NHLPA.com on Jeff Petry

NHLPA.com’s Chris Lomon filed a feature article regarding new Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry yesterday:

Two weeks after receiving the news of being traded to his hometown team from the Montreal Canadiens, the 35-year-old defenceman was reached in Michigan, just minutes removed from an on-ice session as he prepares for his 14th NHL season.

“It’s a special moment for sure,” said the native of Farmington Hills, a 30-minute drive northwest of Detroit. “Not only to play closer to home, but to play for the team that I watched growing up.”

The Red Wings acquired Petry, a veteran of 864 regular-season NHL games and 48 playoff contests, on August 15.

As the son of 13-year MLB veteran and current TV analyst, Dan Petry, Jeff grew up surrounded by the Detroit professional sports scene. Dan, who was an MLB pitcher for the Detroit Tigers from 1979 to 1987 and 1990-91, helped the Tigers to a World Series title in 1984. Despite his dad’s chosen sport, Jeff was always drawn to the hometown Red Wings.

“We went to a handful of [Red Wings] games,” said the blueliner, who will wear No. 46 with the Red Wings, the same number his father sported with the Tigers. “My room in my house was painted red with the big Red Wings logo on it, along with the old-school plaques and pictures, along with lots of other memorabilia that we collected over the years. My brother and I would play mini sticks in the basement, and we would always fight over who was going to be the Red Wings.”

Continued

A bit about the Wings on national TV from the Freep

The Free Press’s Kirkland Crawford discusses the Red Wings’ appearances on ESPN and TNT during the upcoming 2023-2024 season:

The 2023-24 NHL season is closer than you may think. Soon enough, the best hockey players in the world will grace your television screens.

And though the Detroit Red Wings haven’t made the playoffs in seven seasons, they still possess some national appeal. And the two national broadcasters aren’t hesitating to take advantage of it.

Both TNT and ESPN released their schedules for the season on Wednesday. In total, some 13 Red Wings games will be on center stage, starting with the season opener in New Jersey against the Devils, exclusively on ESPN+/Hulu. That game time has been moved from 7 p.m. to 7:30.

The following week, when the Wings are in Pittsburgh, that game will be on TNT at 7:30. The Wings will be a part of a TNT doubleheader on as they host the Rangers on Nov. 7. The same two teams will be back at Little Caesars Arena on Nov. 29 at 7:30, also on TNT.

Continued; the Wings rescheduled 5 games yesterday:

Back in the game, surprisingly

I’m already incredibly humbled to say that a couple of you donated enough that TMR is sound and bound for another year of ups and downs, ins and outs, and battling along as I navigate the dual jobs of trying to be a semi-professional blogger and trying to be a semi-professional caregiver for an 81-year-old aunt.

We made it, a day early. It’s a huge relief. I can pay my internet bill, too.

And while I was still gloomily bumming myself out about Traverse City, an incredibly kind, anonymous donor decided to give me a chance to make the TC prospect tournament/training camp GoFundMe a realistic proposition, donating a remarkable $2,000 to the cause of a $2,925 hotel bill and a good $500+ in expenses.

That’s…I’d gone through all the symptoms of grief, coming to accept that I just wasn’t going to be able to make it up this season, and someone decided to take a chance on me and take a chance in a gigantic way.

So this middle-aged blogger and his elderly aunt aren’t quite done trying to get their tails up to the Cherry Capital just yet.

It’s…It’s been an emotional day, and it’s apparently not quite over just yet. Instead, the blog continues, as does the goal of giving you coverage on-site this September.

I’ve gone from the depths of gloom to disbelief and joy, to realizing that I’ve been given a generous gift on top of generous gifts today that I really need to make sure are followed through with good coverage in mid-September.

So that’s where we are. In the middle of the scrap again.

Let’s go.

If you can lend a hand with the hotel expenses, we have an old-fashioned GoFundMe here https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-george-annie-attend-prospect-tournament, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”

As always, thank you for your time and your readership.

I’m struggling with depression and anxiety right now

Gang,

I’m sorry that I haven’t been consistent in posting content over the past two days.

I’ve hit a really hard place because I’ve realized that my hopes of attending the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and main training camp with Aunt Annie are remote at best.

We’ve been struggling mightily to raise the $550 for the server, Bluehost, the web program, Jetpack, and a bit to plain old pay our internet bill this month.

I know that my illness has not helped because I’m not posting consistent content right now, but aside from some seriously dedicated, die-hard fans, it appears that most of you are GoFundMe’d out and tired of helping out a blog that’s had to make several significant pauses due to my mother’s death and my aunt’s infirmities.

With that in mind, I take great pride in going to Traverse City because it’s the one place that I’m accredited like a beat writer and not a blogger (the Wings still have a strict “no bloggers, period” policy at Little Caesars Arena, some 17 years after I got into the blogging business), and I work Gord-damned hard to give you a good product.

Continue reading I’m struggling with depression and anxiety right now

Tweet of note: ‘Roast & Toast of Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom’ raises $400K for charity

Per the Jamie Daniels Foundation:

USA Today’s Brehm gives the Wings’ offseason an ‘A’ grade

USA Today’s Mike Brehm issued offseason grades for the NHL’s 32 teams, and he gives the Red Wings high marks for their significant amount of roster turnover:

Detroit Red Wings: A

They were the most active in free agency, adding Shayne Gostisbehere, Justin Holl, Compher, Daniel Sprong and a couple of goalies on the opening day. That group didn’t include a pure goal scorer, but they acquired one with the Alex DeBrincat trade and signed him to a four-year extension. The Michigan native is a two-time 40-goal scorer who dropped to 27 last season after a trade to Ottawa. The Red Wings then added Petry, a two-way veteran right-shot defenseman who’s the son of former Tigers pitcher Dan Petry. This is the second consecutive year that GM Steve Yzerman was aggressive in the offseason. It didn’t work last season and Detroit was a seller at the trade deadline. This year, the Red Wings seem like they might have a better chance.

Continued

Placing my fundraising cards on the table

Hi, everybody.

It’s Tuesday, August 29th, and I have two fundraising requests:

  1. We’re still about $200 short in terms of fundraising for the Malik Report’s server fees, which are $269.00 for Bluehost, taxes included. I need to raise that $200 by Friday to keep TMR going.
  2. I’ve posted a GoFundMe for the Traverse City trip, and its cost is a staggering $2,900, but that’s the reality in terms of our fundraising goal for the next three weeks, because taking up my 81-year-old Aunt Annie will cost an extra $900 due to her need for a first-floor, handicapped-accessible room.

It’s a bit fanciful to hope that we can raise that kind of money in three weeks, but we are hopeful that your desire to continue TMR’s coverage at the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and main training camp is still strong.

I never do more than “break even” on the trip, so the goal here is to simply cover expenses for the two weeks that I hope to be in Traverse City.

As always, here are the usual usual fundraising means:

If you’re are willing or able to lend a fundraising assist, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums” (an old nickname).

If you can’t help raise funds, it would be great if we can spread the word regarding the fundraisers, because we’re in tough straits.

A profile of Red Wings free agent try-out Israel Mianscum

CBC North’s Celina Wapachee posted a profile of Red Wings free agent try-out Israel Mianscum, who was both invited to the Wings’ Summer Development Camp, and now Detroit’s fall prospect tournament:

A hockey hopeful from the Cree community of Mistissini in northern Quebec has been invited to the NHL Prospect Tournament and, for a second time, to a development camp with the Detroit Red Wings. 

Israel Mianscum, 20, is currently playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Last year, he had a 61-point season in 65 games, with 30 goals and 31 assists. In July, he attended his first development camp with the Red Wings organization. 

“It was very fun, I had a good experience. I saw how others played and that pushed me to play harder. I saw where I needed to be to make it [in the NHL],” said Mianscum in Cree.  “There were people that encouraged and helped me, like the coaches and scouts telling me what I need to work on.”

Now Mianscum has been invited back for the NHL Prospect Tournament, which the Detroit Red Wings team is hosting from Sept. 14 to 17 in Traverse City, Mich.

“Six teams of prospects play against each other, about two or three games. That is where you can showcase how you can play,” Mianscum said.

Continued, with comments from now-Grand Rapids Griffins coach Stephane Julien, as well as Mianscum’s parents…

Roughly translated: A bit of former Wing Filip Zadina’s interview with Hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin

If you’re interested, former Red Wings forward Filip Zadina gave an in-depth interview to Hockeysverige.se’s Uffe Bodin tonight. Zadina doesn’t have anything bad to say about the Red Wings or his time there, simply stating the following to Bodin:

“I had been there for almost five years, and things didn’t go as I had hoped,” says Filip Zadina, when he explains why it ended as it did in Detroit.

“I have been injured a lot and didn’t feel well. Sometimes it’s best to try and leave the old behind, move on, and focus on the future. Sometimes it’s better than staying in the same place and just hoping things turn around. Hope can be good, but it’s not something I want to sit and wait for. I felt it was time for something different, and I think it will help me, especially mentally, to get a fresh start, forget what happened in Detroit and find the joy in hockey again.”

You still gave up a lot of money to do that, and you don’t see players doing that very often.

“If I had been 31 or so on, I might have thought differently. But I’m only 23 now, and I think the best case scenario for me is to play hockey for less money and get a chance to play regularly instead of going in and out of the lineup. Sometimes you have to sacrifice something to get something more out of life. I am still young, and I will be able to earn the money later.”

It has been argued that Zadina’s development was harmed because he entered professional hockey too early, before he was ripe for the task in the NHL. He himself believes that there may have been some truth in that, but that he did not think along those lines at the time.

“It’s tough for a young rookie to come to a team under rebuilding like Detroit was then. Such a team didn’t have as strong a core as other teams have. I was happy and lucky that I got the chance in the NHL so early, which I probably wouldn’t have gotten with many other teams.”

“I tried my best at the time, but if you’re not a McDavid or a Matthews, it’s difficult to make that kind of difference. I couldn’t do it and that’s okay. These are unique players who we’re talking about. You don’t get five or six players in the draft every year who play for the same team for 20 years, and can make such a big difference.”

The interview continues, and you can read a Google translation of the interview here.

Tweet of note: CapFriendly reports that ECHL’er Cam Hillis has signed a PTO with the Red Wings

Per CapFriendly on Twitter, via A Winning Habit’s Ken MacMillan:

Hillis, 23, was a 2018 3rd round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, and he posted 50 points in 45 games with the ECHL’s Indy Fuel this past season. EliteProspects lists him at 5’9″ and 174 pounds, so the 2000-born center from Oshawa, Ontario is likely going to end up signing with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye or the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.