The Malik Report

WLUC TV 6’s Matt Price reports that the Red Wings Alumni Association’s game against a team of Yoopers representing the Marquette United Way this September are going on sale tomorrow:

On Saturday, Sep. 17, the team will be facing off against Yoopers United at Northern Michigan University’s Berry Events Center to raise money for United Way of Marquette County.

This event kicks off the nonprofit’s annual fundraising campaign. The funds raised will go to 28 different partnering organizations, including Room at the Inn, Women’s Center and Janzen House.

United Way is looking forward to having former players from the historic NHL team in the area.

“A lot of the hockey fans grew up watching these players, and now they’ll come here to play against them,” said Executive Director Andrew Rickauer. “A lot of the players on the local team are high school hockey players that went on to play at Northern or elsewhere.”

Tickets are $20.00 and will go on sale starting this Thursday. To purchase tickets, visit the Berry Events Center ticket office from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, or go to nmu.universitytickets.com.

To make a donation towards United Way’s annual campaign, visit uwmqt.org.

The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari posted a prospect pool overview for the Red Wings this afternoon, and here’s a solid chunk of a very good introduction:

[GM Steve Yzerman’s] moves have often gone against consensus and have looked outstanding in hindsight. That begins with defenseman Mortiz Seider at sixth overall from the 2019 NHL draft. Since that pick, Seider has been a force in the AHL, SHL, and NHL, winning the Calder as the NHL’s top rookie in a runaway vote.

The Red Wings have gone from grasping at straws to make the playoffs towards the end of the Ken Holland years to building up one of the deeper prospect pools in the league. The Red Wings have used their top picks on players out of Europe in every draft that Yzerman has been a part of, and it’s hopeful that pays off.

After Seider in 2019, winger Lucas Raymond was drafted fourth overall in 2020 out of Sweden. The following year, defenseman and fellow Swede Simon Edvinson was selected in 2021. The 2022 draft didn’t defer from that trend, with center Marco Kasper’s name being called at eighth overall, who happened to play in Sweden.

The Red Wings done a masterful job of filling out their positional depth chart. The Red Wings traded up to take goaltender Sebastian Cossa at 15th overall in 2021 to fill that glaring hole in their prospect pool. In the four drafts that Yzerman has been at the helm, they have drafted a center, a winger, a right-shot defenseman, a left-shot defenseman, and a goalie in the top 15 picks of the draft.

The depth built out behind that group of high-end picks has been admirable as well. Jonatan Berggren, Liam Dower-Nilsson, and Carter Mazur highlight some of the depth names up front while William Wallinder and Albert Johansson are the names to watch on the back end. Jan Bednar provides some depth in net as well. The Red Wings management team has done a wonderful job of building out a strong stable for the future.

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Enjoy a minute-and-a-half of Andrew Copp scoring goals as a Winnipeg Jet and New York Ranger:

Copp 5! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/a7Z5kdpTma

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 2, 2022

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a list of the top unrestricted free agents going into the summer of 2023, and he reminds us that two Red Wings players need to sign contract extensions before all is said and done:

Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings: Would the Michigan boy and team captain bolt just as things are starting to turn around? At some point, the guy who grew up cheering for Cup-winning clubs in Detroit is going to want some playoff action of his own beyond the five-game taste he got as a 19-year-old in 2016.

Larkin, who just turned 26 on July 30, would command all kinds of attention on the open market given what he’s achieved playing for subpar squads in Detroit. Still, it’s tough to imagine he doesn’t re-sign banking on the next chapter being far more enjoyable than the first seven years of his career.

Not included in Dixon’s list, of course, is one 27-year-old Tyler Bertuzzi, with whom the Red Wings also need to “fish or cut bait.”

I’m not a fan of this concept, but the Hockey News’s Avry Lewis-McDougall suggests that the next set of “Reverse Retro” jerseys from Adidas should include the Detroit Cougars logo:

The Red Wings To Return To the Detroit Cougars Logo: Among the first batch of reverse retros, a few stood out for how good they were, while others stood out for how underwhelming they were. Detroit fell into the latter. The jerseys looked very plain, and social media let it be known how they felt about a uniform that regularly polled among the league’s worst in 2020-21. 

Regarding what the team should do next, it’s time for the Wings to dig into a look they’ve yet to revive. Forget making a Detroit Falcons reverse retro or just using the Old English D letter on the front of a jersey, it’s time for the Red Wings to use an image that they haven’t worn since 1928-29.

The Wings haven’t worn the cougar head logo of their original identity in any throwback jersey, and keeping up with the reverse theme with the red cougar logo turned white on a red jersey would be a refreshing change. An updated twist on the cartoon cat is long overdue. 

Per the NHL Uniform Database website, this is what Avry’s referring to…

Continue reading The Hockey News on the Wings’ next ‘Reverse Retro’ jersey

From the NHL Network:

NHL Network Announces Return of 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship Coverage and Game Broadcast Schedule

All World Junior Championship E.J. Hradek and Dave Starman to Call Every USA Game Throughout World Junior Championship; Games to Air Live on NHL Network Beginning Tuesday, August 9

NHL Network today announced it will provide complete coverage of the return of the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship, as it continues to serve as the exclusive U.S. TV home. Every World Junior Championship game telecast is set to air live, with comprehensive analysis, highlights, interviews and previews of the tournament from Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB, Canada, airing within the flagship studio show NHL Tonight and via @NHLNetwork on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

NHL Network’s E.J. Hradek is set to provide play-by-play for each USA game along with longtime NCAA hockey analyst Dave Starman and reporter Jon Rosen, beginning on Tuesday, August 9 at 10 p.m. ET when Team USA takes on Germany live from Rogers Place. NHL Network’s extensive coverage and game broadcast schedule begins earlier in the day next Tuesday with live telecasts of Slovakia vs. Czechia at 2 p.m. ET, followed by a Finland vs. Latvia matchup at 6 p.m. ET.

Continue reading Press Release: NHL Network to televise World Junior Championship from August 9th-20th

InGOAL Magazine’s Kevin Woodley posted a subscriber-only “Pro Reads” article in which Alex Nedeljkovic explained how he breaks down plays made off the rush, and part of the article is available for everyone to read:

Alex Nedeljkovic is busy preparing for his second season with the Detroit Red Wings but here at InGoal Magazine we’re still working through his Pro Reads session from the previous summer while he was still stopping pucks for the Carolina Hurricanes. And while we are excited to move forward and hopefully break down footage of Ned wearing the Winged Wheel soon, we also don’t want to waste any of his insights from that original video sessions, in large part because they were so darn good. The jersey may be outdated, but the advice certainly isn’t.

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FYI:

Your 2022-23 theme nights and giveaways are in!

Yes… there are bobbleheads! 👀

🎉: https://t.co/K6Y9mlOYpo
🎟️: https://t.co/U5VWZdnVuh pic.twitter.com/MPnqWt5X53— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 2, 2022

Here’s the press release:

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings post promotional schedule; single-game tix on sale Friday

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a notebook article this morning which offers quotes from Olli Maatta’s press conference after the 28-year-old defenseman signed with the Red Wings this past July:

“I have to be honest with myself, the last couple of seasons haven’t been that great, but haven’t been that big of a disaster either,” Maatta said. “I know I got a lot more in me. I think this is a great opportunity to show that. I can play in this league a long time, and even in a bigger role than I’ve had the last couple of seasons. That was one of the reasons I wanted to come to Detroit. It’s an exciting team, a good team to be on, having a new coaching staff, a really good organization with that culture that everybody wants to win.”

The Red Wings addressed their need for left-shooting defensemen in free agency by signing Maatta and Ben Chiarot on July 13. But while Chiarot got four years at $19 million, Maatta garnered only one year at $2.25 million. He has more to prove after — by his own admission — two mediocre seasons in Los Angeles.

Maatta (6-2, 206) produced nine goals and 29 points as a rookie and matched that point total in 2017-18. He had just one goal and 12 points in 107 games with the Kings the past two seasons.

“I’m known as a defensive guy, but I think I got more offense than my stats show the last couple of years,” Maatta said. “My mindset is always (defending). There’s so many details going into that — looking at how you break the puck out and if you play with the puck the other team can’t score. So ‘defensive defensemen,’ there’s a lot more to it than just defending. You got to play some offense, too.”

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman described Chiarot and Maatta as bigger-bodied defense-first defensemen that get in opponents’ way.

“They have good length, they defend pretty well, can block shots and are big bodies that are hard to play against,” Yzerman said. “They complement the two young guys on the right.”

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6-and-a-half minutes’ worth of DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce speaking with the NHL Network regarding the Red Wings’ offseason moves: