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: It’s Mickey Redmond’s birthday

From FanDuel Sportsnet Detroit:

Update:

Two English-language articles about Axel Sandin Pellikka’s big night

The Athletic’s Julian McKenzie and Sarah Jean Mayer posted an article which includes some post-game comments from Axel Sandin Pellikka after Team Sweden’s captain, the Red Wings prospect defenseman, scored a hat trick vs. Slovakia:

A good captain wants to lead by example. Axel Sandin-Pellikka said it himself Sunday afternoon.

“I feel like everyone can come and talk to me, but I mostly lead by example,” said the Swedish captain.

But whether he was totally expecting the defense to lead the offense in Sweden’s 5-2 win over Slovakia is another thing.

The Detroit Red Wings prospect and Swedish captain scored a natural hat trick in the tournament’s opening game to kick off his third World Juniors.

“We have a lot of good defensemen here in the team that likes to play with the puck, so it’s fun. Fun we got some goals from there,” Sandin-Pellikka said. “I think we played a good game overall, so we’re happy.”

Continued;

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis also posted a profile of Sandin Pellikka:

Entering his third World Junior Championship with Team Sweden, Axel Sandin-Pellikka – donning the captain’s “C” – had a three-goal, four-point debut in a 5-2 win over Slovakia. It was a truly dominant performance from the Detroit Red Wings prospect, who was just as good away from the puck as he was with it.

“It was a special night for a special player,” one NHL scout said after the game.

Sandin-Pellikka has a chance to become just the second player in tournament history to win the directorate award as top defenseman, with Russia’s Viacheslav Fetisov being the lone man to hold the designation. ASP won it as an 18-year-old in his sophomore appearance after making his debut in Halifax in 2023.

The two-way defender earned rave reviews for his play with the puck, but many scouts thought he was just as good, if not better, handling the competition from his own zone.

“His physicality is an underrated element of his game,” a scout said after the tournament in Sweden. “He doesn’t want you to snag open ice and has the gap control and the hockey IQ to take advantage.”

Continued

Red Wings-Maple Leafs post-Christmas game preview

The Detroit Red Wings play their 3rd game of the season against the 21-12-and-2 Toronto Maple Leafs tonight (7 PM EST start on FanDuel Sportsnet Detroit/TVA Sports/Sportsnet Ontario/97.1 FM), and Todd McLellan’s first game as the Red Wings’ new head coach is not going to be an easy task.

The Leafs have lost two straight games, dropping a 6-3 decision to the New York Islanders and then a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets just before the holiday break, but they did so without the services of captain Auston Matthews or goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who are both nursing injuries.

NHL.com describes tonight’s match-up thusly…

Toronto Maple Leafs at Detroit Red Wings (7 p.m. ET; FDSNDET, SNO, TVAS)

Todd McLellan will make his debut as coach of the Red Wings (13-17-4) when they host the Maple Leafs (21-12-2) at Little Caesars Arena. The 57-year-old, who replaced Derek Lalonde on Thursday, was an assistant coach with the Red Wings from 2005-08, including winning the Stanley Cup in 2008. Detroit, which has not qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2016, has lost three straight (outscored 13-4). The Maple Leafs assigned goaltender Dennis Hildeby to the American Hockey League on Thursday and recalled Matt Murray, who won his first NHL game in almost two years by making 24 saves in a 6-3 victory against the Buffalo Sabres last Friday. The big question looming over Toronto, however, will be the availability of captain Auston Matthews, who has missed the past two games — both losses — with an upper-body injury.

Field Level Media posted a Wings-Leafs write-up…

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs post-Christmas game preview

HSJ in the morning: McLellan tasked with a salvage job

The Free Press’s Helene St. James summarizes the tasks which new Red Wings coach Todd McLellan faces in her morning column:

The Wings chased a playoff spot all the way till Game 82 in [coach Derek] Lalonde’s second season, in 2023-24. But the team underwent numerous personnel changes headed into this season, including the departures, through free agency or trades, of defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere and Jake Walman, and forwards David Perron, Daniel Sprong and Robby Fabbri.

Newcomers in forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Erik Gustafsson have failed to overcome those losses and the Wings have struggled to show even a modicum of mediocrity. Entering the holiday break, the Wings ranked 29th in goals per game (2.56), 25th in goals against per game (3.26) and 31st on the penalty kill (68.8 percent).

Now it falls to McLellan, 57, to try to salvage things. He should benefit from his first game being against the Leafs, as the Original Six and Atlantic Division rival brought out the Wings’ best performance of the season when the teams met at Little Caesars Arena on Nov. 14.

But showing up now and then hasn’t been the Wings’ problem – if anything, it’s magnified issues. They have at times demonstrated just how competitive they can be, but then they’ve also performed so poorly, like in the 4-0 loss to the Blues that preceded the holiday break and led to fans booing the team on home ice.

After that performance, captain Dylan Larkin acknowledged the bleakness of it all, saying fans were, “rightfully so frustrated. We didn’t give them any reason to cheer and have a good night. We feel it. It’s just a disappointing effort and disappointing game for playing on home ice before a holiday.”

Continued

All about Trent Yawney

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses new Red Wings assistant coach Trent Yawney this morning, noting the long relationship between the Red Wings’ new defensive coach and head coach Todd McLellan:

The two first met as teammates with the WHL Saskatoon Blades in 1983. Yawney a defenseman who was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks. McLellan a center who was a draftee of the New York Islanders.

“Yawns and I have a really good relationship from many years ago when we played junior together,” McLellan said. “If he wasn’t here, we’d still have this relationship.”

McLellan would never make the NHL grade as a player. Yawney spent 593 NHL games with the Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames. He would also captain Canada at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.

Yawney was also the first to get an NHL head coaching shot, with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2005. Three years later when McLellan, fresh off a Stanley Cup win as a Red Wings assistant coach, was offered the head coaching position with the San Jose Sharks, his first call was to Yawney. But it wasn’t merely a case of looking out for an old friend.

“I was more interested in his experience in Chicago as a young coach,” McLellan said. “He did some things right he’ll admit and he did some things wrong. I wanted to draw upon those experiences so that maybe I could evaluate what I was doing at times as a young coach.”

They spent three years working together in San Jose, one in Edmonton and five in Los Angeles.

“It’s been really productive that way,” McLellan said.

Continued

WJC roundup: Sandin Pellikka 3G + 1A; Augustine OK, Plante 1A in USA win, Kiiskinen plays 19:28 in Finnish loss

Of Red Wings prospect-related note at the World Junior Championship:

Axel Sandin Pellikka was the star of the World Juniors on Thursday, scoring a hat trick and an assist for 4 points, taking 11 shots and finishing at +3 in 20:55 played as Sweden won 5-2 over Slovakia. Sandin Pellikka spoke with IIHF.com’s Andrew Podnieks after the win:

“We have a lot of good defencemen who like to play with the puck, so it’s fun that we got some goals from there,” said Sandin Pellikka. “We played a good game overall, so we’re happy. We played with patience. We kept our cool. We had a lot of chances and knew pucks were going to go in soon enough, and they did.”

Coach Magnus Havelid weighed in as well, per HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Persson…

“He is our captain and shows the way. I think we show very good energy right through. There was a joy of playing throughout the team, and even when we got into a disadvantage, it felt calm on the bench. Somewhere we had prepared for it. You have to have respect for the resistance – they have some really good players and both teams were rested,” said manager Magnus Hävelid.

Expressen’s Tim Dahlbeka noted this from ASP...

Continue reading WJC roundup: Sandin Pellikka 3G + 1A; Augustine OK, Plante 1A in USA win, Kiiskinen plays 19:28 in Finnish loss

Prospect round-up, European version: Anton Johansson scores, good teams continue to win

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe today:

In the Finnish Liiga, Jesse Kiiskinen is absent, but you folks know that I’m a, “We’re going to follow the team anyway” person, so: HPK Hameenlinna lost 4-3 to IFK Helsinki in a shootout;

In the DEL, Kevin Bicker is injured and missing both DEL games and World Junior Championship games, but his Frankfurt Lowen won 5-4 in overtime over Iserlohn;

In the SHL, Noah Dower Nilsson got boosted to Frolunda HC’s 2nd line, took 2 shots in 10:54 played and Frolunda HC won 4-2 over Linkopings HC;

Anton Johansson’s team continues to struggle, but it’s not his fault. He scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 2 shots in 17:00 played as Leksands IF lost 4-2 to Timra IK;

And Skelleftea AIK is a bit of a “unit” even without Axel Sandin Pellikka, who is at the World Junior Championship for the next two weeks, but so SAIK won 4-2 over Orebro, with a certain Michael Brandsegg-Nygard finishing even with 1 shot and a minor penalty taken in 14:23 of ice time.