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!

It’s not exactly a barn-raising, but the Red Wings need to build themselves up going forward

Among the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan’s Friday notes is this interesting passage:

“[Thursday’s loss] was a tough one,” captain Dylan Larkin told reporters. “Really tough to lose in that fashion and to get zero points. The mindset in our room is we got to get two points, start winning hockey games and getting on a roll here. We’ve been in this position before. I don’t think there’s anyone coming in to save the day.”

There were definitely positives Thursday from the Wings’ perspective.

Husso put together his second real good start, allowing only four goals in the process. The Wings’ penalty kill, an issue the entire season, killed all five Ottawa power plays (one of the best units in the NHL). And with DeBrincat’s goal, the Wings’ power play continued its impressive run.

But, ultimately, one mismanaged play led to a tough defeat. Though, in the obscenely tightly bunched Eastern Conference, the Wings Friday were only three points behind the final wild-card spot.

Somehow, the Wings need to keep driving forward.

“We have to find it from within and show what we’re capable of,” Larkin told reporters. “We have a tough matchup at home on Saturday (against Colorado), then we’re back on the road and then we’re at home until Christmas. It’s time to start playing some hockey and not just set the bar for an overtime loss or getting one point.”

Continued

Via A2Y: Some final Trouba talk

I’m going to be completely honest with you: around 3 PM, 30 or so minutes before the Jacob Trouba trade to Anaheim, I just plain tapped out.

Thursday was a very busy day for my family as Aunt Annie had an echocardiogram at the cardiologist’s office, and getting her dressed and ready, out the door with her walker, into the car, into the office, through the procedure, and then slowly home actually took a lot of energy. It’s funny what it means to essentially be the sherpa for an 82-year-old with two hips that are almost healed (we hit the 8-month-mark in 10 days, woo!)…

But the long story long here is that I got tired and took a nap.

So I missed out on Trouba’s press conference, and, while recording the latest episode of the Flying Octopus Podcast, we missed Trouba’s interview on ESPN+ about his trade to Anaheim.

As such, I’m swiping this from Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman:

I think that Steve Yzerman went down an old road in terms of seeing whether there could be a fit for Trouba and the Wings given that the team was obviously interested in Trouba during the summer, but that window clearly closed.

Let’s move on now.

Friedman: Trouba not waived

Well, the drama continues…There must be trade talks underway with multiple teams.

Duff says “No” to Trouba

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff suggests that the Red Wings should not acquire Jacob Trouba from the New York Rangers:

Hockey people love them some comparables, so let’s get to it. Look at those numbers. Try and decipher one area of the game in which Trouba would provide a major uptick over Chiarot.

Neither has scored a goal this season. Chiarot has three assists, while Trouba shows six helpers. They both log about the same amount of ice time. Chiarot is playing 20:53 per game, while Trouba clocks in at exactly 20:00 per night.

Trouba is -3, while Chiarot is -11, but certainly toiling for a much poorer club. Trouba averages just under three giveaways per game (2.87), while Chiarot is just shy of four (3.75). Trouba has blocked 68 shots and Chiarot has got in the way of 58 shots. Chiarot’s SAT percentage is 41.4, while Trouba is at 45.9.

The physical element of the game is a factor the Trouba supporters are pushing as an upgrade. Well, he’s delivered 39 hits this season, three more than Chiarot. Let’s also remember that Trouba is skating in a third pairing for the Rangers, while Chiarot is logging top-four minutes for Detroit. Chiarot is playing against better opposition.

Not we’re not trying to say that Chiarot’s game hasn’t gone off a cliff this season. It most certainly has taken a downturn. At the time, Trouba isn’t anywhere near the defender he once was.

At this juncture, we still haven’t even talked about the money factor. Chiarot has one more season after this one at $4.75 million. That pact is the cause of no end of anguish among the Detroit faithful, and we’re not saying you’re wrong on that account.

Continued

Khan on ‘winnable games’

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the fact that the Red Wings are finding ways to lose “winnable games” of late:

They lost 5-4 at San Jose on Nov. 18 on Macklin Celebrini’s goal 46 seconds into overtime. Brad Marchand snapped a tie with 8:30 remaining in the third period for a 2-1 Bruins’ victory Nov. 23.

New Jersey scored three power-play goals including the winner by Jack Hughes in the third period for a 5-4 win last Friday. Two days later, Erik Brannstrom tied it with 3:20 to play in regulation before Jake DeBrusk scored in overtime to lift Vancouver 5-4. They lost 2-1 Tuesday in Boston on Pavel Zacha’s OT goal, following a non-call after they thought Alex DeBrincat was tripped behind their net.

And then Thursday they suffered their most frustrating loss, 2-1 at Ottawa, when Josh Norris whipped in a shot from the slot off the rush with 42 seconds left in the third period.

“It seems like we give up two points a lot of nights and that was one of them,” DeBrincat told FanDuel Sports Network. “We played well enough there to get the win.”

The fact the Red Wings (10-12-4) are only three points out of the final wild card spot speaks to the parity in the Eastern Conference and the inability of many teams to gain separation. Still, having six clubs between them and that last playoff spot makes their task all the more difficult.

Continued (paywall)

A bit more Trouba talk as Trouba 2.0 comes to a head

We’re doing a running Twitter-monitoring thread for Trouba watch 2.0, and the Fourth Period has an entry-worthy article regarding potential deals for the New York Rangers‘ soon-to-no-longer-be-captain:

On Thursday evening, the Rangers appear to have options from multiple teams available to them to trade Trouba to, but all four clubs are believed to be on his no-trade list and require him signing off on a deal. A decision is expected Friday by midday.

The Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks and Ottawa Senators are among the teams that have spoken with the Rangers about Trouba. Sources have suggested Columbus is one of the teams that has a tentative deal on the table for him.

Trouba, 30, owns a 15-team no-trade list as part of his contract, which comes with an $8 million salary cap hit and expires after the 2025-26 season.

However, as first indicated by Arthur Staple of The Athletic earlier today, the Rangers have informed Trouba that he will be placed on waivers if he does not accept a trade to one of the teams Rangers management has agreed to, in principle.

And, in case you missed them…

On Larkin and Raymond’s Four Nations Face-Off selections

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills filed an article which discusses Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond’s being selected to play in the Four Nations Face-Off for the U.S. team and Swedish teams, respectively:

“Very happy for [Larkin and Raymond], very well-earned,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said after Thursday’s morning skate at Canadian Tire Centre. “I think both are going to play significant roles for their federations, but [I] also have a little empathy for the guys that didn’t make it. We have a handful of guys in that room that would be right on that bubble, so it’s a good moment for those guys, for sure.”

Larkin said he’s extremely humbled to wear the red, white and blue at 4 Nations Face-Off.

“It’s a great honor,” Larkin said. “To see the list of players and be part of that is a great accomplishment. It’s something I’m very proud of. I thank my wife, my family and my teammates. It’s been a pretty cool honor.”

Raymond expressed similar feelings of pride and gratitude.

“Obviously excited,” Raymond said. “Any time you get the chance to represent your country and play in a tournament like that, it’s always a lot of fun.”

Continued

Allen: Wings’ offense is missing

The Red Wings are amidst an 0-2-and-2 streak as they prepare to play the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night, and it feels like last night’s 2-1 loss to Ottawa will be an inflection point somewhere down the line.

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes, a good chunk of you were watching the Lions-Packers game last night, so Allen gets us up to speed regarding some pertinent Red Wings-related stats this morning:

If you want the abridged version of what’s happening to the Red Wings, it goes like this: Detroit was ninth in the NHL scoring last season at 3.35 goals per game. The team is 27th this season at 2.54.

When you are scoring two or fewer goals in 53.8% of your games, you aren’t to win enough games to qualify for the playoffs. That’s true, even if your defensive play and goaltending are improved.

The hard truth: Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond are playing well. But on the nights they don’t score, winning becomes far less probable. Larkin has one goal in his past seven games and Detroit is 0-2-2 in the last four.

Continued; my “elephant in the room” is the Wings’ lack of secondary scoring.

We know that the penalty-kill is awful, that goaltending has been spotty when Cam Talbot hasn’t been in net, that the PP hasn’t been spectacular, and that the team seems to collapse when bad things happen, but the inability to receive secondary scoring just stings like hell right now.

Vlad Tarasenko has started slowly, as has Patrick Kane (though Kane was injured at least), Erik Gustafsson’s being scratched for Albert Johansson and Justin Holl’s sake, and Marco Kasper may not be putting up points, but he’s been driving play and making offensive players around him better.

The Wings miss David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere about as much as I thought they would miss them.

Trouba watch 2.0

Updated repeatedly at 12:20 PM: Per the New York Post’s Larry Brooks and TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie…

Nobody’s going to pick up Trouba and his $8 million salary off waivers, and he’s still got a 15-team no-trade list, but this indicates that the Rangers’ captain will be traded. The Rangers will have to take back salary, and/or a 3rd team may have to facilitate a trade via taking on cap space for a draft pick and/or assets going that 3rd team’s way.

At this point, it’s just impossible to rule the Red Wings out of the situation given their performance issues and status as rumor mill rumblers last summer.

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter:

Also:

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