Month: February 2018

The Detroit Red Wings play what a “NBCSN Rivalry Night” game against the St. Louis Blues this evening (8:00 PM EST on NBCSN/97.1 FM).

As the Red Wings look to make a late playoff push, they’re going to find themselves in tough against a St. Louis Blues team that’s sitting one point out of a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference standings despite a very good 34-26-and-4 record.

Our friends from St. Louis have lost 7 straight games, including an ugly 8-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday evening, and the Blues were in a foul mood after their latest setback.

Coach Mike Yeo angrily suggested that his Blues did not play with pride, as he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Thomas:

Continue reading The overnight report: Red Wings-Blues set-up–Blues take 7-game losing streak into a ‘Wednesday Night Rivalry’ game

In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye withstood a challenge from the Indy Fuel, who rallied from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to force a late-3rd-period tie that Kyle Bonis snapped en route to a 4-3 Walleye win.

Dylan Sadowy and Shane Berschbach had a goal and an assist apiece for Toledo, A.J. Jenks also scored and Pat Nagle stopped 27 of 30 shots for the Walleye.

The Walleye’s website posted a recap:

Continue reading Prospect news: Sadowy 1+1 in Walleye win; European prospect round-up; Griffins’ weekly press release

Niklas Kronwall offered an interesting take on the Red Wings’ trade deadline departure, Tomas Tatar, as it pertains to the state of the Red Wings. DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner offers Kronwall’s comments:

Continue reading Kronwall speaks with DetroitRedWings.com’s Regner regarding the ‘selling’ Wings

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman spoke with The NHL Tonight last night, addressing trade deadline moves and non-moves…

And FanRag Sports’ Chris Nichols posted a transcript of the interview. Here’s the Red Wings-related part thereof:

Continue reading A little tangential Green talk: why didn’t he go to Tampa?

MLive’s Ansar Khan noted that the trade of Tomas Tatar will yield a significant opportunity for Tyler Bertuzzi to cement his status as a contributing player…

“Tyler Bertuzzi will increase his minutes by a lot,” Blashill said. “When Tyler first came up and there were injuries I thought he played very well. I thought he slipped a little bit, opened the door for some guys to take his spot, and then didn’t get much of an opportunity. I think all Tyler needs is opportunity and he’s going to get tons of opportunity.”

Bertuzzi played well earlier this season after being promoted from Grand Rapids. He had two goals, seven assists and a plus-7 rating during an 11-game stretch from Dec. 27 to Jan. 22. In 15 games since, he’s produced only two assists, with a minus-11 rating and his ice time has been trimmed significantly.

Bertuzzi is at his best when he’s forechecking aggressively, forcing turnovers, getting physical and being hard to play against.

“Ultimately, to be where we want to be, we need some guys to become great players,” Blashill said. “We think there’s some guys with the potential, but potential doesn’t get it done. Great players are guys that create way more chances than they give up on a nightly basis. They win their shift way more than not. Great players aren’t flash in the pans, they’re not guys that produce once in a while, they’re every single night, so whether it’s Tyler, Larks (Larkin), AA (Athanasiou), (Anthony) Mantha, any young players, whether it’s Gus Nyquist, we need guys to be great.”

Khan continues, discussing Martin Frk, and The Athletic’s Max Bultman discussed Tatar’s absence and its effects upon the Wings’ remaining forwards:

Continue reading On Bertuzzi’s ‘opportunity’ and Tatar’s absence as it affects the Wings’ forwards

Of blog-related note this afternoon:

1. Regarding the logo contest, it’s still on like Donkey Kong! The parameters remain the same: $50 and a cut of merchandise sales for a pair of logos, one 500×100-pixel logo and one watermark-style 150×150-pixel logo. I would prefer if the colors include red, white, black and/or gray, but you’re otherwise allowed to use your imagination. You can email the logos to rtxg@yahoo.com, post them in the comments (a hosted image or PNG file will do), or share your work via Facebook or Twitter. There is no deadline per se: when we get a couple more logos, we’ll hold a fan vote.

2. Freedom isn’t free, at least for me, so I would kindly remind you that http://www.patreon.com/themalikreport and http://paypal.me/TheMalikReport are options by which you may fiscally aid TMR and keep this blog/community ad-free. In terms of Patreon subscriptions, as little as $1 a month is of great assistance, and Paypal offers both single-sum and recurring options. Moreover, if you can tell your friends about this little blog, that would be greatly appreciated!

3. Regarding the comments section, I haven’t been able to read every comment due to the trade deadline’s heavy workload, but I try very hard to read every comment, and I have noticed that our little community’s general angst regarding said trade deadline has resulted in some arguments, some of them not so pretty.

As this community grows, I expect each and every member to treat others as they would themselves, and to “play nice” via making comments in a respectful and courteous manner, even when you may disagree with your fellow community member. This blog is not a democracy–I am running the show as a benevolent dictator, and I will not hesitate to act if any of you feel that you’re being harassed, harangued or otherwise attacked.

This is not a place for “locker room talk”–I want to foster some genuine community here, and that involves you and me both behaving and speaking like adults when disagreements arise. We can disagree and disagree passionately without being jerks to each other.

The Las Vegas Golden Knights didn’t hold a morning skate today, but they’re hosting the back half of a home-and-home series against the Los Angeles Kings tonight (10:30 PM EST on NBCSN), and Tomas Tatar will be making his Vegas debut wearing the number he preferred to wear:

Tomas Tatar, number 90 for your Golden Knights ?#VegasBornpic.twitter.com/cgWXzJVeLM

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) February 27, 2018

Why number 90?@Trto21 has the answer for you ? pic.twitter.com/2Sswmhjrzs

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) February 27, 2018

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted both an article and video in which Mike Green discusses his future with the Wings.

First, the article:

“My mind frame was always here in Detroit,” Green said. “With the speculation and the talk and the situation I was in, anything could have happened, but I’m still happy to be here and move forward.”

Asked if he was intrigued about the possibility of a Stanley Cup run with a contender, Green said: “I think it always is, but you know, we’re six-seven points out here. That’s been my focus. Any player wants to play come April, May, June. Weighed the options and this is how it turned out and that’s that.”

The skilled, puck-moving, right-shooting defenseman is in the final year of his contract and would have been dealt if not for a neck injury that has idled him the past six games. Green had agreed to waive his no-trade clause to go to Tampa Bay or Washington. The Lightning acquired Ryan McDonagh from the New York Rangers. The Capitals would have needed to move a player to make room for Green under the salary cap.

“Being out for 10 days, obviously it had to do with the injury,” Green said. “But like I’ve said before, I love it here.”

The Red Wings have told Green they’re interested in re-signing him after the season.

“The situation’s been a little strange, but we had discussions and I hope we’ll have more discussions,” Green said. “We’ll see how things kind of take place over the next six months. I’m just focused on getting back on the ice and in games and playing hockey.”

Then, the video:

 

The Grand Rapids Griffins have always been good to me, so I’d like to encourage you to vote for their “Griff’s Icehouse” rink in an LED rink-lighting contest:

FAN VOTING CONTINUES AS GRIFF’S ICEHOUSE ADVANCES TO SEMIFINALS OF LIGHTING CONTEST

Continue reading Griffins Youth Foundation’s home rink one of top 10 in LED lighting contest

Among the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe’s “Walleye Weigh-In” notes:

Despite fielding a seriously depleted roster, the Walleye swept a three-game weekend series at the Huntington Center and moved back into first place in the Central Division.

The Walleye were down to 15 skaters for their third game in three days on Sunday. Toledo was missing three players due to injury (Alden Hirschfeld, Connor Crisp, and Patrick McCarron) and one to bereavement leave (Kevin Gibson). The team also is without four players due to call-ups to the American Hockey League (Zach Nastasiuk, Mike Esposito, Christian Hilbrich, and goalie Matej Machovsky).

“It’s hard. It was a tough weekend,” Watson said. “To grind out [Saturday’s] win was the hardest one. We put a lot of stress of these guys. We had some tired guys today but they pushed through it.”

The Walleye had six defensemen and nine forwards in Sunday’s 5-2 win over Greenville.

Fortunately, forward Mike Borkowski and defensemen Beau Schmitz were back in the lineup after stints on the injured reserve.

Watson said was the key to earning six out of six points with decimated roster was getting to the net and getting shots on goal with better puck management.

Continued

Also:

Walleye coach Dan Watson said the trade today of D Davis Vandane to Atlanta for F Colin Jacobs was needs based: “We have been playing short up front for the past couple weeks. I certainly want to thank Davis for his contributions to the team and wish him nothing but the best.”

— Mark Monroe (@MonroeBlade) February 27, 2018

Dan Watson on forward Colin Jacobs, who has 22 points (9 G, 13 A) in 39 games for Atlanta: “We expect Colin to come in and help complement the forward group already in place. He’s a big body who is highly skilled, plays center and wing, and has a good compete level.” https://t.co/3ZipSr6d3D

— Mark Monroe (@MonroeBlade) February 27, 2018