The Malik Report

I’ve attempted to keep things to a dull roar over the past couple of weeks. Between health, non-blog commitments and the simple fact that the hockey season actually gets quite hectic in June and early July, I was hoping to take advantage of the quiet period to recharge my batteries and gear up for the draft.

That’s not how things have gone, and that’s because the comments section has taken on a life of its own. I would’ve liked to keep things private regarding policing the troublemakers and secondary troublemakers, but I believe that would be ineffective, so:

1. The comments section on this website is not yours. This website is not yours. You are guests of the proprietor–that’s me, I own this website–and and you are guests of the community.

2. This website and its comments section are not about you. You are not more important than the blog. In fact, I’m not more important than the blog. The most important thing is the Detroit Red Wings and the news about hockey. Then comes the person who is still paying the vast majority of the bills, then come the people who are paying the bills, then comes the community of readers.

3. This website’s proprietor expects his guests to conduct themselves with propriety, and to bring all concerns directly to me. I prefer to keep things private in terms of policing the comments section (so emailing me at rtxg@yahoo.com, contacting me on Twitter or Facebook is preferred when problems arise), but I am the police, judge and executioner.

You are the jury, but as this is a benevolent dictatorship, the proprietor chooses to retain his ability to make executive decisions as necessary.

Among the community of readers (and this is a partial, rant-laden list at best):

• Attempting to transform every article into a personal narrative will no longer be welcome. Ken Holland is not going to come down from his office at Little Caesars Arena if every damn moment of blog content is catastrophized and turned into a critique of the front office, coaching staff or player personnel.
• Negativity is part of criticism, I get that, but pervasive negativity is simply unnecessary. It’s sports, and neither you nor I are in control of the management, coaching or player personnel of the Detroit Red Wings, which is frustrating from time to time. I get that. Part of commenting is venting, and I get that. But CALM the F*** DOWN if all you’re going to do is yell and scream–and DON’T. The Red Wings are not about pleasing you, and they’re not about pleasing me, either.
• Just as I do not expect the comments section to devolve into, “It’s all about me,” I will not accept harassment or haranguement of fellow commenters for any reason (even if their conduct might “deserve” it). If someone becomes an unpopular opinion-maker among the community, that doesn’t mean that they should become a punching bag. Grow up and treat each other like adults, even if you’re not best pals. That’s what a community ideally does–that’s what a community ideally IS, a community of dissenting but respectful individuals, who disagree but f***ing live with it.
• Along those lines, the comments section is not your to “win” or “lose.” If you’re going to go and nip at people’s heels by commenting after every comment to attempt to bully the comments section into agreeing with your and only your opinion, you’re wasting time…
• And there is nothing I hate more than people who waste each other’s time. I assume that you don’t have the time to waste being a dick to others for being a dick’s sake, and I assume that other people don’t have time to waste being a dick back. The news cycle is fast, there’s a lot of information to digest most days and if you have too much time on your hands, get another hobby.
• In fact, if you have too much time on your hands, and your plan is to get into as many arguments as possible and piss off as many people as possible, this is probably not the site for you. And you’re not going to be tolerated simply because you’re escaping boredom by being an asshole.  You don’t get to be a bully for shits and giggles’ sake.
• Assholes who call other people names, use epithets, harass or harangue can find other people on other websites to annoy. Racism, sexism, absolutism, the vast majority of small-minded-call-people-names “isms” or rhetorical “isms” aren’t welcome here.
• Unpopular opinions are welcome within reason. This is a hockey blog, so if you’re not a fan of the Red Wings’ player personnel decisions, for example, you’ve probably got friends here…
• But at the same time, hammering an opinion into the ground and resuscitating it in every damn topic like you’re scraping the mush you’ve beaten off the floor to throw at people is NOT COOL. Make your point and get over it.
• Specifically, there’s one topic that is evident to everyone: the Red Wings have made terrible decisions regarding player personnel contracts over the last couple of years. If Gustav Nyquist wins the World Championship, and I post an entry about it, that’s probably not the place to bring up the fact that Frans Nielsen, Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm make too much money.  We get it. In the words of Monty Python, make your point once and GET ON WITH IT. This specific topic is old to begin with, and everyone knows it. We don’t need to be reminded in EVERY TOPIC that the GM has been a dolt.
• However, and in general, it is EXPECTED that disagreement and dissent are part of the talking-about-sports discourse, and that means that you and I both have to live with and share the community with people with whom we disagree. In my universe, that’s part of being an adult.
• In other words, if you really, really can’t stand other people’s opinions, this whole comments section business really, really isn’t for you. You might want to get a Livejournal or Tumblr or something to vent to the universe instead if you don’t want to live with not everyone agreeing with you.
• And put bluntly:
• Your conduct and your comments determine whether you stay here or whether you will be asked to leave, and then banned. I can’t block you from viewing my website, and I don’t want to do that to begin with, but I can ban you from commenting, and if I have to do it, I will not hesitate.
• As you might imagine, as it stands this evening, there are a couple members of the community who, for various reasons regarding conduct and comments, are in severe danger of being banned.
• I have spoken with several people in private, both from the general community and from the those who’ve misbehaved, and I have tried to give second and even third chances to a couple of people, and they’re not working. That’s not going to happen any more.
• Along those lines, if you or anyone you know is interested in formalizing a code of conduct for this blog, the community of readers is small, but I feel that it might be a valuable use of time to create equitable ground rules beyond my, “Be a grown-up and get over yourself” theme here, and if you’ve got experience in that regard, I welcome suggestions to that end.
• The truth of the matter and the bottom line? I am currently working anywhere from 30-60 hours a week on this blog, with my workload depending on the day. June and its draft and development camp will yield some of the busiest work of the entire year, and I will not have time to read and respond to every comment, and it is with that acknowledgment that I have to effectively deputize the members of the commenting community to police themselves…
• Understanding that you are guests here, that you are expected to act like respectful adults in the face of disagreement and perhaps even dislike of the other person, and accepting that, from this moment forward, the person in charge of the blog will no longer be a “soft touch.”
• I answer to you because I choose to do so, but ultimately this blog is paid for by me and my supporters, and when the people who help pay the freight are telling me that the community is being dragged down–and that my earning potential as someone who is providing commercial-free content is being dragged down because the comments section is malfunctioning–it’s time to nip this shit in the bud and move on with trying to build the blog.
• As this blog awakens, I hope that the logo contest (still alive, still accepting submissions), blog design work and fundraising (haven’t asked for help in too long, methinks) will become more important, and hopefully with a little less time on your hands as hockey fans, things will work out.
• If they don’t, the nuclear option is sometimes the best one, because blog comment zones can be vicious places…And I hate to leave this for the last, but I do not want this to become a zoo. I used to work at a rhetorical zoo, and I didn’t have any control over the fact that it was a zoo. People behaved accordingly. This time, I’ve got a tranquilizer gun and the ability to kick people out, and if I have to do that, I will not hesitate.

Again, if you have comments, concerns or questions, email, Twitter and Facebook are quite useful methods by which to reach me privately, and if you need to publicly state something to me or the blog, you’re welcome to do so in the comments section (obviously).

In an ideal world, everybody gets along, but I understand that this world is not only not ideal, but in the case of this blog, involves some people that are doing a poor job of getting along with others. I challenge all of you to take heed of these remarks, to get involved in making the community a better place (who knows, at some point in the not-so-distant people, we could yell at each other in person or something), and to start maximizing your time by treating others as you would like to be treated.

If not, from now on, there will be consequences.

One more thing: There will be consequences not because one, two or three people are “on trial,” but because, on this blog, everybody weighs the same as a duck. No one is immune from being judged based upon the content of their behavior.

The Athletic’s Craig Custance projects the probable contract values for the Wings’ restricted free agents (Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Bertuzzi, Martin Frk, Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha) and probable unrestricted free agent re-signing in Mike Green.

As you might expect, Custance estimates that re-signing all the RFA’s, Green and a back-up goaltender would suck up the Wings’ cap space, and he suggests that the Wings need to keep an eye open toward next summer’s free agent class, too:

Larkin’s contract is the most important deal in terms of Detroit’s long-range plans. There is a lot of positive momentum with Larkin, from his strong regular season to an important role on Jeff Blashill’s bronze-medal-winning U.S. team at Worlds. The last thing you’d think either side would want is a lengthy contract negotiation or potential holdout. In the short term, the Green contract will help determine just how much of a player the Red Wings are in free agency this summer. Whether they’re a cap team will come down to who is available in free agency this year.

More importantly, the Red Wings want to be a serious player in the 2019 free-agency market (Drew Doughty, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Erik Karlsson, etc.) so they also have to be careful not to do anything here that ties them up. Gustav Nyquist’s and Niklas Kronwall’s contracts both expire after next season, which opens up about $9.5 million in cap space to take a run at one of the big defensemen in 2019. Next summer is where the real free-agent action may take place for the Red Wings.

Custance continues (paywall)…

From the Detroit Red Wings:

Red Wings add free agent goaltender Patrik Rybar

24-year-old netminder represented Slovakia at Olympics and World Championship in 2018

Of brief Red Wings-related note today:

1. According to the Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa, the Red Wings are set to make a charitable announcement on Tuesday:

#RedWings and @chevrolet to announce major donation to benefit detroit public schools community district, tuesday.

400 2d grade students and educators in @LCArena_Detroit#Detroit @Detroitk12@DetroitRedWings

— gregg krupa (@greggkrupa) May 21, 2018

2. This is pretty cool, via Michigan Hockey:

Check out the awesome @NHLonNBCSports video of the @MIWarriorHockey‘s surprise #DayWithTheCup moment.

? | https://t.co/46ZE9n5gDf pic.twitter.com/2hQGXl5wSu

— MiHockey (@MiHockeyNow) May 21, 2018

 3. Via HSJ:

Dylan Larkin and his dad with 2018 World Championship bronze medal (from Larkin’s instagram). pic.twitter.com/sAmTGcknp3

— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) May 21, 2018

4. Joe Hicketts said the following after the Grand Rapids Griffins were ousted from the playoffs, and it’s good to know that “Hicksy” feels that he can improve his skills despite having made his NHL debut this past season:

.@Hicksy_2 reflects on this past season. ?⤵ pic.twitter.com/vay8lTTG3Z

— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) May 21, 2018

5. Finally, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman penned a tiered list of the top prospects for the 2018 draft. Here’s one of his scouting reports:

5. Quinn Hughes, D, Michigan-Big 10

Oct. 14, 1999 | 5-foot-10|170 pounds

GP: 37| Goals: 5 | Points: 29 |  Shoots: Left

Skating: 70
Puck Skills: 60
Physical Game: 35
Hockey sense: 65

Hughes was a second-team All-Star in the Big 10 this past season and is the first of his three talented brothers to become NHL draft eligible. Hughes is the best skater in the draft class, and one of the best skating defensemen I’ve ever seen at his age. He has incredible agility and ability to get up to a dangerous top speed quickly, and the power he gets from each stride is special. I’ve never seen a defenseman that can pivot from backwards at full speed to dashing up the ice like he can. He can transition the puck well due to his feet, but his great puck skills and IQ allows him to drive play. He’s not a pure dangler, but he controls the puck very well in a way that distinguishes him. He processes the game so well at both ends of the rink and is extremely creative with the puck, allowing him to make unique rushes and distributions. He controls the puck in a unique way and is very tough to dislodge due to his skating, skill and work ethic. While he can make end to end rushes, with his aforementioned smarts, he knows when to pick his spots to make a play or just make a crisp outlet. His passes are always hard and on the tape. The main drawback on him is his size, and its valid in terms of being subpar at winning battles, but his sense and feet allow him to disrupt enough plays to be useful defensively and he’s not a huge liability. His point shot could be a tad stronger, as well.

USNTDP U17 coach John Wroblewski said: “His acceleration and escapability are second to none. He has the best 1-on-1 instincts I’ve ever seen. Through the neutral zone, he darts and slashes, rarely making a poor read on when to join [the attack]. In the offensive zone, he’s like a point guard. He breaks people down and makes them look silly.”

Pronman continues at significant length…

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner examines Luke Witkowski’s 2017-18 season this morning, and any discussion of Witkowski’s campaign yields mixed feelings from me.

There’s no doubt that Witkowski gave the Wings significant “pop” and even an intimidation factor when he played…But his presence, which would’ve been even greater had he not been suspended for 10 games, took away from a 4th line spot that could’ve gone to a youngster.

Anyway, Regner’s article duly notes that Witkowski’s “numbers” were defined by the role he played on the team:

31 – Total number of games Witkowski appeared in during his first season as a Red Wing.

1 – Witkowski scored his first NHL and only career goal on February 17 against the Predators in Nashville. Witkowski’s father, John, was there as the team was on the dads and mentors trip.

4 – Total number of points Witkowski accumulated last season. That matched his point total from the 2016-17 season when he was with the Lightning.

68 – His 68 penalty minutes ranked second on the Red Wings. Justin Abdelkader led Detroit in penalty minutes with 78.

Regner continues, and it’s important to note that Witkowski, who has a year left on his contract, has a big supporter in the Red Wings’ coach, so it’s highly likely that Witkowski will remain on the Wings’ roster going forward.

International hockey writer Julie Robenhymer penned an article for DetroitRedWings.com in which she spoke with Gustav Nyquist just prior to Sweden’s World Championship final against Switzerland. Nyquist won a gold medal with Sweden on Sunday.

Robenhymer noted that Nyquist was still stinging from the Wings’ playoff-less spring, so he looked for an opportunity to help his home country while bettering himself:

“It still hurts to think about not being in the playoffs. I check the NHL scores every morning, maybe I’ll watch the first period of a game if I’m still awake” he said. “As a competitor, you still want to be in that race and playing for a Stanley Cup. So, of course, I wish I was still there, but I’m not. I’m here and having the chance to win a gold medal for your country isn’t a bad alternative.”

It’s that desire to win a Stanley Cup that was driving his focus here at the world championship and why he’s looking at anything and everything he can pick up from other players that might help him be just a little bit better, faster, smarter on the ice.

“You’re still playing against a lot of really good players here. It’s a little bit of a different game because of the big ice and it takes a little while to get used to, but it’s still fun to challenge yourself in that way and see how other players do things,” Nyquist explained. “This is an opportunity to improve and put me in a better position to help the Red Wings get into and go far in the playoffs next year. We haven’t made it now in two years and that’s something we obviously want to change.

“I think we had a lot of young guys take steps this year and hopefully they can take another step, while everyone else takes a look in the mirror and sees what they can do better to improve as well and help the team succeed a little bit more. We all need to be better.”

Robenhymer continues…

At the World Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark:

Team Sweden prevailed in a post-overtime penalty shootout, winning 3-2 over Switzerland.

Gustav Nyquist scored a goal in 21:30, finishing even with 5 shots.

Update: Here are the IIHF’s highlights:

 

Dylan Larkin, Nick Jensen and Jeff Blashill earned bronze medals as Team USA defeated Canada 4-1 (including 2 empty-net goals for the Americans) at the World Championship on Sunday.

Larkin, who spent his time checking the Connor McDavid line, had an assist on Chris Kreider’s 1-0 goal.

Larkin finished at +2 on 3 shots and 22:39 played;

Jensen had 1 shot in 11:17 played.

Update: Here are the game’s highlights…

And Team USA’s website posted a recap and a post-game clip:

 

From Team USA’s website:

Chelios Inducted Into IIHF Hall of Fame

Four-Time Olympian and 1996 World Cup of Hockey Gold Medalist Inducted Here in Copenhagen, Denmark

Today, Chris Chelios (Downers Grove, Ill.) was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame as a member of its Class of 2018. The induction ceremony took place here in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the final day of the 2018 IIHF Men’s World Championship. Chelios is the 23rd American to be enshrined into the IIHF Hall of Fame.

The Ottawa Sun’s Don Brennan reports Senators news which includes an item of interest for Red Wings fans:

Sunday will be a good day to be Daniel Alfredsson.

Along with watching his fellow Swedes take on the underdog Swiss in the 2018 world hockey championship gold medal game, the former Ottawa Senators’ captain will be inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.

Three other former NHLers — Chris Chelios, Rob Blake and Jere Lehtinen — will be among the group of eight entering the IIHF shrine in Copenhagen.

Brennan continues, and Chelios’s impressive international hockey resume warrants a spot in the IIHF Hall of Fame.