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!

Tweet of note: Here are the Red Wings and Maple Leafs’ rosters for tonight’s exhibition game

Here are the rosters for the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs ahead of tonight’s exhibition game between the teams in Toronto (7 PM EDT on TSN4/ESPN+/DetroitRedWings.com/97.1 FM):

‘Thinking we know’ there’s a blown tire on the Yzerplan

Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen offers a column in which he discusses what he “thinks he knows” about each and every one of the Atlantic Division’s 8 teams:

DETROIT RED WINGS: We shudder to doubt the “Yzerplan” in Detroit, given the GM’s track record and the fact that, yes, they did hang in the playoff race until the near-end of last season. Still, we think we know that Steve Yzerman’s rebuild of the Detroit Red Wings is going to start falling behind others in the Atlantic this season. It’s not that this is an inherently bad team. There is a decent mix of veterans and youth, and adding Alex DeBrincat brings the possibility of a game-breaking goal scorer. But do they have the same growth potential as an Ottawa or Buffalo? Is there any chance Columbus could leapfrog them from the Metro? We think we know some tougher questions are going to be asked after this season.

Continued; lottery luck has not been kind to the Red Wings, so they’ll have to import some talent to Detroit via free agency. Just a fact.

Red Wings-Maple Leafs morning skate Tweets, part 1: Leafs ‘take an optional’

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ media horde, I mean corps, reports that the Leafs are taking an optional morning skate ahead of tonight’s game vs. the Red Wings in TO (7 PM EDT start on TSN4/ESPN+/DetroitRedWings.com, 97.1 FM), but TSN’s Mark Masters believes that the Leafs will dress the following lines…

Given that the Maple Leafs already posted their lineup for tonight’s affair:

The Leafs haven’t played since October 2nd, and are 2-and-1 in the preseason; Detroit’s wrapping up a 3-in-3 stretch, and is 4-and-2.

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs morning skate Tweets, part 1: Leafs ‘take an optional’

DHN’s Duff offers 5 reasons why the Red Wings might not make the playoff cut

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a subscriber-only article which discusses 5 reasons why the Red Wings might not make the playoffs this season, including the following:

Is DeBrincat An Elite Scorer Without Kane?

During his NHL career, new Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat has produced a pair of 41-goal seasons. Both came with the Chicago Blackhawks and Patrick Kane figured prominently as DeBrincat’s linemate in both of those productive campaigns.

Take away those two seasons and DeBrincat’s career goal-scoring works out to 26.25 goals per season. He tallied 27 times for Ottawa last season.

Who’s Going To Step Aside For Red Wings To Move Up?

It took 92 points to reach the NHL playoffs in the Eastern Conference last season. Detroit wound up with 80 points. That means at minimum, the Red Wings must win an additional six games this season.

However, there’s more to the math than simple addition when it comes to qualifying for playoff hockey. Other teams ahead of them must display a decline in their fortunes. Two of the top three finishers in the Atlantic Division last season wound up with triple digits in points, while Tampa Bay garnered 98. Only the Florida Panthers (92 points) were even close to residing in the Red Wings’ neighborhood.

And don’t forget that Detroit will also be required to leapfrog Pittsburgh (91), Buffalo (91) and Ottawa (86), other non-playoff squads that finished ahead of the Red Wings in the standings.

Continued (paywall)

Tweet of note: Maple Leafs post roster for tonight’s exhibition game

Here’s the Toronto Maple Leafs’ roster for tonight’s exhibition game vs. the Detroit Red Wings in Toronto (7 PM EDT start on TSN4/ESPN+/DetroitRedWings.com, 97.1 FM):

The forward lines look like an NHL roster.

Morning ramble: Five versus eight

Your morning ramble:

I was taking a peek at the Toronto Maple Leafs’ exhibition schedule on their website this morning, and Toronto has only played in 3 exhibition games thus far, going 2-and-1.

Now the Red Wings have turned over a good 40% of their roster, so it could be argued that their players and coaching staff need “more reps” on the ice to acclimate themselves to the team’s systems of play and their teammates’ tendencies…

But Detroit is finishing an unprecedented 3-games-in-3-nights schedule, the kind of thing that AHL and ECHL teams face, and they’re doing so as they play their 7th of 8 exhibition games by facing Toronto tonight (7 PM EDT at Scotiabank Arena; on TSN4, ESPN+, DetroitRedWings.com and 97.1 FM) and then hosting the Leafs on Saturday (on TSN4, Bally Sports Detroit and 97.1 FM).

In my opinion, playing in 8 exhibition games over the course of only 12 preseason nights is a bit nuts.

Continue reading Morning ramble: Five versus eight

Tweet of note: Red Wings to stream tonight’s game vs. Toronto

The Detroit Red Wings will battle the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena tonight, and the game is on TSN4 in Canada and ESPN+ in the U.S. It also appears that the Red Wings’ website will stream the game, per an early-morning Tweet:

HSJ in the morning: on Jeff Petry’s ability to generate offense

The Free Press’s Helene St. James’ morning article discusses Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry’s ability to help the team produce offense from their blueline:

“We need offense throughout our lineup,” coach Derek Lalonde said Wednesday. “I think the added depth in the offseason had a lot to do with just adding some goals throughout, and he can contribute there.”

Petry projects to help the Wings at even strength, and fortifies the second power play unit, where, during exhibition season, he has either played the point or been a shooter. The nice thing for the Wings is that either Petry or fellow defenseman Jake Walman is an option to put there.

“Both can run it and both can play in that shooter’s spot, and they’re both good on breakouts, good poise,” Lalonde said.

Petry has 353 points, 100 of them on the power play, in 864 career NHL games. His ability to maneuver the puck was a key part of the attraction that drove general manager Steve Yzerman to acquire Petry in mid-August, when he was available on a great deal: The Wings sent the Montreal Canadiens little-used defenseman Gustav Lindstrom and a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2025 for Petry, whose $6.25 million salary cap hit (through 2024-25) will be covered partly by the Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins, to the point it only costs the Wings $2,343,750 annually. That’s a reasonable price for a player who makes the Wings better in multiple ways.

“He’s a veteran, solid player,” Walman said. “He takes command a lot out there and it’s nice having him. It feels steady. Off the ice he’s got a lot of wisdom, as well, and he’s been in those places that we all want to be, and those games late in the season, so we can lean on him a little bit.”

Continued; as discussed last night, Petry’s 35, so it’s hard to expect him to post 45 points this upcoming season, but I think that 25-30 points are a realistic total, and the Red Wings need as much help as they can get in terms of scoring from the blueline.

The Athletic’s McIndoe offers kind-of-sort-of hope for Wings fans

Getting tired of the condescending tone with which NHL pundits are issuing platitudes about the Red Wings being destined to stink this upcoming season? I am.

It’s aggravating to be patted on the head and told, “There there, hockey partisan, your team will be fine in a couple of years, presuming that Steve Yzerman isn’t the total managerial moron that I suggested during my summertime columns.”

Well, that tone almost continues today as The Athletic’s ever-prolific Sean McIndoe offers “Hope for the NHL’s 10 most hopeless teams in 2023-24,” though I’ll readily admit that McIndoe offers a sympathetic ear toward the fact that the fans of teams that aren’t projected to do well are pretty tired of hockey predictions by now:

Detroit Red Wings

The projections say: 85 points, and a 14 percent chance of making the playoffs.

Why they’re probably right: The Red Wings should be better than last year, with Alex DeBrincat on the top line and other reinforcements added. But the Atlantic is stacked, with four established teams meaning there may only be one playoff spot available. The model likes the Senators and Sabres better, and it’s hard to argue. The Red Wings just don’t seem to have the ceiling that Ottawa or Buffalo do, leaving a disappointing seventh-place finish as the most likely outcome.

But hear me out: You don’t have to squint all that hard to see the Wings being the best of the three young Atlantic teams. Both Ottawa and Buffalo have questions in goal, and while there’s a gap in upside talent, it’s not necessarily huge. If DeBrincat finds his 40-goal scoring pace again, and Moritz Seider moves back into the Norris discussion without Ben Chiarot dragging him down, then the Wings are right there. Mix in some luck when it comes to injuries and goaltending, and Detroit could be the team leading the way for that one spot.

But wait — are we sure there’s only one spot in the Atlantic? The Panthers weren’t very good last year until the playoffs, and their blue line is hurting. The Bruins lost Patrice Bergeron and should take a big step back. The Maple Leafs are the Maple Leafs. And the Lightning losing Andrei Vasilevskiy for two months could shake up the entire division. Maybe this is the year of a big shift in the division, and if so the Wings are well-positioned to slide in and take advantage.

Convincing? Hopefully, because it only gets tougher from here.

Continued (paywall); I know that McIndoe means well. I appreciate the fact that he means well. I’m just a little weary of the, “Well, if all goes well, your team’s destined to be a ‘mushy middle’ team that’s first-round fodder” spiel. That’s not Sean’s fault.