The Malik Report

This one slipped through the cracks as I was heading up to Traverse City. The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe has another player announcement from the Toledo Walleye:

The Walleye have re-signed forward John Albert, a veteran who posted 48 points in 51 games for the team last season.

Albert, a Cleveland native, collected 24 goals and 24 assists during the 2021-22 regular season.

The 33-year-old has appeared in nine NHL games, 339 games in the American Hockey League, and 125 in the ECHL.

The Ohio State University graduate also averaged nearly a point-per-game during Toledo’s playoff run to the Kelly Cup Finals last season, finishing with 17 points (7 G, 10 A) in 21 contests.

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NHL.com’s cycling through a set of season previews ahead of the start of the 2022-2023 regular season, and Nicholas J. Cotsonika previews the Red Wings this evening. Here are his “3 Keys” for the Red Wings to improve this upcoming NHL year:

1. Jell into a team: The Red Wings have a new coach and several new players, including goalie Ville Husso, defensemen Ben Chiarot and Olli Maatta, and forwards Andrew Copp and David Perron. The good news is they have a clean slate and internal competition for jobs. That should provide a jolt from the start. But they must learn a new system, develop an identity, and determine the forward lines, defense pairings, goalie rotation and special teams. General manager Steve Yzerman said it could take a time to sort out everything and jell into a team.

2. Improve the defense: It was the biggest of many issues last season. Detroit ranked 31st in goals against (310) and 32nd on the penalty kill (73.8 percent). At his introductory press conference July 1, Lalonde said the Red Wings need to improve the risk in their game, stressing details and habits that lead to winning no matter the personnel, such as staying on top of plays. But the personnel should help too. Copp and Perron are strong defensive forwards. Chiarot (6-foot-3, 234 pounds) and Maatta (6-2, 210) each adds size and a defense-first approach. 

3. Develop young players: For the Red Wings to return to Stanley Cup contention in the long term, they need their top prospects to turn into difference-makers and other young players to emerge as bona fide NHLers. Defenseman Moritz Seider, the No. 6 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, won the Calder Trophy as the NHL rookie of the year last season. Forward Lucas Raymond, the No. 4 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, finished fourth in voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. What do they do for an encore? Who else is ready to not only make the roster, but make an impact?

Continued with a “roster rundown” and a projected lineup;

The Red Wings’ “today” prospects might underwhelm in terms of star power given that they’re defensemen and Swedes–as Cotsonika notes, Jonathan Berggren, Elmer Soderblom, Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson and free agent signing Pontus Andreasson might be the closest to NHL-ready, but the Wings spent so much cap space on depth this offseason that it’s going to be hard for the Swedish Quintet to make the NHL team.

There are a LOT of people still asking me where they will be able to find the Red Wings’ three prospect tournament games, which take place Friday at 3 PM vs. Columbus, Saturday at 6 PM vs. Dallas, and Monday at 11 AM vs. Toronto.

Thankfully, DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce answered a Tweet question with the definitive “here you go”:

I’ll be on all Red Wings games with @KenKalDRW. All games will be streamed to the Red Wings website starting tomorrow at 3pm!!— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) September 15, 2022

The Wings usually put the games on YouTube and Facebook as well, but when in doubt, go to https://www.nhl.com/redwings/. I do not believe that the streams will be Geo-blocked, so you should be okay in Canada and abroad.

Both Daniella and Ken were getting prepared already on Thursday by taking in the Wings’ practice and Thursday’s games (Columbus beat St. Louis 7-1, and Toronto won 6-2 over Dallas).

As for the scoreboard, schedule and stats for the players, goalies, and Red Wings players, click on the links and that will take you to PointStreak.com’s prospect tournament page. If you go to the scoreboard page during games, you will find a live box score.

Take this from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen, writing his daily blog for Hockeybuzz, for what you will:

No news may not be good news for the Detroit Red Wings in their negotiations with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. Both players can be unrestricted free agents next summer. Larkin is Detroit’s captain and a hometown hero. It was assumed that negotiation would go smoothly, but training camp is around the corner. It is not done yet. There has been nothing to suggest that they are close to a deal.

Continued;

1. I am mildly uncomfortable regarding the fact that Larkin hasn’t re-signed, though there’s still time between now and October 14th. I had a feeling that the Bertuzzi negotiations would be tricky;

2. Sometimes we just don’t know. Very little comes out of Yzerman land in terms of any indications as to whether players are going to sign or not sign, whether there is progress or no progress. Even somebody as tuned-in as Kevin Allen is might not to be able to discern that much.

We won’t know until we know. And that’s perhaps the least comfortable part of the equation.

This is a bit of a shock. Per the Free Press’s Adrienne Roberts:

Real estate billionaire Stephen Ross and the Ilitch organization have submitted a development plan for a new $190 million hotel that will be located next to Little Caesars Arena.

The plan for a 14-story, 290-room hotel, which will also include up to 30,000 square feet of street-level retail, food and beverage space, was submitted to the Detroit Downtown Development Authority this week. Construction would start in 2024 and take three years to complete.

“A hotel on the doorstep of the second busiest arena in the nation will position Detroit to attract more of the world’s most-watched entertainment events and invite visitors to extend their stay and experience more of this great city and growing neighborhood,” Andrew Cantor, president of Related Michigan, Ross’ real estate firm, said in a release.

“The hotel, food and beverage and other amenities proposed will create a wide variety of good jobs and attract people from the region, state and beyond to The District Detroit,” Keith Bradford, president of Olympia Development of Michigan and The District Detroit, said in the release.

Earlier this year at the Mackinac Policy Conference, Ross said it would be an Equinox Hotel. The first, and so far, only, Equinox Hotel opened in 2019 within Ross’ Hudson Yards development in New York City. Ross’ firm also owns the upscale Equinox gym chain.

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From the Red Wings’ YouTube channel:

The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau has asked a set of three “Burning Questions” about the Detroit Red Wings, and it’s question #1 that piques my interest, more than his questions as to whether GM Steve Yzerman is done making trades/signings, and/or what the ceilings for Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond’s performance envelopes may be:

1. How quickly will Detroit’s slew of new acquisitions fit in? Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman used much of his salary cap space this summer on veteran free agents at all positions: in goal, he traded for, then signed unrestricted free agent Ville Husso; on defense, he added UFAs Ben Chiarot, Olli Maatta, Mark Pysyk and Robert Hagg; and at forward, he signed UFAs Andrew Copp, David Perron and Dominik Kubalik. Suddenly, Detroit’s outlook for 2022-23 improved significantly, to the point many observers believe they can be a playoff team this season.

Now, it may take all those new acquisitions to pan out as hoped for the Wings to make the post-season, but on paper, they do have a vastly improved group of forwards, a better defense corps, and a goaltending tandem (that also includes the returning Alex Nedeljkovic) that should be an improvement from last season’s dubious duo. Are the Red Wings better? No question. Does new head coach Derek Lalonde have enough talent to work with to at least be in the chase for a playoff berth in the improved Atlantic Division? Yes he does. Is it possible the Wings come up just short and finish fifth in the division? Yes, that also could happen.

But this writer feels like Detroit will be grinding it out in the final weeks of the regular season, and they’ll be in the mix for a playoff spot to the end of the year. It’s not only a question of the Wings being better – it’s also about the Ottawa Senators being better, and the Boston Bruins (who held the fourth and final playoff spot last season) being worse. Much needs to go right for the Red Wings to make a notable jump in the standings, but far crazier things have happened in hockey’s top league.

Continued;

Especially given that the Red Wings have a new coaching staff (save Alex Tanguay) in addition to all their new acquisitions, and a couple of young players who are making strides toward pushing for NHL jobs, I am very curious to see what form this Red Wings team takes come October 14th, and where it goes from there.

The Detroit Red Wings’ annual prospect tournament has gotten underway at Centre ICE Arena in Traverse City. The St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets were the 3 PM game (Columbus won 7-1!), and Dallas and Toronto will play tonight at 6:30 PM.

You’ll note, of course, that the Red Wings’ prospects didn’t participate in a game today, choosing instead to play three games, on Friday vs. Columbus (3 PM, live streamed on the Red Wings’ social media channels), Saturday vs. Dallas (6 PM, also live streamed), and Monday vs. Toronto (11 AM, also live streamed).

Between the fact that it’s a 5-team tournament instead of an 8-team tourney, and given the fact that the Wings could afford to use a “getting to know you” day ahead of a busy three games in four nights, the Wings chose to play 3 round robin games instead of 4, and I believe that it’s the right call.

On Thursday, the Wings’ prospects hit the ice promptly at 11:30 AM, and Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon, assistant coaches Matt MacDonald, Mike Knuble, video coach Erich Junge and goalie coach Brian Mahoney-Wilson all put the prospects through their paces over the course of a spirited 72-minute practice.

A little panorama. pic.twitter.com/UGc1uUdGev— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 15, 2022

Coach Simon did a lot of teaching in terms of imparting the Red Wings’ systems of play to a set of players who mostly haven’t played together before, and he was emphatic, enthusiastic, and at times, more than willing to bark at the collective group in order to keep the pace of practice high.

Continue reading Impressions from Thursday’s practice at the 2022 Red Wings prospect tournament

One minute of practice footage from the Red Wings:

Game one tomorrow. 😃 #DRWPT pic.twitter.com/ibblAEpfMY— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 15, 2022

DobberHockey’s Jamie Molloy posted a set of “good value” picks for fantasy hockey poolies, and Jakub Vrana leads his list:

#1) Jakub Vrana – LW – Detroit Red Wings

Contract: $5.25M – 2 Years remaining

Vrana has been fairly limited in NHL game action over the past two seasons, only playing in 37 total games (30 points, 21 have been goals). While I don’t think anybody expects that goal pace to continue into next season, this is a player who may be playing on a team that may not make the playoffs, but he has always been a solid producer on the second line during his career with the Capitals. I would say in Detroit there is a better chance of him being on the ice in a crucial moment given the Red Wings lack of elite offensive talent. Realistically he will be deployed on the second line that received an overhaul this summer alongside of Andrew Copp and David Perron (both solid players in their own right). If the Red Wings top-six begin to struggle, maybe we see a duo of Dylan Larkin and Jakub Vrana through stretches of the season. Vrana may not be able to help you in the hits and blocks columns, he can sure help in the pure offensive stats, including the powerplay. If the injuries that he has faced don’t scare you, I would recommend this player.

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