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!

Post-practice Tweets: Talbot starts for Red Wings on Monday; Cowan to debut for Toronto

Both the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs held noon practices ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s rematch between the two teams (2 PM EDT start on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit/Prime Video Canada), and both teams will make tweaks on their forward lines, though James van Riemsdyk’s fourth-line debut for the Wings will generate less press than top prospect Easton Cowan’s top-line debut for the Leafs.

After practice, the Red Wings’ players and coach spoke with the assembled media:

And in Toronto…

Steve Yzerman weighs in on the Red Wings’ rookie trio, expectations for the team as a whole

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman made an impromptu appearance with the Wings’ media corps on Thursday, and DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills took note of Yzerman’s remarks about the team’s rookie trio…

Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman didn’t expect prospects Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, Emmitt Finnie and Axel Sandin-Pellikka to all earn spots on the Detroit Red Wings’ 2025-26 Opening Night roster, but their strong play over the past several weeks convinced him that the trio of talented youngsters deserved to start this season in the NHL.

“Probably exceeded our expectations,” Yzerman said ahead of Thursday’s puck drop at Little Caesars Arena. “All three of them were in Grand Rapids at the end of the year and all did alright based on what we saw. We kind of anticipated them, at that time, starting in Grand Rapids. But we say it every year, no decision has been made until you come to camp. From Day 1, they started off really good [at the 2025 NHL Prospect Games] and continued that in the scrimmages in Traverse City, the Red & White Game in Grand Rapids and they all looked good in the preseason games. We felt that they all earned the opportunity and see if they can sustain it in the regular season, which we expect them to. It was a very pleasant surprise that we weren’t necessarily expecting in the offseason.”

The three 20-year-olds all made their NHL debuts against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night, marking the first time since 2018-19 that the Red Wings had at least three players make their NHL debut on an Opening Night. That season, forwards Christoffer Ehn and Michael Rasmussen, along with defensemen Dennis Cholowski, Filip Hronek and Libor Sulak all debuted against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 4, 2018.

As well as his take on how long the trio of debutantes may last in Detroit…

Continue reading Steve Yzerman weighs in on the Red Wings’ rookie trio, expectations for the team as a whole

Tweets from Sunday’s Red Wings practice: Wings, Leafs prepare for Monday’s rematch

Updated 2x at 12:22 PM: The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center to prepare for Monday’s Canadian Thanksgiving rematch (2 PM EDT start on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit/Prime Sports Canada/97.1 FM). Detroit won a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night…

But the Maple Leafs insisted that they simply underestimated Detroit and “beat themselves” as opposed to giving credit to the Red Wings’ efforts.

So, the Wings skated on Sunday looking to be taken a little more seriously (or perhaps not) by Toronto on Monday afternoon…

Meanwhile, in Toronto…

Continue reading Tweets from Sunday’s Red Wings practice: Wings, Leafs prepare for Monday’s rematch

Allen on Lucas Raymond’s ascent

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen offers a profile of Lucas Raymond this morning, noting that the young Swedish winger’s production is on par with some pretty impressive company:

Raymond, 23, is on a path to be among the best Swedes to ever play in the NHL. He scored twice Saturday (for his 11th multiple-goal game) to help the Red Wings down the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3.  He’s the fifth-youngest Swedish player at the time of his 100th career NHL goal, behind Mats Sundin (22 years, 56 days), Tomas Sandstrom (23 years, 50 days), Filip Forsberg (23 years, 93 days) and Gabriel Landeskog (23 years, 130 days).

“He puts the work in, whether it’s during practice, or off the ice,” Kane said, “finding ways to better himself. He’s been really impressive since I got here.”

Now in his fifth NHL season, Raymond is as important as anyone on Detroit’s roster.  For the Red Wings to improve offensively, his continued growth as a player is essential.

“I think he’s just progressing every day, every game,” Kane said.  “Obviously, each year I’ve been here, he just gets better and better.”

From the moment McLellan returned to Detroit last season, he has appreciated Raymond’s competitiveness.

“He’s a fiery guy,” McLellan said. “I didn’t know he was as evasive with the puck — how he can pick his way through shot is tremendous. He’s learning how to be a real good leader and he commits to the defensive side of the puck.”

Continued

Morning news: On the Red Wings’ resiliency, ‘meltdown’ McLellan and bulletin board material

Updated 2x at 10:03 AM: The Detroit Red Wings’ 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs included two late empty-net goals from Detroit, so the game’s result didn’t necessarily reflect the tight nature of last night’s win.

This morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan offers us his with-quotes recap…

Coach Todd McLellan and players believe this is the team they are – or least the team they can be – not the one that looked ill-prepared two nights earlier.

“We didn’t roll over and, you know, woe-is-us type attitude,” McLellan said. “We dug in a little bit more. That’s a really good sign for us. I just thought we played with more pop and more energy. We were connected. I think that team knows it can play that way. I believe they were all mad and really disappointed in what transpired the other night (5-1 loss Thursday). But now they got rewarded for fixing it and for doing the work, and we’ve got to bottle that type of game up and continue on with it.”

Despite trailing 2-0 at the first intermission, the Red Wings weren’t “shell-shocked” as Dylan Larkin put it, like they were when they were down 3-1 to the Canadiens after 20 minutes.

“It speaks volumes of the group with what we went through the past couple days … to bounce back and come out of the second up 3-2,” Patrick Kane said. “It’s two games into the season, but we proved we can turn the corner when we face that adversity.”

Kane also spoke honestly to Khan regarding the team’s mood when it was still down 2-0 in the 1st period:

Continue reading Morning news: On the Red Wings’ resiliency, ‘meltdown’ McLellan and bulletin board material

Tweet of note: Cam Talbot got the Hockey Night in Canada towel

Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot earned his Hockey Night in Canada towel on Saturday evening:

Toronto’s Max Domi offers praise for Patrick Kane, role model

Sportsnet’s Luke Fox offers an interesting take on Patrick Kane’s playmaking ability from one Max Domi of the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Domi’s second-most-productive stretch of hockey arrived during his stint alongside Patrick Kane on the 2022-23 Blackhawks. Domi scored 18 goals in those 60 games, the same amount he has now scored in 156 as a Leaf.

Asked to name his favourite playmaker, Domi doesn’t hesitate to single out his American idol, who sniped and tacked on two primary assists Saturday.

“Kaner, for sure. He gets mad at me for saying that, because we’re good buddies, and we were linemates for a full season — which was a highlight of my career, absolutely. The way that he sees the play — and the whole ice, really — he can direct his linemates where to go. But he just doesn’t miss. It’s pretty amazing,” Domi says.

“That’s why I signed there, to be honest, kind of knowing what I was walking into (with Chicago’s rebuild). I learned a lot; I was a sponge. Patrick is one of the best players of all time. So, to have one of your childhood heroes playing next to you every single day, and a guy you can bounce questions off, a guy that can get mad at you once in a while for making a mistake here and there, that’s how you learn, right? So, I certainly enjoyed that, and I’m still talking to Kaner and keeping in touch.”

Continued

Red Wings-Maple Leafs wrap-up: under-estimated Wings force Toronto to self-destruct

The Detroit Red Wings rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.

The game kicked off a home-and-home series between the teams, who will play again in Toronto on Monday, which is Canadian Thanksgiving, at 2 PM EDT.

On Saturday night, the Red Wings rallied from a 2-0 1st period deficit thanks to goals from Marco Kasper, Lucas Raymond (goals 99 and 100), Patrick Kane, Simon Edvinsson and Andrew Copp (empty net), as well as a 20-save performance from Cam Talbot…

And Detroit was utterly relentless in attacking Anthony Stolarz over the course of 60 minutes of hockey, peppering the Leafs’ goalie with 35 shots and 67 shot attempts.

Detroit’s power play also went 1-for-4, and the Wings killed all 3 Maple Leafs power plays.

While the Red Wings celebrated a bounce-back win, the Maple Leafs, perhaps unsurprisingly, told the Hockey News’s David Alter that the scoreboard was indicative of Toronto’s on-ice performance, and not Detroit’s:

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs wrap-up: under-estimated Wings force Toronto to self-destruct

Red Wings-Maple Leafs Tweetcap: resilient Red Wings rally from 2-0 hole, defeat Toronto 6-3

The Detroit Red Wings looked to bounce back from an embarrassing opening-night loss as Detroit hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs, kicking off a home-and-home series between the teams.

On Saturday night, things did not start well for the Detroit Red Wings. Only 2:27 into the 1st period, Calle Jarnkrok jammed a Nicholas Roy pass into the net behind Cam Talbot, and at 12:29 of the 1st, Roy scored himself on a rush with Rielly and Nylander that had Seider and Chiarot hitting each other in confusion…

But Marco Kasper opened the scoring for Detroit 8:56 into the 2nd, Lucas Raymond scored goal #99 at 14:55, Patrick Kane scored a glorious marker at 18:10…

And while Max Domi made things sweaty and nervous for every Wings fan in LCA at 238 with a 3-3 marker, Raymond would score goal #100 on the power play at 6:45, and Simon Edvinsson and Andrew Copp would score empty-netters to make a 4-3 win look like a rout.

Cam Talbot stopped 20 of 23 shots; Detroit fired 33 on Anthony Stolarz, who stopped 29.

Detroit went 1-for-4 on the PP and killed 2 Toronto power plays.

It was Detroit’s first win of the young season, and the teams will reprise their roles in Toronto at 2 PM EDT on Monday, October 13th.

PREGAME: The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena just before 6:30 PM:

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs Tweetcap: resilient Red Wings rally from 2-0 hole, defeat Toronto 6-3