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!

Tweets from Tuesday’s ‘second group’ practice: the youth movement skates at BELFOR

The Detroit Red Wings’ probable lineup players vs. Chicago tomorrow (8 PM EDT start on DetroitRedWings.com) practiced around 10 AM this morning, including one Moritz Seider, and the team’s “second group” started practice around 12:30 PM, per the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood and Sam Stockton:

Meanwhile, in Chicago, the Hawks’ “A Team” also practiced around 11 AM EDT, and we can presume that this group will play vs. the Red Wings tomorrow night…

Continue reading Tweets from Tuesday’s ‘second group’ practice: the youth movement skates at BELFOR

Video: Moritz Seider speaks with the media at LCA

The Red Wings’ first group practiced from about 10 AM until 11 AM this morning, and Moritz Seider was among their numbers. Seider spoke with the media after practice, and here’s the video:

Post-practice Tweets: Seider, Red Wings speak with the media

The Detroit Red Wings practiced today at the BELFOR Training Center ahead of tomorrow’s exhibition game in Chicago (8 PM EDT, to be streamed on DetroitRedWings.com).

After practice, the Red Wings spoke with the media:

Meanwhile, in Chicago…

Continue reading Post-practice Tweets: Seider, Red Wings speak with the media

Tweet of note: Red Wings will stream Wings @ Hawks exhibition game

Tomorrow night at 8 PM EDT, it appears that the Detroit Red Wings’ website will pick up the NBC Chicago broadcast of the Red Wings-Blackhawks tilt:

FYI:

A bit more about the Red Wings’ 3-headed goaltending monster

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis wrote a column discussing the “Top five most interesting crease battles to watch” ahead of the 2024-2025 season, and the Red Wings made his list, of course:

Detroit Red Wings

Goalies: Alex Lyon, Ville Husso and Cam Talbot

The Red Wings appear ready to run with a three-headed monster for the second year in a row – but with a slightly different trio. Lyon and Husso are back to challenge for starts, while Talbot enters the ring as a newcomer with the most NHL experience. Of the two returnees, Lyon established himself as the team’s top goaltender last year, going 21-18-5 with two shutouts and a .904 save percentage. Husso, meanwhile, took a step back, performance-wise, but also suffered multiple lower-body injuries. If Husso can stay healthy, he’s still a decent goaltender capable of good hockey.

But the Red Wings clearly weren’t fully confident in the crease and brought in Talbot over the summer. Talbot was one of the top goalies on the market, and his two-year deal suggests the Red Wings still believe in him late in his career. Talbot had his struggles with L.A., but he still participated in the All-Star Game in a year that saw him play 52 games despite being one of the oldest keepers in the league.

The Red Wings have about $198K in cap space to work with. An easy move would be sending one of the goalies down and hoping for the best – Lyon is paid the most at $4.75 million. But don’t be surprised if they keep all three around for added flexibility like they did a year ago.

On paper, Talbot should be Detroit’s No. 1 goalie. But at the very least, they’ve got three guys that have spent time as an NHL starter over the past few years. All they need is just one to take control.

And if none of that works… maybe they give Jack Campbell a chance again after playing some decent hockey in the AHL later in the 2023-24 season? He’ll be damn hungry to prove people wrong after getting bought out by the Edmonton Oilers last year.

Continued; the exhibition season and the first 10-15 games will solve the Red Wings’ 3-goaltender equation.

Tweets from Tuesday’s Red Wings practice: Seider returns as Wings prepare for Blackhawks

The Detroit Red Wings will begin an 8-games-in-12-nights exhibition season tomorrow when they face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Windy City, but today’s storyline is going to involve the return of Moritz Seider to the Red Wings’ fold:

It appears to be “media day” for the players as well, when promos are filmed for team broadcasts and promotions:

In any case, here we go:

The “morning group” is usually the one that heads out for exhibition games. During the exhibition season, the Red Wings travel to and from their road games on game day.

Anyway, let’s continue:

Continue reading Tweets from Tuesday’s Red Wings practice: Seider returns as Wings prepare for Blackhawks

Allen: On Seider’s return

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reports that Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider is scheduled to make his debut at Detroit’s practice today. I’m presuming that Seider will hold a press conference at some point in the early afternoon:

The Detroit Red Wings are officially whole again today with Moritz Seider expected to return to practice for the first time since signing a seven-year deal for $8.55 million per season.

“Mo’s such a good defender, great defenseman,” teammate Patrick Kane said. “He’s so important playing against top lines every night. Obviously, he’s got a lot of offensive weapons as well, can be dynamic on the power play, can produce offensively from the back end, which is huge.”

Bob Duff wrote Seider may start with Ben Chiarot as his defensive partner, but ultimately the Red Wings may want to see Seider with Simon Edvinsson. The Red Wings need to make sure Edvinsson is ready for top-pairing minutes.

“I still think our top four, even some of our D pairs, will be fluid,” Lalonde said. “Probably like to see Simon and Mo together a little bit.”

Continued

Prospect round-up: Buchelnikov registers three assists for Vityaz

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

I usually try to keep prospect round-ups to one daily article. We’re making an exception this morning, because, in the KHL, Red Wings Prospects on Twitter watched Vityaz Moscow Region lose 6-3 to Admiral Vladivostok, and Vityaz’s Dmitri Buchelnikov put on a clinic against his old team, finishing with 3 assists and a shot on goal in 18:19 played.

The game was played “early in the morning” by Western standards because it took place in Vladivostok, which is so far east in Russia that it’s northeast of North Korea and Japan.

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Buchelnikov registers three assists for Vityaz

Getting Tier-y with The Athletic

I try very hard to share enough of subscriber-only articles to give you a sense of what’s going on without simply dumping the entire content thereof on the blog. It’s a delicate balance, because I want to reveal what’s “behind the curtain,” but I can’t share everything, because I don’t want to get sued.

In this case, a picture “is worth a thousand words” regarding The Athletic’s take on where Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane belong in terms of “player tiers,” per Dom Luszczyszyn, Sean Gentille and Shayna Goldman:

Continued (paywall) with more analysis; yes, they criticize Seider’s capability to handle the difficult match-ups which he faces, and they wonder whether Dylan Larkin has “plateaued.”

As per usual for the Red Wings, the praise machine involves skating “uphill both ways,” especially when it comes to The Athletic’s relationship with Seider. It is what it is.

Take the critiques for what you will. Some will say they’re too harsh, some will say that they’re too lenient, and in either case, we’ll talk about them, which is more or less the point of the expansive article.

Event: Darren McCarty to kick off ‘Red Wings Donut’ campaign on October 2nd

If you’re interested, the Free Press posted an event in which Darren McCarty will appear at the Tim Hortons on Crooks Road in Rochester Hills, MI on October 2nd from 10-11 AM to kick off the annual “Red Wings Donut” (which raises funds for charity) campaign:

Tim Hortons is hosting Darren McCarty to kick off the new Red Wings hockey season!

Join Tim Hortons and Red Wings alumni Darren McCarty for the launch of the Red Wings Donut just in time for the start of hockey season! He’ll be chatting with guests and enjoying some donuts October 2 at its Rochester Hills location on 2258 Crooks Road. Stop by for your morning coffee and donuts and celebrate the kickoff of the Red Wings season!