The Malik Report

As an FYI: tonight at 8 PM EDT, the CBC will air the first episode of a four-part documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and Russia.

Here’s a preview/summary from the CBC’s website:

The 1972 Canada-USSR Summit Series of Hockey changed hockey forever, playing out dramas of national identity, pride, politics, and ideology while the world watched, enraptured, during the Cold War.

In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the series, Summit 72 will premiere on Wednesday, Sept 14 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC and CBC Gem. As the only documentary series sanctioned and supported by 1972 Team Canada players, Summit 72 will have unrestricted access to the official game tapes and a trove of archival footage.

This series will tell the definitive story of the legendary 1972 eight-game ‘Super Summit’ through a modern lens, and explore its legacy and lasting influence on Canadian national identity, framing it against the political and cultural climate of the times in both countries, and around the world. 

The series will also explore how Canada and its relationship to hockey has changed since then, and what seeds of change were made visible in this clash of cultures. 

With never-before-seen 16mm archival footage restored in stunning 4k, and exclusive interviews with key players, Summit 72 will bring an unforgettable moment in Canadian history to life on screen as never seen before. Audiences will relive — or experience for the first time — the adrenaline-fuelled, edge-of-your-seat drama of one of the most monumental cultural proxy battles of the Cold War, and trace its many reverberations in the zeitgeist right up to the present day.

Continued

The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman posted a column this morning which discusses players for fantasy hockey poolies who she believes will receive a “scoring bump” or might hit a scoring slump this upcoming season, and she offers both a compliment and a jab regarding the Red Wings’ captain…

Dylan Larkin, C, DET: It was a bounce-back year for Larkin in Detroit, but the second half of the season was particularly tough for the Red Wings. Growth from some of their young stars, Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, some key free agent additions, and ideally more stable goaltending should help avoid that late-season collapse. This season, the Red Wings shooting center should be in a better position to succeed, which should help him continue to show that a lackluster 2020-21 was just an outlier. 

And she suggests that one David Perron’s going to have a difficult time in Detroit because the Red Wings are apparently still a bad team:

David Perron, RW, DET: We always remind managers to set “The Bad Team Effect” aside as much as possible and look for the best players. But when a player like Perron goes from the Blues’ versatile forward group to the Red Wings, we also have to acknowledge that the quality of the team around him could weigh on his scoring. This is a very good player who we expect to be very productive at even strength and on the power play, but just keep those new surroundings in mind and anticipate him scoring a few points fewer than the projection. 

Continued (paywall); Shayna is a frickin’ brilliant multi-talented columnist, so I’ll simply say the truth here: I disagree.

The Red Wings’ 2022 Prospect Tournament gets underway tomorrow in Traverse City, Michigan, and both MLive’s Ansar Khan and The Athletic’s Corey Pronman posted lists of prospects to watch in Traverse City and throughout the league, respectively.

Khan’s article lists 7 Red Wings prospects of note, including a Swedish rearguard who I’m going to be curious to see…

Albert Johansson: He is a bit under the radar, overshadowed by several other young defensemen and prospects in the organization. But the Red Wings believe Johansson can be a solid NHL defenseman one day. He’ll begin his AHL career in Grand Rapids this season after appearing in 141 games over the past four years with Farjestad BK in Sweden’s men’s league. He’s not big (6-0, 168) but skates well and is a good stickhandler.

Continued; Pronman’s one-prospect-per-team article discusses the other Swedish defenseman the Red Wings will be breaking in:

Detroit Red Wings — Simon Edvinsson, LHD: After his great 18-year-old season in the SHL, I thought Edvinsson looked like a strong candidate to be an NHLer in 2022-23. After a shaky summer world juniors though, I’m more 50-50 on that idea. It will make his camp fascinating and it will be interesting to see how the highly-toolsy defenseman does with the NHL pace and if he’s ready to be an everyday guy at that level.

Continued; Edvinsson was not at his best at the World Juniors, but between sustaining a pre-tournament injury, getting food poisoning and never finding his stride, there were some mitigating factors going on. I’m not saying that Edvinsson’s middling World Juniors performance is excused, but there are explanations as to why he wasn’t at his best.

I’m all packed up–though I haven’t packed the car yet–and ready to head up to Traverse City to attend and cover the Red Wings’ prospect tournament and training camp.

There’s just one small problem, and that’s the fact that I’ve still got to raise approximately $600 to actually pay half of my hotel bill, whose just-short-of-$1,000 bill will come due early on Thursday morning.

The blunt and honest truth is that having to pay $350 in repairs for my Pacifica’s stupid wiring hit hard, and while fundraising has continued at a good clip, I’m ready to go, the car’s ready to go, everything’s packed and just needs to be stuffed in the trunk and backseat so that I can camp in a hotel room for two weeks…

But the money’s not quite there. So I have to do a second fundraising post in one day, and ask for help getting to the halfway mark (and yes, that’s what we’re aiming for. It’s gonna take another $1,200 to bring me home, but let’s take one thing at a time here).

If you can lend a hand in paving the road from South Lyon to Traverse City, no matter how small the donation, this is where the rubber meets the road.

So, if you’re are willing to lend an 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.” Still trying to figure that out, but it’s another option if you need it.

FYI:

Great chance to visit with new ⁦@DetroitRedWings⁩ head coach Derek LaLonde at ⁦⁦⁦@HighlandsDet⁩ on top of #RenCen. You’ll see it in coming weeks on ⁦@BallySportsDET⁩ pic.twitter.com/ECGLRaHtjV— John Keating (@JohnKeatingBSD) September 14, 2022

Former Red Wings alumnus Marty Pavelich will be honored with a new rink built in his post-playing home of Big Sky, Montana. He discussed the honor with KBZK’s Kristin Merkel:

23 minutes’ of break-downs:

RotoWire’s Corey Abbott posted an article which Yahoo Sports picked up, and in said article, Abbott discusses sophomore NHL’ers for fantasy hockey players to pick up. As you might imagine, Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond made his list:

Moritz Seider – D – Red Wings: Seider ran away with the Calder Trophy vote after establishing himself as Detroit’s No. 1 defender last season. He showcased his all-around ability and became a multi-category monster for fantasy managers. Seider supplied 43 assists, 50 points and 187 shots on goal through 82 games in 2021-22. He was also credited with 161 blocks and 151 hits. Seider paced all rookies with 23:02 of ice time per game and topped all first-year players with 21 power-play points. The 21-year-old blueliner will enter his second season with lofty expectations, and he should live up to them. Seider should surpass the 50-point plateau for a second straight campaign in 2022-23, and you can count on him to provide valuable contributions in several other categories as well.

…

Lucas Raymond – RW – Red Wings: Raymond finished third in scoring among Red Wings with 57 points through 82 games during his introduction to the NHL in 2021-22. He also finished third on the team with 23 goals, earning a spot on the top line alongside Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. The bulk of his offense came prior to the All-Star break, picking up 11 goals and 35 points through the first 47 games of the season. Raymond notched 12 goals, 10 helpers and an ugly minus-30 rating thereafter. Detroit made a number of strong additions in an attempt to improve the team’s forward depth this summer. However, Raymond’s place as an integral part of the Red Wings’ offense remains intact heading into 2022-23. He could flirt with the 70-point mark.

Continued, with quite a list of superb sophomores to target….

On Sunday, Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider was named the 49th-best player in the NHL today by the NHL Tonight crew on the NHL Network.

Today, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen suggests that Seider won’t spend the rest of his career hovering near 50th place:

No. 49 ranking doesn’t properly reflect the uniqueness of his ability. He is a luxury defenseman, an athlete who comes with more options than we usually see on the standard model.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Seider is big, strong and mean. He can be a punishing physical performer. If you watched him closely last season, there were multiple occasions when would-be checkers seemed to bounce off him. It’s like moving granite when you encounter him along the boards.

He can defend. Seider is still a work in progress, but the instincts are there. He’s only 21 and yet he already has a high level of respect for his defensive responsibility. You didn’t see Seider involved in too much risk-taking.

Seider’s Calder Trophy triumph speaks to his well-rounded first NHL season. Seider’s seven is a modest total, but his 43 assists for an offense that ranked near the bottom of the NHL. He has the shot, and the passing knack, necessary for significant offensive numbers. He’s not Cale Makar offensively, but boasts enough skill to be an offensive catalyst for many years.

Seider is also a natural leader. Even at his age, teammates look to him for confidence. He is already a tone setter for the Red Wings.

Because the full NHL Network hasn’t been revealed. it’s hard to say where we should place Seider on a Top 50 list. Analysis of potential is highly subjective. But we know this for sure: there are not 48 other NHL players that Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman would accept in a trade for Seider.

Continued

The Finnish Liiga kicked off its regular season today, and Antti Tuomisto finished even with 2 shots in 19:20 of ice time as TPS Turku lost 3-1 to Tappara.

TPS Turku is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.