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!

Vegas has the COVID blues, too, won’t hold morning skate today

According to Field Level Media’s preview of tonight’s Red Wings-Vegas Golden Knights game (10 PM EST on Bally Sports Detroit/ATT Sportsnet West/Sportsnet East/Sportsnet Ontario/Sportsnet Pacific/97.1 FM), the Vegas Golden Knights, who stand at 9-7-and-0 after Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to Carolina, have COVID issues:

Despite having to deal with a never-ending rash of injuries and illnesses, Vegas Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer remains upbeat heading into Thursday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings in Las Vegas.

The Golden Knights found out before Tuesday’s 4-2 home loss to Carolina that forward Jonathan Marchessault, who leads the team with nine goals, had entered COVID protocol joining forward William Carrier who was placed there on Monday.

The Golden Knights, who are 8-3 in their last 11 games, were already without key players like left wing Max Pacioretty (fractured left foot), center William Karlsson (broken foot), center Nolan Patrick (upper body), and defensemen Zach Whitecloud (hand surgery) and Alec Martinez (facial laceration).

Defenseman Shea Theodore left Tuesday’s loss after losing an edge and crashing into the end boards and Evgenii Dadonov also left with a facial laceration after getting hit in the face with a stick. The team added forward Michael Amadio to COVID protocol on Wednesday and also canceled its planned media availability.

Vegas is also without center Jack Eichel, obtained in a trade with Buffalo on Nov. 4, until the end of the February after he underwent artificial disc replacement surgery in his neck on Nov. 12.

“You’ve got to look for a silver lining,” DeBoer said after Tuesday’s loss. “Hopefully the silver lining is we’ll deal with it now and maybe we’ll get a little luck in the injury front down the stretch and at the important time of the year. That’s all you can hope for.”

“I don’t think anybody’s going to feel sorry for the Vegas Golden Knights in this league,” added forward Mark Stone, who recently returned from a right knee injury that sidelined him 12 games. “The success we’ve had in four years, nobody’s feeling sorry for us, so we’ve got to find ways to generate points, generate wins.”

NHL.com’s Danny Webster reported the following yesterday…

The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen asked NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly about the Golden Knights’ COVID issues as well:

Continue reading Vegas has the COVID blues, too, won’t hold morning skate today

Prospect catch-up post: Larsson wins in Allsvenskan; LDN 1A in J20; Pickard stops 46 shots in Grand Rapids’ AHL loss

Of prospect-related note from Wednesday, in both Europe and North America:

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Filip Larsson stopped 28 of 29 shots as HV71 Jonkoping won 2-1 over AIK Stockholm;

Jesper Eliasson was the back-up in Almtuna IS’s 5-3 win over Troja-Ljungby;

In the Swedish J20 league, Liam Dower Nilsson had an assist, finishing at +2 with 2 shots on goal in Frolunda HC’s 5-2 win over Rogle BK;

And in the AHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins dropped a 2-1 OT decision to the Chicago Wolves in their annual schoolday matinee game. Calvin Pickard stopped 46 shots in the loss, as the Griffins website’s recap notes:

Continue reading Prospect catch-up post: Larsson wins in Allsvenskan; LDN 1A in J20; Pickard stops 46 shots in Grand Rapids’ AHL loss

Catch-up post: Pius Suter on ‘The Word on Woodward,’ and off-day notebooks

Of Red Wings-related note from Maintenance Day Wednesday:

  1. Pius Suter gave an 18-minute interview to DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce and Art Regner in a The Word on Woodward special:

2. Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a list of ways in which the Red Wings can improve their team…

Continue reading Catch-up post: Pius Suter on ‘The Word on Woodward,’ and off-day notebooks

HSJ in the morning: Larkin or no Larkin, the Red Wings must improve defensively

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a subscriber-only column which discusses the ways in which the Red Wings must shore up their defensive games to snap their 2-game road losing streak:

[Wings coach Jeff] Blashill was more expansive on what the Wings (8-8-2) need to do to get themselves back above .500.

“We’ve got to get better defensively,” he said. “That’s just the reality of it. We’re a pretty good team when we have the puck. We’re a pretty good team when we’re hounding. We’re a pretty good team when we’re playing offense.

“We’re not a good enough team defensively right now and I spoke of that the other night. It’s not because guys don’t want to, but we’ve got to get better defensively. We have to. So that’s, to me, the No. 1 priority. I think we do a pretty good job when we’re on the attack. We do a pretty good job in the O-zone, stuff like that. We just have to get better defensively.”

Blashill described Monday’s 5-3 loss to the Blue Jackets as a slap in the face, one he deemed the Wings were due for because they had been winning despite not being playing tight defensively. But the deficiencies were on display in the 5-2 loss at Dallas, too.

“It’s definitely something we’re going to need to continue to work on as the season goes on and try to get better at it each night,” defenseman Danny DeKeyser said. “For us, it’s going to be a process of trying to get better every night in the D-zone and try to bear down when we get chances.”

Continued (paywall)

Sometimes you have to take a ‘maintenance day’

I did not plan on spending Wednesday asleep, but I knew that the Red Wings were not practicing in Vegas, and that there would be no update on Dylan Larkin until Thursday’s “morning” skate ahead of a late-night game in Vegas (10 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/ATT Sportsnet Rocky Mountain/Sportsnet East/Sportsnet Ontario/Sportsnet Pacific)…

So when I was unable to get up, even to take care of Aunt Annie, I indulged and allowed myself to rest. I have been feeling under the weather (non-COVID-related, as they say in the NHL these days), so I let myself rest.

I apologize for the lapse in coverage, but some days you feel sick, and I have learned that if I take half-a-day off, it allows me to get back to work a lot quicker than it does if I try to push through. Throughout this 11-games-in-17-nights stretch, I’ve been sick, and I’ve been battling through as much as I possibly can to deliver as much content as I possibly can, so this “maintenance day” sort of happened.

But I’m glad that it did.

Griffins’ Chase Pearson suspended for one game

Per the AHL, via the Grand Rapids Griffins:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League today announced the following suspensions:

Grand Rapids Griffins forward Chase Pearson has been suspended for one (1) game as a consequence of a butt-ending incident in a game vs. Manitoba on Nov. 12.

Pearson will miss Grand Rapids’ game today (Nov. 17) vs. Chicago.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Hayden Hodgson has been suspended for two (2) games as a consequence of an elbowing incident in a game at Providence on Nov. 12.

Hodgson will miss Lehigh Valley’s games tonight (Nov. 17) vs. Charlotte and Friday (Nov. 19) at Rochester.

This would not prohibit Pearson from being recalled to the NHL.

Tweets of note: PCR blues; Griffins to hold matinee game today; Moritz smash!

Of Twitter-related Red Wings note this morning:

  1. The United States has an issue with the availability of rapid COVID-19 testing. Apparently, so does the NHL, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli:

The NHL should be able to test players in a much more expedient fashion, just as people shouldn’t have to go to the drugstore and wait 2-3 days for PCR tests (unless they’re willing to pay up to $200 for fast tests). We aren’t going to get through this pandemic until we can test people more quickly, in and out of sports.

2. In other news, the Grand Rapids Griffins are holding their annual school day game this morning at 11 AM EST…

3. And we witnessed Moritz Seider lay out the first hit that looked like his SHL smashes at the offensive blueline on Tuesday night:

ESPN’s Power Rankings: hello, youth movement

ESPN’s Kristen Shilton posted a set of power rankings this morning, and the Red Wings landed where you’d expect them to:

26. Detroit Red Wings

Previous ranking: 25
Points percentage: 0.500
Upcoming schedule: @ VGK (Nov. 18), @ ARI (Nov. 20)

Most likely to make you feel old. The Red Wings’ youth continues serving them well. At the forefront are 19-year-old Lucas Raymond and 20-year-old Moritz Seider, sitting one-two in NHL rookie scoring. Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic has the best save percentage among rookies (.918). Then there is a phalanx of 20-somethings in Dylan Larkin (13 points in 13 games), Filip Hronek (finding his form) and of course Tyler Bertuzzi (17 points in 14 games) all collaborating to make Detroit close to a must-watch group.

Continued; I’m 43. Everybody in the league save Zdeno Chara makes me feel old. But I’m really excited about the Wings’ youth movement.