick. His skill and entertainment value are undeniable, but the translatability of his game is questionable. Another player that fits that mold is Amadeus Lombardi, who was drafted out of the OHL in the ‘lost year’ but has since exploded and dazzled with his skill and creativity. If either one of Lombardi or Buchelnikov hit, the Red Wings could have a lethal scorer on their hands.

The back end is an interesting mix of skill sets. There are offensive wizards with the puck who can create something from nothing and defensive stalwarts that can shut down an opponent’s cycle with excellent stick work or bone-crushing physicality. They’ve done an excellent job of changing things up whenever anyone has felt like they’ve nailed what Detroit is looking for on the back end.

Simon Edvinsson is the cream of the crop, bringing a combination of size, skill, offensive creativity and defensive fortitude. It was evident during last year’s pre-season that he needed to refine some of his traits to round into form, but the developmental step he took last year was exactly what the Wings wanted to see. By the time he came up to the NHL, he was a completely different player and put together an impressive nine-game stint. A shoulder surgery in May with a four- to sixth-month recovery time puts the start of his season in doubt, but we could see him establish an NHL role full-time by Christmas.

Continued; this is a long read, but it’s worth your time.