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!

Maybe, maybe not

The Athletic’s Max Bultman, Matthew Fairburn and Julian McKenzie, the correspondents for Detroit, Buffalo and Ottawa, respectively, posted a collective column which discusses why the teams on their respective beats might or might not make the playoffs–and what might happen if they don’t make the cut this spring. Here’s Bultman on the Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings

Why will the Red Wings make the playoffs?

The biggest source of optimism is how close they came last year, missing by just a tie-breaker. They didn’t make any clear improvements to the roster this offseason, but if they can get the right steps forward from young players like Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson, then they could be right back in that mix again — and be better prepared for it, too. Health will be key, as losing Dylan Larkin for a long stretch last March ultimately led to a total collapse. But, in theory, the right internal improvements have the chance to push the Red Wings over the hump.

What could potentially hold them back from making the playoffs?

The same big issue as last year: team defense. Detroit did very little to address that weakness this offseason. The Red Wings will have a full season of Edvinsson, which should make a difference in time but will come with some early lumps as he adjusts to the NHL. And they brought in a defensive forward in Tyler Motte who should help too, considering how offensively tilted most of Detroit’s forward corps is. But even still, it’s just not a group that has proven it can defend well consistently. That was the biggest problem last year, and it’s been an early concern once again. Combine that with a whole lot of uncertainty in goal, and there’s a fairly clear path to a step back this season.

Continue reading Maybe, maybe not

A little re-drafting guilt

The Athletic’s Corey Pronman re-drafts the class of 2023 this morning, and he rather shockingly lists Nate Danielson (9th overall by Detroit) as the #6 overall pick, before apologizing for it…

People are going to push back on me for where I have Nate Danielson rated, especially after his start in Brandon this season. I may be wrong about him and the offense may not be there at higher levels, but I think he has legit NHL skill with a ton of athleticism and a good compete level. I see a very good potential NHL center.

Continued; Axel Sandin Pellikka gets moved up from 17th to 11th, and Trey Augustine gets bumped down to 52nd from 41st. Traded-for Nashville Predators draft pick Jesse Kiiskinen gets bumped down from 68th to 86th, and those are the only Detroit players listed by Pronman.

If you’re going to go so far as to spend time re-ranking 120 players based upon your observations of them, don’t apologize for it.

HSJ in the morning: Detroit’s power play isn’t cutting it

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the Red Wings’ struggling power play this morning, as evidenced by the 0-for-4 performance in the Wings’ 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Monday night:

“We haven’t gotten any quality looks at the net,” captain Dylan Larkin said after Monday’s 4-1 loss at Madison Square Garden. “I think we’ve done a good job setting up possession and we’ve moved the puck around well. I also think that for whatever reason right now, we do really on the first power play and then we kind of go to sleep for the rest of our opportunities. That can’t happen. Every time you go over the boards, you need to try and make it count.”

The power play was a key reason behind the Wings’ success last season, finishing ninth in the NHL at 23.1%. So far this season, it’s at 9.1%. Again, it’s three games, but it should also concern the team.

“The power play hasn’t produced, we only have one on the year,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “We’ve been having some looks, but we have to start putting it in the back of the net.”

Gostisbehere led last season’s Wings with 29 power play points. David Perron had 17 on man advantages. Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong each had 12. All are gone, through walking in free agency or trades. Gostisbehere played the point on the first unit, and had a knack for setting up teammates.

Gustafsson got a chance in that spot in the first game, which the Wings finished 1-for-5 on power plays; the one they scored was during 5-on-3 play. Having put Seider on the point on the first unit the last two games, and experimented with Ben Chiarot on the point on the second unit, Gustafsson may get a reprieve from watching games in street clothes.

“We’ll probably get Gus back there on a look,” Lalonde said. “And again, we have a lot of options, it’s just, the hands don’t perfectly line up at times. But we have to play fast through it.”

Continued; I know that it’s easy to hit the panic button right now, but I’m advocating hitting the “concern button” instead right now.

1-for-11 on the power play isn’t acceptable by any means, but I feel that it was inevitable that the Wings were going to having some difficulties integrating Vladimir Tarasenko and Erik Gustafsson (or the lack thereof) into the power play. It was going to be tough to replace David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere, and it’s been tough.

Three games in = not sufficient time to freak out and start pulling my remaining hair out (I was bald by the age of 20, stupid genes). I’m a bit jittery for sure, because the power play has to be a difference-maker for the Wings to succeed long-term, but I expected it to struggle initially, and that’s what it’s doing.

Red Wings-Rangers wrap-up: Shesterkin, d-zone draws and special teams struggles add up to a frustrating night in New York

The Detroit Red Wings lost a 4-1 decision to the New York Rangers on Monday night, dropping the first game of a home-and-home series against New York.

The Wings will get almost 3 days to think about their loss as they don’t reprise their roles until Thursday at Little Caesars Arena (7 PM EDT on ESPN+/Hulu), and the Red Wings are going to need to start putting points on the board early here as they stand at 1-and-2 after 3 games.

It’s not going to get any easier playing against Igor Shesterkin (31 saves on Monday) and the Rangers’ tremendous defensive play (and offensively opportunistic cast of superstars), but the Red Wings need to at least give a strong showing on Thursday to steady the ship.

Dylan Larkin’s goal scored with 1.3 seconds remaining in the 1st period was arguably the only highlight of the game for Detroit:

Instead of building upon having evened the score in the final seconds of the 1st period, the Red Wings were unable to break through the Rangers’ goaltender in the 2nd, despite out-shooting the Rangers 14-10–with the fact that the Red Wings blew 2 of their 4 power plays on the night in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd not helping the cause…

And after Chris Kreider gave the Rangers a go-ahead goal with just over 2 minutes remaining in the 2nd period, the Rangers basically rode Shesterkin and some opportunistic offense to their second victory in three tries (2-0-and-1).

Mika Zibanejad told the New York Post’s Mollie Walker that the team is sorting its issues out:

Continue reading Red Wings-Rangers wrap-up: Shesterkin, d-zone draws and special teams struggles add up to a frustrating night in New York

Red Wings-Rangers quick take: Shesterkin, Rangers out-stop, out-work Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings faced off against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, kicking off a two-game series against the “Blueshirts.”

On Monday night, the Red Wings were frustrated by Igor Shesterkin, who stopped 31 of 32 shots against, some in Hasekian fashion, they lost more faceoffs than they should have won, and the Rangers were opportunistic, sneaky and plain better in terms of blocking shots and passes in their end, and scoring in Detroit’s end.

Dylan Larkin’s gorgeous goal with only 1.3 seconds left in the first was the lone highlight as Detroit lost 4-1 to the Rangers, whose Miika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists, and Artemi Panarin, who had 3 assists.

Detroit will try to split the home-and-home series on Thursday at Little Caesars Arena (7 PM EDT start on ESPN+/Hulu)

Continue reading Red Wings-Rangers quick take: Shesterkin, Rangers out-stop, out-work Red Wings

On Husso and Holl’s waiver status, and futures in Detroit

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

  1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James took note of Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s comments regarding the team’s decision to waive and demote Ville Husso…

“Tough conversation, always,” coach Derek Lalonde told the Free Press after the Wings’ morning skate at Madison Square Garden. “It is a business, you’re managing your roster. It was very similar to what I did with Justin [Holl] – we haven’t given up on you. We asked Justin to be ready; literally 24 hours later, he was in our lineup. We haven’t given up on Ville. He might see the net again here soon.”

Waiving Husso freed up a roster spot needed to flesh out the lineup after it sustained two injuries in the first two games. First, it was defenseman Jeff Petry who was unable to finish the 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins because of an upper-body injury; then it was forward Christian Fischer, also because of an upper-body injury, who didn’t finish the 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators.

Neither player is ailing to the point of needing to be put on injured reserve, which means they still count against the 23-man roster. The Wings reached the limit Saturday when they called up Holl just days after he had cleared waivers and been sent to the minors. With the possibility that Fischer is available as soon as Thursday, the Wings opted not to call up 2022 first-round pick Marco Kasper, who had an outstanding camp.

“The mentality is, if Kasper is coming, it’s probably more of a long-term scenario,” Lalonde said. “This is potentially a short-term scenario.”

2. And the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan’s afternoon notebook includes a conversation with Justin Holl regarding Holl’s status as having been waived last week:

Continue reading On Husso and Holl’s waiver status, and futures in Detroit

Press release: Red Wings officially recall Austin Watson, assign Ville Husso to GR

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS RECALL AUSTIN WATSON FROM GRAND RAPIDS

  … Detroit Assigns Ville Husso to Griffins …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today recalled forward Austin Watson from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Additionally, the Red Wings have assigned goaltender Ville Husso to the Griffins.

Watson, 32, has recorded three assists, a plus-three rating and seven penalty minutes in two games with the Griffins to begin the 2024-25 season. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound forward signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Red Wings on Oct. 7 after spending training camp on a professional tryout, logging one assist, a plus-one rating and 27 penalty minutes in four preseason appearances. Watson played the entire 2023-24 season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, tallying four points (2-2-4), a plus-two rating and 93 penalty minutes in 33 games. He spent the 2022-23 campaign with the Ottawa Senators, collecting 11 points (9-2-11) and 123 penalty minutes in 75 games. Originally selected by the Nashville Predators in the first round (18th overall) of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Watson has compiled 118 points (60-58-118) and 705 penalty minutes in 515 games with the Predators, Senators and Lightning since 2012-13. He has also tallied 19 points (10-9-19) and 48 penalty minutes in 45 postseason contests, helping the Predators reach the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. Additionally, Watson has played in parts of seven AHL seasons with the Milwaukee Admirals and Griffins, racking up 135 points (73-62-135), a plus-13 rating and 96 penalty minutes in 236 games.

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings officially recall Austin Watson, assign Ville Husso to GR

Prospect round-up: Buchelnikov scores in Vityaz win

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the KHL, The only Red Wings prospect in action on Monday was Dmitri Buchelnikov, and he made a positive impact.

Buchelnikov scored a goal and finished even with 6 shots in 15:44 played as Vityaz Moscow Region won 2-0 over Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

Red Wings Prospects on Twitter captured the action:

Lalonde starting Lyon for ‘load management’s’ sake

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes that Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde explained why the Red Wings might start Alex Lyon–tonight’s starter against the Rangers–instead of sticking with Cam Talbot after Saturday night’s 42-save shutout vs. Nashville:

As much as coaches like to stay with the hot hand, coach Derek Lalonde said Saturday that he might go in a different direction because the volume of shots Talbot faced.

“There was a lot of volume (against Nashville), and he had some volume against Pittsburgh, too,” coach Derek Lalonde said Saturday night.  So that’s three games in six days. I don’t know if we’re putting him in the best situation to throw him right back out there Monday, but something we’ll talk about as a staff.”

Lalonde said he wasn’t going to consider last season’s performance during the preseason competition. But he gained plenty of respect last season when he rose from No. 3 on the depth chart to starter when the Red Wings made a late, but unsuccessful, bid to qualify for the playoffs.

Continued; the rotation may continue.