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 bit of praise for ‘Drapes’

The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe offers a list of the best non-Hockey-Hall-of-Famers to play for 30 of the NHL’s 32 teams, and he makes a selection for the Red Wings that I’ve got something to say about:

Detroit Red Wings

I kind of love the Red Wings’ all-time top five, which starts with four all-time greats in Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Alex Delvecchio and Nicklas Lidstrom, before winding up at pretty much the perfect archetype for today’s list: checking line legend Kris Draper, whose 1,137-game stint in Detroit included a Selke, four Stanley Cups and the launch of a legendary rivalry. Not a bad value for a dollar.

Continued; as far as I’m concerned, the Red Wings need a banner in the rafters for “The Grind Line.” Why? Its 4 members–Draper, Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty and Joe Kocur–have 14 Stanley Cup rings between them.

That banner should be right up there with #91.

Half-a-dozen recaps and round-ups after the Red Wings’ loss to the Sharks

Of Red Wings-related note this morning, after the Red Wings’ 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night:

  1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses Wings coach Todd McLellan’s blunt assessments of his team’s performance, both collectively and individually speaking, last night:

Todd McLellan didn’t cushion his opinion after watching the Detroit Red Wings lose for the first time in eight games.

The Wings (20-19-4) head on their first extended road trip under McLellan tarnished by a 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks that basically reinforced McLellan’s concerns from the previous game.

“I thought the third period against Seattle the other day showed up,” McLellan said Tuesday. “We were sloppy in that third, we gave up quite a bit. We started the game that way – we didn’t break pucks out very well and when we did enter the offensive zone, not a lot went to the net.

“So a disappointing night for our group. New experience for us in our few weeks here. I’m anxious to see — do we carry this with us, or do we respond? If we respond and we do the proper things, I don’t know if we’ll win or lose, but we’ll give ourselves a chance and if we don’t, then we have a lot of work to do. I’m excited about seeing that.”

Continue reading Half-a-dozen recaps and round-ups after the Red Wings’ loss to the Sharks

Red Wings-Sharks wrap-up: the streak is over, and the work of the coach-and-players marriage begins

The Red Wings’ 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday ended the team’s 7-game winning streak with an embarrassment of mistakes and missteps as the Sharks swept the season series with Detroit.

The Red Wings now face a difficult 4-games-in-6-nights road trip through Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas and Philadelphia, and they’ll head off to their road test after more than a few lessons taught by coach Todd McLellan at tomorrow’s practice.

For the Sharks, who scored on their only power play–and scored shorthanded goals on both of Detroit’s power plays–the game was a “statement-making” win, as well as the end of a 3-game losing streak, as they told the San Jose Mercury News’s Curtis Pashelka:

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks wrap-up: the streak is over, and the work of the coach-and-players marriage begins

Tweet of note: Motte might be out for a bit

The Free Press’s Helene St. James reports worrisome news about Tyler Motte, who toe-picked off the goalpost to the right of Alexandar Georgiev and fell face-first into the boards during the second period of the Wings’ 6-3 loss to San Jose:

Red Wings-Sharks quick take: a streak of a different kind dooms Wings

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to stretch their winning streak to eight games while facing off against a young San Jose Sharks team on Tuesday evening.

The Red Wings earned a 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday evening, thanks in no small part to bad goaltending by Ville Husso, terrible defensive play by the Wings’ blueline, and all sorts of bad special teams play as the Wings surrendered 2 shorties and a power play goal against.

The good news was that Vladimir Tarasenko scored 2 goals, Lucas Raymond scored a beauty from Dylan Larkin’s smart faceoff play on Macklin Celebrini, and that Todd McLellan has the Red Wings’ full attention as the 7-game streak is gone.

Detroit will head to Sunrise, Florida to take on the Panthers on Thursday, they then head to Tampa Bay and Dallas on Saturday and Sunday, and end their road trip with 4 games in 6 nights in Philly next Tuesday.

Much is to be expected of this team now that the ship has been turned around, and one shitty outing won’t end everything that’s good about this revived team…But it will require some course corrections now.

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks quick take: a streak of a different kind dooms Wings

Tweet of note: No jinx

Per TSN’s “Statscentre”:

Sharks coach Warsofsky: Red Wings playing ‘connected’ hockey

San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky was asked to weigh in on the Red Wings’ resurgent play under coach Todd McLellan, and he told the San Jose Mercury News’s Curtis Pashelka that Detroit’s power play stands out:

Since former Sharks head coach Todd McLellan took over as Detroit’s bench boss on Dec. 26, the Red Wings are 7-1-0 and entered Tuesday on a seven-game streak and two points out of a playoff spot. A major reason for the Wings’ success has been their power play, which is 14-for-28 during the team’s streak.

“I just notice how connected they are,” Warsofsky said of Detroit’s power play. “They read off each other extremely well. They’re dangerous off the rush; they’re dangerous off of faceoffs. They have one of the best in Patrick Kane on one flank, that, if you give him time and space, he’ll make a play. If you pressure him, he’ll make a play.”

Tweet of note: ‘The Forecheck’ previews tonight’s Red Wings-Sharks game

Daniella Bruce and Ken Kal preview tonight’s game on “The Forecheck”: