The Malik Report

At the World Championship in Denmark, Frans Nielsen had a goal and an assist, finishing at +1 in 22:00 played as Norway defeated Korea 3-1.

Here are the game’s highlights:

NHL.com’s Aaron Vickers spoke with Red Wings forward and Danish World Championship participant Frans Nielsen regarding the “home-ice advantage” the Danes are enjoying in Nielsen’s hometown of Herning:

A decade ago, Detroit Red Wings center Frans Nielsen couldn’t have imagined standing on the blue line of a sheet of ice in his hometown singing “Der Er Et Yndigt Land,” Denmark’s national anthem, with nearly 11,000 hockey fans.

Even five years ago, he admits, would have been a bit of a stretch.

“Not a few years back, no,” Nielsen said after singing alongside 10,800 fellow Danes to celebrate a 3-0 victory against Norway on Friday. “It’s been exciting. It’s been fun. The whole city has backed us up here. It’s been incredible.

“All we’ve hoped for.”

Nielsen, the first player from Denmark to play in the NHL, truly has home ice advantage. His home country is hosting the 2018 IIHF World Championship, and he’s playing in his hometown of Herning.

“It’s been a joy,” said Nielsen, who has 423 points (152 goals, 271 assists) in 764 NHL games during 12 seasons in the NHL, 10 with the New York Islanders and the past two Red Wings. “We’re having fun every day right now, working hard. It’s been great.”

Continued

Red Wings goaltending coach Jeff Salajko settled down in Columbus, Ohio when his playing career was over, and even though Salajko works with goalies in Detroit and Grand Rapids, he’s chosen to commute from a Columbus-area home over the past couple of seasons.

As such, this Tweet from The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline should not come as a surprise:

In addition to @monstershockey goaltending coach Manny Legace, put @CanadiensMTL Stephane Waite and @DetroitRedWings Jeff Salajko on list of candidates to replace goaltending coach Ian Clark with #CBJ.

Salajko is a former Columbus Chill player and a Columbus resident.

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) May 12, 2018

I would expect Salajko to jump at the chance to coach goaltenders closer to home.

The Athletic’s Craig Custance spoke with Wings coach Jeff Blashill and forward Dylan Larkin, among others, regarding the potential displayed by Team USA defenseman Quinn Hughes, who’s expected to be drafted within the first half-dozen players selected at this year’s draft. Custance also speaks with TSN analyst Ray Ferraro and a scout regarding Hughes’ “ability to wheel”:

“He’s done a good job of learning the things that he’s gotten away with at the college level that he’s not going to get away with here,” Blashill told The Athletic. “That’s going to be the most important thing for his development — learning. Can he learn to think a step ahead of the puck before he gets the puck? That’s the biggest thing.”

Blashill has seen signs that Hughes can. He stressed to Hughes that he needed to be in position to attack right away with the puck on the power play. Against Denmark, the Americans scored a power-play goal because Hughes listened.

“For me, that said, ‘Here’s a young guy who can get better,’” Blashill said. “As long as he has the capacity to do that, he’s going to have a bright future.”

Hughes arrived in Denmark with skating as his calling card, but his passing is the skill that has impressed those around him. He’s shown an ability and willingness to hit guys up the ice to spring breakaways, with the necessary zip to his pass.

Continued (paywall)…

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe spoke with Toledo Walleye coach Dan Watson regarding the highly likely changes to the Walleye roster as the organization “trends younger”:

“My initial thoughts from talking to the guys is that we will not have a lot of guys returning,” head coach Dan Watson said. “It will be the biggest turnover we’ve had since 2014-15 when we only kept two players from that 2013-14 team. Some of the older guys will not dress in a Walleye uniform again.”

Change is inevitable in the ECHL, a Double-A league where roster turnover is common. The league also has a rule that allows teams to keep just four veterans — players who have played in more than 260 professional games — on the roster.

So such names as Shane Berschbach, A.J. Jenks, Alden Hirschfeld, and Kyle Bonis that will be inextricably linked to the establishment of a winning culture at the Huntington Center may soon be gone. Some may retire, others will opt to make more money playing in Europe.

“It’s too fresh. We met [for exit meetings] 12 hours after we lost,” Watson said. “So that’s still weighing on guys’ minds. It’s too early to tell which guys will go other places because of the seasons they had here. That’s just natural. There will be guys that will want to get into the working world because of their degrees.”

Monroe continues, outlining the roster’s probable changes…

At the World Championship in Denmark, Gustav Nyquist scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 3 shots in 18:01 played during Sweden’s 4-3 OT victory over Slovakia.

IIHF.com’s Andy Potts recapped the game:

TSN’s Scott Cullen penned an “Off-Season Game Plan” for the Detroit Red Wings, and I am tremendously impressed with the fact that Cullen acknowledges the current managerial regime’s reticence to tank-and-rebuild:

As an aside, when I do these Off-Season Game Plans, I try to come up with a plan that seems reasonable and consistent for the current management and that means their established tendencies should be part of the consideration. Thus, even if I might think that the long-term plan for the Red Wings should be focused on a long-term rebuild, I’m skeptical that Red Wings GM Ken Holland would venture down that path.

So, if the Red Wings aren’t necessarily going to strip this thing down to the studs, maybe they will accelerate their rebuilding plan by using some of their draft pick currency to acquire premier talent. This isn’t a roster that just needs some tweaking, but if the Wings can acquire high-end talent that could be a cornerstone piece then that might be worth it.

Cullen continues, and he throws an Oliver Ekman-Larsson-sized curveball into the mix.

Of prospect-related playoff note:

In the Ontario Hockey League championship series, Kaden Fulcher stopped 30 of 34 shots as his Hamilton Bulldogs out-gunned the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 6-4.

Hamilton leads the best-of-7 series 3 games to 2; Jordan Sambrook had an assist but finished at -2 with 2 shots for Sault Ste. Marie.

Hamilton now returns home for a potentially championship-clinching Sunday.

I was happy to see David Pope earn a contract with the Red Wings after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Pope’s worked his tail off since the age of 18 to “turn pro” at 23, and I can recall attending summer development camps in which Pope, now 6’3″ and 190-ish, was a waif-like 150 pounds (at most).

As Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff notes, however, a 23-year-old prospect (who will turn 24 before the upcoming season begins) can’t be left in the AHL to “over-ripen” too much–instead, Pope will have to develop quickly to earn a spot in the lineup, as Duff suggests in a conversation with Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff:

“He’s a big kid, got good size, got a long reach,” Horcoff said. “He’s wiry, hard to knock down. He’s kind of slippery out there. But he’s a shooter.

“He’s a kid that has improved his skating over the years and I think that’s helped him get to the areas where he can score. He’s great on the PP, he’s got a real good one-timer off the flank and a great wrist shot in stride, but he’s a kid that’s really come on the last couple of years and had a great senior year last year. We’re happy to sign him.”

At the same time, the club recognizes that Pope is a project and with his advanced age in terms of hockey prospect status, he’s a limited time offer, hence the two-year deal. And he’s got to work quickly to make it happen and make the necessary improvements to his game to gain an NHL chance.

“Just strength, adding more speed to his game,” Horcoff listed as the top items on Pope’s to-do list. “It’s going to be the little things with him that make him a successful winger in the NHL. His board play, he’s competitive but I think it’s been easy for him in college, so he’s just going to need to raise his compete level a little bit. I think strength is going to be the biggest thing.”

Duff continues…

The Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore penned a fine profile of Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman, but it’s rather typical of any profile of Yzerman in that it does not include the GM’s comments.

Aside from the fact that he’s built a pretty damn good team that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup yet, I believe that Steve Yzerman would not be a good fit as the Red Wings’ general manager because he doesn’t like interacting with the media. The incredible level of scrutiny his managerial moves would result in, should he move back to his adopted hometown, would require regular interaction with a press corps that he tends to distrust, and has distrusted since Mitch Albom…maximized…his access to the Red Wings’ players in the 90’s.

Anyway, this isn’t Red Wings-related per se, but I think that Kilgore’s profile of Yzerman through people who are more comfortable interacting with members of the media is still worth your time:

When he arrived in 2010, Tampa Bay was a financial and competitive mess. Through his shrewd trades, sharp prospect identification and unflinching negotiation, the Lightning have advanced to five conference finals, including three in the past four years.

Yzerman became one of the most highly regarded NHL general managers by utterly rejecting a golden parachute. He works. He is known for his preparation and comprehensive knowledge of both the league and the salary cap. In a league where financial restrictions have caused immense turnover, Yzerman has managed to replenish his roster around a crucial core.

His current roster reads like a compendium of savvy decisions. Yzerman drafted forward Nikita Kucherov, a potential future Hart Trophy contender, in the second round in 2011, then signed him to a stunningly team-friendly extension that pays him an average of $4.766 million per season. He convinced franchise pillar Steven Stamkos to sign an eight-year extension on the even of his free agency. He turned disgruntled former top draft pick Jonathan Drouin into Mikhail Sergachev, who at 19 has become a key defenseman.

“There have been people I’ve dealt with in management working with teams who either don’t have a very good grasp of the players in their own organization,” longtime NHL agent Allan Walsh said. “Or they know their organization really well and don’t have a very good grasp of players around the league.

“He knows the players in his organization really well, including the players in the American League, including the players they’ve drafted. He has great knowledge of the players around the league. Obviously, he’s a legend when he played. And he was known as a player for being incredibly prepared, and having this tremendous work ethic. Lots of players who have gone on to either coach or work in management don’t always carry that work ethic with them.”

Kilgore continues, discussing Yzerman’s departure from the Red Wings–a departure which began something of a real “brain drain” which cost the Wings a significant number of front-office and scouting defections, and thus a drop in the team’s drafting and developing, which people like Jiri Fischer worked their butts off to resuscitate…

And I’m gathering that more of you will hold Ken Holland’s desire to continue managing the Wings against him than I would. I have always viewed Yzerman’s exit from the organization as somewhat inevitable–I have the feeling that he wanted no part of the “Joe Dumars experience”–and I don’t believe that he’s going to come back, even when Ken Holland eventually decides he’s done managing the Wings. But I’ve come to peace with that perspective, and I can’t say that it was easy.