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!

Discussing AHL preseason games (or the lack thereof)

Via the Hockeytown West Podcast, Inside AHL Hockey’s Tony Androckitis reports that the Grand Rapids Griffins won’t play a preseason game this upcoming season:

The Hockey News’s Jake Tye wondered aloud whether the Red Wings and Griffins might want Grand Rapids to play in some stand-alone exhibition games in order to further evaluate the Wings’ prospects when the NHL drops down from 8 exhibition games to 4 exhibition games…

Continue reading Discussing AHL preseason games (or the lack thereof)

Prospect round-up: Buchelnikov 1A, Genborg 1G, Anton Johansson 23:13 played on a busy day in Europe

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the KHL, Dmitri Buchelnikov registered an assist, finishing with a penalty, a won faceoff and a hit in 16:18 played as CSKA Moscow lost 6-5 in a shootout to Spartak:

In the SHL, Michal Svrcek dressed but didn’t play a shift as Brynas IF lost 7-5 to Lulea Hockey;

Anton Johansson took 2 shots, finishing even in 23:13 as Leksands IF won 4-2 over Orebro Hockey;

And Eddie Genborg scored a power play goal, finishing at -1 with 2 shots and a minor penalty taken in 15:20 played as Timra IK won 5-2 over Linkopings HC:

Promotional Tweet: Grand Rapids Griffins advertise a ‘Pick ‘Em Plan’

Here’s a little free advertising for the Grand Rapids Griffins:

Kulfan asks 10 training camp questions

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan asks 10 pertinent questions of the Red Wings ahead of the start of training camp on Thursday:

▶ 5. Can Kasper, Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, Elmer Soderblom and Jonatan Berggren take further steps in their careers? It seems vital, since the Wings are banking on internal improvement. All these young players earned NHL opportunities last season and showed promise. If the Wings are going to move up the standings, all these players will need to continue to improve and flourish. Most of them will get key roles, play key minutes, and as their progress goes, so go the Wings in a big way.

▶ 6. Who will play with Larkin and Raymond? As noted above, Kasper thrived playing with these two last season. Copp, returning from injury, would make an interesting fit. Newly acquired James van Riemsdyk, with his style of play and effectiveness around the net, seems well suited. Soderblom and Berggren had chances last season and had some success playing on Larkin’s line. There are a lot of possibilities.

▶ 7. Is there a spot in the lineup for Nate Danielson, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Carter Mazur, or any prospect? The defensive unit appears set, so for Sandin-Pellikka to make the roster, it would seem an injury (or trade) would have to occur. But as good a prospect as Sandin-Pellikka is, some seasoning in Grand Rapids might be best for him adapting to North American pro hockey. There is an extra forward spot available, but the Wings don’t ever want a youngster like Danielson, Mazur or Brandsegg-Nygard to be healthy scratches in the NHL if there’s ample playing time available to them in the AHL. Any of these young forwards would basically have to play well enough to take over someone’s job. It is possible.

Continued (paywall)

Can Michael Brandsegg-Nygard ‘crack the roster?’

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s attempt to make the Red Wings’ roster as a “regular” in the team’s forward corps this month:

Griffins coach Dan Watson liked what he saw from Brandsegg-Nygard in two regular season and three AHL playoffs games and in a pair of prospects games against the Dallas Stars over the weekend.

“We can see he’s a competitor,” Watson said. “He’s winning a lot of 50-50 battles with a stick, with his body. He’s got that quick release shot. So, anything in tight, you know he’s going to get that off. He’s a physical player. He gets right in there. I saw it at the end of the year, just the way that he plays, I don’t think there’s going to be a long transition period for him to get used to how to play here in North America.”

Brandsegg-Nygard focused this summer on his speed, particularly his first three steps, and knows his game is tailor made for the NHL.

“I feel like it’s more physical, and I like to be the physical player of the game,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “I like that it’s always going north. So, we get skating toward the O-zone. And I do not like to play in the D-zone.”

Brandsegg-Nygard was the first of only two Norwegians to ever be selected in the first round of the draft. In the past year, he has played in the SHL and the AHL and in several international competitions for Norway, including the World Junior Championship and the World Championship.

“It helped me a lot that I’ve been playing a lot of different type of hockey,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “I know what to expect and feel comfortable with everything.”

Continued (paywall)

Gibson and Talbot provide an ‘interesting goaltending battle’

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis offers a list of his “most interesting goaltending battles” of the 2025-2026 season:

Detroit Red Wings

John Gibson and Cam Talbot

The Red Wings traded for Gibson at the 2025 NHL Draft, giving them what should be an upgrade over Lyon. And the timing is good, too. Despite missing the start of the season – and thus losing the starter’s gig to Lukas Dostal – Gibson battled back to post some of the best numbers of his 12-year NHL career. At his best, Gibson is fully capable of stealing games.

But was his 29-game clip last year legit? Can the Red Wings be fully confident in him? Or will 38-year-old Cam Talbot have something to say about that? Talbot was great in stretches last year, with his numbers in December suggesting he’d be a good fit for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. He can be a bit hot-and-cold, but when he’s hot, Talbot can be lights out. He’ll want to secure as many starts as possible and prove he can still be Detroit’s No. 1 – but Gibson will be a tough nemesis. Either way, it’s a solid duo.

Continued

Ranking the Wings

Shap Shots’ Sean Shapiro compiled a panel which ranked the Detroit Red Wings’ roster from 23 to 1 today, and here are a few of his rankings:

  1. Moritz Seider, RHD

Average Rank: 2.42

Highest Rank: 1

Lowest Rank: 3

My Rank: 3

It’s hard to believe Seider is only 24, because between his body of work and the discourse surrounding his usage, you’d think he was already a 10-year NHL veteran. Seider is one of the rocks on the Red Wings defense, and his game has been forced to mature in the most difficult situations — how many times have the Red Wings now signed a veteran that’s failed to make his life easier? If he can add a bit of offensive pop, like he had in the final five games of the regular season, his name will come up more when people start discussing the NHL’s top-20 defenders.

  1. Lucas Raymond, RW

Average Rank: 2.28

Highest Rank: 2

Lowest Rank: 3

My Rank: 2

Raymond isn’t just an elite young player, he’s a superstar in waiting. Give him a better supporting cast, and I believe he could be a 100-point player this season. Watching Raymond thrive at the international level only makes me more bullish on that, when he plays with elite players, he becomes a driver that pushes others along the wing.

Continued (paywall)

Simon Edvinsson, future star

Bleacher Report’s Lyle Richardson compiled a list of 10 NHL players who Richardson believes will become star players this upcoming season, and Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson makes the list:

Simon Edvinsson, Detroit Red Wings

A promising performance by Simon Edvinsson was among the few bright spots in another disappointing season for the Detroit Red Wings. After totaling four points in 25 games over the previous two years, the 22-year-old defenseman had 31 points in 78 games with a team-leading plus/minus of plus-12.

The sixth-overall pick in the 2021 draft, Edvinsson’s emergence as a potential top-line defenseman was much-anticipated by Red Wings fans. His performance last season while logging 21:07 minutes of ice time per game suggests bigger things to come.

At 6′ 6″ and 209 pounds, Edvinsson towers over his opponents. He also has the all-around skills to dominate play. Given his age, he still has plenty of time to grow his game.

Edvinsson’s solid play gives the Red Wings some options. They can put him on the first pairing with Moritz Seider to form one of the best young pairings in the league, or they can have him play on the second pairing to spread skill among their top four.

Continued

Pre-camp fundraising

It’s that time again.

I didn’t think that it was appropriate to ask last week so that we could have a quiet pre-camp week, and I didn’t think it was appropriate to ask when I had my anxiety attack last Saturday. But training camp starts this Thursday, and I’m going to be putting in four twelve-to-fourteen-hour days for the blog’s sake (with Aunt Annie’s permission, given that I’m her caregiver)…

So it’s time to do some fundraising again. Aunt Annie and I are simply trying to pay the bills. I’m gonna be honest in stating that it isn’t easy to get by while we’re paying down debt and just trying to make things work as the grocery bill balloons; I’m sure that you’re experiencing the latter phenomenon as well.

I’d love to start saving for a new laptop as it’s badly needed after five years’ worth of service, but Operation Potato will have to wait for now. Right now, we need to survive, and and I need to make sure that you receive a good training camp’s worth of content.

This is just the reality of having a blog with no ads. We have to fundraise to get by.

Continue reading Pre-camp fundraising

At 32 years of age, John Gibson hopes to prove his critics wrong–again

The Hockey News’s Jake Tye posted an article from THN’s yearbook, in which Jared Clinton profiles Red Wings goaltender John Gibson at significant length:

IN AN IDEAL WORLD – and some might suggest in a just one – John Gibson wouldn’t have such a big chip on his shoulder. There’s even an argument that he shouldn’t have one in the first place. After all, by just about any measure, Gibson has had a charmed career.

But at his introductory press conference as a new member of the Detroit Red Wings, Gibson couldn’t help but repeat that this is an opportunity to show that he has plenty left in the tank. Five times, he hit on some variation of that theme. He brought it up when talking about what excites him about heading to Hockeytown. He brought it up when he talked about his fit in the Red Wings’ lineup. And he brought up again when talking about leaving Anaheim.

With that last one, Gibson wasn’t striking an aggrieved tone or tenor. Not necessarily. The truth, however, is that the 32-year-old’s departure from the Ducks, with whom he has spent every moment of his big-league career, has been a long time coming.

For the past few years, Gibson’s name has been grist for the rumor mill, whether in-season or during the dog days of summer. There were moments when it seemed close. There was the moment when a public statement had to be made denying that he had demanded out of Anaheim. But what has long seemed fait accompli is now a reality. After more than 10 years, he’s on the move from the white-sand beaches of Southern California to the blue-collar Motor City. “It’s tough being in one place for so long, and you’ve got to say bye to a lot of close friendships with people within the organization and outside the organization,” Gibson told reporters. “But me and my family are ready for the next chapter. I still feel like I’ve got a lot left to prove.”

See? There Gibson goes, hinting at some unfinished business and sounding more like an upstart itching to make a name for himself than the well-credentialled keeper he is. And that phrase – “a lot to prove” – is going to come up again in these next 1,000-plus words. But maybe that’s because there’s something to it.

Continued