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 the morning skate 2: Red Wings held an optional skate, so we await the lineup for tonight’s game

Sorry this is late. Here are the morning skate Tweets ahead of tonight’s home exhibition game vs. the Ottawa Senators (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/TSN5):

Red Wings-Senators morning skate Tweets: Lyon starts for Detroit; Sens sending ‘B Team’ to LCA

The Detroit Red Wings will attempt to rebound from a flat-as-month-old-Vernors loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday as they host the Ottawa Senators at Little Caesars Arena this evening (7 PM EDT start on Bally Sports Detroit/TSN5).

Tonight’s game is the second of three games in three nights for the Wings, with Detroit scheduled to play a rematch in Toronto on Saturday night (7 PM, no local TV as of right now).

Alex Lyon will play the entire game for Detroit, whose lineup is likely to be mixed with both NHL’ers and prospects…

It appears that the Sens are sending their “B Team,” however (and it would figure that the Sens practice “backwards” in terms of “game-day” and “non-game-day” groups)…

Continue reading Red Wings-Senators morning skate Tweets: Lyon starts for Detroit; Sens sending ‘B Team’ to LCA

Tweet of note: Stadium Series tickets are on sale to the general public

From the NHL:

The 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series™ at Ohio Stadium is officially on sale to the public!

You now have the opportunity to purchase up to eight (8) tickets for the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series™ on Saturday, March 1, 2025 (Alternate Event Date March 2, 2025, per the Event Refund Policy).*

This is going to be a special game in Columbus and you don’t want to miss out. Click below and score tickets today!

Tweet of note: tickets for ‘Shoresy Fall Classic’ on sale now

Per Little Caesars Arena:

A bit of praise for Axel Sandin Pellikka

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler discusses the NHL’s prospect-and-draft-pick picture a month into prospects’ hockey season, and Wheeler leads his column with one Axel Sandin Pellikka’s early-season performance:

Axel Sandin-Pellikka, RHD, Skellefteå AIK (Detroit Red Wings)

At just 19 years old, Sandin-Pellikka is already an SHL champion, fresh off one of the most productive age-adjusted seasons in the history of Sweden’s top flight for a defenseman, and has been named top defenseman at both U18 worlds and the world juniors. He looks like he has taken yet another step early on in his return to Skellefteå, too. He’s playing more than 19 minutes a night in their top-four, he’s got two goals and five points through six games, and Skellefteå have outscored the opposition 9-4 with him on the ice at five-on-five. He’s defending hard and firm. He looks like a strong 5-foot-11.

…

There are some in Sweden who believe ASP is going to be a star in the NHL, and if he becomes one that could potentially change the calculus for the Red Wings as a team. Seven under-20 defensemen have broken the 20-point mark in SHL history. The list includes names like Victor Hedman, Rasmus Dahlin and Moritz Seider. It seems like a foregone conclusion that ASP makes that group eight this year. The all-time U20 scoring record for a D in the league is 11 goals and 31 points in 45 games, set by the Stars’ Nils Lundkvist. I wouldn’t be surprised if he breaks that too.

Continued (paywall); it’s very early, but Sandin Pellikka has lived up to the incredible hype he’s facing as a star prospect. He’s going to have ups and downs as his season progresses, but there’s little doubt as of now that he’s an important part of the Red Wings’ future.

Talbot’s okay with the Wings’ three-goaltender system

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes that Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot is buying into the Wings’ three-goalie system:

Unless there’s an October surprise coming with the Red Wings roster over the next few days, the team is once again planning to carry three netminders during the regular season. Last year, it was [James] Reimer who was working in the rotation along with Alex Lyon and Ville Husso. This season, Talbot is the third wheel in the group with Lyon and Husso. And it’s a career first for the 12-season NHL puckstopper.

“This is the first time for me, but they did it last year and it worked for them,” Talbot said. “You never know if, when you’re gonna need the other two guys.

“If someone gets hurt, you gotta rely on the other two for a while. So it creates that internal competition for the starts when everyone’s healthy. But the biggest thing for us is we wanna go out there. We wanna be ready to play when it’s our turn. And we want the team to have confidence with whoever’s in net.

“So, that’s on me, Al and Huss to be ready and to give this team a chance to win no matter who’s in net.”

Continued; it may take the first 10-15 games for the goaltending situation to get sorted out, one way or another.

Making the same mistakes

MLive’s Ansar Khan revisits the Red Wings’ 2-0 loss to Toronto this morning, with Khan noting that the Red Wings felt that they could have played more demonstratively last night:

Coach Derek Lalonde said his team at least had a little more compete than Monday’s loss to Pittsburgh in a similar scenario of regulars against prospects and AHLers.

“The last three games have all been the same,” Lalonde said. “You get a young group that’s just not giving you any easy offense. They’re not giving you anything on the rush. And the guys get a little frustrated because they want it to be easy, which it’s never going to happen. You got to ramp up the intensity a little bit if you want any success, and we’ll have an opportunity tomorrow.”

The Red Wings host the Ottawa Senators Friday (7 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit) before wrapping up the preseason Saturday in Toronto (7 p.m.).

Lalonde said his power play, with the top unit (Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane, Moritz Seider) on the ice for most of it, was OK despite going 0 for 4.

“I still think we can have a little bit better puck movement,” he said. “It’s just amazing how as long as your power play is creating looks and getting good touches, it helps with momentum. And we had good looks and some good movement in the third and it created some momentum for the period, though we were not able to score. So still a work in progress. Obviously, we’ll want more out of that power play going into next week.”

Continued (paywall)