The Malik Report

This is very high praise indeed, from the NHL Network’s Ken Daneyko and Steve Konroyd:

Update: Here’s the list, per NHL.com’s David Satriano:

11. Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings

Seider won the Calder Trophy last season, leading rookies in assists (43) and power-play points (21). He led rookie defensemen in points (50), game-winning goals (four) and shots on goal (187) and was second in goals (seven) while playing all 82 games. The 21-year-old led the Red Wings in time on ice per game (23:02), total ice time (1,889:22) and blocked shots (161) and was second in hits (151).

“I love the way he plays the game, I love his physicality, and he’s still growing,” NHL Network analyst Steve Konroyd said. “… You’re going to see Seider’s numbers creep up [this season] in a northward direction. The sky is the limit for this kid.”

Continued

Earlier today, the Hockey News’s Jason Chen suggested that Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider is one of the 10 best NHL defenders for fantasy hockey poolies to pick. This evening, NHL.com piggybacks on the NHL Network’s rankings of the top 20 players at each position to engage in a “thought experiment” article, in which 6 NHL.com writers discuss which defenseman they believe will be the NHL’s best some 3 seasons from now.

Seider earns the support of a pair of writers, tying Cale Makar in that department:

Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings

The 21-year-old certainly got off to a great start in his NHL career when he won the Calder Trophy voted as the League’s rookie of the year last season. I see him improving steadily during the next three seasons. He led rookie defensemen with 50 points and 43 assists and was second among them with seven goals (Martin Fehervary of the Washington Capitals scored eight). He led Detroit with 21 power-play points (two goals, 19 assists) last season. Seider’s already used to a good amount of ice time (he led the Red Wings with an average of 23:02 per game). With Detroit adding some veterans this offseason, including defenseman Ben Chiarot, Seider can keep improving without too much pressure. He showed great personality when he accepted the Calder at the 2022 NHL Awards He seems like a cool customer, and the Red Wings will benefit from his improvement during the next three seasons. — Tracey Myers, staff writer

Seider’s outstanding rookie season could just be the tip of the iceberg. He produced offensively, his 50 points in 82 games the most by a Red Wings rookie defenseman since Nicklas Lidstrom had 60 in 1991-92. And he was able to play against the top players in the NHL; he was one of 11 defensemen to average at least 18:00 of ice time per game at even strength (18:16), at least 2:30 on the power play (2:53) and at least 1:30 on the penalty kill (1:53), and the only rookie. And he didn’t shy away from physical play, leading the Red Wings in blocked shots (161) and finishing second in hits (151; Adam Erne had 161). And did we mention he’s just 21 and has a frame (6-foot-4, 197 pounds) that will allow him to get stronger? More experience, more strength, and in three more seasons he’ll have more than a Calder Trophy on his shelf. — Adam Kimelman, deputy managing editor

Continued…

Again, here’s hoping, because NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman’s pick is probably among the deepest crop of star defensemen I can remember since the mid-to-late-90’s. Cale Makar’s one of the better defensemen I’ve seen in a long time, and he’s just one of at least a dozen excellent NHL defensemen out there right now, so “Mo” Seider has his work cut out for him.

Why, yes, but debate among yourselves…

Who’s saying yes to the @HockeyHallFame? 👇 pic.twitter.com/FskGM7fax1— NHL (@NHL) August 28, 2022

Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider has graduated from a Calder Trophy-winning “freshman defenseman” to a sophomore amidst a sea of stars on the blueline.

The NHL’s crop of defensemen is so very rich and varied right now that I’ll admit I’ve spent some of my summer wondering to myself whether Seider will get lost in the shuffle of the Cale Makars, Miro Heiskanens and Roman Josis.

Long story long, I think it’s going to be hard for Seider to contend for a Norris Trophy even if he replicates his 50-point rookie season output.

All of that being said, It’s encouraging to see Seider listed among the Hockey News’s Jason Chen’s list of the Top 10 Defensemen for fantasy hockey poolies to pick:

Moritz Seider, Red Wings: Stylistically, Seider’s closest to Hedman; he can score points, quarterback a power play and contribute in both hits and blocked shots. In banger leagues, Seider’s upside is huge and should climb a few spots higher. The theory about sophomores hitting a wall is overblown, and most bumps in the road for young players are only temporary. The hype is real and Seider will be a Norris contender for years.

Continued;

1. Comparing Seider to Hedman is a massive amount of praise, but, given Seider’s underrated physicality, it’s also accurate in my biased opinion;
2. Seider was pretty consistent over the course of his rookie campaign in 2021-2022, so I’m not expecting a fall-off in 22-23, either. At 21 years of age, with an AHL and a SHL campaign under his belt as well as a full NHL season, I think he’s a little less likely to hit a wall than Lucas Raymond..Though my suspicions are that both players’ time spent hitting that “sophomore wall” will be short, if they hit it at all;
3. Again, with the aforementioned Makar, Heiskanen, Josi and now Hedman on the Norris list, and the NHL’s awards voters tending to value point production over an all-round game on defense, I think it’s going to take a couple of years for Seider to round into true Norris contention, but I believe he can do it.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff touched upon the preseason performances of Red Wings prospects and 2022 draft picks Marco Kasper, Anton Johansson and Dmitri Buchelnikov today (and I happened to talk about Kasper and Buchelnikov yesterday).

To me, the most interesting situation involves Buchelnikov, who’s making a very hard push to skip the MHL, the Russian version of Major Junior Hockey, in attempt to make SKA St. Petersburg’s KHL roster as an 18-year-old:

In an article on KHL.ru, KHL TV commentator Anton Vasyatin was touting Red Wings draft pick Dmitri Buchelnikov (52nd overall, 2022) as a contender for the Alexei Cherepanov Prize as the KHL’s top rookie performer.

Describing Buchelnikov as a “fast, nimble forward,” Vasyatin is also noting that it will be a challenge for Buchelnikov to crack the SKA St. Petersburg lineup.

The fact that he shoots right, a rare quality among Russian players, could help him earn the opportunity. Though he’s been skating on the fourth line in preseason, Buchelnikov is producing on the SKA power play.

“His main advantage is his shot,” Vasytin noted of Buchelnikov. “Even in the most difficult situations in terms of receiving the puck, Buchelnikov manages to handle it without problems and shoot it very sharply and accurately.”

The article which Duff references is on the KHL’s Russian-language website, and Anton Vasyatin is asked to compile a list of players who might compete for the above-mentioned Cherepanov Prize. Buchelnikov is listed 6th out of 10 players that Vasyatin names. Here’s a rough translation of what he says:

Continue reading Via DHN’s Duff: Talking about Dmitri Buchelnikov’s surprising preseason

Red Wings prospect Albin Grewe spoke with HockeyNews.se’s Alexander Nilsson recently regarding the 21-year-old winger’s bumpy road over the past couple of seasons. Here’s a rough translation of their conversation:

Grewe about his strange time in Finland and the missed move to Canada

SUNDSVALL, Sweden. His OHL dreams crashed. The move to Finland was a flop, and then he was absent for two months. Albin Grewe’s last couple of hockey years have been messy.

“I think it was strange that they took me in from the beginning, to be honest,” he tells HockeyNews.se about his short stay in Finland.

Fiery forward Albin Grewe had been able to show himself in the SHL with Djurgarden and on the Swedish national junior team before Detroit drafted him in the 3rd round [66th overall] in the 2019 draft.

A year later, Grewe, together with Detroit and Djurgarden, concluded that playing in the Canadian Major Junior league the OHL was the best way forward.

The now 21-year-old forward had therefore prepared himself for a move to North America in 2020, but that didn’t happen.

Due to the pandemic, the start of the OHL season was postponed, and Grewe remained with Djurgarden before he had to go over [the Atlantic] at the end of the 2020-2021 season, then for games in the AHL with Grand Rapids.

“It was tough. I would have liked to go over and play in the OHL, I think it would have been good for me to play over there high up in the lineup and get a lot of confidence, which was the plan. So it was clear that when it didn’t turn out that way, it was a shame. But I earned the chance to play in the SHL instead, which I thought was incredibly fun,” says Grewe to HockeyNews.se.

Continue reading Roughly Translated: Albin Grewe speaks with HockeyNews.se

Okay, so it’s 2 AM on a Saturday in late August, and it’s annoying me that nobody’s talked about this, so it’s my blog, and I’m going to talk about it.

Filip Zadina was signed to a 3-year contract at $1.825 million in its Annual Average Value, or AAV. But the contract vacillates pretty wildly from year to year.

In its first year (use PuckPedia or CapFriendly, whatever you prefer), Zadina will only earn $915,000 in real-world dollars, which is easy to swallow and fairly easy for a GM to say, “Well, if we have to waive him to put him in the AHL, we’re not losing much, nor is a team that might want to take a chance on him.”

But there’s a catch. In year two, Zadina makes $1.83 million, and by year three–2023-2024, when the salary cap is expected to rise significantly–Zadina earns $2.73 million, for a total of $5.475 million in salary.

Continue reading A little late-night ramble about Filip Zadina’s contract structure

The last post on Marco Kasper and Dmitri Buchelnikov’s preseason performances is a case of “putting the cart before the horse,” and as much of a Simon Edvinsson believer as I am, I still think that NHL.com’s Fantasy Hockey crew of Pete Jensen and Anna Dua might be doing something similar.

They were tasked with picking the Top 10 fantasy hockey rookies, and I’m all for accentuating the positive here at TMR, but there are caveats to this line of thinking:

Simon Edvinsson, D, DET
No. 6 pick in 2021 NHL Draft
NHL.com fantasy rank: 216

He has yet to make his NHL debut with the Detroit Red Wings but should benefit from them acquiring goalie Ville Husso (from St. Louis Blues) and signing forwards David Perron and Andrew Copp. In a best-case scenario, Edvinsson (left shot) would play on the top pair with reigning Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider (right shot) and should be considered a top 50 fantasy defenseman after his success in the Swedish Hockey League (19 points in 44 games last season).

Continued; it would be fantastic if Edvinsson ends the regular season on the Wings’ top defensive pairing, but, as Jensen and Dua suggest, it’s definitely a “best-case scenario.”

Let’s see what he does at the prospect tournament, training camp and during the exhibition season first.

Now it’s the preseason in Sweden, where the SHL doesn’t even play hockey until after the Red Wings are in training camp (I believe they start on the 17th), but Marco Kasper scored two goals today in Rogle BK’s 4-0 win over the Vaxjo Lakers, as noted by the must-follow IceHockeyGifs on Twitter…

Marco Kasper sneaks in a bad angle goal to give Rögle a 1-0 lead #LGRW pic.twitter.com/mWoXRwbF1N— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) August 26, 2022

Marco Kasper snipes his 2nd goal of the game #LGRW pic.twitter.com/BAFwZZAXfw— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) August 26, 2022

And you can watch Kasper speak near-perfect Swedish, and goaltender Calle Clang do the same thing (and coach Cam Abbott speak in English), in the latest episode of “Grönt & Vitt,” or “Green and White”:

Rogle will be headed overseas to play in Champions Hockey League games on the 1st of September against Polish club GKS Katowice.

For what it’s worth, Dmitri Buchelnikov is ripping it up in the KHL preseason, too. He’s slated to play in the MHL, the Russian Under-20 league, this season, but he’s making a big push for the KHL (with the KHL season near–SKA’s regular season starts on September 3rd):

🚨 Dmitri Buchelnikov PP #LGRW
4-1 SKA #Puchkov #KHL pic.twitter.com/dWWNIyLsvb— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) August 26, 2022

I highly caution you to not get carried away with these achievements, as the SHL and KHL preseasons are a month long, but it’s cool to see nonetheless.

I’m not thrilled to be posting this, but nobody else seems to have noticed this report from Saskatoon’s CKOM 580:

Mike Babcock is hanging up his whistle for good. Maybe.

During a chat with Gormley guest host Brent Loucks on Friday, Babcock said he was retiring from coaching hockey. When Loucks asked the former University of Saskatchewan Huskies head coach if he would listen if an NHL team called, Babcock left the door open a crack.

“We always said we were going to retire at 60 and I’m 59, so basically that’s what it is,” he said. “Now, if things change, I guess they change, but surely that’s not our plan.

“Believe me, we’ve talked to lots of people about opportunities and enjoyed those conversations. In the end, we feel this is best for us and best for our family and so that’s what we’re doing.”

Continued