Month: March 2018

The Grand Rapids Griffins did not win on Saturday night, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Iowa Wild, but they did not do so before Dylan McIlrath and Kurtis Gabriel doffed gloves and engaged in a spirited bout:

 

The Detroit Free Press’s Helene St. James engaged in a series of conversations with Red Wings GM Ken Holland, Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman and Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill regarding the time, work and patience that go into rebuilding teams.

As you might imagine, the Red Wings GM’s words–regarding his own future–are of most importance to the fan base:

Holland, 62, has been the Wings’ general manager since taking over in 1997 for Jim Devellano, who was hired to run the team in 1982 by new owner Mike Ilitch. Holland is in the last year of his contract, and his future is uncertain. The expectation is Holland will meet with current owner Christopher Ilitch soon after the season ends. Maybe Holland is renewed for two or three years, with Kris Draper continuing as an understudy. Maybe Holland joins another organization. Holland wants to keep working, and said he is not concerned about the uncertainty of whether he’ll be staying in Detroit or looking for a new job.

“It’s not odd for me because I’ve been here for a long time,” he said. “The Red Wings have been a big part of my life, my family’s life. It’s like somebody who went to the University of Michigan — you’re a Michigan alumni and you want Michigan to do good even when you leave. Right now, I’m a Red Wing and I want the Red Wings to be successful. The work we are doing right now is going to pay dividends down the road. I can’t tell you how far down the road. It depends on how many of those kids become players and then what other things happen. But this is an important stretch for the team in order to compete for a Stanley Cup down the road.”

Holland is aware of the criticism that he has signed players to constrictive contracts, including Jonathan Ericsson for six years for in 2013, Justin Abdelkader for seven years in 2015 and Danny DeKeyser for six years in 2016. A section of the fan base wants him gone. Holland knows that. But like Nill, Holland keeps the outside chatter at a distance.

“It’s a conscious decision because no one understands,” Holland said. “They don’t know all the information. They’ve only got pieces of the information. They don’t understand what factors into drafting, into developing. You’re going to have some things that don’t go your way, and at the end of the day, we made the playoffs 25 years in a row, we won Stanley Cups.

“I love that Wings’ fans are passionate. I can understand they’re frustrated. When you’ve been as good as we’ve been for as long as we’ve been, it’s no fun building. But the (collective bargaining agreement) has done a fabulous job creating a system that provides competitive balance.”

St. James continues at considerable length, and her article is worth your time. St. James also mentions that Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi have “bright futures”…

The Detroit Red Wings will wrap up their 5-game road trip with a visit to Denver to play the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon (3 PM EDT on FSD/Altitude/97.1 FM), and the winless-in-9 Wings find themselves in a rare position:

They’re worse off than the Avs. The 26-34-and-11 Red Wings sit 19 points behind the 38-25-and-8 Avalanche, who sit tied for the first Wild Card spot as of 11 PM on Saturday night.

Colorado lost their most recent game, a 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Friday night, but the Avs had won their previous 3 games, and Colorado sits 4-1-and-3 over the course of 7 March games.

Long story long? The Avs are winning/accumulating points like crazy, so the Wings have the chance to play a spoiler’s role here.

Continue reading Red Wings-Avalanche mini preview: how the tables have turned

The Grand Rapids Griffins posted a press release regarding their annual summer youth hockey camp:

GRIFFINS YOUTH HOCKEY CAMP RETURNS THIS SUMMER

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins invite area youth hockey players to take part in the annual Griffins Youth Hockey Camp, which will be held July 23-27 at Griff’s IceHouse at Belknap Park.

Open to kids ages 6-16, the camp runs from 8:30 a.m.-2:45 p.m. daily with groups separated by age. Players will receive 11 hours of on-ice instruction as well as 11 hours of dry-land video work and fun. The cost is $350 per child and includes a camp jersey, t-shirt, hat, a locker room to store equipment for the week, and lunches provided by popular local restaurants.

The camp will be instructed by former Griffins defenseman and seven-year NHL veteran Joel Kwiatkowski, along with Griffins assistant coach and 2017 Calder Cup champion Ben Simon. During the week, appearances will also be made by Griffins defenseman and two-time Calder Cup champion Brian Lashoff, current Detroit Red Wing Luke Glendening, and Griffins assistant coach and 16-year NHL veteran Mike Knuble.

For more information, please visit www.griffinshockey.com/hockeycamp for a printable flyer or call (616) 774-4585 ext. 3025.

The Red Wings and Fox Sports Detroit have been posting “Tales From the Rink” videos of late, and during Friday night’s broadcast, Mickey Redmond told the tale of Steve Yzerman being encouraged to smile after a scrap in Toronto…

 

Of fried-and-frosted note from the Detroit Red Wings:

DETROIT RED WINGS FOUNDATION and TIM HORTONS^® BRING BACK ANNUAL RED WINGS DONUT with proceeds benefiting the detroit red wings foundation
… Red Wings Forward Dylan Larkin to Visit Tim Hortons® Restaurant in Hazel Park on Wednesday, March 21 to Serve Special-Edition Donut with Edible Red Wings Logo …

So it’s Saturday, and I’m just peeking my head out from under the covers as my depression starts to abate. I hate having a chronic illness, and if you’ll pardon the pun, it drives me nuts when it interferes with my ability to churn out content.

It’s not good business sense for a new blogger to go dark for three-and-a-half days, I know, but when a depressive episode hits, it’s like getting knocked off my feet with an 8-foot-tall wave of fatigue, and that wave gives me no inkling as to when I might be able to get up. A couple of hours? A couple of days? A couple of weeks? It’s all very murky at first, and that’s frightening more than depressing.

I’m trying to get up now, and trying to look around.

Where are we, as Wings fans?

• Two more losses deep into what’s now an 0-8-and-1 slide. Losses to Los Angeles and Anaheim, back-to-back.

 

• I’ve got my DVR ready, and when Saturday night’s Sportsnet Headlines are over, Ill be watching at least one of the games, hopefully both before tomorrow night’s 3 PM start. At least last night’s game had some life to it, or so I’m told.

 

• We’re apparently knee deep into the discussion as to whether Jared Coreau can play as Jimmy Howard’s back-up going forward, with the media and fans leaning toward, “No.”

 

• I did at least read the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan suggest that the Wings should call Petr Mrazek and consider bringing him back, and I laughed out loud at that one. Petr would say, “No,” Ted, and I say that with all the respect in the world intended.

 

• The Tank is now of common knowledge among the fan base and is being discussed at length. This annoys me to no end as I want to see the Wings at least be competitive to provide a better example for their struggling players…

 

• But this is what I’ve meant when I’ve said that, “Water will find its level” all year long–the Red Wings are going to finish where their skill level, depth of talent and competence at hockey belong, just as water conforms to the shape of its container.

 

• It’s also no longer inappropriate to talk about players taking part in the World Championship this May in Denmark (see: Larkin, Abdelkader and Howard may reprise their roles on Team USA; will AA and Mantha play for Canada?)…

 

• Nor is it inappropriate to start talking about the tight playoff race in the AHL’s West Division as it applies to the Grand Rapids Griffins as perhaps being of equal importance to the Red Wings’ record. The Red Wings will have playoff teams representing the organization this month, and they’ll be the Griffins and Toledo Walleye.

 

• Along those lines, there is at least some minor intrigue regarding the Red Wings’ pursuit of NCAA free agents. With David Pope almost sure to sign with the Wings, is there anyone out there that you’re interested in?

 

• Ah, and yes, of course, there is what’s going on with the website. Unless you’ve got any desire to submit a logo (250 px by 250 px and 150 px by 500 px, emailed to rtxg@yahoo.com), I believe that it’s time to gather the entries together and get a vote going. After the logo contest comes the website redesign, so prepare your ideas!

 

• “Comments on comments” was perhaps the most interesting post I’ve ever made in terms of user response. It turns out that it’s not “about that one person” and more about how you all get along, and I’d prefer to talk about some voluntary “code of conduct” than anything else, because I’m going to try to find an “ignore” button, but one way or another, we’re going to have to try to live with each other.

 

• Again, this is a shit time to talk about it, but I can’t believe it, I’ve gotten two patrons during my involuntary siesta, and http://www.patreon.com/themalikreport and http://paypal.me/TheMalikReport exist to extend the community and keep this website ad-free…God, I feel embarrassed mentioning this in this post, but I wanted to cover all the bases. I hope this is a start.

 

• If you have any comments or concerns regarding anything else, please do leave them in the comments section or email me or Facebook message me as necessary.

 

• Thank you for reading, and now I’m going to try to get back to covering hockey:

 

My apologies for the interruption in service. Living with depression can yield some particularly difficult days. I will return ASAP.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an off-day notebook in which he discusses Niklas Kronwall’s surprising durability:

Defenseman Niklas Kronwall, despite his chronic knee problems, has played in every game since missing training camp and the opening three games this season.

So, that’s 66 consecutive games played, with only the occasional off-day in practice, playing nearly 20 minutes per night, and continuing to put forth a gutty, workmanlike effort, a regular season of health and durability that not many would have bet happening.

For many, Kronwall’s ability to keep going and overlooking the pain has been rather impressive and surprising.

Kronwall, though, isn’t all that impressed with his durability.

“To be honest with you I haven’t really thought too much about it,” Kronwall said. “To me, it’s all about trying to play better. I haven’t been good enough. There’s been ups and down, no doubt about that.”

Kronwall has appeared in 66 games with 19 points (three goals, 16 assists) and a team-worst minus-17 plus-minus rating, while averaging 18 minutes 30 seconds per game

“At the end of the day I might look back and say it was fun that I got to play, but right now, when you’re in it, I (have to) make the most of it and I have to be be better than I have,” Kronwall said. “To stay in the lineup, yes, I’m happy about that. The play could have been a little bit better, no doubt.”

Continued

 

The Grand Rapids Griffins filed their weekly press release ahead of a week in which the team will play 3 home games over the course of 4 nights:

Continue reading Here’s the Grand Rapids Griffins’ weekly press release ahead of a 3-game home stand