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!

Audio: Friedman discusses the Red Wings’ waiving of Ville Husso on ’32 Thoughts’

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas discussed the Red Wings’ decision to place Ville Husso on waivers in the latest edition of the “32 Thoughts” podcast (at the 26-minute mark thereof).

Friedman says that he was very surprised to see Husso’s name pop up on the waiver wire, comparing it to the Kings placing Mike Richards or Sharks placing Evander Kane on waivers. Friedman says that there’s a cap reason for it because the Wings need to recall a player to replace Christian Fischer, and the Wings have Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon, the “bailout king” of goaltenders, but he feels that this sends a thunderbolt through the dressing room because, whether it’s for roster reasons or not, it makes everyone stand up and take notice.

As such, Friedman believes that Steve Yzerman wanted to let the team know that there are “no sacred cows” on the team, and he feels that Husso’s performance was not that bad against Pittsburgh, but Yzerman sent a message nonetheless, and while Husso won’t get claimed, and coach Lalonde has said the team will go through a three-goaltender system, this sends a message to the team and fans that Yzerman is not joking around this season.

Friedman says that while Yzerman has been quoted as saying that the team is not a playoff team yet, and he wonders whether that took the foot off the gas, and maybe this is a message that Yzerman wants better performances than he saw on opening night, and that Yzerman does things for a reason.

Tweet/plug: Red Wings ‘go to the dogs’

Free advertising, I suppose:

Press release: Red Wings partner with Henry Ford Health as ‘Official Team Physicians’ for the team

Per Henry Ford Health:

Henry Ford Health Named Official Team Physicians of Detroit Red Wings

October 14, 2024

DETROIT – Henry Ford Health has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the official team physicians for the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings. 

The announcement makes Henry Ford Health the medical services providers for all four major professional sports teams in Detroit — the Lions, Pistons, Tigers and Red Wings.

This partnership further establishes Henry Ford Health as a leader in sports medicine, offering comprehensive care and advanced medical support to some of the best athletes in the world.

“With this partnership with the Red Wings, we are setting a new standard in sports medicine,” said Jonathan Braman, M.D., Chair of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at Henry Ford Health. “Our dedicated team at Henry Ford Health is committed to leveraging cutting-edge medical practices and research to enhance the health and performance of Detroit’s top athletes. It’s a privilege to play such a pivotal role in their professional and personal well-being.”

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings partner with Henry Ford Health as ‘Official Team Physicians’ for the team

Red Wings-Rangers set-up and morning skate Tweets, part 1: Shesterkin starts for NYR; Rempe not playing

The Detroit Red Wings face the New York Rangers this evening (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/MSG Network/NHL Network/97.1 FM), opening up a home-and-home series which will conclude on Thursday in Detroit.

The 1-and-1 Red Wings are coming off a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, while the Rangers possess a 1-0-and-1 record thanks to a 6-5 overtime loss to Utah on Saturday.

This game is an NHL Network exclusive, so it will not air on streaming services tonight, and Thursday’s game is an ESPN+/Hulu exclusive, so that will be difficult to watch as well.

Per the New York Rangers’ game preview, the Wings will be skating uphill tonight:

Continue reading Red Wings-Rangers set-up and morning skate Tweets, part 1: Shesterkin starts for NYR; Rempe not playing

Daily Faceoff’s power rankings bag on the Wings

Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell and Hunter Crowther have issued a set of power rankings, supposedly without bias, but this looks like some bias to me:

26. Detroit Red Wings

Record: 1-1-0, 0
Hunter’s Rank: 20th
Scott’s Rank: 29th

Scott: Mike Gould may not be doing the power rankings this year, but his spirit lives on with me! Someone has to be extremely pessimistic about the Red Wings and I’m happy to take that mantle. It’s only two games, but they find themselves below 40% in expected goal share despite a 1-1 record, so I’m not going to let them off easy after what they did last season. The bill always comes due, Stevie!

Hunter: One thing I’ll give those more optimistic about the club is Cam Talbot looked like the All-Star he was last season with the Kings (Remember that?? The guy was an All-Star at 36 years old – that’s R.A. Dickey stuff right there!). Will he keep that up through the season? Not likely. But wouldn’t it be way more fun if he did? 

Continued; oh no, 1-and-1, let’s all panic!

Four Red Wings among ESPN’s ‘Top 100 NHL Player Predictions’ list

ESPN ranked its “Top 100 NHL Player Predictions” for the 2024-2025 season. Several Red Wings made their list:

88. Alex DeBrincat, LW, Detroit Red Wings

2023-24 rank: 66
Age: 26

DeBrincat is a dynamic, scoring winger, the author of two-straight 27-goal campaigns. Can he get back to the 40-goal level he reached twice earlier in his career? — ESPN staff

86. Lucas Raymond, RW, Detroit Red Wings

2023-24 rank: NA
Age: 22

The fourth overall pick in the 2020 draft, Raymond has proved up to that pedigree, playing an increasingly important role for Detroit. And he’ll be doing it for a while longer, having signed an eight-year, $64.6 million contract this offseason. — ESPN staff

59. Moritz Seider, D, Detroit Red Wings

2023-24 rank: 78
Age: 23

Detroit handed Seider a rich contract extension after having emerged as their next franchise defenseman in his first three NHL seasons. — Wyshynski

49. Dylan Larkin, C, Detroit Red Wings

2023-24 rank: 54
Age: 28

Larkin tallied three straight 30-goal seasons as the Red Wings’ top center, including 33 goals in 68 games last season. — Wyshynski

Continued; technically speaking, “Meh.”

DHN’s Duff finds clips of Kasper, Danielson scraps

Kudos to Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff. Duff managed to track down clips of both Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson’s scraps from the Grand Rapids Griffins-Rockford IceHogs game on Saturday night, with Marco Kasper squaring off against Colton Dach, and Danielson fighting Isak Phillips:

Both Danielson (ninth overall, 2023 NHL entry draft) and Kasper (eighth overall, 2022) were throwing down on Saturday as the Grand Rapids Griffins were dropping a 4-1 road decision in an AHL game against the Rockford IceHogs. And while neither is going to be mistaken for Bob Probert or Joe Kocur, both held their own in their respective bouts. And each would score high marks from the judges regarding their enthusiasm for the project.

With less than four minutes to go in the, Kasper got into a disagreement with Rockford’s Colton Dach in front of the Rockford bench. Ultimately, they would drop the gloves. Kasper displayed impressive defensive skills during the bout and even got in a solid right hand tangling with the 6-foot-3, 193-pound Dach, younger brother of Montreal Canadiens forward Kirby Dach.

…

Playing junior in the rugged WHL, Danielson certainly isn’t unfamiliar to mayhem on the ice. At the end of the second period of Saturday’s game, a scrum was forming behind the IceHogs net. Originally going after Rockford’s Cole Guttman, Danielson wound up dropping the gloves with Isaak Phillips.

I’m not surprised that Red Wings Prospects on Twitter posted the Kasper fight…

Continue reading DHN’s Duff finds clips of Kasper, Danielson scraps

On Saturday’s shot-blocking odyssey

The Red Wings surrendered 42 shots and 89 shot attempts over the course of Saturday night’s 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators.

That’s not a sustainable number of shot attempts to be allowing your opponents to wind up and unleash upon you, even when the Red Wings blocked 31 of those shot attempts, and Cam Talbot stopped 42 more of them.

For one night, however–or every once in a while–hockey can be a game of survival, and the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood asked defenseman Justin Holl and coach Derek Lalonde about the Wings‘ in-the-moment perspectives on the shot-blocking job that the team undertook on Saturday:

“It’s kind of funny when you’re out there because you’re so focused on trying to make the playing and blocking the shot that even if it hurts, it still feels good mentally. “Like, ‘OK I did my job,’ ” said defenseman Justin Holl, who blocked four shots Saturday in his season debut. “But obviously you’ll have some bumps and bruises.”

These blocks came from a variety of sources. Eleven out of 18 skaters recorded at least one. Defenseman Moritz Seider led with seven. Defensemen Ben Chiarot and Simon Edvinsson blocked four and three, respectively. Among forwards, Joe Veleno‘s three blocks paced the group. Even scoring winger Alex DeBrincat, not known as a particularly strong defender, made two blocks. All of these players paid up to help out Talbot. 

This all begs the question: How sustainable is a 31-block night? As much as the Red Wings’ defense can be happy to have pitched a shutout, having to block 31 shots in a game requires them to go through a lot of pain and potential injury risk. Right now, both are necessary when Detroit sees 87 shot attempts, as the Predators took Saturday night. But the next step is for the Red Wings to whittle down those shot attempts so they don’t have to block so many.

Even if the Red Wings limited the amount of attempts that reached Cam Talbot, who pitched a shutout for his seventh NHL team Saturday, they still would rather deny attempts in general. By denying shooting lanes, possessing the puck and staying on top of opposing skaters, Detroit can limit the attempts it faces. In other words, improved defensive play can take away the need to lay out in front of a shot to begin with.

Puck possession definitely limits shot attempts against, and strong defensive play, where you’re playing close to your opponent and preventing their sticks from accessing time and space in which to shoot pucks at the goal via stick-checking and generally good body position, all add up. Moreover, if you’re playing with the puck in the other team’s zone, you’re threatening to shoot on the other team instead.

Coach Lalonde acknowledged as much:

Continue reading On Saturday’s shot-blocking odyssey

Prospect round-up: Miller backs up in the Soo; Finnie’s Blazers fall

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in North America Sunday night:

In the OHL, Landon Miller served as the back-up goaltender in the Soo Greyhounds’ 3-2 win over the Saginaw Spirit;

And in the WHL, Emmitt Finnie finished even with 3 shots and a 20-for-32 faceoff record as the Kamloops Blazers lost 5-3 to Tri-City.

Red Wings hope to have the blueprint to defeat the Blueshirts

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan asked Justin Holl and coach Derek Lalonde about the Red Wings’ imminent home-and-home series against the New York Rangers, who possess a 1-0-and-1 record:

The Wings play two consecutive games (Thursday’s game at Little Caesars Arena) against the Rangers, last season’s Presidents Trophy (best regular-season record) winner, who look just as deep and talented this time around.

This will be a good early litmus test for the Wings.

“They have a real good team, it’s a playoff team and has been for the last couple of years,” Holl said. “It’s going to be a big challenge. But we feel pretty confident if we play our game the right way, we can play with anybody and beat anybody. It’ll be a big challenge but with big challenges come big opportunities too.”

The Wings want to replicate the type of defensive game they played against Nashville.

“It has to look a little bit like (Saturday) again,” Lalonde said. “We don’t want to spend the entire time in our zone like we did at time, but the urgency defensively, and if you give them easy offense with the type of talent they have, it could be a long night for us. We limited odd-man chances, Grade-A chances, and we limited Grade-A slot chances (against Nashville), especially five-on-five. It’ll have to look similar to be successful against a team like that.”

Continued