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 of note: off to Newark!

The Detroit Red Wings open their regular season tomorrow night against the New Jersey Devils (7:30 PM EDT on ESPN+/hulu), and the Wings headed to New Jersey this afternoon on Red Bird III:

THN’s power rankings: On goaltending

The Hockey News’s Jason Chen filed a set of power rankings this afternoon, and he focuses on the Red Wings’ goaltending depth (or the lack thereof) as a season-opening story line:

22. Detroit Red Wings (35-37-10, -39. CF%: 26, xGF%: 26)

So many players, so little space. The Wings can configure their lineup in all sorts of ways, but they are going nowhere fast if Ville Husso struggles again. They’ve got two insurance policies in James Reimer and Alex Lyon, and Sebastian Cossa looks like he’s still at least a few seasons away.

Continued; Husso can’t do it all without a competent defense!

Press release: Red Wings announce details of ‘Red Carpet Walk,’ home opener festivities

Here’s a very lengthy press release from the Red Wings:

HOCKEYTOWN RED CARPET WALK LAUNCHES RED WINGS OPENING NIGHT THIS SATURDAY, PRESENTED BY COKE ZERO SUGAR AND MEIJER 

  • The Chevrolet Plaza opens at 3:00 p.m., with players expected to walk the Red Carpet between 3:45 and 4:45 p.m.
  • Ticketed and non-ticketed fans at the Hockeytown Red Carpet Walk can interact with current Red Wings players, including brief autograph and selfie opportunities
  • Ticketed fans encouraged to be in their seats by 6:20 p.m. to enjoy the Opening Show 

DETROIT – The fan-favorite “Hockeytown Red Carpet Walk,” presented by Coke Zero Sugar and Meijer, will return to the Chevrolet Plaza outside Little Caesars Arena prior to the Detroit Red Wings’ home opener on Saturday, Oct. 14 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, with puck drop at 7:00 p.m. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. The Red Wings today announced special events surrounding Opening Night, in addition to new features at Little Caesars Arena for the 2023-24 season.

HOCKEYTOWN RED CARPET WALK AND EXPERIENCE

The Hockeytown Red Carpet Walk will begin at 3:45 p.m. at the Trinity Health Garage (165 Sproat St.) and pass through the Chevrolet Plaza.

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings announce details of ‘Red Carpet Walk,’ home opener festivities

A ‘bold prediction’ about David Perron

DobberHockey’s Brendan Des makes “Bold Predictions” for the 2023-2024 season this morning, and his comment about the Red Wings is a little optimistic:

Detroit Red Wings – David Perron flirts with a 70-point pace

A lot of the focus in Detroit seems to be on Alex Debrincat, the team’s high profile offseason acquisition. When people consider who benefits from DeBrincat’s arrival, Dylan Larkin, the team’s captain and top forward is the first name that comes to mind. However, David Perron, who’s set to start the campaign beside Larkin and DeBrincat, is flying under the radar despite being in a great situation. Although Perron posted an underwhelming 56-point pace last year, he’d paced for 65+ points in five straight campaigns before that.

Continued; I’m certain that Perron will score more points this season, but I’m not certain how high he’ll go.

HSJ in the morning: Red Wings spent Tuesday working on special teams

The Free Press’s Helene St. James’ customary morning article discusses the Red Wings’ emphasis on special teams play during Tuesday’s practice:

“We did some three-on-fives, four-on-three, goalie-pulled, situations,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “Slower practice today, but a necessity of getting some things covered and trying to be detailed on it.”

The Wings endured some tough seasons under former coach Jeff Blashill, when a lack of personnel made it hard to assemble even one half-decent man-advantage unit. Even last season, the first under Lalonde, the Wings ranked 17th in the league with a 21.1% success rate on the power play.

But over the summer, general manager Steve Yzerman added players including Alex DeBrincat, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jeff Petry, Daniel Sprong and J.T. Compher, all of whom project to strengthen the special teams. DeBrincat, Gostisbehere and Sprong all are good shooters, and Petry has experience on the point.

Tuesday’s power play units featured Moritz Seider running the first group, with DeBrincat and Gostisbehere on the flanks, David Perron in front of the net, and Dylan Larkin in the bumper role. On the other unit, Petry manned the point, Sprong and Lucas Raymond were on the flanks, Robby Fabbri had the net-front role, and Compher was the bumper.

Petry and Compher both shoot right, as do Perron, Raymond and Seider. That will make the power play units harder for opponents to defend; other options include putting Andrew Copp on a unit if there’s a faceoff situation that would favor a lefty.

“People talk about the added depth, but I think Steve had a little purpose in a lot of things,” Lalonde said. “We have righties and lefties with our forwards, our D. So, we just want to try to get guys in the most comfortable positions possible.”

Continued

Three Athletic things: on coach Lalonde, an ‘oddly specific’ prediction and Bultman on the rebuilding process

Of Red Wings-related note from The Athletic this morning:

  1. Sean Gentille posted an article which discusses whether 9 coaches are on the “hot seat,” including Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde (based upon Vegas odds of coaches being fired):

Derek Lalonde, Detroit Red Wings

Why he’s here: For the first time in a long time, there seems to be actual restlessness among the Wings fan base, and there’s some reason to question the direction of the “Yzerplan.”

Why he shouldn’t be: Internal expectations tend to matter more than anything else, and there’s no reason to believe Detroit’s are high enough to dictate a change, let alone one that’d send out a good coach just starting his second season. The better question is probably what it would take for Lalonde to lose his job at all, even in the offseason. Team-wide defensive regression and a point total below last season’s 80? Maybe. In Max Bultman’s list of realistically bold predictions for the Wings, though, he’s got them at 88 points.

Continued;

2. The Athletic’s “Down Goes Brown,” a.k.a. Sean McIndoe, offers “oddly specific” predictions for all of the NHL’s 32 teams:

Detroit Red Wings: Last season, Moritz Seider was a trendy Norris pick, with a lot of us tagging him as the next blue-line star who’d follow in the footsteps of Cale Makar and Adam Fox by pushing into the very top tier of defensemen. It didn’t happen; he didn’t even get a vote. Is this the season? Yes, but only sort of, as Seider finishes sixth in Norris balloting.

3. And Max Bultman wonders aloud whether the Red Wings have the right to call themselves a rebuilding team any more, given their imports of veteran players during the offseason:

[Alex] DeBrincat’s first observation of his new surroundings last month was still correct: Despite being a rebuilding club, the Red Wings’ average age of 27.7 is much more similar to last year’s Stanley Cup Final participants, Vegas and Florida (27.6 and 27.7, respectively), than to fellow Atlantic Division rebuilders Ottawa (26.5), Montreal (25.7) or Buffalo (25.5).

After a flurry of veteran signings and acquisitions this offseason, Detroit’s opening-night roster is set to include zero first- or second-year NHL players.

And yet, most would agree, they still find themselves behind the Sabres and Senators in that rebuilding process. That’s created a bit of dissonance between the slow, methodical plan Yzerman set out to execute, and the more ready-made roster he has recently assembled.

“Obviously with the trade deadline last year, it seemed like we were going to continue to get younger,” Larkin said this week. “But we brought in — I wouldn’t say really old guys — but we brought in a lot of guys that are late 20s and guys that have been around, and played a lot of hockey games.”

Continued (paywall); if a team is rebuilding until its “next generation” is taking a leading role, then the Red Wings will be rebuilding for a couple of seasons to come. The fact that Detroit’s blended in some “old guys” doesn’t stop the rebuilding process–it merely alters its trajectory.