The Malik Report

The Toledo Walleye signed fan favorite and prolific ECHL point-producer Simon Denis to a contract earlier this summer, and the defenseman spoke with WTOL 11 in Toledo regarding his hopes of bringing a Kelly Cup to T-town:

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses Red Wings free agent signing Dominik Kubalik in her morning column today, discussing the 26-year-old’s desire to “reset” after a rough couple of seasons in Chicago:

Part of the appeal for Dominik Kubalik was the opportunity to see if he can sync his revival with that of the Detroit Red Wings‘.

He has a 30-goal season to his credit, which is a major reason why Wings general manager Steve Yzerman signed Kubalik for two years and $5 million when the free agent market opened on July 13. Kubalik, who turns 27 in August, was part of a slew of free agents signed by Yzerman. 

“When you are on the phone with a guy like him, it’s always nice,” Kubalik said. “We had a good talk, and it helped me a lot to make the decision. I know what he has done in the past with Tampa and what he is doing now with the Red Wings. It’s exciting. I’m there to help. I’m hoping I can do much better than last year. I know it’s in me. I can’t ask for a better opportunity or higher motivation than I have right now.”

Kubalik (6 feet 2, 179 pounds) has 62 goals in 202 NHL games, but after a standout rookie season in 2019-20 (30 goals in 68 games), he hasn’t topped 17 goals in either of the past two seasons.

“First season, the chemistry with Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad was amazing and we started clicking,” Kubalik said. “Then we lost Saader (who was traded away in October 2020) and the second season, Toews was out. It wasn’t easy for me to find who I can play with, and I was up and down in the lineup. The second half of the season was much better. Last season, well, the season was up and down pretty much the whole year. We went on a losing streak and it’s hard to get back and get it going. That’s what happened to me — I had some good streaks and some bad moments in the season. Right now, it’s a fresh start and I’m very excited about the opportunity. Hopefully I’m going to start the same way I did in Chicago.”

St. James continues (paywall)…

EP Rinkside’s JFresh is something of an analytics wizard, and, this morning, the subscription website has offered an unlocked entry in which JFresh analyzes the free agency additions of three major players in the trade and unrestricted free agency marketplaces–the Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes, and Detroit Red Wings

JFresh’s analytical models suggest that the Red Wings will earn a much-better but out-of-the-playoff-mix 94 “projected standings points” this upcoming season, but he’s not particularly impressed by Steve Yzerman’s additions, nor the means by which Yzerman made the additions.

JFresh suggests that the Wings will only improve upon their moribund 2021-2022 season record by approximately ten points, despite the Wings’ additions of a significant number of secondary scorers, secondary defensemen and possibly a starting goaltender:

What do you do when your team has pretty much no middle-of-the-lineup players and a gigantic pile of cap space? Evidently, you simply buy yourself seven players.

General Manager Steve Yzerman‘s extreme patience while rebuilding the Red Wings has paid off in the form of at least one apparent franchise-level talent in Moritz Seider, but with the team having stagnated in the 70-74 point range for the most part since 2018 it did kind of appear as though the team was ambling along aimlessly.

Apparently, that time has come to an end. The Red Wings dumped a big pile of money on several solid free agents and essentially bought themselves a couple more wins in the short term.

He continues (I’m clipping the text as these articles are often re-locked; while I’m an optimist regarding the Red Wings’ level of improvement, I also believe that there’s still a youth movement going on, and I don’t know if that’s delusional at this point)…

Continue reading EP Rinkside’s JFresh analyzes the Wings’ free agency moves

Detroit Hockey Now posts its “Red Wings Daily” every day at 4:00 AM, and today’s topic is one Olli Maatta, who signed with the Red Wings (technically speaking) on July 2nd.

This morning, Bob Duff notes that Maatta asked former Red Wings and one-time members of the Los Angeles Kings Andreas Athanasiou (now with Chicago) and Troy Stecher (now with Arizona) about Detroit:

“Athanasiou, I’m pretty good friends with him,” Maatta explained. “He was there for a long time and he had nothing but good things to say about it – the organization and team-wise, the guys in there, the staff.”

Athanasiou wasn’t the only former Detroit player to sing about the praises of the Red Wings organization directly into Maatta’s ears.

“(Troy) Stecher was another one,” Maatta said. “And you talk a lot with your agent (J.P. Barry), about teams that are available and where you want to go.

“I heard nothing bad about Detroit. It was all great things. How exciting the team is, and they definitely want to be a contender. So I just want to be a part of it. It just felt right.”

Continued

The Green Bay Press-Times’ Greg Bates spoke to new Red Wings coach and former Green Bay Gamblers (of the USHL) coach Derek Lalonde about his hiring by the Red Wings, as well as his evolution as a coach:

When Jon Cooper hired longtime friend Derek Lalonde as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Cooper foresaw the future.

“He said, ‘As much as I’ve accomplished in my career, I’ve never moved anyone on to become a head coach in the NHL,’” Lalonde said. “He told me, ‘You’re going to be that guy.’ He meant it, and he helped develop me these four years. We kept our eye on winning and team success, and it came to fruition.”

Lalonde, who coached the Green Bay Gamblers from 2011-14, was named the Detroit Red Wings’ new head coach June 30. Cooper is also a Gamblers product, coaching the team from 2008-10. The 49-year-old Lalonde is the 28th head coach in the storied history of the Red Wings — winners of 11 Stanley Cup titles.

“It’s exciting,” Lalonde told The Press Times. “It’s surreal at times, but it’s been like the rest of my career. It was never about becoming an NHL head coach or about the next step or getting to the next level – it was always about trying to be good at the job you’re at. Every step has taken care of itself where the phone kept ringing. It’s a huge responsibility because it’s the Red Wings, but it’s a huge challenge and honor.”

Lalonde offers this to Bates regarding the hiring process…

Continue reading Derek Lalonde speaks with the Green Bay Press-Times regarding his hiring by the Wings, time spent in Green Bay

WXYZ’s Brad Galli discusses whether the Red Wings might be interested in Matthew Tkachuk of the Calgary Flames via a video report:

The problem with acquiring Matthew Tkachuk is very simple: it’s going to hurt. He’s 24 years old (he turns 25 in December) and posted 104 points this past season (42 goals and 62 assists).

Acquiring Tkachuk would take an A-level NHL star, an A-level prospect and a first-round pick (at bare minimum). If vaccination status were no issue, it would be Tyler Bertuzzi + Simon Edvinsson + a 1st round pick, or something comparable. Without Bertuzzi, we’re looking at an alternate of something like Jakub Vrana + Jonatan Berggren + a 1st round pick + a sweetener.

You’re not going to get an asset like Tkachuk without making some sort of hole in your roster and/or prospect pool. It’s that simple.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills details the goings-on at the BELFOR Training Center under Little Caesars Arena’s west (Chevrolet) plaza, where the team is holding a youth hockey camp this week:

On Wednesday, the Detroit Red Wings concluded their annual Youth Hockey Camp at the state-of-the-art practice facility, with more than 70 energetic boys and girls, ages 6-10, receiving specialized hockey instruction from former Red Wings forward and four-time Stanley Cup champion Kirk Maltby along with current Red Wings coaches.

All participants received 75 minutes of on-ice training and 35 minutes of dryland training each day, as well as an official Youth Hockey Camp jersey, a certificate of participation and two tickets to a 2022-23 Red Wings game.

Maltby, who currently serves as a pro scout with Detroit, believes the campers experienced a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“As a kid, if I could put myself in their shoes to have the opportunity to come to a facility like this and see the Red Wings prospects skating on the ice before them, this would be a dream come true,” Maltby said. “I don’t know if they can really grasp and understand how lucky they are.”

This year’s camp was divided into three sessions. Monday’s session focused on individual skills like power skating, edgework, agility, puck-handling and shooting. Tuesday’s session emphasized team skills in addition to one-on-one and two-on-two drills, while Wednesday’s session put campers’ skills to the test in games and scrimmages.

“We only have them for a little bit over the course of three days, so we’re a little limited on what we’re able to teach,” Maltby said. “That’s why we’re going out there, working on some stuff and having fun.”

Continued

This morning, The Athletic’s Hailey Salivan and Sean Gentille surmised that, should Matthew Tkachuk want “out” of Calgary (which, as it turns out, he does), the Red Wings might be a logical destination (though not the favorite).

This evening, USA Today’s Mary Clarke also believes that the Red Wings could make something work (though they’re not the favorite destination):

Detroit Red Wings: Never count out Steve Yzerman when it comes to getting moves done when it looks like he’s dealing from a position of weakness. The Red Wings are also in a similar boat to the Kraken, though Detroit’s rebuild is much further along than Seattle is to contending. Tkachuk makes sense as a move for the Red Wings to make, but who can say if he wants to go to a team still finding its legs.

At the very least, the Red Wings have the cap space and assets to make a Tkachuk trade work, it would all just depend on Yzerman’s pitch to the Flames and the young winger.

Continued; I don’t see the Wings as Tkachuk’s landing spot, mostly because the Wings are on their way toward addressing their roster holes without needing to bring on another high-salaried player…

But with Steve Yzerman in charge and in “aggressive GM” mode, you never say never.

Here’s a story that slipped under the radar over the last couple of days: a team of amateur hockey players has assembled in the Upper Peninsula, representing the United Way of Marquette, and the “Yoopers United” will be battling the Red Wings Alumni team on Saturday, September 17th.

The Marquette Mining Journal’s Travis Nelson explains:

With the hockey game against the Detroit Red Wings Alumni team now less than two months away, the United Way of Marquette County hosted a Team Launch Event at Blackrocks Brewery on Monday evening.

While the evening consisted of members of the team and the community joining up for a couple of cold beers, the hype is being built for when the Red Wings Alumni team comes to play inside of the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Saturday, Sept. 17.

Along with the chance to purchase beverages, there were also door prizes and an introduction of the players in attendance at the event.

The Yoopers United team has 22 players, with 10 in attendance for the event. All of the players are fundraising money for the game, and the two who earn the most will get to fill the two open spots on the Red Wings roster and play with them. With all of the fundraising and this event that was held, September’s game will be here for before we know it.

“Tonight’s (Monday) event is great because it launches the team and the event out publicly,” United Way Executive Director Andrew Rickauer said. “This lets people meet who the players are, and what’s going on. It’s going to be a big event for the community, and it really brings everyone together. Bringing everyone together and also helping out the community.”

Continued

Red Wings prospect and University of Denver defenseman Shai Buium is all of 19 years old, and, last week, the 6’3,” 209-pound defenseman looked like something between a gazelle and a giraffe on the ice. Likely a good 20 pounds short of his playing weight (if not a couple inches short), the Denver sophomore looks utterly elegant when he’s in motion, but when he’s stopped, he’s gangly and awkward.

Buium’s play, however, is quite smooth and improving, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a profile of Buium this afternoon, noting that Buium’s hockey education benefited from Denver’s journey to the NCAA Division 1 hockey championship this past spring:

Heading into his sophomore season, Buium is hoping to pass some of that experience and knowledge along.

“I want to be a role model for the freshmen,” he said. “We have two incoming defensemen and I want to show them the way and hopefully pick up a bigger role and try to do the same thing (win a title). It’s hard to win, (but) we’ll try to do that again.”

What made the recent Red Wings development camp special for Buium was the ability to work with Niklas Kronwall, the former Wings star who coached the defensemen in camp.

“Working with Niklas Kronwall is pretty awesome,” Buium said. “He’s obviously an NHL legend. He teaches you a lot of things. I’m just trying to work them into my game, like learning how to walk the blue line, playing defense. I was pretty intimidated at first, but he’s a really good guy and pretty easy to talk to. He communicates well with us. It’s pretty surreal because he’s an NHL legend.”

Overall, the development camp was a good way to get comfortable with the Wings’ program, along with getting ready for the upcoming hockey season.

“It’s really an educational camp,” said Buium, who is familiar with the Detroit area given his younger brother is in the Plymouth Township-based United States National Team Development Program (brother and mother live in Novi). “Met a lot of different guys I bonded with, so it’s real good.”

Continued; Buium gets lost in the shuffle with the Red Wings’ numerous Swedish stars-in-the-making, but he’s a real gem of a prospect himself.