The Malik Report

I need some help if you are able provide me with some assistance.

I tried very hard too fix my laptop monitor myself, and after I was able to get the laptop monitor working but “off” color-wise, I took the cable out and tried to reset the monitor.

After several tries, the cord ripped–it was my stupid fault–but after another 90 minutes, I couldn’t fix the monitor again. So I’m without a functional laptop the day before the draft.

I don’t know what I’m going to do. A repair would take several days at the very least, and cost several hundred dollars. At this point the hard drive is salvageable, but for the present moment, I need a new laptop to do my blogging work.

It looks like $500 to $800 would get a serviceable laptop from Best Buy or Office Depot, and at this point, those are my most realistic options in terms of getting back to work in the next couple of days.

So I have to ask for monetary help. Https://paypal.me/Themalikreport is most expedient, though other options (ex. Giftly.com) work well.

If you can lend a hand, I would greatly appreciate it, no matter how small the donation. I’m in between a rock and a hard place with only my phone available, and as I have about $150 in my bank account, I need help here.

I’m very sorry for screwing up, and I hope we can address the computer issue both short and long term after I’m up and running again.

You make The Malik Report work, and right now I need your help to salvage the draft and/or free agency.  I promise to never try to fix my own computer again!

If you have any alternatives available, please do not hesitate to email me at rtxg@yahoo.com.

Thank you for your time and your readership.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan looks back at Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s pre-draft press conference with the media this evening, and Kulfan took note of Yzerman’s take as to whether European-playing prospects might surge ahead of the North American draft-eligible players who aren’t skating this fall:

The Wings’ scouting staff has had considerable time to interview and analyze this year’s class. But what has added another wrinkle this year is the fact leagues in Europe have begun this season and scouts are getting a bonus look, of sorts, at those players while North American prospects are sidelined because of the pandemic.

Yzerman acknowledged that has added another intriguing aspect to this draft.

“It’s tricky because most of the North American kids haven’t been playing,” Yzerman said. “These kids in Europe, their good play, or poor play for that matter, does it move them above or below the guy that hasn’t played? I don’t think it’s changing our opinion that much watching these kids right now.

“Going into last month, over the course of the summer, we formulated our opinion, did our research the best we could on the guys’ background checks to the best of our ability. And with the European kids, it’s given us a chance to watch them a little bit more, but ultimately, it’s not really swaying our list that much.”

Continued; if you haven’t seen the 41-minute-long presser yet…

DetroitRedWings.com’s editor, Dana Wakiji, is moving on to her next adventure, and she’s one of the best and classiest people in the business, so let’s wish her well as she heads toward her next stop:

I just want to thank all the #RedWings fans for the last five years (plus before that when I covered the Wings, #Tigers, #Pistons, #Lions, etc.). It's been quite a ride and now I'm off to find the next adventure. I wish you the best of luck in the draft. Stay healthy!

— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) October 5, 2020

Of draft and free agency-related note on a Monday afternoon:

1. Sportsnet posted its final mock draft with Sam Cosentino today, and, at the 4:15 mark of the video, Cosentino picks Cole Perfetti as the Red Wings’ 4th overall pick:

2. TSN’s Craig Button ranks Jamie Drysdale 4th overall in his last pre-draft “Craig’s List“;

3. The Athletic’s Max Bultman’s Q and A session with Athletic readers is available for your perusal here;

4. DetroitRedWings.com’s Josh Berenter goes back to Steve Yzerman’s pre-draft presser for a few quips and quotes on “draft eve”:

Continue reading Monday afternoon round-up: Sportsnet’s video mock draft, Craig Button’s ‘list,’ words from Bultman and Yzerman, a Torey Krug update and a Red Wings Tent Sale for charity

Of Red Wings prospect and European-loaned player note today:

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Gustav Lindstrom had an assist in Almtuna IS’s 4-2 loss to Tingsryds AIF. Lindstrom finished at -1 in 23:08 played.

Filip Larsson served as the back-up in this game.

As an FYI: My aunt has been experiencing significant, progressive hearing loss over the past two years, and we’re going to the University of Michigan’s East Ann Arbor geriatric center to get her hearing tested tomorrow from 2:30-3:30 PM EDT.

I’ll be bringing my computer with me, but the drive there + paperwork = I’ll be out of contact from about 1:15 to 2:15, and it’s going to take an hour to get home in Ann Arbor traffic (even at Plymouth and Dixboro), so I may end up missing the Wings’ qualifying offer decisions (as the deadline for submitting qualifying offers is 5 PM EDT tomorrow afternoon).

Aunt Annie and I will be back in time for the first round of the 2020 draft, and I’ll be around for rounds 2-7 on Wednesday (and free agency on Friday), but there are times that family has to come first, and this is one of those times.

For what it’s worth, we’re going to take care of AA’s double vision via an ophthalmologist’s appointment on October 14th, too, but that shouldn’t affect any breaking news. The pandemic put a dent in these issues, and now we’re getting around to getting AA back to normal.

McKeen’s Hockey’s Ryan Wagman conducted a mock draft for NBC Sports today, and he suggests that the Red Wings may take a longer developmental route in order to draft Saginaw Spirit center Cole Perfetti:

4. Detroit Red Wings – Cole Perfetti, C, Saginaw Spirit (OHL)

Here is where things get interesting. The first pick was a no-brainer. Chalk. There are arguments to be had about 2/3 or 3/2, but the choice there is limited to only those two players. The Red Wings could literally go in seven different directions with the fourth pick, and none would be as surprising as their selection of Moritz Seider sixth overall last year. And may I remind you that that pick is doing quite well. One thing I know about Yzerman, is that he will not be afraid to be patient with the pick. The fact that a player has only a 10% chance to play in the NHL next season, and only a 50% shot in 2021-22, while a different player has a 35% chance to play right away and an 80% chance to play in 21-22 will take much less precedent than what each player will be able to produce from 2022-23 through 2028-29, and beyond.

I believe Yzerman values hockey IQ, and of those available, the most refined are Perfetti, Lucas Raymond, and Marco Rossi. Rossi falls short of the other two in terms of skill (although he is still awesome), while Perfetti has the edge in grit. Raymond’s offensive game is more well-rounded. In the end, I take Perfetti, as he seems to have fewer scenarios whereby he fails to live up to his potential and just as many where he ends up a 70-plus point first liner for the long haul.

Continued; again, at this point, I just want the Wings to pick the player they believe has the highest developmental ceiling.

Down Goes Brown, a.k.a. Sean McIndoe, has posted an article chronicling his favorite team draft classes. While he readily acknowledges that the Red Wings lived off the 1989 draft (see: Sergei Fedorov, Nicklas Lidstrom, Vladimir Konstantinov, Mike Sillinger, Dallas Drake, Bob Boughner) for two-and-a-half decades, DGB suggests that the Wings‘ 1983 draft—after the Red Wings drafted Steve Yzerman–stands alone for very different reasons:

The Wings got started in round three, grabbing big winger Bob Probert from the Soo Greyhounds. Probie went on to become the NHL’s all-time heavyweight champ, but the Wings apparently figured he could use some backup, so they used a fifth-round pick on Saskatoon Blades’ wrecking ball Joey Kocur. And just to make sure nobody got any ideas when both those guys were in the box, the Wings added some insurance in the 10th round, taking Stu “The Grim Reaper” Grimson from the Regina Pats.

To be clear, none of those guys were one-dimensional enforcers coming out of junior. (Probert, in particular, was really good, with 72 points in 44 games for the Hounds.) And as it turned out, Grimson never signed and went back in the 1985 draft, where he was taken by the Flames. He’d eventually end up in Detroit for a few years in the mid-90s, but by that point, Kocur was winning Cups in New York and Probert was on his way to Chicago.

So no, Yzerman never got to suit up for a game knowing all three guys were behind him, although I’m guessing that the Bruise Brothers provided enough protection on their own. But the effort was there. To this day, only 44 players in NHL history have racked up more than 2,100 PIM over their careers, and at the rate the game is going that list might not grow. It’s an exclusive club. And three of them were picked by the same team in the same draft.

Continued (paywall); the ’89 draft will always be my favorite Wings draft, but DGB does make a valid point: in the “Chuck Norris Division” era, the Red Wings needed some brawn, and the Wings wouldn’t have made the Western Conference Final under Jacques Demers if they didn’t have the Bruise Brothers both dropping their gloves and scoring goals in their late 80’s heyday.

ESPN’s prospect expert, Chris Peters, posted his final mock draft on ESPN+ this morning, and he believes that the Red Wings may end up drafting Cole Perfetti after all. However…

4. Detroit Red Wings

Cole Perfetti, C, Saginaw (OHL)

General manager Steve Yzerman is such a draft wild card, and that makes his picks both really fun and really tough to read. But the Red Wings seem prefer the skilled forward Perfetti over other options. He’s a stylistic fit for Detroit, as it desperately needs more high-end skill in its system. Perfetti has great offensive sense and a quick release on his shot, helping him to 37 goals in 61 games last season. However, I’m also watching for top goalie Yaroslav Askarov to potentially sneak in here. After Lafreniere, Byfield and Stutzle, the next six players on the board are of similar value, meaning Yzerman can’t really go wrong here with the realistic options available to him.

Continued (paywall); ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, Peters and Greg Wyshynski also discussed a Red Wings-related topic in their “draft primer“:

Which team was the biggest loser of the lottery process, and can it still “win” at the draft?

Kaplan: Perhaps no team got burned by the NHL’s revised lottery rules quite like the Detroit Red Wings. In his first year running the Detroit franchise, GM Steve Yzerman says he didn’t go into tank mode, but the Red Wings had 23 fewer points than any other team. Detroit only had an 18.5% chance of landing the top pick, but it fell all the way to No. 4.

Yzerman was known for his astute late drafting while building the Tampa Bay roster, and he spun the situation optimistically. “We can sit here and feel sorry for ourselves, that doesn’t matter,” Yzerman said. “And you know what, maybe we will get lucky. Colorado lost the lottery a couple years ago and ended up at the fourth spot and got Cale Makar, a player that definitely moves the needle. We’ll get our lucky breaks along the way, and maybe this will be one of them in an odd-looking way.”

MLive’s Ansar Khan and the Free Press’s Helene St. James discuss the upcoming 2020 NHL Draft and the busy week ahead for the Red Wings’ front office, which will make a total of 10 draft selections on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then shift toward the start of free agency on Friday at 12 PM EDT.

MLive’s Khan posts one more “mock draft,” and, like the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and the Free Press’s Helene St. James, Khan’s shifting focus away from Saginaw Spirit forward Cole Perfetti:

4. Detroit: Jamie Drysdale, defenseman, Erie (OHL)

This is where the separation in the draft starts as well as the unpredictability. The Red Wings need help in all areas, so they could pick any number of players. Drysdale isn’t big (5-11, 175) but he is a good skater who can push the pace and he uses his stick effectively to defend. He is the top-rated defenseman in the draft and the Red Wings need more D-men with top-pair potential. Perhaps the only drawback is he would make them heavy on the right side in their system (Seider, Filip Hronek, Gustav Lindstrom, Antti Tuomisto, Seth Barton).

The Free Press’s St. James discusses the draft in general terms, as part of a “crucial week for the Red Wings’ rebuild,” and she notes that the draft’s second day (rounds 2-7 begin at 11:30 AM EDT on Wednesday) may loom larger than the first in terms of the opportunity it presents for the team to improve its prospect pool:

Continue reading Monday morning draft talk: Khan’s mock draft, HSJ on the second day, SportsWorks on the draft and some free agency discussion