The Malik Report

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski lists 10 players ready to “break out” for the 2021-2022 season, and one of them is Red Wings forward Jakub Vrana:

Jakub Vrana, LW, Detroit Red Wings: Vrana, 25, has crested over 20 goals twice and ended up with 19 in 50 games last season with the Washington Capitals and Red Wings. He had 11 points in 11 games after being traded to Detroit in a deal that saw Anthony Mantha sent to Washington. That was enough of an audition to earn him a three-year, $15.75 million extension as a restricted free agent.

The Red Wings are going to let Vrana cook. His time on ice jumped by nearly three minutes (17:16) when he arrived in Detroit. Best of all, he averaged 10 shots per game at 5-on-5 in that short sample, which is hopefully a harbinger of things to come: Vrana was at his best offensively in Washington when he was spraying shots on goal like a backyard sprinkler at even strength.

On a rebuilding team desperately seeking a goal-scoring boost — Detroit’s 2.23 goals per game was second fewest in the NHL last season — Vrana is going to get a chance to shine. “My role has changed a little bit. I’m looking forward to prove what I can do and show my potential,” he told reporters recently.

Continued (paywall);

Yesterday, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler included four Red Wings prospects among his top 50 non-goaltender NHL prospects’ list, and, this morning, Wheeler adds a fifth Detroit prospect to the mix in Sebastian Cossa:

4. Sebastian Cossa, G, 18 (Detroit Red Wings — 15th overall, 2021)

I really like Cossa as a goalie prospect and understand the allure the Red Wings felt in taking him instead of [Minnesota Wild draft pick Jesper] Wallstedt. They weren’t alone in that belief. He’s a massive, superbly athletic and confident goalie who fills the net, has great hands up high, corrals a ton of pucks in his chest and then has rare side-to-side ability for a goalie as big as he is. But there’s just a question mark or two more present in Cossa’s game than in Wallstedt. There’s obviously the contextual piece of the puzzle where you can’t help but wonder if some of his results are influenced by playing behind a dominant Oil Kings team the last two years. But it’s hard to knock him for that. The real concern, if there is one, is stylistically in the way he can pull himself out of position and lose himself in the net a little on scramble plays. Because he’s so strong and athletic, his pushes can lack control. And after noticing that he was getting beat a lot five-hole at Team Canada’s summer showcase in Calgary, I reviewed some tape this week to check on that and I do think it’s a bit of a concern (hard to close the five-hole when you’re 6-foot-6!). None of this is meant to downplay how good Cossa is, though. He’s got starter upside and rare explosiveness for his size.

Continued (paywall); in case you didn’t catch his drift, Wheeler has Wallstedt ranked one spot higher than Cossa.

Red Wings prospect Kienan Draper left the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs to play in the USHL with the Omaha Lancers after the BCHL had to shut down due to coronavirus protocols. Draper had a rough time in Omaha, posting only 7 points in 37 games.

Both the BCHL’s website and the Chilliwack Progress’s Eric Welsh report that Draper will delay his time at Miami of Ohio for one more season to return to Chilliwack for his 20-year-old season:

A 2002-born forward from Michigan, Draper was with the Chiefs for extended training camp last fall, and produced four goals and five points in 10 games. He left soon after to join the USHL’s Omaha Lancers, but the 2020 Detroit Red Wings draft pick is back.

“Last year, he was in a situation where, with the uncertainty of the season, he wanted to make sure he was able to play some games,” [Chilliwack GM Brian] Maloney said. “I couldn’t look at him with a straight face and tell him we were 100 per cent having a season, so he took an opportunity to go down south. We’re pretty excited to have him back. He really started to figure our league out with our structure and everything before he left. He’s a big body that can play a heavy game. He skates well, but what we really like about him is how he can shoot a puck, especially on the fly. We have to get creative in finding ways we can put him in position to get that shot off next year.”

Continued; here’s hoping that this is the best move for Draper’s development.

This tidbit comes from the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

Tickets for all preseason and regular-season home games at Little Caesars Arena will go on sale 10 a.m. Friday. Fans can sign up for the single-game ticket presale list to have an opportunity to purchase tickets before the general public by visiting DetroitRedWings.com/Presale.

The Wings open the regular season Oct. 14 at LCA against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:30 p.m.

Red Wings prospect Sebastian Cossa spoke with Fort McMurray, Alberta’s “Mix 103.7 FM” regarding signing his entry-level contract with the Wings this past weekend.

Mix1037FM.com’s Jaryn Vecchio took note of Cossa’s remarks…

“They want me there and there’s high expectations, but there’s nothing more that I want.”

Cossa was interviewed by all 32 NHL teams ahead of the draft. When chatting with the Red Wings, he had the opportunity to speak with former goalie Chris Osgood.

“You know they have a lot of interest in you if they’re going to have a guy like that talk to you and him just talk about his career and his ups and downs.”

During the last season for the Oil Kings, Cossa put an 17-1-1 record. In those 19 games, he .941 save percentage and 1.57 goals against average.

“There’s a lot of work to be had, I’m just gonna have to show Detroit that they made the right decision,” added Cossa.

And you can listen to Cossa’s interview here, as part of “Ford McMurray Matters”:

It’s been three weeks since I returned from my long-haul-COVID and gallbladder surgery-related hiatus from blogging. TMR is up and running again, and I am hoping and praying that my health will continue to improve as we get closer to September.

Now I need to ask for your financial assistance, because my financial reserves are extraordinarily limited, and my advertising agreements are up in the air.

My hopeful goal is to raise enough funds to pay the web server bill that’s due on August 31st ($600) and to raise enough funds to attend the prospect tournament and main training camp in Traverse City on your behalf (~$2,500).

That’s going to require help on your part. I have absolutely no clue whether any of it is feasible, but all I can do is ask, and ask again, and hope and pray.

If you’re willing to lend a hand, no matter how small, it would be greatly appreciated. The goal here is to 1) sustain the website and 2) get up to the prospect tournament and training camp, but there’s hope regarding some 3) sustainability longer-term as well.

So if you’re willing to help, https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport is a place you can donate, https://venmo.com/george-malik-2 is another place you can donate, and quite a few of you like https://www.giftly.com using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, because you don’t need to sign up for PayPal or Venmo to use Giftly.

I can’t do it without you, and I hope that those of you who’ve stuck around the TMR community are willing to lend a hand. Let’s see where this goes. We’ve done it before; let’s try again.

HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek posted an article in which he reveals that two of the Frolunda Indians’ top prospects, Montreal draft pick Mattias Norlinder and New York Rangers pick Karl Henriksson will both take part in their respective NHL rights-holders’ training camps.

According to Ek, Red Wings draft pick Simon Edvinsson is slated to remain with the Frolunda Indians as he did not sign with Detroit by August 15th, and it doesn’t sound like Edvinsson is going to be attending the Red Wings’ training camp. That would nix him from participating in the prospect tournament.

Here’s what Ek and Frolunda GM Fredrik Sjostrom say about Edvinsson, roughly translated:

The great defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who was Detroit’s first pick in this summer’s NHL draft, will remain with Frolunda for at least one more season, and did not sign a contract before the [European player signing deadline] on August 15th.

“Not exactly. You can never really know, but there was never anything to talk about, at least not something we’d gotten to with ourselves. Simon should be here and it feels great for us of course.”

Frolunda has paired Edvinsson on a defensive pair with the NHL-merited SHL champion Christian Folin. Detroit follows the development [of their prospects] in the Gothenburg team with great interest Detroit has more prospects with them.

“We have close dialogues with them, and they’re interested in their guys, and of course, they get in touch with us, and are down here [to watch], so there are quite close conversations between us. I hope and believe that they are also satisfied with us,” says Fredrik Sjostrom.

Take that for what you will. It’s still possible, but not that probable, that Edvinsson, Elmer Soderblom and Theodor Niederbach might take part in the prospect tournament, but given that the SHL’s regular season starts on September 11th, and the prospect tournament doesn’t start until September 16th…I don’t see it happening.

Updated 2x at 6:34 PM: The Detroit Red Wings held a short Zoom call with Adam Erne and the media today, subsequent to Erne signing a 2-year, $4.2 million contract:

Adam Erne on his performance last season: “Its about being able to do something with the opportunity when you get it. I was able to do that. It felt good to have a year like that.” #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) August 16, 2021

#LGRW

?: https://t.co/hedG0akNGy pic.twitter.com/9Qo4yJrp0D— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 16, 2021

Update: Here’s a bit more from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:

Continue reading Red Wings post a quick Zoom call with Adam Erne

Former Red Wings forward Riley Sheahan is an unrestricted free agent at present, but he’s spent part of his summer producing a podcast focused on mental health, partnering with TorchPro‘s stable of athletes.

Sheahan discussed his podcast with both The Hockey News’s Ryan Kennedy today and NBC Sports’ Sean Leahy recently. Here’s part of his conversation with Kennedy….

The off-season is a perfect time for players to rest, recover and train. For center Riley Sheahan, it was also an opportunity to get out of his comfort zone and try something different: a podcast on mental health.

Sheahan, a free agent who spent last season with the Buffalo Sabres, holds the cause near to his heart. Back in 2012 when he was still a prospect for the Detroit Red Wings, Sheahan was arrested for drunk driving, an offense made all the more notable by the fact he was wearing a Halloween costume at the time. For some outsiders it was humorous, but it was very serious for the youngster, who thought he might have frittered away an NHL career before it even started.

In the aftermath of the incident, a psychologist diagnosed Sheahan with depression and the Red Wings made sure he got the space and time needed to reset.

“It was huge, it was such a relief,” Sheahan said. “That really allowed me to focus on hockey and play a little more free. I solidified my role on the Red Wings and from there, built some momentum. When you have people in your corner you can be at ease. It definitely opens up your thinking patterns and allows you to be stress-free.”

But battling depression and anxiety has been a constant for Sheahan, which is why he wanted to start his ‘Speak Your Mind’ podcast on TorchPro, the website co-founded by Dallas veteran Joe Pavelski.

“I wanted to work my mind in a different way and do something uncomfortable,” Sheahan said. “I had gotten into a routine of being a hockey player where I’d wake up every morning, train, skate and come home and I thought I had a lot of time on my hands. And adding my voice to the group of athletes speaking out about this is fun for me.”

Kennedy and Sheahan continue, and here’s part of his Q and A with Leahy:

Q. The alcohol issues in Detroit that led to your arrest, did that incident make you realize you needed some help.

SHEAHAN: “Yeah, I definitely think that was a little bit of a wakeup call. I don’t think that issue was a one-off thing for me. It was just a matter of time that I got caught doing something really stupid. Even then, it still is a process to figure it out. I was fortunate enough as I grew older I started to really understand and I started to build a little bit of a fear and anxiety towards drinking, which was good for me to start to figure out how to cope with those stresses. That was an eye-opening experience that allowed me to start learning more about myself and try to figure some things out.”

Q. That happened during your rookie year. A lot of young players may not think to go get help. How did the organization assist you during that period?

SHEAHAN: “They were supportive in me getting help and whatever I needed to do to figure it out. That was meaningful to me and it was a relief to me. Being at that age, if you need help and you need to go get it, obviously you’ve got to do it and I don’t think anyone will judge you for it. Just at that age being cognizant of some of the feelings, if you’re going to go out and have a good time, that’s awesome. I think there’s a lot of camaraderie, things you can build [going out]. But I think if you’re drinking to the point where you’re starting to have these crazy thoughts and you’re blacking out, maybe you’ve got to learn from it and don’t be shy to start to dig and do some self-thinking and maybe some of those issues can be brought to the surface and you can learn from them.”

Leahy and Sheahan also continue; it’s good to hear that the Red Wings were supportive of Sheahan during his time of need. Whoever signs the 29-year-old center will gain a solid citizen on and off the ice, and I wish him well going forward.

The Red Wings have posted a video which profiles prospect Lucas Raymond today: