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.
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The Detroit Red Wings face the Calgary Flames this evening (7:30 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/Sportsnet East/Sportsnet Ontario/Sportsnet West/ESPN+/97.1 FM), and the Red Wings will start Alex Nedeljkovic this evening.
After the Wings’ morning skate concluded, coach Jeff Blashill spoke about Moritz Seider, as well as the team’s looming 3-game road trip. As our friends from Calgary conduct their morning skate at present, you can watch the video of coach Jeff Blashill’s post-skate remarks below:
Meanwhile, our friends from Calgary took to the ice at LCA for their morning skate…
The Red Wings are starting Alex Nedeljkovic against the Calgary Flames this evening (7:30 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/Sportsnet East/Sportsnet Ontario/Sportsnet West/ESPN+/97.1 FM). After the Wings’ morning skate, the Red Wings’ coach and players spoke with the media:
“We don’t want Seider to be a good player, we want him to be a great player.” – Jeff Blashill. #LGRW@DetroitRedWings— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 21, 2021
Coach Blashill says Moritz Seider has earned the minutes he’s been playing the past three games #LGRW@DetroitRedWings— Carley Johnston (@carleykjohnston) October 21, 2021
Just enjoy this one:
Missed this on @DetroitRedWings opening night: Dylan Larkin’s reaction to seeing Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg
Asked if being on the road is a good time for team bonding, Coach Blashill says “If you win” with a smirk #LGRW@DetroitRedWings— Carley Johnston (@carleykjohnston) October 21, 2021
Gordie Howe signed thousands of autographs during his lifetime, all with the same fluid stroke that made his perfectly legible signature one of the most iconic and cherished in hockey history.
More than five years after his death, we’ll never know what “Mr. Hockey” would think of the latest Howe collectibles that are going to auction timed roughly to the 75th anniversary of his first NHL game, played for the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 16, 1946.
For six days beginning Friday, nine original non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will be up for bidding on the digital collectibles platform Blockparty. All proceeds will go to the Howe Foundation, the charitable endeavor launched in 1994 by Howe and his late wife, Colleen, to benefit children in sports and women working in the business of sports.
NFTs are defined as unique digital and collectible assets representing a moment or an item that can be electronically bought, sold or traded through a decentralized marketplace.
Old-school Gordie Howe surely would have been puzzled that he wouldn’t have been able to put his pen to any of the items in “The Gentl9man 2021 NFT Art Collection,” a celebration of his achievements and legacy.
What I believe: The Red Wings look like a team that enjoys playing with (and for) each other. You’ve seen the fights and the team standing up for each other. There was another Tuesday when Raymond took a hard hit from behind into the boards and Bertuzzi and Larkin started a fracas with Jack Roslovic immediately. Certainly, that (along with the other, surprisingly numerous examples three games into the season) is pretty good evidence of a team that wants to stand up for each other.
What I know: Larkin attributed the team’s closeness in part to what a young core they have (and have added to) this season.
“We have a lot of young players that (have) been with the team for a couple years now, kind of coming into leadership roles and a couple young players that just made our team, and we’re a young core,” Larkin said. “And that’s how you get close: You spend time with those guys, you talk, you hang out, you do everything with them. So I think our youth — and I don’t really have an answer to pinpoint one thing, but it’s great to see, it’s great to have that feeling.”
To commemorate the occasion, The Howe Foundation, founded by Gordie and his wife, Colleen, is offering fans a chance at a collection of art work that celebrates one of the game’s greatest players.
The Gentl9man 2021 NFT Art Collection includes nine original non-fungible tokens (NFT) that will be available in a six-day auction beginning Friday. One of the items is an image of Howe shaped by 1,071 pucks, representing the number of goals Gordie scored in his professional hockey career.
“The artwork in THE GENTL9MAN 2021 NFT Art Collection brings Gordie’s iconic talent and relentless humanity to life in an exciting new way,” Gordie’s son Mark said. Mark Howe is a Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman and pro scout for the Wings.
The Howe family hired Detroit-based artist Zelley to illustrate the memories of Gordie’s career and provided an estimated 60 GB of personal footage. Zelley used the footage as inspiration, creating unique digital art pieces. One of them, titled “Hockey Dad,” shows Gordie walking and with sons Mark and Marty, holding their hands. Gordie is wearing his No. 9 — which hangs from the rafters at Little Caesars Arena — and the boys wear 3 and 4.
NFTs are unique digital and collectible assets representing a moment or item that can be electronically bought, sold or traded through a decentralized marketplace. The items are available on digital collectibles platform Blockparty, with all proceeds benefiting The Howe Foundation. A tenth of the money raised from the NFT sales will be donated to the NHL Alumni Association.
A general manager since 1997, Holland didn’t have to make too many tough calls on the captaincy. He inherited Yzerman with the Detroit Red Wings, who was then succeeded by Nicklas Lidstrom.
“That took about two minutes to decide,” said Holland with a laugh.
The only close race for the captaincy was when Lidstrom retired and the “C” was going to go to either Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg. The captain would be Zetterberg, but he and Datsyuk would be co-leaders.
When Zetterberg retired, Holland opted not to give anyone on the Red Wings the captaincy. Yzerman arrived as GM and waited two years to give the “C” to Dylan Larkin.
“We were clearly in a rebuilding cycle,” Holland said. “You look at the team, and you see where you’re at. Are we in a rebuild mode? Are we in a down cycle? Is there a great young player we’re going to put the ‘C’ on or are we going to wait a few years? Then you have to factor in whether he’s ready for it, or if we’re putting too much pressure on him.”
What Holland has seen in the past two decades are captains relieving that pressure by sharing the responsibilities with teammates.
“The captain is the captain. But there’s also now a leadership group with the captain. There had been leadership groups before, but it would always defer to the captain. Now it would be a group of four or five players meeting with the head coach, instead of one player,” Holland said.
The Detroit Red Wings face a tricky opponent tonight in the Calgary Flames (7:30 PM on Bally Sports Detroit/Sportsnet East/Sportsnet Ontario/Sportsnet West/ESPN+/97.1 FM).
The Red Wings stand at 2-0-and-1 coming into tonight’s game, and are kicking off a set of 3 games to be played over the course of only 4 nights.
Calgary is 0-1-and-1, having most recently dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to Anaheim on Monday, and while the Flames placed center Glenn Gladwin on waivers, that was a roster-clearing move (as defenseman Tyler Pitlick will rotate into the lineup).
Calgary didn’t practice on Monday, choosing to fly to Detroit during the day instead, and the Flames are looking to shake things up as they kick off a 5-game road trip. Field Level Media offered the following take on the State of the Flames heading into tonight’s game:
Calgary will be seeking its first victory. The Flames lost to Edmonton 5-2 in their opener and 3-2 in overtime to Anaheim on Monday.
The offensive output has been modest even though they’ve had a combined 89 shots on goal during regulation in those games.
“I think we can be better around the net, for sure,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter told the Calgary Herald. “Still, that emphasis has to be on around the goalie more, and the second and thirds. There are very few goals that are highlight goals, when you look at it. Most of them are a screen or a flash play or a tip or a rebound or something like that. And I think, as a group, we can be better at that.”
The Flames begin a five-game, eight-night road trip, which also includes stops in Washington, New York, New Jersey and Pittsburgh.
Sutter believes his team needs to play smarter and tougher to have a successful journey.
“You have to accentuate the positive things and clean up little areas,” Sutter said. “We have some guys that have to be better players for us. Even after the two games, just in the little details of the game, they have to be better. For the type of team we have, they have to be better players in order for us to win games.”
Absent line rushes from Wednesday, you can watch the Flames-Ducks highlights here…
As recently as the 2019-20 season, the Wings began 3-1-0 — only to finish with a 17-49-5 record and a woeful .275 points percentage when the pandemic ended that season. They started 4-1-0 in 2017-18 and 6-2-0 in 2016-17 — and missed the playoffs both those seasons.
Still, there’s room for optimism and hope, especially this early in the season. And in forward Tyler Bertuzzi’s estimation, there’s belief this particular time the Wings can continue the good mojo and hockey.
“We got a lot of young guys with a lot of energy, and that makes the older guys have a lot more energy, too,” said Bertuzzi, who still puts himself in the younger group, incidentally. “It’s good to see them enjoying themselves and playing good hockey and playing in the NHL. It just makes everyone want to work and play harder, and work more together.”
Coach Jeff Blashill is enjoying the positive first week but realize it’s a small, small sample size.
“Winning is way more fun than losing, that’s a fact, and we’re in that business and you feel better about yourself,” Blashill said. “But the other thing, for sure, is this is an everyday league. We’ve played three games and we’ll have a game (Thursday) against a good team (Calgary) we’ll have to find a way to win.”
Kulfan continues; the Red Wings have a rough schedule for the rest of the month; the Wings will head on the road to play in Montreal on Saturday, and Chicago on Sunday;
The team heads back home for two days off, then plays another stretch of 3 games in four nights in Washington, at home vs. Florida, and then on the road again vs. Toronto to finish the month;
Then the Wings play 11 times in 20 days to start November, so it’s going to become a grind very quickly for a Wings team that’s had enough rest to avoid the injury bug thus far.
We’ll learn more about both teams’ lines and lineups in about twelve hours, so come back for the game-day coverage.
Seider was the defenseman of the year in the Swedish Hockey League last season. The 20-year-old has three assists in three games for the Red Wings (and didn’t even earn an assist on Raymond’s goal, despite starting the sequence with a nifty move to avoid an opponent in the Detroit zone and a pass to transition the puck the other way).
Raymond also came from the SHL and has scored three points (one goal, two assists) in three games for Detroit, which is off to a 2-0-1 start and hosts the Calgary Flames on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNW, BSDET, ESPN+, NHL LIVE).
“It will be very interesting to follow a player like Moritz Seider, who we saw a lot here in Sweden last year,” said Red Wings legend Nicklas Lidstrom, a Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman who lives in Sweden but came to Detroit for the start of the season. “He has a great future. He has all it takes to be a really good player and an asset for Detroit. And that goes for Lucas Raymond as well. He had a very good preseason and is a promising player. These younger guys on the team are very interesting players. It will be fun to watch them.”
Raymond’s goal, at 6:17 of the third period, gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. He helped make it 2-0 with an assist 2:36 later, sending a saucer pass past an opponent along the right-wing boards in the neutral zone to Larkin, who fed forward Tyler Bertuzzi on the rush.
“Those are a couple real dynamic offensive plays,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “The one thing [Raymond] does pretty consistently is he plays a complete game, so what that does is earn trust, and if you earn trust, you get minutes. And he’s done a pretty good job of that.”
“He looks like he’s got great energy,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He’s been on pucks. He’s always been kind of a junkyard dog in terms of how he plays, but he looks like he’s skating well, which is great. Over the years you have different guys that have had major back surgery and sometimes the damage is more significant than others and so you just don’t know.”
In only 12 games since the start of last season, Bertuzzi has 10 goals and 13 points.
“Obviously very happy,” Bertuzzi said. “Great start for the team, showing confidence and scoring goals. After missing almost a full year last year, it feels good to be back out there. We’re playing really well now.”
The Red Wings hoped Dylan Larkin would benefit from being reunited with Bertuzzi and it looks like he has, with three points (goal, two assists) in two games.
“Dyl’s our engine,” Bertuzzi said. “He brings speed and energy and leadership. It showed last night (in a 4-1 victory over Columbus). It’s going to keep showing through the rest of the season. Guys rely on him and he’s a big part of this team.”
