Author: George Malik

WXYZ’s Brad Galli filed a report regarding Filip Zadina’s comments about his status as a healthy scratch in Tuesday’s game vs. San Jose. Zadina will return to the lineup tonight vs. Anaheim:

“I was disappointed for sure and I was pissed,” he said. “But I feel better than I felt a week ago when we played those games. I’m excited to be back and get things going again.”

Zadina went without a goal during December. He was brought into the league as a scoring winner, drafted in the first round by a Red Wings organization in need of elite scoring.

He said being off with a COVID break affected him, and he’s focused on being a better player.

“I see him as more than just a shooter,” Jeff Blashill said on Thursday.

The 2018 first-rounder has four goals and six assists in 32 games. He dropped from the team’s top line in camp to its second line, and now down to the third line.

Continued, with video:

After the Anaheim Ducks and Red Wings’ morning skates ahead of tonight’s game between the two teams (10 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/Bally Sports California/Bally Sports San Diego/97.1 FM), the Red Wings posted a video of coach Jeff Blashill speaking with the media for nearly 15 minutes:

Filip Zadina spoke with the media as well, for 3:12:

The Detroit Red Wings face off against the Anaheim Ducks this evening (10 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/Bally Sports California/Bally Sports San Diego/97.1 FM), and Trevor Zegras and John Gibson will not play against the Wings, nor will Ryan Getzlaf, Derek Grant or Nicholas Deslauriers. As a result, the 16-15-and-3 Wings will have to try to take advantage of the 18-11-and-7 Ducks, who are still a formidable opponent.

Red Wings on the ice at Honda Center, play Ducks tonight. pic.twitter.com/XK8zezJsNY— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) January 6, 2022

Meanwhile, confirming the Ducks’ news:

Per Coach Eakins:
John Gibson had a positive COVID test. Anthony Stolarz will start tonight.
Trevor Zegras skated with the team this morning but will not play.— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) January 6, 2022

Anyway, after the Wings’ morning skate…

Filip Zadina returns to Red Wings lineup tonight vs. Ducks after being healthy scratch Tuesday.— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) January 6, 2022

Jeff Blashill said Filip Zadina will return to the lineup tonight in Anaheim. #LGRW— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) January 6, 2022

Pretty cool perspective from Jeff Blashill on the Trevor Zegras / Sonny Milano goal:

He said there is too much of an emphasis on winning at a young age in hockey, while skill is high for youth players. “If we stifle ‘em, we won’t see many of ‘em.” pic.twitter.com/OMUwu76tea— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) January 6, 2022

Filip Zadina on being a healthy scratch in the last Red Wings game: “I gotta figure out what I need to do to be a better player overall.”

“Obviously I was frustrated,” he said. “I feel better.” pic.twitter.com/MvHkLFzNBh— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) January 6, 2022

From what I could tell in Red Wings morning skate, looked like Michael Rasmussen staying on the wing with Suter and Fabbri. Sam Gagner was centering line 4 between Zadina and Smith. Was some question as to whether Rasmussen would go back to C with Rowney injury, but he stays at W— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) January 6, 2022

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPID, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Thursday released left wing Max Humitz from his professional tryout.

Humitz appeared in one outing with Grand Rapids from Dec. 31-Jan. 5, during his fifth stint with the franchise this season. He registered an AHL season-high two points (1-1—2) on Jan. 5 against Milwaukee. Throughout his two-year career, the left winger has appeared in 17 AHL games, compiling eight points (4-4—8), two penalty minutes and a plus-seven rating. A native of Livonia, Mich., Humitz has skated in nine contests with the Griffins this campaign, registering three points (1-2—3) and a plus-five rating. Humitz, 26, has recorded 12 points (8-4—12) and a plus-two rating in 13 games with Kalamazoo (ECHL) this year.

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe:

In the SHL, Frolunda HC lost a 1-0 decision to Lulea Hockey, and they did so without Simon Edvinsson, who has COVID-19.

Elmer Soderblom finished even with 2 shots in 15:21 played, and Theodor Niederbach had 1 shot in only 3:02 played:

Frölunda gets shut out by Luleå, 0-1. Elmer Söderblom was perhaps the closest to breaking the shutout, with a wristshot to the crossbar in the final minutes.
Edvinsson not in the lineup still due to Covid-protocol. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/Tcgr9xJxcw

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) January 6, 2022

And, in Farjestads BK’s 3-2 win over Orebro Hockey:

Albert Johansson had an assist, finishing even with 2 shots in 17:48 played;

And Gustav Berglund did not play.

I chose to not post a Red Wings-Ducks game preview ahead of tonight’s game between the teams (10 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit Plus/Bally Sports California/Bally Sports San Diego/97.1 FM) because the 18-11-and-7 Anaheim Ducks have a significant number of moving parts heading into tonight’s game.

Anaheim won its last game, a 4-1 decision over the Philadelphia Flyers, thanks to a Troy Terry hat trick, but they were without Nicholas Deslauriers, Derek Grant, Ryan Getzlaf and beloved-by-the-columnists rookie Trevor Zegras due to COVID protocols, and the team didn’t practice on Wednesday (nor did the Red Wings), so we won’t know what the Ducks’ lineup looks like until the morning skate begins.

The 16-15-and-3 Red Wings’ 6-2 win over San Jose on Tuesday snapped a stretch in which the Wings had lost 6 of their previous 8 games, but the Wings are 4-10-and-1 on the road, and Anaheim’s win over Philly snapped a 4-game losing streak, so both teams would like to get on a roll here.

As you probably know by now, the Boston Bruins have eclipsed the Red Wings in the Atlantic Division and Wild Card standings, but the Ducks sit only 2 points behind Vegas in the Pacific Division standings, so, again, the stakes are pretty high tonight.

Red Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Kal was the first person to say, “Hello” this “morning”:

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill bluntly challenged his team to play with increased urgency and intensity as the 2021-2022 season nears its halfway point, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen took note of Blashill’s remarks, as well as those of Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin:

Last Sunday, after a loss to the Bruins, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin made an observation that drew everyone’s attention.

“I really felt when it’s gotten physical we’ve been mediocre,”  Larkin said. “We need to have better pushback when it gets physical.”

Larkin asked for more “pushback” and on Tuesday his teammates responded, Givani Smith came out against the Sharks and played physical from the beginning, Michael Rasmussen had one of his best games, making himself difficult to play against.

That’s really what this is all about. It’s not about fighting or roughing up your opponent. It’s about wearing down your opponent, making it miserable for them to play against you. Finishing checks. Being all over them when they have the puck. It’s driving hard to net. Forechecking relentlessly.

“Throughout the lineup we have to make sure we are making the opponent pay a hard price,” Blashill said.

That will be important tonight when the Red Wings start a three-game road trip with a game against the much-improved Anaheim Ducks. The Red Wings have played poorly on the road this season. They own 4-10-1 record in away games.  A good road trip might be what they need as they prepare for the second half of the season. The Red Wings are only one point behind Boston for a playoff spot. However, the Bruins have five games in hand.

The problem is the Red Wings aren’t the only team that will be looking to play with playoff urgency. Blashill said players on every team know they have “turn it up.”

Continued

Congrats to DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce:

BIG NEWS!! I will be filling in for the great Paul Woods on the @DetroitRedWings radio broadcast for tonight’s game in Anaheim! A huge thank to @KenKalDRW for teaching me so much & always believing in me ??. Puck drop is at 10pm on @971theticketxyt. #LGRW— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) January 6, 2022

Looking forward to working with @daniellabruce_ on tonight’s broadcast. She has very good insight, a great communicator and has earned this opportunity. Speedy recovery to Paul Woods who should be back for the San Jose game. #gowings. @971theticketxyt @DetroitRedWings— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) January 6, 2022

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon gives praise to Lucas Raymond in a set of rookie-themed power rankings:

20. Detroit Red Wings (16-15-3)
The most impressive thing about Raymond, the rookie scoring leader with 29 points, might be his consistency. The 19-year-old Swede has not gone more than two games without showing up on the scoresheet this season.

Continued; Raymond’s having some difficulty scoring goals right now, but he’s still managed to be a positive asset for the Wings as he battles his way past the rookie “wall.”

Few things make me feel smaller and less significant than those days when fundraising goes south, and yesterday, the opening of Operation Tricorder, was one of those days.

I’m trying to raise funds to plain old fix the Pacifica so that I can drive to Grand Rapids with more than one headlight and more than one tail light, and, as you know by now, I’m trying to raise funds to replace a broken cell phone. Both items will be utilized at least partially to do stuff for the blog, but the cell phone is very admittedly also going to be used personally.

So that’s it. This is quite literally a non-profit blog, and I was hoping that you might not be so tapped out by the holidays and January’s status as a rough month to not give a hand, but maybe that’s the case.

I don’t have any commercials or ads to rely on, however, so I’ve got to ask anyway. We got the Moonshot done and I’m typing on my work computer because of you, and I remain hopeful that I’ll be able to raise the $200 for car repairs and $600 for the phone at some point soon. Let’s see what we can do.

If you’re willing to lend a hand, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check.

As always, many thanks for your time and readership.