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!

Morning skate part 2: Wings’ ‘A Team’ skates late

The Red Wings hit the ice for their morning skate ahead of tonight’s game in Pittsburgh (7 PM EDT on SportsNet Pittsburgh, DetroitRedWings.com and 97.1 the Ticket) an hour after the Penguins held their skate:

If you missed it, here’s the Pens’ roster for tonight’s game. Familiar faces in goal:

After the skate ended…

Continue reading Morning skate part 2: Wings’ ‘A Team’ skates late

A bit of praise for MSU’s Trey Augustine

FloHockey’s Chris Peters ranks his top 25 NCAA Division I hockey incoming freshmen this morning, and Trey Augustine of Michigan State earns the 8th spot:

8. Trey Augustine, G, Michigan State (Detroit Red Wings)

A massive piece for a resurgent Michigan State team, Augustine is expected to get a lot of the starts in net for the Spartans. He is likely to be the No. 1 goalie for Team USA at the World Junior Championship, too. After closing out his year by being USA’s best player in a tight gold-medal game against Sweden, Augustine brings a championship pedigree to the Green and White. He’ll also have an awful lot of fans in Red and White as Augustine was a second-round pick of the nearby Detroit Red Wings who will be keeping close tabs on the netminder with an especially high hockey IQ and polished technique.

Continued; Shai Buium’s brother, Zeev, earns a shout-out as well.

It’s preseason interview time for Bally Sports Detroit’s Trevor Thompson

Per Bally Sports Detroit on Twitter/X/whatever…

And from yesterday…

The Athletic’s Joe Smith profiles new NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh

The Athletic’s Joe Smith posted a profile of new NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh, who is attempting to restore a level of trust in his union:

In his introductory news conference in late March, Walsh vowed to bring a “different” style of leadership. And it feels like Walsh is going with a more personal approach. He’s starting his fall tour of team visits next week, heading to Las Vegas for the Golden Knights’ season opener. He plans to meet with every player in the NHL by Christmas. He went to the BioSteel camp in Halifax this summer and the European NHL Media Tour in Stockholm. He’s checked in with many players by phone.

And Walsh is giving them all his personal cell phone number.

The NHL and NHLPA jointly established and launched a hotline, operated by an independent third-party provider, that enables players, staff and anyone else in the NHL ecosystem to report unethical behavior and misconduct. This is separate from the line established by the long-standing NHL/NHLPA player assistance program.

But it was telling that Babcock’s behavior was sparked by a whistleblowing player going to “Spittin’ Chiclets,” not the league. Walsh hopes to change that, saying he’s already heard concerns from players on other issues.

“It’s about building relationships,” Walsh said. “I’m working with some players who have come up to me with other things. They didn’t go through the hotline or a podcast; it came directly to me or (Hainsey). Let’s be honest: I’m still fairly early in this journey. So the players know me directly or by hearsay or through somebody. By Christmas, I’m going to have met every single player in the NHL at least once — and a lot of them will be multiple times. After our fall tour, there’s no reason for a player to not call us directly.

“That’s what we’re going to do here.”

Continued (paywall)

Red Wings-Penguins preseason morning skate stuff: Pens skate in P’burgh; prospective Wings roster posted

The Red Wings did not hold a morning skate today, so the Pittsburgh Penguins are our subject ahead of tonight’s game between Pittsburgh and Detroit at PPG Paints Arena (7 PM EDT on DetroitRedWings.com and 97.1 the Ticket):

And the Red Wings haven’t officially posted their roster, but…

FYI:

Big update: the Red Wings did hold a morning skate after all:

Morning mishmash: On Chiarot, Hutchinson, Danielson and the Kraken Plan

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

  1. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s defense of Ben Chiarot, who was -31 last season:

“He can put a lot of value in,” Lalonde said. “Beating the Ben Chiarot drum, he’s extremely valuable to us. Even last year, fielding some questions on some of his underlying numbers and plus/minus, we think he’s very valuable to us in a lot of ways.”

At 6-foot-3 and 232 pounds, Chiarot is capable of playing a heavy game and being a physical presence between the boards. That was an element that was in short supply with the Red Wings last season. Looking to some other numbers, those digits are telling a story of how Chiarot was delivering the goods in other areas of the game.

He was second among the club’s rearguards in hits (147) and blocked shots (163). Chiarot was parrying pucks at a team-high per-game rate of 6.24.

“I think that’s one of the reasons why people are getting away from that black and white plus/minus,” Lalonde said. “I still think there’s some value to it. But at the same time, there’s a reason that black and white plus/minus is getting faded out around the league. He was culpable for some of it but a lot of it was circumstantial.”

2. The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an article regarding Wings try-out goaltender Michael Hutchinson:

Continue reading Morning mishmash: On Chiarot, Hutchinson, Danielson and the Kraken Plan

Tweets of note: Pens’ roster for tonight’s game; Red Wings to stream Sportsnet Pittsburgh feed

The Detroit Red Wings will play their sixth preseason game tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins (7 PM EDT start on Sportsnet Pittsburgh, 97.1 FM). Here is tonight’s Penguins roster…

And it appears that the Red Wings may stream the game on DetroitRedWings.com:

Late-night Red Wings-Blackhawks quips and quotes

Okay, I posted my Tweetcap of the Red Wings’ 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday evening, and the other media folks posted recaps sans quotes, including MLive’s Ansar Khan, the Free Press’s Kirkland Crawford (photo gallery attached) and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan (photo gallery attached).

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills also added a few comments from coach Derek Lalonde and forward Joe Veleno…

Lalonde on dressing more inexperienced players Tuesday night: “It’s good. It’s opportunities for some of our inexperienced guys in a tougher situation, no different than what we faced at home with the some of the lines we faced. Some of our younger d-men had some experience against some of these top-caliber-type forwards.”

Lalonde on Veleno: “I love the finish on both those plays. That’s a very good sign and good game from Joe. Had some looks and a big impact on the game, which was great.”

Veleno on his two-goal performance: “I felt good tonight. I think our line was clicking. We had some good chances and good o-zone time. We showed some flashes. Now we just got to keep going and be consistent here all throughout camp.”

Veleno on the pushback from Detroit’s younger players: “I thought we did a pretty good job of fighting back. They had pretty much their full lineup, a couple players missing.”

And Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff pondered the timing of goaltending try-out Andrew Hutchinson’s inclusion on the Red Wings’ training camp roster:

Continue reading Late-night Red Wings-Blackhawks quips and quotes

Red Wings-Blackhawks preseason quick take: It’s a Tweetcap as the Red Wings lose 4-2

The Detroit Red Wings kicked off a busy stretch of 3 preseason games to be played over the course of 3 nights tonight in Chicago, where they lost a 4-2 decision to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago opened the scoring only 2:09 into the 1st period, scoring the 1-0 goal via one Corey Perry:

The Hawks rushed out to a 6-2 shot advantage before Detroit was able to push back some 10:00 into the 1st, narrowing the shot deficit to 7-5…

But William Wallinder took a holding penalty at 10:03, and Chicago headed to the power play.

Detroit killed the penalty.

As the game continued, the Red Wings were icing the following lines:

Continue reading Red Wings-Blackhawks preseason quick take: It’s a Tweetcap as the Red Wings lose 4-2

Comparing the Red Wings and Blackhawks’ rebuilding processes

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Thompson posted an article which discusses comparisons and contrasts between the rebuilding Red Wings and the rebuilding Blackhawks. It’s at least interesting pregame reading:

Last season Detroit finished 12 games out of wild-card contention; the Hawks, 36. Both franchises consider themselves in the midst of a rebuild, although at different points in the spectrum.

The Hawks are early enough in their makeover that fans can fill their heads with the illusions that optimism and high draft picks bring.

The Wings once harbored similar hopes, but they haven’t cracked the playoffs since 2017. General manager Steve Yzerman’s rebuild keeps rebuilding.

In a poetic twist, one player symbolizes where the Hawks and Wings are on their respective roads to contention: Alex DeBrincat.

For the Hawks, trading DeBrincat, who wasn’t scheduled to play Tuesday, to Ottawa in July 2022 cemented the notion the teardown wasn’t just talk (or temporary).

For the Wings, trading to acquire DeBrincat from Ottawa on July 9 (for a package that includes Dominik Kubalik and a 2024 conditional first-round draft pick), is an acknowledgment they need to go big to get over the hump.

“We did trade a first-round pick, which I am loathe to trade first-round picks, particularly at the start of the season because you don’t know what pick you’re trading, but we did that to acquire Alex DeBrincat, who’s a young player, so he fits into the timeline of our team,” Yzerman said, according to mlive.com. “But we’re still in a phase of acquiring talent and letting them develop.”

Continued; there is of course one big difference between Detroit and Chicago, and his name is Connor Bedard.