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!

A different kind of one-line team

Among Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen’s post-game notes is the following observation regarding the Wings’ best line of late:

As the Detroit Red Wings seem to be bottoming out, the line of Joe Veleno, Marco Kasper and Jonatan Berggren is discovering they can play well together.

The trio has Detroit’s only goal over the past two games, and the line generated three shots on goal in the 4-0 loss to St. Louis. Even with the Monday shutout, Veleno has three goals in four games. The line was not on the ice for any goals-against.

“We talk about getting out-competed a little in Montreal, those guys did not,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “Joe Veleno, Marco Kasper, Berggren, that was an excellent line. It was an excellent line with our underlying numbers, it was an excellent line with them scoring. They worked. I think Joe has done that the last couple games and I think he’s been rewarded for it with some offense.”

Continued; Kasper, Berggren and Veleno have played with confidence, poise and even physicality over the course of the past three games.

While it’s no surprise that Kasper’s led the way in terms of work ethic, Berggren’s pluck and Veleno’s physicality have surprised in a very positive way.

Red Wings accept, empathize with fans’ discontent

The Red Wings dropped a 4-0 decision to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, dropping their 3rd straight game, and, given that the Red Wings have lost 8 of their past 12 games, it was not surprising that the Wings were booed off the ice at Little Caesars Arena.

MLive’s Ansar Khan has posted a subscriber-only article which discusses Dylan Larkin, J.T. Compher and coach Derek Lalonde’s reactions to their fans’ frustration, as well as their suggestions for improving their team’s 13-17-and-4 record

“They’re frustrated, we’re frustrated,” Larkin said. “When you play at home on a big night like tonight with the holiday coming up, it’s usually a great crowd, and we didn’t give them any reason to cheer and have a good night. So, you feel it, we feel it. It’s just a disappointing effort and disappointing game for playing on home ice before a holiday.”

They’ll have a three-day Christmas break to stew over it before hosting Toronto on Friday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Detroit).

Speculation about coach Derek Lalonde’s job security is sure to increase.

“It seemed like (fans) are just as frustrated as this group,” Lalonde said. “It’s the frustration because this group’s showing (positive signs) at times. We’re not a perfect team by any means, but we’ve shown that we can play at a pretty good level, and it wasn’t enough tonight.”

…

“When you show up to play, you got to show up to play, and we just don’t have enough guys doing that right now, myself included,” Larkin said. “You got to be committed to compete, and we’re just not doing that. We’re very disconnected, the forwards from the D, wingers from centerman. It’s just all over. A lot of skating, a lot of hard work, but we’re not getting anything accomplished. And I never really think our work ethic is poor. We have a bunch of guys that work hard. It’s just we’re working hard and not accomplishing anything.”

Continued; the Free Press’s Helene St. James also posted an overnight recap of Monday night’s game which discusses the Wings’ reactions to the fans’ booing:

Continue reading Red Wings accept, empathize with fans’ discontent

Red Wings-Blues wrap-up: Booed into the holiday break, Wings still believe they can issue a positive response

The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 4-0 decision to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, wrapping up the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule with 3 consecutive losses.

Everyone who is a Red Wings partisan in any way, shape or form is feeling gloomy right now. Detroit’s won something like 3 of their last 13 games, per one Mickey Redmond, and things are bad right now. Really, really bad.

And there should be questions about the player personnel and coaching staff right now, as managed by GM SY and the management team (and ownership, honestly, at this point).

But I’m gonna go through this one like a regular recap, because that’s what we try to do here at TMR–we try to at least keep things sane when it’s all going to shit. And we’re going to let the players and coaches speak for themselves, for good or for ill.

So, let’s begin.

The Blues’ media didn’t offer a whole lot of quotes about St. Louis’ victory, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Matthew DeFranks offered this take on tonight’s affair…

Continue reading Red Wings-Blues wrap-up: Booed into the holiday break, Wings still believe they can issue a positive response

Press release: Wings assign Lagesson, Wallinder to Grand Rapids for Christmas break

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS ASSIGN WILLIAM LAGESSON AND WILLIAM WALLINDER TO GRAND RAPIDS

  … Lagesson Has Skated in 102 NHL Games with Oilers, Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Ducks and Red Wings; Wallinder Has Played in 85 AHL Games with Griffins Since 2022-23 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today assigned defensemen William Lagesson and William Wallinder to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Continue reading Press release: Wings assign Lagesson, Wallinder to Grand Rapids for Christmas break

Tweets of note: the Captain ain’t happy, either

Per DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce and Carley Johnston, and 97.1 the Ticket’s Mike Stone:

Red Wings-Blues quick take: Blues beat Wings 4-0, stretching Detroit’s losing streak to 3 games

The Detroit Red Wings hosted the St. Louis Blues to wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule on Monday night, with the Red Wings hoping to snap a two-game losing streak and a situation where the Wings had won 3 of their past 11 games. The Blues had lost 3 straight and 5 of 6, so Detroit’s opponent was in a desperate position as well.

On Monday night, Detroit just looked like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the peanut butter or jelly. From Dylan Holloway’s first goal at 16:14 of the 1st period to Holloway’s hat-trick empty-netter at 15:54 of the 3rd, the Blues out-worked, out-hit, out-skilled and generally dominated every Red Wings line that wasn’t the Veleno-Kasper-Berggren line, even the Seiders, Larkins and Raymonds had off nights, Cam Talbot was just OK, and Detroit dropped its third straight game in disappointing and deflating fashion.

The Wings will have to do some soul searching over the Christmas break, because they host Toronto, Washington and Pittsburgh on the 27th, 29th and 31st, respectively, and then head to Columbus on the 2nd and Winnipeg on the 4th of January, so the schedule affords Detroit no “off nights.”

I do not want to guess as to whether the Red Wings will have their current personnel or coaching staff at Friday’s morning skate before the Leaf game, but I would like to suggest that if Chris Kreider is sitting in New York, he’s exactly the kind of player that the Red Wings need–a tough, net-front goal-scorer.

I doubt such a trade would happen, but it’s a nice thought to take us out into the Christmas break, a very necessary 3 days off for both the Red Wings and their fan base.

Continue reading Red Wings-Blues quick take: Blues beat Wings 4-0, stretching Detroit’s losing streak to 3 games

Edvinsson placed on IR retroactive to December 18th

To make the William Wallinder recall, the Red Wings had to do this:

Tweet of note: Bruce and Kal preview Wings-Blues on The Forecheck

DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce and 97.1 the Ticket’s Ken Kal preview tonight’s Red Wings-Blues game on the latest episode of “The Forecheck”:

‘Paying the bills time’ fundraising

Aunt Annie and I are attempting to stay afloat financially this month, and so while I am not thrilled about having missed time recently, I’ve been back for over a week, and as we look toward Christmas, it’s necessary to do a little fundraising.

If you don’t want to, you don’t have to, but if you are willing to lend a hand in the form a of a couple of bucks, they would be gratefully received and greatly appreciated:

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.