The Malik Report

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen engaged in an intriguing exercise on Monday afternoon, pondering “best case scenario” and “worst case scenario” outcomes for five of the Detroit Red Wings’ key performers. Here are two of his assessments:

Moritz Seider

Best-case scenario: Wins the Calder Trophy because he plays most of the season as Detroit top-pairing defenseman. He registers 38 points on 10 goals and 28 assists.

Worst-case scenario: You can see that he’s going to be a dominant defenseman, but he goes through some rough patches by trying to do too much. But he still finished with 25 points and he’s a finalist for the Calder Trophy.

Lucas Raymond

Best -case scenario: Dazzling in training camp, wins a roster  scores 15 goals and adds 20 assists playing on Detroit’s second and third lines.

Worst-case scenario: Gets sent down to the Grand Rapids and has some difficulty acclimating to the North American game.  He’s not ready.

Continued, with discussions of Nick Leddy, Dylan Larkin and Jakub Vrana’s potential performances…

Sudbury Sports’ Randy Pascal spoke with 2021 Red Wings draft pick Red Savage regarding Savage’s professional hopes as he prepares to embark upon his first NCAA season with Miami of Ohio:

Red Savage would dearly love to follow in his father’s footsteps and play in the National Hockey League. The way that he sees it, however, the recent 4th round pick of the Detroit Red Wings would slot into a much different role than the one that Brian Savage fulfilled while netting 192 goals in 674 career NHL games.

Even as scouts assembled for one last look at Savage and his class, this past March at the IIHF U18 World Championships in Texas, the 18 year-old 5’11” centreman recognized the key to his game differed notably from that of the long-time member of the Montreal Canadiens (1993-2002).

“The role that I had was to go against the top line and play those big minutes, take a lot of the defensive zone draws, just try and use my abilities as much as possible,” said Red, currently prepping for the start of his freshman season with the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks.

“I think that I played that role pretty much as I wanted to. I obviously wished that I could have been a little bit more offensive and maybe put up a couple more points, but given the role that I played, I think I played it pretty well.”

Continued; Savage definitely projects as a heart-and-soul center of the third line variety, but there very well may be more offense in his game than the Under-18’s suggested.

Global News’s Greg Davis reports that newly-acquired Red Wings center Mitchell Stepehens is to have his delayed “Day With the Cup” on Wednesday in Peterborough, Ontario:

Peterborough native Mitchell Stephens will be bringing hockey’s holy grail home this week for a celebration.

The 24-year-old will bring the Stanley Cup to the city on Wednesday, Aug. 25, the City of Peterborough announced Monday.

It’s the second-straight championship for the forward who was part of back-to-back championships with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their most recent title came in July after the club beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in the best-of-seven championship.

Stephens was traded to the Detroit Red Wings on July 30 in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2022 NHL entry draft. He had signed a two-year extension with the Lightning in October 2020.

Continued

From the Detroit Red Wings comes the following press release:

KULTURECITY NAMES LITTLE CAESARS ARENA 2021 SENSORY INCLUSIVE VENUE OF THE YEAR

All events at multi-purpose arena are sensory inclusive, and promote an accommodating experience for guests and fans with sensory needs

Comerica Park, Fox Theatre, DTE Energy Music Theatre, Meadow Brook Amphitheatre and Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre also KultureCity certified.

DETROIT – KultureCity, an organization recognized nationwide for using resources to revolutionize and effect change in the community for those with sensory needs, has named Little Caesars Arena the 2021 Sensory Inclusive Venue of the Year. The award was presented at the KultureBALL in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, August 21.

All events hosted at Little Caesars Arena are sensory inclusive, and promote an accommodating and positive experience for guests and fans with sensory needs. Sensory sensitivities or challenges with sensory regulation are often experienced by individuals with autism, dementia, PTSD and other similar conditions.

In addition to Little Caesars Arena, Comerica Park, Fox Theatre, DTE Energy Music Theatre, Meadow Brook Amphitheatre and Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre are all KultureCity certified.

Continue reading Press release: Little Caesars Arena named ‘sensory inclusive venue of the year’ by KultureCity

For what it’s worth, HockeySverige.se’s Robin Olausson has noted that former Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen spoke with Danish website DR.dk’s Sebastian Taarsted Bager this morning.

Nielsen is currently playing with the Danish Olympic ice hockey team as they attempt to qualify for the 2022 Olympics, and Nielsen states that “I’m going to find a new team, but it’s not that urgent right now. There are teams that are interested, but I do not have the full picture of who they are.”

Nielsen explains that there are teams in both North America and Europe who want him to play for them, and he does state that he’s intrigued by playing “closer to home” in Europe [i.e. for a European-based team], though he still wants to play in the NHL.

At present, Nielsen says that he’s focused on helping the Danes qualify for the Olympics, but after the Danish team plays in the IIHF’s qualifying round a little later this month, he’ll commence looking for another team to play on in earnest.

He does not say anything about being bought out by the Red Wings, which hasn’t been made official by the team as of yet, but the fact that Nielsen’s looking for work is evidence enough.

Take this for what you will, from Ben Lloyd and Winging It in Motown on Twitter:

Explain plz @DetroitRedWings pic.twitter.com/g4uIXbJIjr— Ben Lloyd (@lloydben7) August 20, 2021

Folks it’s out there – https://t.co/tmcCaPGNXm— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) August 20, 2021

Uh, this was the puck used in 2015 for a Sergei Hall of Fame night. Same puck used for Lidstrom that season too, not during Nick’s jersey retirement night.— Gordon (@gord93) August 20, 2021

So it’s either a badly named holdover from 2015 (when Fedorov was inducted into the HHoF, but no actual jersey retirement happened) or it’s a placeholder image for something that shouldn’t have gone live just yet.

Folks we don’t know— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) August 20, 2021

Former Grand Rapids Griffins goaltender Kevin Boyle Tweeted out a Tweet from HCB Foxes of the ICE Hockey League, stating that Boyle has been signed to the Bolzano, Italy-based team:

#ilbottodelle8 ?⚪️? a new goalie is flying in from the US! ✈️

Contract signed ? Welcome to Hockeytown, KEVIN BOYLE! ??

Press release ?? https://t.co/w7VZSMpl2d #gofoxes #cuorebiancorosso pic.twitter.com/uD1G9dPKFZ— HCB Foxes (@HCB_Foxes) August 20, 2021

As it stands, right now the Wings have Calvin Pickard and Kaden Fulcher signed as Grand Rapids’ goaltenders.

Red Wings assistant GM Pat Verbeek has succeeded the departed Ryan Martin as the general manager of the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, and, today, Verbeek spoke with MLive’s Ansar Khan regarding his position as the man in charge of Detroit’s developmental franchise:

“I’m excited about the opportunity in a sense that it’s a very important job for our organization right now,” Verbeek said. “I know it’s going to be a huge challenge. When you want to get your organization going in the right way you have to develop players, so I’m taking this as a very important role in helping the Detroit Red Wings get back to where we need to be – in the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup.”

Verbeek will remain the Red Wings assistant GM under Steve Yzerman, scaling back some of his scouting duties to focus on the day-to-day operations in Grand Rapids. He replaces Ryan Martin, who joined the New York Rangers last week in the same capacity.

The Griffins reached the playoffs seven years in a row from 2012-13 to 2018-19, winning the Calder Cup championship in 2013 and 2017.

The AHL playoffs were canceled the past two seasons due to the pandemic. The Griffins open a full 76-game 2021-22 season on Oct. 15.

“Ryan did a really good job of getting our veterans signed. I’m pretty excited about the team that’s down there,” Verbeek said. “We should be a very good team.”

Continued; if you missed the availability, here it is:

Update: Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen also spoke with Verbeek regarding several topics:

Continue reading MLive’s Khan speaks with Pat Verbeek regarding his new role as Grand Rapids’ GM

Red Wings assistant GM and new Grand Rapids Griffins GM Pat Verbeek spoke with the media for nearly 20 minutes today, and the Griffins posted a clip of Verbeek’s remarks:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff has written a column discussing which members of the Detroit Red Wings could possibly play at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, assuming that the NHL participates in the games. Among the names are the following trio of players…

Moritz Seider: Seider is, as former Detroit Tigers manager Sparky Anderson liked to say, a mortal lock to be on he German team. He played in his second consecutive IIHF World Championship for Germany and was named the tournament’s top defenseman.

Seider collected five assists in 10 games at the worlds. He also finished up earning rookie of the year in the Swedish League skating for Rogle. An Olympic experience would put an exclamation point on his rookie NHL campaign.

Filip Hronek: The year before Seider was the top defenseman at the worlds, Hronek was the one picking up the honor. He came back to Detroit and enjoyed a career year. Hronek led the Wings in scoring.

He’s been a loyal soldier for the Czech Republic, playing in the past three world championships.

Filip Zadina: Zadina could be ready for a breakout season with the Red Wings. He was a solid performer for the Czechs at last spring’s worlds.

Along with Hronek, they are part of the next wave of Czech stars.

Continued…