The Malik Report

World Championship scribe Julie Robenhymer penned an article for DetroitRedWings.com. Robenhymer speaks with Dylan Larkin, discussing Larkin’s desire to improve his game by playing at the World Championship for Team USA:

“Last year, I took away the experience of playing hockey and making plays and skating at a really high level and I think I brought that back to Detroit and had a pretty good year,” he said about the 16 goals and 47 assists he earned for 63 points in 82 games for the Red Wings this year. “I’m just trying to take it to the next level now and take another step further. I want to have a good tournament and end my season on a good note.

“And it’s not about stats. I don’t care if I score a goal the whole tournament, I just want to win,” Larkin said before this year’s world championship began on Friday in Denmark. “I want to come out of here with confidence going into the summer and feeling good about where my game’s at and where it has the potential to go so I can work towards getting there this summer and have a real good season next year too. I want to keep getting better.”

Robenhymer continues, and Larkin’s drive is…intense!

 

Former Detroit News scribe and current Michigan Radio correspondent John U. Bacon shared a story from his new book, “The Best of Bacon: Select Cuts.” Today, Bacon tells the story of Slava Fetsiov’s decision to fight for his freedom to leave the Big Red Machine:

Sometime this summer, Detroit’s 39-year old defenseman Slava Fetisov will have to decide whether to return to the Red Wings for one final season, play somewhere else, or retire. For many players, this would be the toughest decision of their lives.

For Slava Fetisov, it’s almost trivial.

Just a few days past New Year’s 1989, Fetisov sat in a room at the Hilton Hotel in East Rutherford, New Jersey, debating the decision of a lifetime.

The Red Army leader and his team were in the middle of the “Super Series,” a two-week run of exhibition games against NHL teams. A few hours before that night’s game against the New Jersey Devils, their general manager, Lou Lamoriello, tried to convince Fetisov to defect right then and there, to leave his title, his team, and his homeland behind forever. But if Fetisov agreed, there would be no going back.

Continued

At the World Championship in Denmark:

Gustav Nyquist finished even with 3 shots in 17:39 played as Sweden defeated the Czech Republic 3-2.

Libor Sulak finished even with 1 shot in 17:56 for the Czechs, and Filip Hronek scored a goal on 3 shots in 16:49 played.

The IIHF’s website posted a recap and a highlight clip:

Update: The Free Press’s Helene St. James weighs in on Hronek’s progress:

At 20, Hronek is the third-youngest player on the Czech team. He joined the squad after the Grand Rapids Griffins were eliminated in the first round of the AHL playoffs on Monday.

Hronek is a by-product of the Wings’ trade to Pavel Datsyuk’s contract to Arizona in 2016, after Datsyuk decide to leave Detroit with a year left on his contract. Part of the return was the Coyotes’ second-round pick in that summer’s draft, and the Wings used that selection, at 53rd overall, on Hronek.

He turned heads in his first full year of pro hockey, finishing this past season with 39 points in 67 games, finishing second in scoring among rookie AHL defenseman. He ran the Griffins’ first power play unit (15 of his 28 assists came during man advantages). Now he’s off to a good start at the World Championship, a tournament that Dylan Larkin used last year as a huge boost to his confidence.

The Toledo Walleye are in trouble. Absent star defenseman Simon Denis, the Walleye’s offense got stuck in neutral: only Dylan Sadowy scored as the Walleye lost 4-1 to the Fort Wayne Komets on Saturday night, and Toledo trails its second-round series 3 games to 2.

Game 6 will take place Tuesday in Fort Wayne, and as for Saturday night’s action, the Walleye’s website posted a recap and highlight clip:

Continue reading Walleye lose to Fort Wayne, face 3-2 deficit in second-round series

Of playoff-related prospect note:

In the OHL championship series, Jordan Sambrook finished at +2 as his Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds won 4-2 over the Hamilton Bulldogs on Saturday, tying the OHL championship at 1 game apiece.

Kaden Fulcher stopped 30 of 33 shots for Hamilton.

Of Red Wings-related note at the World Championship in Denmark:

Team USA beat Denmark 4-0.

Frans Nielsen finished at -2 with 3 shots in 19:52 played for Denmark;

Nick Jensen had a goal and an assist, finishing at +3 with 1 shot in 17:41 played for Team USA;

And Dylan Larkin finished at +2 with 3 shots in 17:44 played for Team USA.

Team USA’s website posted a quick recap:

Will Butcher (Sun Prairie, Wis.) Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass.), Cam Atkinson (Riverside, Conn.) and Nick Jensen (St. Paul, Minn.) all scored as the 2018 U.S. Men’s National Team earned a 4-0 victory over Denmark here tonight in its second preliminary round game of the 2018 International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship.

Keith Kinkaid (Farmingville, N.Y.) made 20 saves in the shutout.

The U.S. will return to action Monday (May 7) against Germany at 4:15 p.m. local time/10:15 a.m. ET. That game, along with all U.S. Men’s World Championship games, will be broadcast live on NHL Network.

The IIHF’s YouTube channel also posted a highlight clip:

Here’s Team USA’s post-game video:

 

Elsewhere, the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 3-2 in overtime.

Libor Sulak finished even with 3 shots in 18:47 played;

Filip Hronek finished even in 6:55 played;

And as some of you already reported, Martin Frk did not play for the Czech Republic as he didn’t make the final cut.

Here are highlights from the game:

 

The Detroit Red Wings’ amateur and pro scouts are meeting in Detroit this weekend and upcoming week to map out a master plan for the draft and free agency (in terms of both which players the team will re-sign and which players the team will target come July 1st).

As you might expect, the Red Wings are placing a special emphasis on the 2018 draft in Dallas, as the Free Press’s Helene St. James reports:

General manger Ken Holland and director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright are among the dozen hockey operations personnel immersed in five days of meetings that began Saturday as the Wings prepare for the 2018 NHL entry draft.

“We’ll talk about all the leagues, all the players, come up with some lists and rankings and then go into the combine,” Holland said. “Then we’ll have all our area scouts continue to gather information and interview people about the players who are in their areas. Then the combine is an opportunity to choose who to interview among around 100 players. It all leads to Dallas.”

The Wings hold 11 picks at the June 22-23 event at American Airlines Center. Their first is at sixth overall, and there’ll be three more within the top 36 selections: Las Vegas’ first-round pick from the Tomas Tatar trade, Ottawa’s second round pick (32nd overall) from the Brendan Smith trade (via the New York Rangers) and the Wings’ own second-round pick.

The Wings need a high-end defense prospect, but the first pick won’t come down to position.

“At sixth, we’ll look for the best available player, the one we believe will make the biggest impact on our team,” Holland said. “But certainly, we’re trying to build a defense over time through the draft.”

Continued

According to the Free Press’s Helene St. James, the Red Wings are going to sign David Pope soon. Pope has been finishing up his degree at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after a superb senior NCAA season:

The Detroit Red Wings are closing in on a deal with prospect David Pope.

Pope, 23, was drafted by the Wings at 109th overall in 2013. He just finished his senior year at University of Nebraska-Omaha, where he had career highs with 20 goals, 21 assists and 41 points in 39 games.

Pope, 23, is 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds. He has good offensive instincts and soft hands, and knows how to get open away from play.

He could sign a two-year entry level contract within the next few days. Negotiations were on hold while Pope finished his classes.

St. James continues…

From the Waterloo Record’s Josh Brown:

Hockey fans saw Givani Smith flash his middle finger at the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds bench.

What they didn’t see were the racial slurs, threats and abuse that the Kitchener Rangers winger, who is Black, endured before and after the incident.

Video of Smith’s outburst went viral in hockey circles.

The footage showed him flipping the bird to Soo players just after the Rangers extended their playoff lives with an emotional 4-3 overtime victory against the Greyhounds in Game 6 of their Ontario Hockey League western conference final this past Sunday.

The 20-year-old was suspended for two games by the OHL for making “an inappropriate gesture” and had to watch the Rangers’ season end in double overtime from the press box Monday in the Soo.

The incident sparked a series of racially charged comments on social media. Some called the Toronto native a “coward” and a “douche bag” while others stooped lower.

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff has more:

According to a report by TheRecord.com, Smith, 20, who is black, was the victim of racial slurs from Greyhounds fans, and there were allegations that Sault Ste. Marie players were involved as well.

“Before we went up to the Soo there were racial things in his inbox on social media,” Rangers general manager Mike McKenzie told Josh Brown of TheRecord.com. “It was pretty disgusting to see some of the stuff that he had to deal with.”

A photo of Smith with the words “Hockey N—–” written under it, was sent to Smith’s Facebook page.

There was also an episode earlier in the season in Sarnia where Smith was accosted with racial epithets.

“We had an incident during the regular season where a fan somehow got access to our tunnel,” McKenzie said. “It was a game where he (Smith) had been sent to the room early because he had a misconduct. The fan poked his head in and yelled a racial slur down the hall. I’m not going to repeat it but it wasn’t good.”

Greyhounds GM Kyle Raftis insisted he was unaware of any racial slurs committed by his players, and Raftis worked with the OHL to set up additional security for Smith and the Rangers, which included a police escort for the team bus to Game 7 in the Soo.

“Nobody from any walk of life should have to go through that,” Raftis said of the racial slurs.

Update: Here’s even more from the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

The Rangers needed a police escort from the Soo airport to their Sault Ste. Marie hotel, and from the hotel to the arena for Game 7.

Smith watched Game 7 from the press box with a security guard at the door.

“We took the step to provide security over and above what we would normally do for a game,” David Branch, OHL commissioner, told The Record. “We wanted to make sure Givani was comfortable and certainly hopefully free from any challenge or issue.”

The Toledo Walleye hoped to place a stranglehold upon their second-round series with the Fort Wayne Komets, and instead, they laid an egg on Friday, losing 3-1 in Fort Wayne.

Mike Embach scored for Toledo, and Pat Nagle stopped 22 of 25 shots, but the Walleye are now tied 2-2 with Fort Wayne heading into what will likely be a 6 or 7-game series.

The Walleye’s website posted a recap:

Continue reading Walleye lose to Fort Wayne in Game 4 of 2nd round series, tied 2-2