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!

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.

Duff: ASP started out as a forward

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted an article this morning which discusses Axel Sandin Pellikka’s history as more than a defenseman who joins offensive rushes:

At the age of 10, Detroit Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka desperately wanted to attend a hockey school in his native Sweden. The problem is, the only spots open at the school were for defenseman.

Sandin Pellikka was a forward. With emphasis on the was.

“In my youth I was mostly a forward,” Sandin Pellika said in an interview with SHL.se. “I remember I was at a hockey school, but I don’t remember where, and it only had (defense spots) left. Then I registered as a (defenseman) and after that I was a (defenseman).

“I thought I can score from that position too, haha.”

Continued

Lalonde, Larkin discuss the Wings’ de-facto underdog status

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde and captain Dylan Larkin regarding the Red Wings’ status as a team with much to prove this upcoming season:

“Obviously, no one has us making the playoffs,” Lalonde said. “I don’t necessarily have that as a knock on our guys. There’s really nowhere to go in the division. … I saw an article, ‘The 10 Hopeless Teams.’ I scrolled through and we’re the first hopeless team. It’s up to us to change that narrative. Playing the right way and establishing an identity, creating a little bit of a process will give us a chance to talk about (playoffs). Last year through three-quarters of the season, we were right there because we were playing the right way. Now we have to get there again.”

….

“I know Steve and Newsie have not really set an expectation,” Larkin said. “The guys in the room, we want more. There’s a good attitude. There’s guys coming in that have been on teams that have been locks for the playoffs. There’s veteran players, guys going into contract years. I like the dynamic of everyone’s situation on our team.”

Still, they will need a lot more than the 80 points they accumulated last season, coupled with significant decline from multiple teams that finished ahead of them.

Lalonde said the ‘underdog’ label might be a little extreme in describing his team.

“Probably more of a reality where the conference and division are at,” Lalonde said. “I don’t think we’re going to go in there ‘Us vs. the World, no one believes in us.’ Just do the right thing and let’s see where this plays out.”

Continued

A quick Red Wings-Devils preview

The Associated Press posted a short preview ahead of tomorrow night’s season-opener between the Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils (7:30 PM EDT on ESPN+/hulu):

BOTTOM LINE: The New Jersey Devils host the Detroit Red Wings in the season opener.

New Jersey had a 52-22-8 record overall and a 27-16-4 record in home games last season. The Devils scored 3.5 goals per game last season while allowing 2.7 per game.

Detroit had a 35-37-10 record overall and a 16-20-5 record in road games last season. The Red Wings averaged 3.3 power-play chances per game last season, and converted on 21.1% (57 total power-play goals).

INJURIES: Devils: Erik Haula: day to day (undisclosed), Dougie Hamilton: out (wrist).

Red Wings: Matt Luff: out (undisclosed), Carter Mazur: out (undisclosed).