The Malik Report

I’ve been battling through a heavy dose of Amoxicillin over the last couple of days, so I’m not as plugged into the Red Wings’ blogosphere, Facebook, Twitter or talk radio conversations as I’d like to be…

But I know how the story has probably gone for the criticism of the 7-9-and-2 team. Detroit sports fans are wonderfully passionate and sometimes quite thoughtful, but they’re also particularly predictable.

As such, I’m guessing that fans have already sent Derek Lalonde to the guillotine, to be replaced by, in no particular order, Sergei Fedorov (not gonna happen), Gerard Gallant, Joel Quenneville, Jim Montgomery, and a cast of dozens.

Again, I’m of the mind that the Red Wings should be patient and deliberate here, utilizing the 5-of-the-next-6-games-at-home schedule as runway with which to truly assess the team by giving the players and coaching staff enough leeway with which to determine the real course of the ship.

I also believe that the concept that a coaching change is going to fix everything is something of an overreaction.

I’m not about to suggest that y’all don’t have a point here, but I didn’t think that this team was going to do anything less than be inconsistent over the course of the early part of this season…

And I worry about what might happen if the team simply lops off the head of its coaching staff without having a serious battle plan for whatever comes next. It’s not as if the team should simply fire everyone and promote Dan Watson to coach, and it’s certainly not realistic to assume that this team is going to shoot off the launch pad like a rocket simply due to a coaching change.

Continue reading Change for change’s sake will not save the Red Wings’ season

This past weekend, I discussed the Red Wings’ need to turn their metaphorical ship around lest the team struggle all the way into December, when major changes will be necessary.

After watching last night’s 5-4 overtime loss to San Jose, however, I believe that the Red Wings’ coaches and management are going to look at the Wings’ 1-2-and-1 road trip (and 0-2-and-1 California swing)…

And I think the team and its management are going to “move the goalposts,” but not alter the goal of turning the team around.

With the Red Wings facing 5 of their next 6 games at home heading into December 1st vs. Vancouver, it might make more sense to hold off on, say, firing the coaching staff or making a major change to the team’s player personnel until such a time as the team shows whether it’s able to straighten out its trajectory on its own.

I’m not suggesting that the goal of making the playoffs this season should change;

And I still believe that this team can do so as-is. I still believe that the team’s coaching staff can motivate the team to succeed.

That being said, if the Wings continue to bumble into the Atlantic Division’s basement, December 1st stands as a hard deadline for sorting out the team’s problems in terms of goals against, penalty-killing, shot attempts again and relative lack of secondary scoring.

If the Wings are still a mess come December, it won’t be time for GM SY to blow the team up and start over–that’s not how you manage a 10-year rebuild–nor will it be time for the GM-for-life to be fired, but it might be time for a coaching change and/or an injection of new, difference-making player personnel.

I have a feeling that the team’s management is going to move methodically here, and as such, even after the team’s 0-2-and-1 California swing, I believe that they’re going to be given a little more rope with which to either use to lasso themselves out of trouble, or to trip and fall their way into necessary change.

Now the management team might surprise us with some decisive change between now and Thursday’s home return vs. the Islanders, but I’m doubtful that coaching or player changes will take place between now and then. Instead, I believe that the team’s going to be given a little bit more time to solve its problems on its own.

Still, and again, if the team is struggling on December 1st, meaningful and substantial changes will be necessary, and the longer that the management group waits to make changes, the more substantive changes will need to be made.

The Detroit Red Wings faced an important “barometer game” against the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.

Having dropped to 7-9-and-1 and second-to-last in the Atlantic Division, the Wings hoped to predate upon a 5-10-and-4 San Jose Sharks team in order to snap a two-game road losing streak.

On Monday night, the Red Wings kept letting the Sharks tie the game, and it cost them. Dylan Larkin’s 1-0 goal was assuaged by William Eklund’s first, Marco Kasper’s 2-1 goal was assuaged by Eklund’s 2nd, Rasmussen’s was tied by Toffoli, Luke Kunin scored the go-ahead in the 3rd, and while Alex DeBrincat tied the game late to force overtime…

Macklin Celebrini scored an OT winner to push the Wings to 1-2-and-1–1-and-3, really–on their 4-game road trip.

Talbot was excellent despite giving up 5 goals on 34 shots against, but the Red Wings played as if they were out of gas in the 2nd, 3rd, and OT, being out-shot by a total of 22-10.

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks quick take: AMTV

I didn’t usually worry about the Red Wings, and I’m not going to overreact here in my antibiotic haze.

Those who are writing that Steve Yzerman should be fired on the spot after Detroit’s 4-1 loss to Los Angeles, out that Derek Lalonde will be shot into the sun by Monday morning, well…

They’re either writing for clicks, or they’re overreacting, and we’re all aware of how regularly this fan base overreacts.

I will say this, however: I’m concerned. For the first time this season, I’m genuinely concerned about the Red Wings.

I’m not concerned about their player personnel per se, nor the coaching staff (quite yet, though it’s getting close), but I am very concerned about their body language when they lose as they lost on Saturday.

Continue reading Iceberg, dead ahead

The Detroit Red Wings stand on the precipice of being a not-very-good team. At 7-8-and-1, the Wings have fallen behind the Bruins, Bolts, Senators and Sabres in the Atlantic Division standings, and all four of those teams are succeeding in getting their shit together after middling starts.

Last night’s loss to Anaheim left some Red Wings fans in a panic–and some just angry–and tonight, the Red Wings faced a 9-6-and-3 Los Angeles Kings team attempting to assuage a 2-game losing streak.

On Saturday night in Los Angeles, Detroit tried really hard for about 5-10 minutes of a 4-1 loss to the Kings that was nothing less than clinical for Los Angeles. Dylan Larkin, who was visibly distressed and angry during the game’s stoppages, scored a gorgeous little backhand marker in the final minute of play, spoiling David Rittich’s shutout, but other than Cam Talbot stopping 37 of 40 shots, and Patrick Kane doing some stuff with Marco Kasper and Vladimir Tarasenko on a new line, Detroit didn’t get much done.

Detroit falls to 1-and-2 on their road trip, and they’ll need to beat the Sharks and beat them decisively to quiet the talk of firing the coach, the GM, and trading everyone away.

Continue reading Red Wings-Kings quick take: Dang.

The Detroit Red Wings began a three-game West Coast swing by visiting the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. Anaheim had lost 5 of its previous 6 games, but its 5-8-and-2 record wasn’t that far removed from Detroit’s 7-7-and-1 mark.

As such, the Red Wings needed to at least earn a majority of the points from Anaheim, Los Angeles (on Saturday) and San Jose (on Monday night) to not head home from California looking like a struggling team.

When the rubber met the road on Friday night, the Red Wings fell on their faces, frankly, dropping a 6-4 decision to the Ducks–a team I don’t believe they respected.

Detroit raced out to a 3-1 lead on goals by Kasper, Berggren and Raymond, but Detroit surrendered 2 straight power play goals to the Ducks late in the 2nd and early in the 3rd, and Anaheim broke away after that, taking a 5-3 lead on bad goals against Lyon and bad play by a Red Wings team that was hobbled by the loss of Simon Edvinsson (knee bruise).

Ultimately, a Ducks empty-netter determined the course of the game, despite Alex DeBrincat’s late comeback marker, and the Red Wings will essentially head into their games vs. LA (tonight at 8 PM EST) and San Jose (Monday at 10:30 PM EST) needing to win both games to have a successful road trip.

This is what happens when you get out-worked and your special teams are not very good. Despite the 2 power-play goals for the Wings, their penalty-kill remains a liability, and on a night where their goaltending was “off,” they struggled.

Continue reading Red Wings-Ducks quick take: Damned by the Ducks

Enjoy:

Just a quick health update: I’ve spoken with a family physician via telehealth, and I’ve been prescribed a heavy dose of Amoxicillin, some Zyrtec and a sinus spray to help battle this virus and/or bacterial infection that I’ve been battling for the last month.

I’m doing everything I can to try to get back to work. I need to work to plain old pay for Thanksgiving dinner, and I miss the job very much. I hope to see you soon.

The Detroit Red Wings hoped to stabilize their 6-7-and-1 record against the 6-9-and-2 Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. Pittsburgh was reeling from a 7-1 loss to Dallas on Monday, and the team had vowed to turn their ship around starting tonight.

The Red Wings, who had lost 2 straight games, were veering into territory where the rest of the Atlantic Division was getting its act together, so it was simply time for the Wings to begin to capitalize on the quality of competition it faced as it began a difficult 4-game road trip.

The road trip heads West after tonight in order for the Wings to battle Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose.

On Wednesday night, the Red Wings just barely defeated the desperate Pens in overtime, via a Simon Edvinsson goal that was truly glorious.

EDVINSSON CALLS GAME FOR DETROIT! 🤯

The 21-year-old Swedish rookie secures the @SUBWAYCanada OT winner for the Red Wings. pic.twitter.com/1A5jJBuMUG

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 14, 2024

Thankfully, the Red Wings won 3-2 in OT, but Detroit blew its 2-0 lead, and was challenged tremendously by the Penguins. Thankfully, Cam Talbot stopped 32 shots, many of them tremendous in their quality, and Berggren and Kane scored the regulation markers.

Detroit now sits at 7-7-and-1 as the Atlantic Division continues to push forward, and Detroit will have to push even harder as it faces the Pacific Division’s Ducks, Kings and Sharks–in a league where there are no pushovers any more.

Continue reading Red Wings-Penguins quick take: Edvinsson, Talbot help Wings squeeze out an OT win

Overnight, I’ve been thinking about the 6-7-and-1 Red Wings’ plight, and what the team should do after dropping a disappointing 4-0 decision against the New York Rangers.

In all honesty, I’d give the Red Wings’ coaches and management similar advice to what I’d tell a losing political party: proceed with caution, be patient and deliberate, and don’t jump to conclusions here.

Thanks to the jumbled-up nature of the Atlantic Division standings, the Red Wings are not already doomed to struggle their way through the Division of Death; in fact, the Red Wings own 2 games in hand on the 3rd-place Boston Bruins, who sit at 7-7-and-2, and the Bolts, Sabres and Senators sit 2, 2 and 1 point ahead of the Red Wings, respectively:

Continue reading Getting to fixing the Red Wings after a 6-7-and-1 start