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!

A ‘plateauing’ rebuild?

CBS Sports’ Austin Nivision offers a set of the “most interesting teams” to watch over the course of the 2024-2025 season, and he includes the Detroit Red Wings on his list:

Detroit Red Wings

Steve Yzerman is a franchise legend, and he has enough hockey knowledge to fill a few bookshelves. That said, it’s probably time for “The Yzerplan” to start coming together in Detroit. The Red Wings haven’t reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2016, and I’m doubtful they will end that drought this season.

Detroit nearly ended its lengthy playoff absence last season, losing a tiebreaker to the Washington Capitals for the second wild card spot. Despite that, this team seems like a negative regression candidate in 2024-25. Last year, the Wings wildly outperformed some troubling underlying metrics, and they didn’t get much better in the offseason. Don’t get me wrong, Detroit has some exciting young players in Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, and Simon Edvinsson, but I’m not sure Yzerman has built a strong enough supporting cast around them. Can the Red Wings exceed expectations again, or will the rebuild plateau?

Continued;

“The Yzerplan” will continue regardless of whether the Red Wings make the playoffs, but after the Wings’ free agent losses, it’s going to take them really performing particularly well in order to assuage the media’s doubts about the “flop Wings.”

Post-‘second group’ Tweets/video: coach Derek Lalonde speaks with the media

The Red Wings practiced in two groups at the BELFOR Training Center on Tuesday. The first group is probably going to play against the Chicago Blackhawks tomorrow night in Chicago (8 PM EDT on DetroitRedWings.com); the youthful second group will become more important as the Wings play 3 exhibition games over the course of 4 nights between Wednesday and Sunday.

Most of the media’s attention was focused on Moritz Seider’s remarks as he’s arrived in Detroit after signing his 7-year contract, but Wings coach Derek Lalonde spoke with the media as well…

And here’s coach Lalonde’s 12:31 off-day press conference:

It’s also media day at LCA, which is a fancy way of saying that the players are shooting the images and mini-videos that appear on Bally Sports Detroit and other broadcasts (including the in-house video board) when they score goals, are introduced to the crowd, etc. Not surprisingly, Champagne Athletic’s on Twitter shared this one from Ken Daniels’ Instagram account:

Articles regarding Moritz Seider’s press conference remarks

Updated at 3:15 PM: The recently re-signed Moritz Seider made his post-contract-signing debut at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center today, and he spoke with the media after practicing with the Wings for the first time this season.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James kicked off the coverage of Seider’s comments:

“It was weird seeing the guys up there [in Traverse City], but overall I’m really excited and ready to get going,” Seider said Tuesday after practice at Little Caesars Arena. “It’s a different situation than the last couple years, but overall I’m just happy right now. It’s in the past and now we can be excited for preseason and then get going into the regular season.”

Seider, 23, returned to the Wings a rich man, having signed a seven-year, $59.85 million deal Sept. 19, the opening day of camp.

Seider described the experience as, “New. Interesting. Those are two words. It’s a really cool situation to be in, having a long-term contract. I think that I’m really proud of that organization, that I can do it with them. I’m really happy that we’re done and being back with the boys, there was a lot of smiling today.”

Seider was in his native Germany when the contract was signed, and managed to sneak in a celebration before departing Sept. 21 for Detroit.

“We had a nice little dinner with my parents, my agent and his family,” he said.

He called picking up the check, “the easiest thing to do.”

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a notebook article about Seider as well…

Continue reading Articles regarding Moritz Seider’s press conference remarks

Tweets from Tuesday’s ‘second group’ practice: the youth movement skates at BELFOR

The Detroit Red Wings’ probable lineup players vs. Chicago tomorrow (8 PM EDT start on DetroitRedWings.com) practiced around 10 AM this morning, including one Moritz Seider, and the team’s “second group” started practice around 12:30 PM, per the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood and Sam Stockton:

Meanwhile, in Chicago, the Hawks’ “A Team” also practiced around 11 AM EDT, and we can presume that this group will play vs. the Red Wings tomorrow night…

Continue reading Tweets from Tuesday’s ‘second group’ practice: the youth movement skates at BELFOR

Video: Moritz Seider speaks with the media at LCA

The Red Wings’ first group practiced from about 10 AM until 11 AM this morning, and Moritz Seider was among their numbers. Seider spoke with the media after practice, and here’s the video:

Post-practice Tweets: Seider, Red Wings speak with the media

The Detroit Red Wings practiced today at the BELFOR Training Center ahead of tomorrow’s exhibition game in Chicago (8 PM EDT, to be streamed on DetroitRedWings.com).

After practice, the Red Wings spoke with the media:

Meanwhile, in Chicago…

Continue reading Post-practice Tweets: Seider, Red Wings speak with the media

Tweet of note: Red Wings will stream Wings @ Hawks exhibition game

Tomorrow night at 8 PM EDT, it appears that the Detroit Red Wings’ website will pick up the NBC Chicago broadcast of the Red Wings-Blackhawks tilt:

FYI:

A bit more about the Red Wings’ 3-headed goaltending monster

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis wrote a column discussing the “Top five most interesting crease battles to watch” ahead of the 2024-2025 season, and the Red Wings made his list, of course:

Detroit Red Wings

Goalies: Alex Lyon, Ville Husso and Cam Talbot

The Red Wings appear ready to run with a three-headed monster for the second year in a row – but with a slightly different trio. Lyon and Husso are back to challenge for starts, while Talbot enters the ring as a newcomer with the most NHL experience. Of the two returnees, Lyon established himself as the team’s top goaltender last year, going 21-18-5 with two shutouts and a .904 save percentage. Husso, meanwhile, took a step back, performance-wise, but also suffered multiple lower-body injuries. If Husso can stay healthy, he’s still a decent goaltender capable of good hockey.

But the Red Wings clearly weren’t fully confident in the crease and brought in Talbot over the summer. Talbot was one of the top goalies on the market, and his two-year deal suggests the Red Wings still believe in him late in his career. Talbot had his struggles with L.A., but he still participated in the All-Star Game in a year that saw him play 52 games despite being one of the oldest keepers in the league.

The Red Wings have about $198K in cap space to work with. An easy move would be sending one of the goalies down and hoping for the best – Lyon is paid the most at $4.75 million. But don’t be surprised if they keep all three around for added flexibility like they did a year ago.

On paper, Talbot should be Detroit’s No. 1 goalie. But at the very least, they’ve got three guys that have spent time as an NHL starter over the past few years. All they need is just one to take control.

And if none of that works… maybe they give Jack Campbell a chance again after playing some decent hockey in the AHL later in the 2023-24 season? He’ll be damn hungry to prove people wrong after getting bought out by the Edmonton Oilers last year.

Continued; the exhibition season and the first 10-15 games will solve the Red Wings’ 3-goaltender equation.

Tweets from Tuesday’s Red Wings practice: Seider returns as Wings prepare for Blackhawks

The Detroit Red Wings will begin an 8-games-in-12-nights exhibition season tomorrow when they face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Windy City, but today’s storyline is going to involve the return of Moritz Seider to the Red Wings’ fold:

It appears to be “media day” for the players as well, when promos are filmed for team broadcasts and promotions:

In any case, here we go:

The “morning group” is usually the one that heads out for exhibition games. During the exhibition season, the Red Wings travel to and from their road games on game day.

Anyway, let’s continue:

Continue reading Tweets from Tuesday’s Red Wings practice: Seider returns as Wings prepare for Blackhawks

Allen: On Seider’s return

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reports that Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider is scheduled to make his debut at Detroit’s practice today. I’m presuming that Seider will hold a press conference at some point in the early afternoon:

The Detroit Red Wings are officially whole again today with Moritz Seider expected to return to practice for the first time since signing a seven-year deal for $8.55 million per season.

“Mo’s such a good defender, great defenseman,” teammate Patrick Kane said. “He’s so important playing against top lines every night. Obviously, he’s got a lot of offensive weapons as well, can be dynamic on the power play, can produce offensively from the back end, which is huge.”

Bob Duff wrote Seider may start with Ben Chiarot as his defensive partner, but ultimately the Red Wings may want to see Seider with Simon Edvinsson. The Red Wings need to make sure Edvinsson is ready for top-pairing minutes.

“I still think our top four, even some of our D pairs, will be fluid,” Lalonde said. “Probably like to see Simon and Mo together a little bit.”

Continued