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!

Videos: Christian Fischer and coach McLellan speak for the Wings after morning skate; coach Maurice, Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling join the fray

The Red Wings posted a clip of Christian Fischer and coach Todd McLellan speaking after the morning skate today…

And Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards posted clips of coach Paul Maurice, captain Aleksander Barkov and forward Gustav Forsling speaking ahead of tonight’s Wings-Panthers game (7 PM EST start on ESPN/97.1 FM):

Continue reading Videos: Christian Fischer and coach McLellan speak for the Wings after morning skate; coach Maurice, Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling join the fray

Tweet of note: Red Wings prospect Anton Johansson signs 2-year extension in Sweden

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, Wings draft pick Anton Johansson has signed a 2-year contract extension with Leksands IF of the SHL.

As I recall, the Red Wings have one more year with which to sign Johansson, so if they were to ink Johansson to a deal before June 1st of 2026, he’d probably stay with Leksands IF till the 26-27 season ends.

The Red Wings believe that the big, right-shooting defenseman is part of their future plans, and this contract doesn’t necessarily complicate things that much, but he would stay in Sweden until he’s pretty much ready to play in the NHL.

Panthers, Wings weigh in regarding Vladimir Tarasenko

The Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson asked Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, coach Paul Maurice and Red Wings coach Todd McLellan to weigh in regarding Vladimir Tarasenko, who won a Stanley Cup with Florida last season:

“Vladdy loves the game,” Maurice said. “He likes to talk hockey. He’s completely immersed in it. We moved him around a bunch of different places, and then he found his home with [Eetu] Luostarinen and [Anton] Lundell and just was constantly on the bench talking about plays. It was great for those two guys to have a veteran player who’s really, really high hockey IQ. Engaged them in the game, and then he sort of pretty big goals for us.”

Added Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov: “He was important for us. Obviously, he’s been in the Cup Final and won the Cup. He brought that to us, that veteran leadership. He worked really hard. It was fun to watch him in practice and the games, like how hard he chased the puck, how hard he works still. Just an unbelievable teammate. He brought everything to us.”

Now, Tarasenko is trying to bring everything he can to the Red Wings, who he signed a two-year, $9.5 million deal with this offseason and who had a season-long seven-game win streak snapped on Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks. In that San Jose game, though, Tarasenko scored two goals, his first multi-goal game of the season and his first goals since Dec. 1.

“He has had the puck on his tape a fair amount, and he has had looks at the net,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “A lot of what he was taking was either blocked or deflected, not quite getting there. Those two shots [against San Jose] were lasers. They were quickly released. They were he knew where he was shooting. I don’t know even know if he picked the spot, but he shot to an area, and I think that’s what really good scorers do. If you have time, you pick your spot. If you don’t have time, you shoot to an area and and you get it off quick enough so that the goalie has to do the job. And Vlad, he did that the other night. I thought that was perhaps his best game since I’ve been here. We tried to get him on the ice a little bit more to reward him for that, so hopefully it carries over.”

Continued

Red Wings and Panthers’ websites post game previews ahead of tonight’s ESPN game

The Detroit Red Wings and Florida Panthers face off this evening (7 PM start on ESPN/97.1 FM), and the Red Wings’ morning skate revealed that Sergei Bobrovsky and Cam Talbot will face off in the crease, with Christian Fischer returning to the Red Wings’ lineup.

After the morning skates, DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted a game preview…

Detroit (20-19-4; 44 points) and Florida (26-16-3; 55 points) will drop the puck at 7 p.m., with TV broadcast coverage of Thursday’s Atlantic Division clash airing exclusively on ESPN and radio coverage on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit.

After facing the Panthers, the Red Wings will battle the Tampa Bay Lightning (23-16-3; 49 points) on Saturday and the Dallas Stars (28-14-1; 57 points) on Sunday before wrapping up their road swing against the Philadelphia Flyers (19-20-6; 44 points) next Tuesday (Jan. 21).

“This is a huge test, four good teams,” Andrew Copp said. “Teams that we haven’t really faced yet this year and [aside from Philadelphia entering Thursday] are above us in the standings. This is going to be a really good measuring-stick road trip.”

Detroit is looking to respond after a 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, which ended its season-high seven-game winning streak. Two goals from Vladimir Tarasenko and one goal from Lucas Raymond saw the Red Wings pull within 4-3 just before the midway mark of the third period, but Detroit ultimately couldn’t find the equalizer.

“I think that’s the biggest thing, to learn from what happened [against San Jose],” Copp said. “I didn’t think we were horrible. We didn’t manage the game as properly as we wanted to, and then we made some big mistakes that ended up with the puck in the back of our net. We have a lot better, and I think we’ve shown that we have a lot better.”

Calling their most recent loss “a bump in the road,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan also discussed the significance of using Tuesday’s game as a learning experience.

“If we take the opportunity to learn from that bump and try and fix a few things — we won’t get them all fixed — but fix a few things, we can take advantage of a loss,” McLellan said. “If we don’t learn from it and we don’t fix it, it can compound. Then, we’ve really got to work at it. It’ll go one way or the other, but it doesn’t mean our tasks get any easier.”

As did FloridaPanthers.com’s Jameson Olive:

Continue reading Red Wings and Panthers’ websites post game previews ahead of tonight’s ESPN game

Red Wings-Panthers morning skate Tweets, game previews and game notes: Bobrovsky vs. Talbot; Fischer joins the Wings’ lineup

The 20-19-and-4 Detroit Red Wings face off against the 26-16-and-3 Florida Panthers this evening in an ESPN game (7 PM EST start), and the Panthers have already completed their morning skate at Amerant Bank Arena:

The Panthers have actually lost 2 of their past 3 games and 4 of their past 8, but they’re coming off a 2-1 shootout victory over New Jersey on Monday.

Here are tonight’s game notes:

Continue reading Red Wings-Panthers morning skate Tweets, game previews and game notes: Bobrovsky vs. Talbot; Fischer joins the Wings’ lineup

A wee bit of news about Patrick Kane’s hip

As The Athletic’s Chris Johnston discusses free agent defenseman John Klingberg’s attempts to return from double hip resurfacing surgery, there’s a nugget of good Red Wings-related news from one Patrick Kane at the end of Klingberg’s article:

Kane had the resurfacing done on his right hip — not both sides like Klingberg — but sounded an optimistic tone when asked how his body responded to contact and the return to the day-to-day rigors of NHL life.

“Since I’ve been back, I’ve felt no pain, nothing, with the hip joint,” Kane said. “That’s obviously been a huge positive.”

Luszczyszyn discusses the Wings’ resurgence

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn discusses the Red Wings’ resurgence ahead of “16 stats” this morning:

It’s only been nine games, but it does feel like this is a brand new Red Wings team — the team that fans have been promised since the rebuild began.

Aside from a penalty kill that is still terrible, the Red Wings have made massive strides since McLellan arrived. At five-on-five the team is finally average, cleaning things up considerably on the defensive front. They’re right around break-even by goals and xG, a huge step up from where they were previously: hovering around 45 percent. The power play has seen the biggest change scoring 18.7 goals per 60 and generating 11.8 xG per 60.

The power play has been the driving force of the team’s offensive surge, giving the team’s stars some much-needed momentum toward being the players they’re paid to be. Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane — all four are scoring above a point-per-game pace under McLellan. They’ve found their rhythm and it’s translating to better work controlling play at five-on-five. All four are earning at least 53 percent of expected goals, a mark no Red Wing touched under Derek Lalonde. Raymond, at 51 percent, was the only forward above break-even.

Control the play, control the game. That’s been McLellan’s ethos at every stop he’s been to and the Red Wings are buying in from the get-go. Good defense leads to good offense and it’s easier to practice that when players are seeing that work lead to big point totals. The Red Wings have been a team with a lot of talent buried by a system ill-served to get the most out of it. McLellan’s experience as a coach that gets things going in the right direction is exactly what this growing team needed.

The Red Wings aren’t quite out of the woods yet though. Standing in front of them is an epic mountain to climb.

That’s where they can truly prove they’re ready to take the next step, showing their stuff against the league’s toughest schedule in the season’s second half. In 23 of Detroit’s remaining 39 games, the Red Wings will be up against teams projected to finish the season with over 100 points. The average Net Rating of their opponents is plus-12, five higher than the next toughest schedule. They’ll also play 23 games on the road.

All that is why our playoff model is still tough on Detroit’s playoff chances, especially after the team struggled to start the season despite playing the league’s easiest schedule. 

Continued (paywall)

Shapiro discusses coaches Maurice and McLellan with Vladimir Tarasenko

Shap Shots’ Sean Shapiro discussed coaches Paul Maurice and Todd McLellan with Red Wings forward Vladimir Tarasenko on Wednesday:

McLellan was brought in to be more of a taskmaster and an ass-kicker, bring a bit more fire. It’s been notable in a public space how much more vocal he is with players at practice, after the Red Wings loss on Tuesday, for example, he didn’t hold back publicly when asked about Justin Holl’s game1.

So I asked Tarasenko2 about it on Wednesday before the team flew to Florida for a game against his old coach that he had praised.

“(McLellan) expects a certain level from the players every night,” Tarasenko said. “If you don’t do things right, you hear (about it). It’s a pretty honest thing, it makes the whole process pretty easy.

“You have to learn how to not only hear the good things,” Tarasenko added. “And when you hear the not good things, and then he gives you a chance, you feel motivated to repay that trust he puts in players.”

None of this is to say McLellan’s hiring has “fixed” Tarasenko or made the $4.75 million cap hit more palatable, in fact it should be noted that while he’s having better results point-wise right now, he’s still getting off a similar number of shots that he did with Lalonde in charge.

But the player said he feels more energized, and believes he has a coach that knows how to push the right buttons.

Continued

Duff: Finnie on a heater

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that Red Wings prospect Emmitt Finnie is on a roll with the Kamloops Blazers:

Continuing to be the biggest surprise among recent Detroit Red Wings draft picks, Emmitt Finnie is ablaze for the WHL Kamloops Blazers. The 19-year-old center chosen 201st overall in the 2023 NHL entry draft is riding an 11-game point streak.

Finnie is counting 6 goals and 14 assists over this 11-game span. He’s producing in bunches. The 6-foot-1, 191-pounder has eight multi-point games during this hot streak. Through the entire campaign his ledger is showing 20 multi-point games.

Finnie has points in 15 of his last 16 games and 18 of his last 21 games. In fact, throughout the season, he’s never gone pointless more than one game in a row.

In 36 games this season, Finnie is showing 23 goals and 34 assists.

Continued

The Easter Eggs

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski discusses “Easter Eggs” hidden in the Red Wings and Blue Jackets‘ Stadium Series jerseys:

[NHL VP of marketing and chief branding officer Brian] Jennings said that while Stadium Series jerseys typically have “that progressive, futuristic look” in contrast to the more historic inspirations of the Winter Classic, there’s “a little bit more simplicity” for Detroit’s look, which was by design.

“Detroit being an Original Six team, that have very strong feelings, and [owner] Chris Ilitch and the team communicated that to us,” he said.

What the jerseys lack in boldness, the Red Wings’ helmets make up for it. Detroit’s buckets have a large white stripe down the middle like a football helmet — plus Red Wings logos on each side, making them look a little like Mercury when they’re skating.

“It starts with the sweater, but then it’s how you compliment it. In this case, it’s the helmet that catches that collegiate and youthful look,” Jennings said.

The Red Wings did come to the designers with one unique request: They wanted their octopus mascot represented in some small way. So on the bottom of the jersey in the back, right at the hem, there’s small loop tag with the purple octopus’s eyes on it — a cheeky new innovation for NHL outdoor game jerseys.

“We’ve never, never had this kind of treatment on the jersey before,” [Fanatics’ Dom] Fillion noted. “It’s a nice little Easter egg to discover.”

Continued;