All posts by 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!

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 →

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.

Have the Red Wings recalled William Wallinder?

HockeySverige.se’s Konrad Gronlund is reporting that the Red Wings have recalled William Wallinder from Grand Rapids:

William Wallinder scored his first AHL goal for the season five days ago.

Now he’s been called up from Grand Rapids and is ready to debut for the Detroit Red Wings. The announcement comes after Swedish Simon Edvinsson injured himself and thus is out of the lineup. This according to several sources, including Around The Horn.

William Lagesson and Swedish affiliation Marco Kasper have also been called up in the NHL. But for both, it’s a summons to the NHL in the crowd.

Wallinder is listed on the Red Wings’ roster page currently:

The Red Wings would have to put a player on IR to find a spot for Wallinder.

Shapiro discusses neck guards with Marco Kasper

EliteProspects’ Sean Shapiro spoke with Red Wings forward Marco Kasper regarding his status as a rare player who wears neck protection, and Kasper had this to say about his choice:

“They’re actually really comfortable for me, with the brand I’ve used with it built into my shirt,” Kasper said. “I think the biggest thing for some guys is the comfort level, they just feel more comfortable without it.”

There’s also an unspoken peer pressure to it, Kasper said. Once you reach the NHL, it’s normal to ditch the neck guard, almost a rite of passage, and when Kasper made his NHL debut during the 2022-23 season, a one-game cameo, he actually did his best to roll the neck guard down to better fit in.

“When you look around and nobody is wearing it, you try to fit in like that,” Kasper said. “So you try to roll it down or don’t wear it all, because you want to be like everyone else, prove you belong. But then the accident happened (with [Nottingham Panthers forward Adam] Johnson), and you think about it and I’ve never thought about rolling the neck guard down again.”

Continued (paywall); I’ve never worn a neck guard as a skater, but the technology is there now, and I think it’s a pretty good idea.

Two more game-day previews

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a game-day notebook which discusses the Red Wings’ need to rely upon an interim set of defensemen with Simon Edvinsson and Ben Chiarot out due to upper-body injuries…

“It has to be (a) next-man-up (mentality),” [Justin] Holl said. “We have a lot of good defensemen here, and we’re confident in our ability to control the situation. Guys might be playing left or right (side), or different sides than they’re used to, but it’s a part of the game. We’re professional and we have to figure it out.”

Lagesson, 28, was signed as an unrestricted free agent on July 1 to be a player capable of providing the Wings NHL experience, for this very type of injury-riddled situation. Lagesson played 16 minutes 18 seconds Saturday on 23 shifts, with a minus-two rating.

“It’s fun to be in the NHL again and I’m going to try to help the team win again,” Lagesson said “I’ll play my game, a hard and tough game.”

The defense was pretty much set coming out of Wings’ training camp, with Johansson securing the bottom-pair/extra defensemen role, not being waiver exempt anymore. Lagesson understood the odds were stacked against him making the opening-night roster.

“There’s always tough competition, but I was hoping to start up here,” Lagesson said. “But I’m here now, and that’s great, and I’m going to advantage of the opportunity. (It was) just a numbers game, and they had some other guys who were going to get an opportunity. Those are the decisions for management, and I’m just trying to do my job and battle hard every day.”

Kulfan also notes the following…

Lalonde isn’t surprised forward Joe Veleno is on a three-game goal-scoring streak.

“We talk about getting out-competed a little bit in Montreal, those guys did not,” said Lalonde, noting the Veleno, Marco Kasper and Jonatan Berggren line. “That was an excellent line, with underlying numbers and scoring, they worked. Joe has done that the last couple of games and he’s been rewarded with it, with some offense.”

And DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted a game preview as well:

Continue reading Two more game-day previews →