The Malik Report

Sports Illustrated’s Alex Prewitt penned a superb article regarding the “History of the NHL penalty box,” and his article includes a nod to Bob Probert, a frequent visitor to the “sin bin”:

The box can even become meaningful to those who have never served a minute. Dani Probert hadn’t planned to spread her late husband Bob’s ashes there after the final Red Wings game at Joe Louis Arena last April, but something about the moment felt right. So she asked Chris Chelios, one of Bob’s former teammates, to fetch a screwdriver and open a heart-shaped marble canister that accompanies her everywhere. An impromptu ceremony was held. “This is for you, Big Bob,” Dani whispered, sprinkling his remains on the floor beneath the bench.

“I think we both know Bob spent a lot of time in the penalty box, considering he had 3,300 career PIMs,” she says. “It just made sense.”

Prewitt continues…

From MLive’s Ansar Khan:

The Detroit Red Wings have parted ways with assistant coach John Torchetti, whose contract expired at the end of the season.

Torchetti served as an assistant under head coach Jeff Blashill the past two seasons. He worked primarily with the forwards and was in charge of the power play. The Red Wings’ power play ranked 24^th in the NHL this season at 17.5 percent. It was 27^th in 2016-17 at 15.1 percent.

The Red Wings could be seeking another assistant to join a staff that includes Doug Houda, who works with the defense and is in charge of the penalty kill, and Pat Ferschweiler, who ran the power play in 2015-16.

Here’s more from The Athletic’s Craig Custance:

Detroit Red Wings: The Red Wings and assistant coach John Torchetti are going separate ways following the conclusion of his two-year contract, signed in 2016. Multiple sources told The Athletic that the Red Wings have notified NHL teams via e-mail of the decision to part ways with Torchetti. Torchetti was brought to Detroit in 2016 after his stint as the interim head coach of the Minnesota Wild. “I’m looking forward to another challenge,” Torchetti told The Athletic on Tuesday. “I wish I could have done more with the team here.”

Update #2: The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan also confirms:

The Detroit Red Wings will not bring back assistant coach John Torchetti next season.

Torchetti, 53, oversaw the power play and forwards. His two-year contract expired after the season.

The power play ranked 24th in the NHL (17.5 percent), a mild improvement over the 2016-17 season (27th, 15.1 percent).

The Red Wings finished 28th overall in goals (2.59 per game) this past season.

Torchetti came to Detroit after three times serving as interim head coach in the NHL – in Florida, Los Angeles and Minnesota, taking the Wild into the playoffs in that interim role at the end of the 2015-16 season.

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. In alumni news, according to the Free Press’s Helene St. James, Pavel Datsyuk’s signed a one-year extension with SKA St. Petersburg:

Pavel Datsyuk signed 1 year contract extension with KHL club SKA St. Petersburg. Presently, Pavel is with the Russian National Team preparing for the upcoming World Championship Games in Denmark.

— Dan Milstein-Hockey (@HockeyAgent1) April 17, 2018

2. In present-day Wings news, during locker room clean-out day, Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff spoke with Gustav Nyquist regarding his consideration regarding participation in the World Championship:

“Not decided yet,” Nyquist said. “No answer on that. There’s a couple of things, but I’m sure it will come out sooner or later what my decision is.”

Unless he’s dealing with an ailment that’s not been disclosed, it would be surprising if he chose not to suit up for the Swedes. He’s always answered Sweden’s call in the past, even in 2016, passing up the chance to go to Churchill Downs and watch his namesake Nyquist when the Kentucky Derby in order to play for Sweden at the worlds.

Suiting up all 82 games this season, Nyquist netted 21 goals, his best season in terms of goal output since he scored 27 in 2014-15 and the third 20-goal campaign of his NHL career, but the 28-year-old right-winger wasn’t about to reach around and pat himself on the back, or tweet out Mission Accomplished for that matter.

“I don’t think I’m happy when I’m standing here talking to you guys in April,” he told reporters on locker cleanout day. “I’ve got to find a way to be better. I scored a little more goals this year, but I still think I created enough chances to score more. I want to produce more than I did. I’ve got to find a way here during the summer to do some things and get better for next year to have a big season.”

3. MLive’s Ansar Khan penned an article discussing Rasmus Dahlin and Andrei Svechnikov, the top European and North American skaters (respectively) for this year’s NHL draft;

4. The Athletic’s Topher Scott offers an article which breaks down some of prospect David Pope’s tendencies via video…

So what would the Red Wings get in the 2018 version of David Pope? I spoke to a few rival coaches and watched some tape on him to get a glimpse.

He is big, strong and can really skate

The college game was a perfect match for Pope in his developmental path. As someone who was tall, thin and timid at times, he needed all three years of junior hockey and all four years of college hockey to grow into the player he is today. One rival coach told me Pope has come a really long way since he got to UNO in strength, speed and assertiveness with his play. At 23, he may be finally ready to take that next step.

Scott continues…

5. And The Athletic’s Max Bultman wrote an article titled, “What to expect from the Red Wings’ prospects in the AHL playoffs“:

For [Libor] Sulak, balancing the defensive corps could ultimately dictate his role and playing time — Grand Rapids needs to be able to trust him in the defensive zone, though he did show some promising offensive vision Saturday against Cleveland.

“I think he’s still getting used to the smaller ice and the timing,” Red Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin told The Athletic. “He’s got good puck skills, but guys are closing on him probably a little quicker than he’s used to because of the ice dimensions. But that’ll come with time. He likes to get up in the play, he’s got a good shot, he gets a lot of pucks on net — that’s his game, really.”

As forwards go, the most immediate attention will go to Svechnikov and whether he can start to take over games in the playoffs. The big Russian had his bumps this regular season, but the team will be hoping an end-of-season stint in Detroit has his confidence back up in time for the playoffs.

Bultman also continues (paywall)…

Traverse City’s Centre ICE Arena is attempting to raise funds to offset the $110,000 it must pay to upgrade its rinks to NHL specifications, in order to continue hosting the Red Wings’ training camp.

Centre ICE executive director Terry Marchand spoke to Traverse City’s 9&10 News’s Whitney Amann and Jeremy Erickson regarding the cause…

Centre Ice Arena needs your help to make sure the Detroit Red Wings Training Camp and NHL Prospect Tournament continue come back to Traverse City.

NHL safety standards have changed for rinks that host events with players, including a different type of glass and new netting.

Even after a huge donation from Traverse City Tourism, they still need help raising another $110,000 to bring their rinks up to NHL standards.

“We went to the Red Wings and said, ‘Hey guys, we need a commitment, we need you to commit to come for x amount of years because this is a huge commitment on our part this financial expenditure.’ So they did, we got a five year commitment from them,” said Terry Marchand, Centre Ice Arena executive director.

And Up North Live reports that the fundraising drive itself and events to support the fundraising initiative will take place between now and June 2nd:

“Centre Ice is a community and Traverse City backs us so much so we appreciate the community that we’re in,” said Centre Ice Marketing Director Tricia Frey.

The yearly events bring in thousands of spectators, and a big economic boost to the area. That’s why Traverse City Tourism made a contribution to their campaign.

“So it’s very important from a business standpoint to keep the hotels full, the restaurants full, the golf courses running and at maximum capacity,” said Traverse City Tourism CEO Trevor Tkach. “All of that is affected by having this Red Wings camp and prospect camp in Traverse City.”

The improvements include new acrylic instead of tempered glass and new netting for spectator safety, which will benefit more than just the pro hockey team.

“Centre Ice will be one of a handful of private use rinks in the United States with this kind of safety standard,” said Frey. “It’s very beneficial for everyone that comes through these doors.”

You can donate to the campaign on Centre Ice’s website, by clicking here.

From MLive’s Ansar Khan:

#RedWings Luke Glendening had wrist surgery last week. Will be ready for training camp but can’t play for U.S. at World Championship. Wings confirmed for Worlds so far: Dylan Larkin (U.S.), Frans Nielsen (Denmark), Martin Frk (Czech Republic). Gustav Nyquist requested by Sweden.

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) April 16, 2018

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. At one end of the spectrum, DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji filed a locker room clean-out day article about Niklas Kronwall, who wants to continue playing through the 2018-19 season:

“I think it’s awesome when you have guys coming up,” Kronwall said. “And I think obviously with where we are at, we’re destined to have some young players, especially on D, taking steps. We’ve seen (Dylan Larkin), (Anthony Mantha), (Andreas Athanasiou), (Tyler Bertuzzi), we’ve seen some guys up front, and I think it’s definitely time for the back end to also get rejuvenated with some young players.”

As with Zetterberg, Kronwall knows that his career is closer to the end than to the beginning, but he is not ready to retire as he has one year left on his contract and he feels better than he has in previous seasons.

“The last two seasons after the year, I wasn’t really sure what was going to come out of the training,” Kronwall said. “That part I do feel like if I stick with the program and do what gave me a chance to play this year, I’ll be just fine. Hopefully, tweak the training regimen a little bit and make it even better.

“I don’t think It’ll be any different than it was last year. I’m trying to train as hard as I possibly can and just be ready to go come training camp.”

2. At the other end of the spectrum, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a list of the top 20 available-to-draft NHL prospects, now that the NHL has released is 2018 draft rankings, and the Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an article in which she surmised which of the available-to-draft prospects might intrigue the Wings;

3. And in Grand Rapids, the Grand Rapids Press’s Peter J. Wallner eschewed end-of-season grades for a look at the Griffins’ stat leaders and “best and worst” of the Griffins’ 2017-18 campaign:

MOST IMPROVED: The Griffins, having seen Filip Hronek briefly at the end of last season, had high hopes for the defenseman this year. The rookie didn’t disappoint as he finished second among league rookie defensemen in points (11-28-39).

Hronek’s 39 points tied for most for a rookie defenseman with the Griffins and earned him a place on the AHL all-rookie team.

The Grand Rapids Press’s Andrew Streitel spoke with several members of the Grand Rapids Griffins regarding the team’s upcoming best-of-five playoff series against the Manitoba Moose, which kicks off with a pair of road games in Winnipeg on Saturday and Sunday:

The team was confident about their matchup against the Moose after going 6-2 against them during the regular season.

“We have been a good road team all season and we do a good job playing a simple game on the road and it’s a building we feel comfortable playing in,” said defenseman Brian Lashoff. “They are a really good team with size up front, great goaltending and special teams.”

Lashoff added that depth and execution on special teams could also help the Griffins in the series.

The Griffins finished the season on a roll at 9-1-1-1 in the final 12 games. The team played better on the road (22-10-1-5) and don’t feel stressed with the first two games at Manitoba.

“Feels like we are the underdogs and have something to prove,” Colin Campbell said after a three-goal night. “Physically we are a little worn out, but we have two days off here in a row. Everyone will be ready for them.”

Streitel continues, and Lashoff appeared on WOOD TV’s Sports Overtime with Larry Figurski on Sunday night:

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a locker room clean-out day article regarding Martin Frk, discussing Frk’s desire to maximize his ice time by scoring more goals next season:

“I wish I scored more goals,” Frk said. “I was having kind of bad stretches. It’s a hard league and I got to find a way to be better with that. You’re also playing with great players on the power play. I learned a lot and I bet I will learn a lot in this league when I play more games.”

The right-shooting Frk’s booming one-timer was a weapon on the power play (five goals). His challenge is finding ways to score at even strength. He occasionally played on a top-two line but spent a lot of time on the fourth line. He averaged 10:17 in ice time, the lowest among regular forwards.

“There’s no way to have enough ice time for everybody if you want your better players in that 18-20 (minute) range,” Blashill said. “Someone’s going to get cut in ice time.

“As a group we got to find a way to score more goals. If we’re not able to score at elite levels with our top two lines, then we got to make sure we outscore teams in our bottom two lines, so certainly Marty would fit into that as well.”

Preventing goals also is important for Frk. His minus-14 was tied for the second-worst on the team.

“Blash is really strict and he wants the players to work on both sides of the ice,” Frk said. “It’s definitely a little bit different for me. I’m trying to be as good offensively and defensive side. Especially on that fourth line you don’t want the line to score against you.”

Khan continues, and he posted a video of Frk’s locker room clean-out day remarks:

Frk happens to have left Detroit on Sunday, so he said, “Goodbye” on Twitter and Instagram:

Until next time hockeytown ✌? Thank you Detroit for an unforgettable first season. It was a privilege to play for the Detroit fans, the Red Wings organization and staff, and with great teammates. ??pic.twitter.com/jaLWpxZNSo

— Martin Frk (@Frky91) April 15, 2018

Of playoff-related prospect note:

In the OHL, Givani Smith scored 2 goals, finishing at +2 with 3 shots as his Kitchener Rangers won 6-2 over the Sarnia Sting. You can watch highlights of the game here.

Kitchener won the teams’ second-round series in 6 games, and Kitchener advances to one of two OHL Conference Finals;

Kitchener will play against the winner of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds-Owen Sound Attack series, and Jordan Sambrook’s Greyhounds are in trouble.

Sambrook finished at -2 with 1 shot as Sault Ste. Marie lost 7-1 to Owen Sound, which now leads the teams’ second-round series 3 games to 2, tying the second-round series at 3 games apiece. You can watch highlights of the game here.

A bit of a bummer here as Matej Machovsky didn’t have the patience to stick around and earn a spot. From the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRIFFINS ANNOUNCE ROSTER TRANSACTIONS