The Malik Report

The Free Press’s Helene St. James and Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan both wrote articles which focus on the fact that Jakub Vrana needs to see a specialist after tweaking his shoulder during yesterday’s practice, per coach Jeff Blashill.

As I’ve already informed you of that fact, however, I think that the following from St. James might be more interesting…

With Vrana unavailable, 2020 top pick Lucas Raymond played in his spot Sunday, on a line with Pius Suter and Robby Fabbri.

“He made some really good plays,” Suter said of Raymond. “He finds the spot to pass. He can shoot the puck. He looks comfortable. He looks confident.”

In other injury updates, Blashill said Dylan Larkin won’t be available when exhibition season begins. Larkin has not yet been cleared for full contact, dating to the neck injury he suffered in April. 

If Vrana is out for any length of time, it could be an opening for Bobby Ryan to earn a contract. He’s in camp on a tryout, but the team knows what he can do from last season, when Ryan, 34, posted seven goals and seven assists in 33 games. 

And the Detroit News’s Kulfan’s notes include the following regarding Joe Veleno…

It was assumed that if Joe Veleno is going to make the Wings’ opening night lineup, it would likely be at center. But Blashill isn’t ruling out the possibility of Veleno playing wing.

“Obviously there are unforeseen things like injuries,” Blashill said. “Let’s see where it goes. The biggest thing is he has to make a statement every time he’s on the ice that he’s going to make us better.

“If (Veleno) is a much better player than some of the guys we foresee in those spots, and if we can find a spot in the top nine, then it’s a discussion.”

As well as a bit about Ryan’s try-out:

“Bobby is skating good,” Blashill said. “There’s always a path (to make the team). If you play great hockey, there’s always a path, so we’ll see. I certainly think there could be a path. He’s moving similar to how he was moving at the beginning of last season. There hasn’t been any drop off. He started last year and was able to have success.”

MLive’s Ansar Khan profiles Mitchell Stephens, the would-be fourth line center who hopes to earn a prominent grinding role on this year’s Red Wings team:

“Coming into this organization, they wanted to give me a shot, an opportunity to play a bigger role,” Stephens said. “I’m grateful for my time in Tampa. I played with a lot of great players. For the next chapter of my career, it’s growing, establishing myself and coming in here to do what I can to help the team, wherever that may be.”

It most likely will be as the fourth-line center, a spot Detroit needs to fill after Luke Glendening signed with Dallas. Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman acquired Stephens for a sixth-round pick in 2022. The Lightning, under Yzerman’s watch, selected Stephens 33rd overall (second round) in 2015. But he appeared in only 45 NHL games over the past two seasons (three goals, seven points).

Stephens has looked good the first few days of training camp. He scored two goals in Sunday’s Red and White scrimmage in Traverse City, utilizing his skating ability.

“I think the skating can lead to momentum and that’s important,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “From a skating aspect, he’s definitely been involved and brought energy. Ultimately, if he’s in this spot on a fourth-line role, it doesn’t mean you can’t add offense. We need offense from all four lines if possible.

“So, I’ve liked him. He’s certainly come to work every day. He brings an element of speed, he’s a right shot. He seems to have done a pretty good job on the penalty kill. If he can win face-offs on that right side, it would be huge.”

Continued

Of Twitter-related note this afternoon:

1. The Red Wings posted a 1-minute clip of “sights and sounds” from the Red vs. White Game:

Red vs. White ☑️#DRWTC pic.twitter.com/VzO9CZu8gO— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 26, 2021

2. And the Traverse City Record-Eagle’s James Cook posted a photo gallery from the game:

20 photos from today’s Red & White scrimmage game at @DetroitRedWings training camp in Traverse City.https://t.co/EziDIgS9NY pic.twitter.com/IPa1cGDcKP— James Cook (@JamesCook14) September 26, 2021

Of Red Wings-related note in the “not necessarily major news” category:

1. Christopher and Mrs. Ilitch took in the Red vs. White Game today. Fox Sports Detroit will officially reveal that a little later today, but I heard it from the security gents at the rink, who took the pair back to Cherry Capital Airport to fly back to Metro Detroit after the game;
2. And many Red Wings fans are already having a good time with the Detroit Red Wings’ 2021-2022 season headshot photos, which are up on Getty Images’ website right now.

After the Red vs. White Game on Sunday, forwards Pius Suter and Mitchell Stephens spoke with the media, as did coach Jeff Blashill:

MLive’s Ansar Khan penned an article discussing the Red Wings’ situation with Jakub Vrana, who’s seeing a shoulder specialist on Monday, as well as the team’s plan to get Dylan Larkin slowly but surely back into full-contact activities:

Dylan Larkin did not participate in Sunday’s Red and White training camp scrimmage, but Blashill said he will get in some preseason games.

“I’m not going to use him in the first (several) games,” Blashill said. “We got a progression we’re working through and part of that was not to put him in today’s game and part of it is not going in those early exhibition games, but he’ll get in there eventually. I’d like to get him in probably three.

“I prefer some of those veteran guys get in the latter half (of the preseason) so they can hit the ground running once we get into the regular season.”

Larkin missed the final eight games last season due to a neck injury but practiced the first three days of camp.

Continued

DetroitRedWings.com’s Ethan Sears offers a trio of takes from the Red vs. White Game, in which Team White defeated Team Red 3-2 in a shootout:

All week, one of the running subplots of Red Wings training camp has been the new-look power play under assistant coach Alex Tanguay. On Sunday, the power play still looked like a bit of a work in progress. The penalty kill, though, was prolific.

In the first run of special teams play, the penalty kill units limited the power play to just a few shots, none of them particularly threatening. The power play units looked a little more dynamic with Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond involved, respectively, but still struggled to get shots off and keep the offensive zone.

“I take a lot of pride in that responsibility,” Sam Gagner said of the penalty kill on Saturday. “I think it’s something that I want to continue to grow into. It’s gonna be important for us to have a really strong penalty kill like we did last year to win some games. If we can do that and get the power play going, it’s gonna help our group.”

The power play units had a bit more extended zone time and chances during the second run of special teams play – the best coming on a Tyler Bertuzzi one-timer from the right circle – but the penalty kill was still ultimately successful each time.

Continued; good stuff from the Wings’ new correspondent.

You may have noted that Jakub Vrana (shoulder), Dylan Larkin (stupid neck injury from stupid Jamie Benn) and Marc Staal did not take part in the Red vs. White Game today. According to coach Jeff Blashill…

Staal wasn’t hurt, he just didn’t play today. Berggren progressing, McIsaac progressing.— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 26, 2021

Blashill says Vrana’s seeing a specialist tomorrow.— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 26, 2021

Blashill is back to his slightly salty self…He told Helene St. James that he would not divulge the location of the specialist that Vrana’s seeing. In other words, welcome back to upper-and-lower-body-injury land.— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 26, 2021

Blashill tells Khan that Dylan Larkin will be available in the preseason, but not in the first couple of games, and not today. He’ll get in 3 exhibition games.— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 26, 2021

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff penned an article discussing the potential fits for the Red Wings’ penalty-kill on a Luke Glendening-less team:

Looking at the big picture, the penalty-killing performance of the Detroit Red Wings doesn’t paint a pretty picture. They finished 27th in the NHL, successfully killing off infractions at a pedestrian 78.7% rate. Detroit allowed 33 power-play goals, the 13th-most in the league.

However, from March 27th onward, a different penalty-killing unit emerged from the shadows of what had been a dismal year and began to display an ability to hold their own, not to mention hold opposition power plays off the scoresheet.

From that point onward, Detroit’s didn’t allow a power-play goal in 17 of the last 21 games of the 2020-21 season. The Wings killed off 52 of 57 shorthanded situations (91.2%). Considering that the Vegas Golden Knights (86.8%) led the league, it would certainly appear that the Wings found a working formula while down a man. In fact, they closed out the season successfully killing off 16 straight penalties.

There is, however, a caveat to all the good news. Two of Detroit’s top three penalty-killing forwards in terms of ice time, Darren Helm and Luke Glendening, no longer wear the winged wheel. Both departed in the summer via free agency.

Continued (paywall)

DetroitRedWings.com’s Ethan Sears presents a Sunday notebook in which he discusses Red Wings forward Filip Zadina’s desire to grab and hold onto an offensive foothold in the NHL:

“Ultimately as a player, the best players find ways to create space and some guys do it being super fast and some guys do it being big,” [Red Wings coach Jeff] Blashill said. “He’s gotta use his brain for sure. He’s gotta give and go, he’s gotta find the open areas at a critical moment where he can get a puck back.

“I think learning to get the puck out quicker and learning to be accurate with the shot is important. I think when you’re younger, you work on shooting it as hard as you can. But that’s not really the point. The point is to find those little openings not to miss the net and to score. So again, I think he worked hard at it.”

With Jakub Vrana missing the first few days of training camp, Zadina has been skating on a line with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi, an opportunity he hopes carries into the preseason.

“I’m doing the best I can to stick with them as well. It depends how I play hockey with them,” Zadina said. “We might be playing together at the start of the season. It’s still too far ahead to tell if I’ll be playing with them.”

Like the team as a whole, Zadina’s outlook for the season is simple: improve as much as possible.

“Just hold onto the puck, play with the puck, go more to the net,” Zadina said. “Just force myself a little bit more to shoot the puck and just believe.”

Continued