Author: George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

From the scrums: Ericsson out Thursday, Daley in, ‘A’s’ to rotate between Nielsen and Larkin

The Red Wings seem set in terms of their lines for Thursday’s home opener vs. Columbus, per Wednesday’s practice and MLive’s Ansar Khan:


After the Wings’ final practice before the home opener, the Red Wings held a media availability, per the Free Press’s Helene St. James…

Continue reading From the scrums: Ericsson out Thursday, Daley in, ‘A’s’ to rotate between Nielsen and Larkin

Red Wings name four alternate captains, with Nielsen and Larkin joining the fray

Updated 3x with video at 2:05 PM: Per the Free Press’s Helene St. James and MLive’s Ansar Khan:

Continue reading Red Wings name four alternate captains, with Nielsen and Larkin joining the fray

Tweets from Wings practice: Lines appear to be set as Wings prepare for Columbus

The Red Wings hit the ice at the BELFOR Training Center just before 11 AM on Wednesday morning, per Fox 2’s Sky Kerstein…


The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan said, “Hello”…

As did MLive’s Ansar Khan…


Here come the “FYI’s”:

Continue reading Tweets from Wings practice: Lines appear to be set as Wings prepare for Columbus

Kulfan posts a ‘Meet the Wings’ article; so does Khan

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has posted an article-via-photo-gallery in which he breaks down the Red Wings’ roster on a player-by-player basis:

JOE HICKETTS: AGE: 22. HT: 5-8. WT: 175. STATS (Grand Rapids, AHL): 67 games, 3 goals, 9 assists, 12 points. ANALYSIS: Not the biggest player around, but few have as big a heart and play with as much passion as Hicketts. He is likely to stay on the final roster until the veteran defensemen get healthy.
…
ANDREAS ATHANASIOU: AGE: 24. HT: 6-2. WT: 188. STATS: 71 games, 16 goals, 17 assists, 33 points. ANALYSIS: Given increased ice time in the preseason, Athanasiou was among the most impressive players on the roster. It’ll be interesting to watch if that carries over into the regular season
…
CHRISTOFFER EHN: AGE: 22. HT: 6-3. WT: 181. STATS (Sweden): 50 games, 7 goals, 10 assists, 17 points. ANALYSIS: The surprise of training camp, Ehn displayed skating ability, defensive know-how, quickness and enough offensive talent to make the final roster.

Continued

Update: Here’s more from MLive’s Ansar Khan:

Martin Frk

Continued

Update: Kulfan also penned previews of each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams:

DETROIT RED WINGS

Coach: Jeff Blashill.

2017-18 record: 30-39-13 (73 points, 5th)

2017-18 leaders: G-Anthony Mantha, 24; A-Dylan Larkin, 47; W-Jimmy Howard, 22

Pressure is on: C Larkin — If the Wings are going to surprise in the standings, Larkin must continue to build upon a breakthrough year last season.

Rising star: C Michael Rasmussen — Center, wing, it doesn’t matter. Rasmussen appears to have the mental makeup and physical gifts to be a fine NHL player for a long, long time.

Skinny: The loss of C Henrik Zetterberg (back) will be felt on and off the ice. The key this season is making sure the bushel full of prospects continue growing into bona fide NHL players.

Via KK: CapFriendly posts Red Wings’ cap situation

Via Kukla’s Korner, I’ve been waiting for this Tweet: CapFriendly has posted the Red Wings‘ salary cap situation as adjusted for the team’s LTIR space and opening-night roster:

Update: As John noted on Twitter, the Wings can still utilize Franzen’s LTIR space as necessary. This is just the Wings’ initial cap-compliant, 23-man-roster-compliant set-up.

The Athletic’s Bultman discusses Filip Zadina’s situation in context

The Athletic’s Max Bultman examines Filip Zadina’s status as a Grand Rapids Griffin in context this morning. Bultman compares Zadina’s situation to those of three young players who first skated in the AHL in David Pastrnak, Mikko Rantanen and Alexander (and William) Nylander:

While plenty of prospects fill the AHL every year, it is somewhat unusual for players of Zadina’s lottery-pick pedigree to be there already at age 18 — largely because of rules preventing CHL players from doing so before they’re 20. Since many high draft picks are Canadian, those players either make the NHL or go back to juniors.

But with European players, the rules are different. They can play in the American league immediately. So as we look for recent comparables to Zadina’s current situation — forwards drafted in the top 10 who then played in the AHL that season — the pool is largely composed of European imports.

And as we’ll see, not all of those circumstances are identical to Zadina’s. But among the handful of players who have largely followed this path, there are a few important comparisons, and a couple key contrasts, that can teach us how we should evaluate Detroit’s acclaimed winger during his time in Grand Rapids.

We already more or less know the charge Detroit sent him down with. “Let’s go down and let’s figure out the space, how much space you have,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said Sunday. “And let’s gain that confidence, let’s get adjusted to it, and hopefully he fills the net down there and he’s demanding that he gets called back up.”

Continued (paywall)…

AdWeek: Red Wings performing well on social media

AdWeek’s David Cohen reports that the Red Wings are doing quite well on social media, taking the lead in several metrics:

Windsor’s ‘Autumn Kings’ earn a spot on the Wings’ playlist

According to the CTV News Windsor, a band from Windsor, Ontario has found their latest single in heavy rotation at Red Wings games:

The Autumn Kings song “Devil in Disguise” has been in rotation during the Wings pre-season games, and the band hopes it will be the exclusive goal song as the NHL regular season kicks off on Thursday.

“It started with a cold email to one of the people working at the organization,” says lead guitarist Jake Diab. “We simply sent them our track and said ‘What do you think?’ Everyone’s telling us on our high school tour and all of our fans that this is the perfect hockey song.”

Diab says the decision hasn’t been made yet, but for him it is still an honour.

“I’m a life-long Wings fan. It was my dream go to the NHL when I was younger,” says Diab. “That ended up falling though the cracks, but you know what we made up for it in other ways. We’re getting played in the arena now.”

Continued, and here’s their tune:

 

Morning news: Regarding the Wings’ competitiveness, Zadina in the AHL, a Ben Simon interview and a Blue Jackets game preview

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. MLive’s Ansar Khan wrote an article discussing five season-opening questions surrounding this year’s Wings team, including what I’ll call an underrated topic:

Will they be harder to play against? Several players said this was the most grueling training camp they’ve experienced as coach Jeff Blashill emphasized skating and competing.

The theme was “Sixty Minutes of Hell,” which Blashill borrowed from former Arkansas basketball coach Nolan Richardson, who coined the expression “Forty Minutes of Hell” in the early 1990s.

They hope to compensate for a lack of talent by outworking opponents and being harder to play against. They want to play more north-south, forecheck more aggressively, force more turnovers and spend more time in the offensive zone.

Khan continues, and I would suggest that the Wings’ collective “compete level” may very transcend any personnel questions…
2. 97.1 The Ticket’s Pat Caputo expresses discontent with the Red Wings’ decision to send Filip Zadina to Grand Rapids for the start of the 2018-19 season, in both text and video form:

Continue reading Morning news: Regarding the Wings’ competitiveness, Zadina in the AHL, a Ben Simon interview and a Blue Jackets game preview