Month: January 2025

Grand Rapids Griffins to host their annual Great Skate this weekend

The Grand Rapids Griffins are holding their annual Great Skate to benefit the Griffins’ Youth Foundation after Saturday night’s game against Cleveland, and Griffins play-by-play announcer Bob Kaser appeared on Fox 17 this morning to discuss the event:

Quoting Fox 17’s Michelle Dunaway:

The Great Skate Winterfest is celebrating 20 years of helping support young hockey players. The Grand Rapids Griffins and the Griffins Youth Foundations host the event at Rosa Parks Circle. It starts at 10:00 pm on Saturday and lasts 24 hours, through Sunday January 19. Fans can take the ice with their favorite players, coaches and local celebrities. The event supports the Griffins Youth Foundations, a non-profit that allows underprivileged, under-served or those with special needs to play hockey free of cost. The Winterfest will have complimentary hot beverages and snacks as well as a heated tent for guests to warm up. There are plenty of ways to get involved and support the cause. You can come out and skate or donate to a specific player at griffinshockey.com/greatskate. There is also an online auction with tickets to concerts or sporting events, restaurant certificates, sports memorabilia, and much more.

Friday fundraising

I’ve had a really rough month-and-change health-wise, but I’m back working on the blog on a consistent basis, and I am doing so in part because I utilize your readership to pay the bills.

I’ve tried to keep fundraising “off the table” while I’ve dealt with my mental and physical health issues, but it’s time to push the “fundraise!” button again as I’m giving you solid content consistently again.

If you can donate, I would be incredibly grateful for your assistance; if you can’t or won’t, just scroll on.

The Malik Report needs your support to function. You receive quite a bit of information “for free,” but providing that information is not done for free. As such, we would like to ask that you kindly contribute to our monthly expenses.

If you’re willing to lend a hand, we have a PayPal option at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport; there’s Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2; if you’re into the, “I don’t want to use any of those pages” option, here’s always the Giftly option by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com…

And in the banking options, you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check, or “Zelle” me via my email, rtxg@yahoo.com.

It’s my pleasure to provide you with as much information as I can give, but this is also a job, and it requires money, time, energy and effort (a.k.a. work). If you are willing or able to support this endeavor, it is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Big Elmer’s warming up

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted an update on the Grand Rapids Griffins’ most prominent Red Wings prospects:

Left Wing Elmer Soderblom (159th, 2019)

Soderblom is 23 and in the last season of his NHL entry level contract. He will be a restricted free agent this summer and the team will have a decision to make.  He still only has four goals and 15 points. But the fact  that he was recently playing with first rounder Nate Danielson would suggest they haven’t given up on him.

He still leads the team in shots on goal (84) and his 6-foot-8, 250-plus frame makes him intriguing. He’s never going to be the physical force the Red Wings would like him be, but size is always important no matter how physical the player he is. It wears down opponents to deal with bigger players.

On the positive side: three of his goals have come in the last eight games. He shows 10 points over the past 15 games. That’s close to a 50-point pace.

Continued

Tweet of note: A little more Swedish about Axel Sandin Pellikka

From Red Wings Prospects on Twitter:

Wise by Lidstrom to suggest that the Wings will take things slowly and play it “by ear” with Sandin Pellikka’s North American future.

Video: Lucas Raymond appears on Hockeynews.se’s ‘Shoot the Puck’ podcast…in Swedish

Hockeynews.se’s podcast, “Shoot the Puck,” interviews “Detroit’s new superstar,” one Lucas Raymond, today, and the interview they posted on YouTube is about 37 minutes long…and it’s in Swedish.

The description says:

Hockeynews editor-in-chief Henrik Sjoberg is back in North America again, and this time, Shoot the Puck is hosted by Detroit star Lucas Raymond–who’s in his fourth season on a prestigious NHL team. In a short period of time, the Gothenburg native has become a brilliant star in the NHL.

Soon he will also have a key role in Sam Hallam’s Tre Kronor when the Four Nations Faceoff is to be decided in Montreal and Boston.

An early Red Wings-Lightning preview

The Red Wings head to the West Side of Florida to battle the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night (7 PM on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/FanDuel Sports Sun/97.1 FM), and the AP has already posted a game preview:

BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Lightning host the Detroit Red Wings after the Lightning beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in a shootout.

Tampa Bay has gone 24-16-3 overall with a 2-6-0 record in Atlantic Division games. The Lightning have conceded 121 goals while scoring 156 for a +35 scoring differential.

Detroit is 5-7-1 against the Atlantic Division and 21-19-4 overall. The Red Wings have a 3-6-2 record in games they have more penalties than their opponent.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting this season between the two clubs.

TOP PERFORMERS: Nikita Kucherov has 20 goals and 44 assists for the Lightning. Anthony Cirelli has four goals and one assist over the past 10 games.

Dylan Larkin has 20 goals and 21 assists for the Red Wings. Lucas Raymond has five goals and 11 assists over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Lightning: 4-5-1, averaging 2.4 goals, 4.2 assists, 3.2 penalties and 8.7 penalty minutes while giving up 2.6 goals per game.

Red Wings: 8-2-0, averaging 4.1 goals, 7.6 assists, 2.3 penalties and 4.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.9 goals per game.

Morning news: A pair of recaps, Justin Holl rebounds and praise for Moritz Seider

Updated at 8:58 AM: Of Red Wings-related note the morning after Detroit’s 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers:

  1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted her customary morning recap:

“We needed a response after the last game,” [Cam] Talbot said after making 40 saves. “We knew we didn’t play up to our standard that we’ve been setting, and we came out and established our game again.”

That was aided a great deal by a power play that’s scorching: Three goals — from Jonatan Berggren, Dylan Larkin and Patrick Kane — on four opportunities in South Florida; 17-for-34 since Christmas.

“That definitely helps when they bury three before the midway point (of) the game,” Talbot said. “That’s pretty unheard of. You have to give them a ton of credit. It’s been so hot lately; they’ve been carrying our team. I thought the PK also stepped up really big.”

Penalty killing, power play and goaltending: It’s the recipe for winning hockey. So was making adjustments after the Panthers forced the Wings to defend most of the first period.

“The win was terrific for our group after what we had against San Jose,” coach Todd McLellan said. “The task was very difficult — I think it was evident that they are the champs for a reason. We needed outstanding goaltending, we needed special teams to get hot. We found a way to scrap our way to a win. It wasn’t pretty, we needed some board work, we needed to block shots, we needed whistles, but it’s a good learning experience for our group and sometimes it’s easier to learn when you win than when you lose.”

St. James spoke with Dylan Larkin as to whether the Wings are glancing at the standings as the Red Wings find themselves in an Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division logjam…

Continue reading Morning news: A pair of recaps, Justin Holl rebounds and praise for Moritz Seider