The Malik Report

Grand Rapids Griffins commentator Bob Kaser “refereed” a Zoom call in which half-a-dozen members of the Griffins’ 2012-2013 Calder Cup-winning team reunited, chatting for 46 minutes. Brennan Evans, Louis-marc Aubry, Chad Billins, Luke Glendening, Andrej Nestrasil, Brian Lashoff, Jeff Hoggan, Triston Grant, Nathan Paetsch and Gustav Nyquist shot the…um…hockey stuff…while reminiscing about their time playing hockey together:

Of prospect-related note from Sunday:

In the ICE Hockey League, Michael Rasmussen’s Graz99ers didn’t play against Bratislava because of a positive Covid test on one of the teams;

Jesper Eliasson served as the back-up in the Red Bulls Salzburg’s 4-1 loss to the Vienna Capitals;

And in the Swedish Allsvenskan, William Wallinder finished at -1 with 2 shots in 14:22 played as MODO Hockey lost 4-0 to BIK Karlskoga.

Fox Sports Detroit posts an online program called “The Third Half” with Brooke Fletcher, and both Red Wings prospect Lucas Raymond and Detroit Tigers prospect Trei Cruz were interviewed by Fletcher in the latest “The Third Half”:

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an excerpt from her new book, The Big 50: Detroit Red Wings this morning. St. James discusses two times in which the Red Wings’ management considered trading Steve Yzerman, including once in 1995, when Yzerman was almost traded to Ottawa for Alexei Yashin and a 1st round pick. As St. James notes, Yzerman wasn’t thrilled about the concept:

When Yzerman found out his name had come up in trade talks, he fumed to reporters about how much it bothered him.

“I can’t say I’m upset about the possibility of being traded,” he said. “I just expected to be treated like an adult. I would have thought that at some time somebody would have come to me and said, ‘Here’s what we’re thinking. Here’s why we’re doing this.’ I guess they’re not adult enough to do that. I thought I knew people in the organization well enough. I’ve always tried to be upfront and honest and I thought I deserved that in return—the good or the bad. I love this city and I love this hockey team. But life goes on. Hockey goes on. Careers go on. We’ll just wait and see what happens.”

It is unlikely Ilitch would have okayed a deal, but Bowman let it play out until it petered out. “Ken Holland and Scotty were in on the discussions,” [Jimmy] Devellano said. “They would report back to me. There were tons of names involved. At the end of the day, that trade didn’t get done because [Ottawa] couldn’t even afford to pay Yzerman. It was a wasted effort.”

Continued; thank goodness that the Red Wings never ended up trading #19.

The Athletic’s ever-proliferate Down Goes Brown, a.k.a. Sean McIndoe, paid tribute to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ signing of Hockey Hall of Famer-to-be Joe Thornton by examining the “10 other times the Maple Leafs signed a veteran Hall of Famer.” Usually, I’d avoid this Leafs-related story like the plague, but there was one time that the Maple Leafs signed a HOF’er-in-the-making, it worked out horribly for them, and they literally gave away an integral part of two Red Wings Stanley Cups as a result:

Level 2: The whipping boy

The player: Larry Murphy

The transaction: Cliff Fletcher acquired the 34-year-old blueliner from the Penguins in 1995, hoping a player who’d had three top-five Norris finishes in the last four years could spark the Leafs’ fading offense.

The outcome: For reasons nobody is quite clear on to this day, Toronto fans never took to Murphy. He was never a bruiser, and he certainly had his share of shoddy defensive moments. But he also racked up 61 points in his only full season in Toronto, which made it strange to see him all but booed out of town. The Leafs shipped him to Detroit midway through the 1996-97 season for literally nothing at all, then watched him help the Red Wings to two Cups.

Luckily, there’s no way this market would glitch out and turn on somebody as universally beloved as Joe Thornton, right? (Laughs nervously while imagining Toronto Sun headlines saying stuff like “Dumbo Joe.”) No, of course not, let’s move on.

Continued; I will always be grateful for the fact that the Wings grabbed “Murph” for future considerations, that he helped Nicklas Lidstrom become truly elite along the way toward earning those two Stanley Cup titles, that he made his post-hockey home here, and that Fox Sports Detroit employs the affably awkward broadcaster (for the second time). Murph is the gift that keeps on giving.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is on the AHL’s Return to Play Committee, but a December 4th-scheduled 2020-2021 AHL season start seems unlikely at this point.

As the league is so very dependent upon ticket sales for revenue, it’s hard to say whether there will be an AHL season at all, and as such, the New York Post’s Larry Brooks wonders aloud whether the AHL will have to adapt to “bubble hockey” to survive:

For if the structure of the NHL’s 2020-21 is fraught with uncertainty, the entire minor league operation is in question. The AHL long ago announced that the season would begin on Dec. 4, but that appears to be wildly optimistic. More to the point, it is difficult to conceive how the minor leagues can proceed without gate-related revenue.

The NHL has appointed a committee of club executives, including, but not limited to, Edmonton’s Ken Holland, Winnipeg’s Mark Chipman and Toronto’s Kyle Dubas, to investigate hypotheticals that might apply to the AHL and minor league seasons.

One would have to believe that the “alternate site” concept adopted by baseball this season would be under consideration, with taxi-squads formed that might skate in either local practice venues or perhaps as part of a group in centralized locations.

Conclusions and plans of action will of course affect the progress of prospects within every organization. More than that, they will affect the livelihoods of thousands of individuals within the industry. It seems inevitable that more pain is in store.

Continued; I’m genuinely worried about the AHL and ECHL surviving through the 2020-2021 season.

It’s my opinion that the Red Wings are probably done adding players to their roster, given that the team needs to use a big chunk of its $18.73 million in cap space to re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi (preferably before his arbitration hearing on Tuesday next Sunday) and Anthony Mantha.

Long-time USA Today writer Kevin Allen, writing for Hockeybuzz, believes otherwise. Allen suggests that the Red Wings may yet flex some of their available cap space to “help” a team in need of salary cap relief:

Are the Red Wings, with almost $19 million in cap available, done dealing?
Answer: Don’t believe so. Some of that money is going to restricted free agents Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha, two important players in their rebuild. But the Red Wings are willing to take a bad contract from a team with cap trouble if they are given a nice return. It would be logical for the Red Wings to make a deal with the cap-strapped Lightning. As the former general manager in Tampa Bay, Yzerman would know their prospect list well. It feels like a deal could get completed for Tyler Johnson. But Yzerman would want plenty and would want Tampa to eat some of the Johnson cap space.

I’m leaning against Yzerman adding anybody else to the roster (still), but one never knows…

Of Red Wings prospect-related note from Sweden and Finland:

In the SHL, Matias Brome had an assist, finishing at +1 in 16:37 as Orebro won 3-2 over Oskarshamn IK;

Joe Veleno had 2 shots and won 46% of his faceoffs in 17:09 played as the Malmo Redhawks lost 4-2 to Lulea hockey. Malte Setkov remains sidelined for Malmo with an injury;

Moritz Seider registered an assist and had 3 shots on goal, finishing at +1 in 19:37 played as Rogle BK lost 3-2 to Leksands IF;

Albert Johansson took 2 shots and finished at +1 in 21:10 played as Farjestads BK won 3-0 over the Frolunda Indians. Lucas Raymond had 2 shots and finished even in 14:53 played for Frolunda;

Albin Grewe took a penalty and finished at -1 in 9:28 played as Djurgardens IF won 6-3 over HV71;

And Jonatan Berggren had 2 assists, a shot, and he finished at +1 in 15:15 played as Skelleftea AIK won 3-2 over Linkoping.

Red Wings Prospects on Twitter and Antonj85 posted a clip of one of Berggren’s assists:

#SHL:
– Berggren 0+2, +1, 1 SOG, 15:15 ice time in a 3-2 win
– Johansson 0+0, +1, 2 SOG, 21:10 ice time in a 3-0 win vs Raymond; 0+0, +/- 0, 2 SOG, 14:53 ice time
– Grewe 0+0, -1, 2 PIM, 9:28 ice time in a 6-3 win
#LGRW https://t.co/PjNAQB8m33

— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) October 17, 2020

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Gustav Berglund had 4 shots in 14:28 played as Vasteras IK won 3-2 over Almtuna IS. Gustav Lindstrom played a massive 27:30 for Almtuna, finishing at -1, and Filip Larsson stopped 11 of 13 shots but did not finish the game.

Red Wings Prospects on Twitter questioned Almtuna’s director of social media as to what happened with Larsson:

Update on Filip Larsson ? #LGRW https://t.co/e1HfofZvvZ

— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) October 17, 2020

In the Finnish Liiga, Jared McIsaac remains sidelined for HPK, which lost 5-1 to KalPa;

Victor Brattstrom stopped 24 of 28 shots as KooKoo lost 4-1 to Lukko;

Otto Kivenmaki had an assist, finished at +1 and played 17:14 as Assat Pori won 5-3 over Ilves. Kasper Kotkansalo played 19:26 for Assat, finishing at -1;

Later tonight, Kienan Draper’s Chilliwack Chiefs will play against the Surrey Eagles in the BCHL.

Update: UNT.se is reporting that Filip Larsson might have a broken hand, too.

Update #2: Kienan Draper didn’t score as his Chilliwack Chiefs won 5-2 over Surrey.

Via Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman comes the following take on the Red Wings’ forays into free agency from the Boston Globe’s Matt Porter:

▪ Detroit: Still a lottery team, but with several more legitimate NHL players on the roster (Thomas Greiss, Vlad Namestnikov, Bobby Ryan, Troy Stecher, Marc Staal, Jon Merrill), they may have added 20-30 points in the standings. Not that it gets them anywhere, but wins are building blocks.

The Red Wings are hoping to avoid the lottery–it’s at least GM Steve Yzerman’s goal to screw up Kris Draper and company’s drafting a bit–but no matter how well or how badly the Red Wings play this upcoming season, there is a sense of hope around the organization for the first time in a long time.

The Detroit News’s Mark Falkner spoke with Ottawa Senators coach D.J. Smith regarding Bobby Ryan’s signing with the Red Wings, and Smith suggests that Ryan will adapt well to his new surroundings:

It was nearly a year ago at Little Caesars Arena when Ottawa Senators coach D.J. Smith heard the news that forward Bobby Ryan had left the team indefinitely after the morning skate and wouldn’t be in that night’s lineup against the Detroit Red Wings.

Ryan checked himself right away into the National Hockey League/National Hockey League Players’ Association substance-abuse program on Nov. 20, 2019. Three months later, he returned and scored a hat trick in his first home game on Feb. 27, 2020.

Now, the 13-year veteran and the 2020 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner as the player who best exhibits perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication is continuing his comeback from alcohol addiction after signing a one-year, $1 million contract with the Red Wings on the first day of free agency on Oct. 9.

“I wish Bobby all the best,” said Smith, who guided the rebuilding Senators to a 25-34-12 record in his rookie season last year, 23 points ahead of the last-place Red Wings (17-49-5, third-worst record in the franchise’s 94-year history).

“He played really well for us and he was a good guy in the room. It’s a fresh start for him in Detroit and I think he’ll have some success. If he gets a chance in the slot, he can score as well as anyone in the National Hockey League.”

Continued