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!

Tweet of note: Cossa’s mask, ‘Seabass’ not included

Grand Rapids Griffins equipment manager Brad “Dogg” Thompson and Griffins goaltender Sebastian Cossa share the design of Cossa’s mask:

WTOL 11 has a story about Toledo Walleye goaltender Gage Alexander’s mask as well.

Hearing it for the ‘old guys’

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon spotlights each NHL team’s “oldest player” in his latest set of power rankings:

17. Detroit Red Wings (0-0-0) Local boy Jeff Petry turns 38 in December and new goalie Cam Talbot is also 37 right now. Patrick Kane hits 37 in November and it will be fascinating to see how he fares in his first fully healthy season in a couple years.

Continued; “old” is a relative term when the Wings’ oldest players are 8-10 years younger than you are.

A bit of mutual respect

The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood posted a game-day notebook which includes the following passage:

Derek Lalonde spent four years under the tutelage of the NHL’s longest tenured coach, Jon Cooper, who is heading into his 13th season at the helm of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Behind the Penguins’ bench in Detroit Thursday night will stand the second-longest tenured, starting his 10th leading the Penguins.

The reality of coaching turnover is readily apparent to Lalonde, who is already tied for the sixth longest tenured coach in the NHL after being hired by Detroit three seasons ago. Whereas some might point to the star power that those long-tenured coaches get to work with — Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, for example — Lalonde sees evolution as the key to success.

Lalonde said Thursday that Sullivan and the group he joked as the “Boston Mafia” — including Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes and Pittsburgh assistant coach David Quinn — are a group he has learned a lot from as a coach.

“They work just as hard and maybe harder in the off season, staying at the top of this profession,” Lalonde said. “And even talking with Mike, he reads a ton, same with Coop. There’s a reason these guys at the top of our profession, they’ve stayed there for a while.”

Continued

Penguins coach Sullivan to speak with the media at 6 PM

According to Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski, the Pittsburgh Penguins, who lost 6-0 to the New York Rangers last night, will have some injury and goaltending updates when coach Mike Sullivan speaks with the media tonight at 6 PM:

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan won’t address the media until 6 p.m. Thursday, so we won’t know if winger Bryan Rust is available or the identity of the Penguins’ starting goalie. Sullivan could turn to rookie Joel Blomqvist, who would be making his NHL debut or return to Tristan Jarry.

Continued

Griffins’ weekly notebook, volume 1

Here is the Grand Rapids Griffins’ weekly notebook ahead of the team’s opening-night game against Milwaukee tonight:

GRIFFINS BEGIN 29TH SEASON AT HOME AGAINST MILWAUKEE

This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS vs. Milwaukee Admirals // Fri., Oct. 11 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen:WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m.

Watch:AHLTV on FloHockey 

Season Series: First of eight meetings overall, first of four at Van Andel Arena 

All-Time Series: 113-83-7-9-8 Overall, 61-39-2-3-3 Home

NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Noteworthy: Friday’s contest will be a rematch of last year’s Central Division Finals, where the Griffins were defeated by the Admirals 3-2 in the best-of-five series. 

Promotion: First 2,500 fans in attendance will receive a magnet schedule courtesy of Huntington Bank 

GRIFFINS at Rockford IceHogs // Sat., Oct. 12 // 8 p.m. EDT // BMO Center

Listen:WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7:45 p.m. EDT

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey

Season Series: First of 12 meetings overall, first of six at the BMO Center 

All-Time Series: 67-47-11-11 Overall, 27-30-5-6 Road

NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Noteworthy: The Griffins defeated the IceHogs 3-1 in last year’s best-of-five Central Division Semifinals to advance to the division finals for the first time since 2017.  

29th Season of Hockey: The Grand Rapids Griffins begin the franchise’s 29th overall season of play, 24th as a member of the American Hockey League, and 23rd as the primary affiliate of the 11-time Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings on Friday evening when they host the Milwaukee Admirals. The Griffins have competed in 2,133 games between the IHL and AHL and have amassed a 1,108-789-27-82-127 regular-season record (.575), to go along with 18 playoff appearances, seven division titles and two Calder Cups (2017, 2013).

The Watson Supercomputer: Dan Watson was named the 12th head coach in franchise history on June 14, 2023, and enters his second season at the helm. Last season, Watson became the ninth head coach in franchise history to lead the Griffins to the postseason during his first full season behind the bench, joining Dave Allison (1996-97), Bruce Cassidy (2000-01), Danton Cole (2002-03), Greg Ireland (2005-06), Curt Fraser (2008-09), Jeff Blashill (2012-13), Todd Nelson (2015-16) and Ben Simon (2018-19). On April 27, 2024 in a 3-2 overtime victory at Rockford, he also joined seven other head coaches who won their first postseason game behind the Griffins’ bench. Watson became the eighth of the last nine Griffins head coaches to win his first playoff series, defeating the IceHogs 3-1 in the 2024 Central Division Semifinals. In his first year at the helm, Watson led the Griffins to a second-place finish in the Central Division with a 37-23-8-4 record and 86 points, the team’s best finish since the 2016-17 campaign. As a head coach, the Glencoe, Ontario, native possesses a 309-135-30-17 (.677) ledger during the regular season and a 56-38 (.596) mark over only six playoff campaigns.

Playoff Rematches: The Griffins will begin the season against both teams they faced in last year’s Calder Cup Playoffs. Grand Rapids opens the season Friday against Milwaukee, who triumphed in the Central Division Finals, before traveling to Rockford Saturday for a rematch of the division semifinals.

Continue reading Griffins’ weekly notebook, volume 1

Self-belief, self-improvement essential for Wings to beat gloomy preseason predictions

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen spoke with Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde and defenseman Jeff Petry regarding what the Red Wings must do to negate the negative predictions regarding the Red Wings’ ultimate playoff fate:

“I think the guys are motivated,” Lalonde said. “I think they saw what it looked like, what it took. Obviously, we didn’t handle Dylan’s injury very well. We were barely competitive some nights without Dylan. We’ll have to be better in those situations. Some of those ups and down and how important it is you’re battling for every point. I think it was a lesson learned.”

The Red Wings tied the Washington Capitals in points (91) for the final playoff spot, but lost the tiebreaker.

Considering Detroit was 4-10 when captain Dylan Larkin was injured, it was easy to start a list of how the Red Wings could find an extra point or two. They all want to believe this team is improved, embracing a stronger commitment to keeping opponents off the scoreboard. Last season, the Red Wings surrendered four or more goals in 39 of 82 games. That was 47. % of the time.

“The reality of it, we sat here last year coming off an 80-point season and no one had us in the playoffs,” Lalonde said. “I understand it. It was a little motivation for our group. I thought they pushed. We improved 11 points. But when you get to the brink, as a natural step you have to take, of course expectations have changed. It’ll be a little different challenge for our group, how we ride some highs and lows, but I still think it’s about taking care of your game in the moment.”

Continued

Detroit doesn’t see tough starting schedule as impediment to fast start

The Red Wings have a particularly difficult start to their 2024-2025 schedule, playing 3 games in 5 nights vs. Pittsburgh, Nashville and at the New York Rangers, and then the Wings host the Rangers next Thursday before heading off to Nashville to conclude their season series with the Predators.

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with coach Lalonde, Patrick Kane and Dylan Larkin about the importance of getting off to a fast start:

“Everyone has those types of stretches in their schedule,” Lalonde said. “We have it at the start, and the Stanley Cup Final could be Nashville-Rangers. This will be a really good test for us. I’m looking forward to it.”

Said Patrick Kane: “For sure some tough teams we play to start but sometimes to start the season teams aren’t as dialed in as maybe they would be middle of the season, back half of the season. You see some of the games last night it’s wide open, a lot of scoring, a lot of chances both ways. I think we’re pretty dialed with our system right now so hopefully we can take advantage of that.”

A particularly grueling training camp, one that even Kane called the toughest he’s experienced, was designed to prepare them for this.

“We came in feeling like we wanted to get more out of this year than last year,” Kane said. “I think that started in training camp and the way they pushed us on the ice. A lot of time on the ice in Traverse City and even when we came back practices were pretty intense all the way through. I think it’s good for us to kind of set our baseline, get to a standard we need to be at.

“Like I told (Lalonde), practices were probably as hard as I’ve ever seen throughout a whole camp. Hopefully, it’ll be beneficial for us, starting tonight, but in the long run, too.”

Continued (paywall)