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.
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Updated at 11:43 AM: The Detroit Red Wings’ probable “game day” group for Friday’s rematch with the Chicago Blackhawks practiced early this morning at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center:
Group that didn’t play last night practicing first today, minus Patrick Kane who’s not skating. Starting with power play: 1. Compher (net front), Copp (bumper), Bergggren-Tarasenko (flanks), Seider (point). Danielson and Chiasson among those on the second unit. pic.twitter.com/VDKbMPICFL
Red Wings working on special teams in today's practices – first unit in early group has Seider with Compher, Tarasenko, Copp & Berggren. pic.twitter.com/0cPeFsFGK7
Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin ranked the goaltending tandems/trios of the NHL’s 32 teams, and I’m surprised how highly the Red Wings rank, all things considered:
Talbot was one of the NHL’s best goalies for much of last season. He also played with a stingy Kings defense in front of him. It will be interesting to see how he fares with the leaky Red Wings. He’s the presumed 1A, but Lyon had his moments in spurts last season and, weathering a storm of opposing chances, graded out above average in goal saved above expected. Husso, on the other hand, did not. He’s clearly the tertiary option right now.
Continued; I’m gonna be honest and suggest that Lyon was so inconsistent down the stretch that he is probably the Wings’ second option right now, if not the third. Detroit needs to see what Ville Husso can do as well…
But the honest truth is that it’s not up to us. It’s going to be up to the goaltenders themselves to sort their respective situations out over the course of the exhibition season and the first 10-15 games of the regular season.
Is it a cop-out to say that the one problem the Detroit Red Wings have to address is just winning? Perhaps, but that’s what all of it boils down to for GM Steve Yzerman now.
The team he’s put together is his project and this is the vision he’s set forth and they’ve got a lot of excellent players to make it work. Dylan Larkin, Patrick Kane, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider…they’re all outstanding. Their depth of veterans has all been there, seen and done it elsewhere to varying levels of success, and their younger players have grown into this setting.
We could highlight how their possession numbers or scoring chance quality has to be better and the goaltending in general must improve. But they showed for a good part of last season that they can perform at a playoff-caliber level and get back to the postseason for the first time since 2016, but their inconsistency later in the year crushed them and despite a valiant attempt to get back into it late in the year, they fell short again.
The Red Wings have to adopt the old Al Davis saying: Just win, baby. Because if they don’t, the offseason could get really uncomfortable.
Continued; I don’t think that making the playoffs will be the success-or-failure metric for Yzerman and the Red Wings’ management team this upcoming season, but it will factor into the overall assessment as to whether the Wings made forward progress.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 25: Dylan Larkin #71 of the Detroit Red Wings talks with Lucas Raymond #23, Alex DeBrincat #93 and Olli Maatta #2 against the Chicago Blackhawks during the second period of a preseason game at the United Center on September 25, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Between the salary cap’s likely substantial rise next summer and the fact that the roster begins to open up in terms of free agent slots (if you check out PuckPedia), there is potential for substantial change should the Wings not perform up to their fan base’s expectations.
Continued (paywall); here’s his take on Sandin Pellika:
Sandin Pellikka often played 20-25 minutes with the SHL champions last year, including in the playoffs. His 12 goals and 25 goals in 53 combined regular-season and playoff games last season rank among the all-time best U19 seasons in SHL history, alongside names like Victor Hedman and Rasmus Dahlin. He’ll play in a third world juniors this winter for Sweden after helping them to a silver on home ice last year. He’s a strong and competitive 5-foot-11 with real power-play upside. And yet it feels like he flies a little under the radar. Edvinsson has arrived, but folks in Sweden think Sandin Pellikka will be right behind him, with some believing in him as a potential star and others viewing him more as a second-pairing type.
Wheeler is tremendously talented when it comes to evaluating prospects, but player development is an inexact science, and players can develop into better (or worse) players than anybody can prognosticate, even a prospect guru like Wheeler.
Red Wings prospect and University of Michigan junior forward Kienan Draper “took a lap” with new teammate William Whitelaw at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, asking Whitelaw some bemusing questions along the way:
He’s probably not going to make the Red Wings’ roster out of the exhibition season, but his attributes have Red Wings fans and beat writers alike wondering if the Wings might assign Brandsegg-Nygard to Grand Rapids instead of returning him to Skelleftea in the SHL–as the Wings are able to do because they signed Brandsegg-Nygard to an entry-level contract this past summer.
Add in that PTOs can be notoriously hard to turn into actual contracts, and Watson is certainly looking at an uphill battle over the next two weeks in Detroit. But having seen this team up close, from the other side of the ice, he believes he can help them.
“Very familiar with playing against this team, seeing the skill, seeing the high-end players and the growth that this team has taken over the last few years,” Watson said. “But also knowing that a little bit of that physicality, a little bit of that — pardon my French, but a little bit of that ‘F— you’ attitude, a little bit of that toughness, that meanness, is something that looked, potentially, like I might be able to come in here and help provide.”
Watson is quick to note he doesn’t feel he’s made his career as a so-called enforcer. He doesn’t view himself as “the toughest guy in the world.”
“But I’ve not backed down from anybody, ever, either,” he said. “I’m pretty active if you look at the fight card every year, and I take pride in being a loyal teammate and always looking out for guys. But that, I think, comes with playing the game hard: getting in on the forecheck, being fast up the ice, back in the own zone, really taking pride in that 200-foot game.”
Clearly, the Red Wings found that at least worth exploring over the course of the exhibition season.
“We want to have a little of that element,” Lalonde said. “But at the same time, we need the player to help us.”
Continued (paywall); at 6’4″ and 205 pounds, Watson, a former 10th overall pick of the Nashville Predators in 2010, can definitely fit the bill as an enforcer type, and I’m not one for placing a roadblock in front of Carter Mazur, Marco Kasper or Nate Danielson…
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 25: Antti Tuomisto #24 of the Detroit Red Wings and Kevin Korchinski #14 of the Chicago Blackhawks collide during the second period of a preseason game at the United Center on September 25, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
But last night against Chicago, at least, Watson made a seeing-eye pass to Tyler Motte for the Red Wings’ first goal, he looked fully capable of performing in a 4th line role, and there was a growl to his game. There was much more to his game than fisticuffs–which he did not engage in last night–and he looked like a player who is smart enough to know when to pick his spots and when to utilize a good skill set.
I’m not saying that he set the world on fire, and it was just one exhibition game, but it was an encouraging showing nonetheless.
We’ll see what happens over the course of the exhibition season. He may have to sign a two-way contract and start out the season in Grand Rapids, but if he’s willing to do so, I think that it won’t hurt to have somebody riding shotgun for all of the Red Wings’ bright prospects in GR.
I talked about this last night, and this morning, I found a video clip of what happened after A.J. Spellacy laid the boom down on Lucas Raymond via a dangerous clipping play at the Red Wings’ blueline, and Dylan Larkin took the number of the bus that his his teammate, and retaliated in kind.
AJ Spellacy didn’t waste any time getting into the spirit of what once was hockey’s greatest rivalry. Late in the first period, he delivered a big hit to Lucas Raymond in the offensive zone. Moments later, after he had darted back into the Red Wings’ end, he stumbled a bit and ended up taking a Dylan Larkin forearm shiver to the face, prompting the first skirmish of the preseason. Spellacy popped right up and jumped into the fray, shoving Detroit’s Albert Johansson in the face a couple of times. While most of the players were shaking off the rust and easing into the preseason, Spellacy was running around like it was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. That’ll happen when you’re 18 and wearing an NHL jersey in an NHL rink for the first time.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 25: Dylan Larkin #71 of the Detroit Red Wings collides with AJ Spellacy #79 of the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period of a preseason game at the United Center on September 25, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 25: Referees separate the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings during a scuffle during the first period of a preseason game at the United Center on September 25, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
We’ll see what happens in terms of George Parros and the Department of Player Safety over the next 48 hours. Spellacy’s clipping play is clearly dangerous, and Larkin’s “interference” penalty is dangerous as well.
Last season, the Red Wings pushed right to the end for a playoff spot, thanks to the NHL’s ninth best offense (3.35 goals per game) overcoming the ninth worst defense (3.33).
Goaltending woes received some of the blame for the latter, and GM Steve Yzerman turned to 37-year-old Cam Talbot to help solidify that spot. He joins no fewer than five goaltenders trying to stake a claim on NHL playing time in training camp. I believe it was the great John Madden — the football guy, not the former NHL center — who was credited with saying that “if you’ve got two quarterbacks, you’ve got none.”
But in reality, their goaltending (17th in save percentage) wasn’t the problem that their 5-on-5 defense (22nd in expected goals against) was last season. The Red Wings have to prove they can defend well enough to earn a playoff spot. I’m not confident they will, nor am I confident that they’re going to post another 12.1% shooting percentage.
Continued (paywall); again, the Red Wings will simply have to prove the media corps wrong, because we’re going to continue hearing “the Red Wings will be worse this year!” by prognosticators and predictors this fall.
The Detroit Red Wings opened their exhibition season with a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night, kicking off the 8-games-in-12-nights stretch with a victory that took approximately as much effort as one might expect from what was the first game in five months for both teams.
Because the Hawks have scrimmaged so much in training camp, they haven’t spent much time practicing power-play situations yet, and that was evident Wednesday. Their first opportunity produced some good looks, but their three man-advantages after that yielded little. That was one of many areas where the Hawks weren’t sharp in their preseason opener.
“[There were] a lot of sloppy plays…on both ends,” Connor Bedard said. “But it’s all of our first games in four or five months, so [that’s] to be expected a little, I guess. There’s definitely a lot of areas to clean up for both teams.
“It takes a few games to get your legs feeling it. I feel like I did more conditioning than I’ve ever done, and I was still pretty gassed.”
Bedard assisted Teuvo Teravainen for the Hawks’ second goal; Teravainen said his United Center return “felt like the old days” again. Goalie Petr Mrazek saved 20 of 22 shots during his two periods of action.
