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!

Cuts will have to wait

Just a quick note about the fact that the Red Wings are going to make their roster cuts a little later than most teams.

As all of you know by now, the Grand Rapids Griffins and Toledo Walleye tend to split off as AHL and ECHL teams begin training camps this week, but the Red Wings are playing 3 road games over the course of 3 nights this week (Tuesday @ Chicago, Wednesday @ Pittsburgh and Thursday @ Toronto), so while the Wings might start waiving players this week…

They’re going to need “two teams'” worth of players until at least Thursday, so I can’t imagine any significant numbers of roster cuts before then.

That’s a good thing for players like Alex Lyon (who could be plucked off the waiver wire), try-outs Artem Anisimov and Michael Hutchinson, and a bunch of younger players who have merited long looks in the exhibition season (see: Nate Danielson and William Wallinder, among others).

Eventually, Griffins coach Dan Watson and Walleye coach Pat Mikesch will get their players before Grand Rapids opens its regular season on October 13th and 14th at home vs. the Colorado Eagles, and Toledo plays its exhibition games vs. the Kalamazoo K-Wings on the 13th and 14th of this month as well.

But right now, the Red Wings need as many bodies as possible, so yes, we’ll see some waiver wire dumps over the course of the week, but we won’t see many reassignments until Thursday or Friday.

I do believe that the NHL requires its teams to be 23-man roster compliant by 5 PM next Monday, so the team will have to make its Lyon-or-Reimer and does-Danielson-get-a-9-game-try-out decisions by next Monday.

Well, it’s more like a ‘sick long weekend’

My apologies for the radio silence over the past three days.

I figured that one day would be enough to shake this “Traverse City flu,” but it’s taken three full days to just start feeling human again as Aunt Annie and I brought a bug back in addition to the fatigue from the trip (mostly because I was doing two jobs, writing and full-time caregiving).

I’ll try to rev up the blog a little later today, and I’ve got some catching up to do this afternoon/evening, as health allows. I’m not feeling at 100% by any means, but I don’t need to be at 100% to blog these days, so we’ll see what I can do.

I want to thank you for your patience and promise to keep you in the loop a little more going forward.

Red Wings-Capitals preseason quick take: It’s a winning Tweetcap!

The Detroit Red Wings won a 5-2 preseason decision over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, pushing their preseason record to 2-and-1.

The Red Wings will host the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday evening (7 PM, NBC Sports Chicago only), kicking off a slate of 5 preseason games played over the course of 7 crazy nights (Tuesday @ Chicago, Wednesday @ Pittsburgh and Thursday @ Toronto) punctuated by the preseason finale against Toronto next Saturday night (7 PM on Bally Sports Detroit).

Austin Czarnik opened the scoring 7:19 into the 1st, from Cross Hanas:

Moritz Seider slithered a point shot through traffic to make it 2-0 at 13:12 of the 1st, on the power play, from Lucas Raymond and Robby Fabbri, who would leave the game in the 2nd period with an upper-body injury:

Continue reading Red Wings-Capitals preseason quick take: It’s a winning Tweetcap!

Taking a ‘sick day’

Hey everybody,

I crashed yesterday evening, and both Aunt Annie and I have the “Traverse City flu”–in other words, exhaustion after a long trip and travel–so I’m going to take a “sick day.”

I know that this is not ideal as things move fast during the preseason, but I’m a French fried potato in terms of burn-out today.

I’ll try my best to get my butt back to work later today, but if I can’t, I’ll do my best to get back sometime tomorrow.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for reading.

Kulfan on an uncomfortable Kasper

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an afternoon notebook which discusses Marco Kasper’s return to health and status as playing tonight in the exhibition game vs. Washington, via coach Derek Lalonde’s assessment of Kasper’s potential:

Coach Derek Lalonde is pleased how the Wings’ organization has identified young players like Kasper and Nate Danielson, the Wings’ first-round pick in June, who are projecting to be fine two-way centers.

“I love what we’re doing and trying to do,” Lalonde said. “(When) you miss out on those top two picks year after year, those generational-type players, where we’re slotted in the lottery, we’ve got an identity of when we get there, we’ll be really hard to play against. Those are the type of players we keep trying to add on, which is exciting for a coach.”

Lalonde likes what he has seen out of Kasper in the rookie’s first NHL training camp.

“He’s played a little bit to his identity, which I like, a 200-foot (of ice) guy, good in every situation, every area,” Lalonde said. “It’s just experience. (He was) a little slow at getting over top in the Red/White game and got caught in a bad situation. Trying to do a little bit too much with the puck at times.

“But it’s part of his development. I’ll have a better feel in a game situation.”

Playing against a good Washington preseason roster will be a good test for young players like Kasper.

“It’s putting our young guys in some uncomfortable situations, which typically happens in the preseason when you get a very good (opposing) lineup,” Lalonde said.

Continued

Stockton on the Wings’ preseason lineup tonight

Among the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton’s game-day notes ahead of tonight’s preseason match–up with Washington (7 PM EDT on DetroitRedWings.com/Monumental Sports Network):

The game group for this evening’s trip to D.C. will feature a roughly 50/50 split between established NHLers and youngsters. After the group’s skate, Lalonde noted that the roster Detroit will bring to Washington is deeper than standard first preseason away game fare, but that the Red Wings plan to mix and match a bit with line combinations throughout the evening.

“That first [preseason] game usually ends up being at home, you play your veteran-type players,” Lalonde explained, when asked about who Marco Kasper might play beside this evening.  “Obviously we had a strong line-up compared to Pittsburgh the other night, so we’re probably two lines deep NHLers and prospects [again tonight], so we’ll work them in and out with some different centers, sometimes some shifts that take place after special teams.  So short answer, you’ll be seeing a lot of different guys on the wing tonight.”

In net, Lalonde announced that the plan will be for Alex Lyon to start and Sebastian Cossa to come on for the back half of the game.  

Lalonde noted that he’s seen strides from Cossa since a disappointing performance at the Prospects Tournament, saying: “I thought he had a good camp.  Obviously, things didn’t go his way in the rookie tournament, but at the same time, part of growth is handling all those experiences.  We were here a year ago talking about how well he played in the rookie tournament.  So I think part of that growth is him handling different adversities, and that was one.”

Continued

Prospect round-up: Axel Sandin Pellikka scores in Skelleftea AIK win over Albert Johansson’s Leksands IF

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the SHL, Theodor Niederbach finished even with a 1-and-7 faceoff record in 15:19 played as MoDo Hockey won 2-1 over Rogle BK;

And in a battle of Red Wings prospects, Skelleftea AIK won 2-1 over Leksands IF:

Axel Sandin Pellikka scored a goal on 4 shots, finishing even in 14:23 of ice time:

And Anton Johansson finished with 1 shot, 1 penalty and 10:39 played for Leksand.

Belated morning skate Tweets: Lyon and Cossa split tonight’s preseason game vs. Washington

Of Red Wings-related note from today’s morning skate ahead of tonight’s game vs. Washington (7 PM EDT on DetroitRedWings.com/Monumental Sports Network), (sorry, I’m sick today):

Khan: Kasper gearing up for Wings-Caps tilt

Red Wings forward prospect Marco Kasper will play in tonight’s exhibition game against the Washington Capitals (7 PM EDT on DetroitRedWings.com and the Monumental Sports Network), and MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Kasper today:

The Red Wings are dressing only a handful of players projected to be on their season-opening roster (top lines will feature Robby Fabbri-J.T. Compher-Daniel Sprong and Klim Kostin-Joe Veleno-Christian Fischer and a top defense pairing of Olli Maatta-Justin Holl).

“I especially like the fact that it’s putting our young guys in some uncomfortable situations, which typically happens in the preseason when you get a very good (opposing) lineup,” Lalonde said.

The Capitals are expected to dress many of their regulars, including Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

“Nicklas Backstrom was one of my favorite players growing up,” Kasper said. “I watched him a lot. It’s going to be really exciting to play against him.”

Kasper, 19, described his performance in the Prospects Tournament as tough.

“It’s hard to make that adjustment right away to the smaller ice,” he said. “I struggled a bit in the beginning. … Everything is just quicker with the smaller ice. I to adjust. I’m just trying to prove every day I’m getting better and better.”

Continued