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!

Talking about the Red Wings’ three-headed goalie monster

Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon discusses the mid-season grades for every NHL team’s goaltending duos…or trios, in the Red Wings’ case…issuing a middling grade for the Red Wings’ three-headed goalie monster:

Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon and Ville Husso

We know this is about tandems, but you tell the Detroit Red Wings that, OK?

Talbot has been really good for the Wings this season and we can say that about when Derek Lalonde was coaching them and now with Todd McLellan behind the bench, too. His .903 save percentage and 10-9-2 record exemplifies how it’s been for the Wings this season, but according to MoneyPuck.com, he’s saved 2.3 goals above expected in all situations this season. Imagine how rough it would’ve been for Detroit if he hadn’t done that.

Lyon and Husso have taken turns in the net this season as well and Lyon’s .902 in 16 games (14 starts) with a shutout will play every day. Er, play every other day since he’s usually the backup. Husso’s .877 in eight games (seven starts) isn’t ideal, although he’s dealt with injury issues again this year.

Talbot and Lyon with an invigorated Red Wings team in front of them puts them in a place to maybe get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Grade: C-plus

Continued; I’d give the Wings a similar grade. Talbot’s been very good when he’s good, but very bad in some situations; Lyon is streaky, and Husso has been battling injuries and demotions to Grand Rapids, but he just hasn’t been very good at the NHL level.

An early Red Wings-Panthers preview

The Detroit Red Wings head to Southeastern Florida to play the Panthers tomorrow evening in an ESPN game (7 PM EST start), and the Associated Press has already posted a bare-bones Red Wings-Panthers preview:

BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Red Wings visit the Florida Panthers after Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals in the Red Wings’ 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

Florida is 26-16-3 overall with a 5-4-1 record in Atlantic Division play. The Panthers serve 10.5 penalty minutes per game to rank second in the league.

Detroit is 20-19-4 overall and 4-7-1 against the Atlantic Division. The Red Wings have a 3-6-2 record in games they serve more penalty minutes than their opponents.

The match-up Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

TOP PERFORMERS: Matthew Tkachuk has 14 goals and 26 assists for the Panthers. Sam Reinhart has five goals and one assist over the last 10 games.

Alex DeBrincat has 19 goals and 17 assists for the Red Wings. Dylan Larkin has scored six goals with six assists over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Panthers: 4-5-1, averaging two goals, 3.2 assists, 5.4 penalties and 13.1 penalty minutes while giving up 2.6 goals per game.

Red Wings: 7-3-0, averaging 3.6 goals, 6.7 assists, 2.1 penalties and 4.4 penalty minutes while giving up three goals per game.

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”: