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!

The Red Wings’ biggest ‘burning question’ surrounds its goaltending situation

ESPN’s Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton discuss the biggest “burning question” facing every NHL team this morning, and there’s a trend in terms of the Red Wings’ situation:

Detroit Red Wings
Will John Gibson be a game-changer for the Red Wings?

It’s not like Detroit hasn’t had decent goaltending in recent years. What the Red Wings have lacked is consistency. For all the good runs Ville Husso or Petr Mrazek managed to put together, they inevitably bookended too many subpar stretches that, combined with Detroit’s below-average defensive play, held the Red Wings back from fulfilling their potential.

Well, the midseason addition of new head coach Todd McLellan yielded improvement. And now, enter John Gibson. GM Steve Yzerman traded for the veteran netminder from Anaheim in a bold offseason move that could be the difference between whether Detroit sinks or swims this season.

Gibson may have struggled with the rebuilding Ducks, but the Red Wings are a more established team with enough talent to support him. He still posted a .911 save percentage in 29 appearances last season, showing he has the potential to reclaim his form as a No. 1 goalie. If Gibson can indicate early on he’s a reliable presence in the crease, then confidence should spread in Detroit and give them a boost that’s been missing. Can Gibson provide all that in Year One? We’ll find out.

Continued; I’m not expecting any miracles here, but a steady Gibson and a less-overworked Cam Talbot should equal a solid goaltending pair, with Sebastian Cossa and/or Michal Postava waiting in the wings.

Record-Eagle: Red Wings’ training camp activities in Traverse City will be short, but they’re going to scrimmage each day

This year’s training camp consists of a very short stay in Traverse City for the Red Wings’ organization. In previous seasons, when Detroit’s prospect tournament was a hopping 8-team event, the Wings would set up camp in Traverse City for a full two weeks.

This year, between the two “Prospect Games” taking place in Frisco, Texas and the Red vs. White Game taking place in Grand Rapids, the Wings will only spend three days skating at Centre ICE Arena.

The “Prospect Games” will shift back to Traverse City next year, but for now, the Traverse City Record-Eagle’s James Cook reports that Centre ICE will make the best of what it’s got this fall…

And Cook also reports that the Red Wings will take part in an intra-squad scrimmage each day:

The Red Wings practice and scrimmage from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. each day Thursday-Saturday. Scrimmages returning helps lessen the sting of the Red & White Game moving to Grand Rapids for a year. Former head coach Jeff Blashill did away with scrimmages as part of training camp during his tenure.

“It’s almost like a Prospect Tournament,” training camp director Tom Rodes said. “You have guys battling for a job. They get to showcase themselves more than in drills.”

The Red Wings moved their Development Camp from Traverse City to Detroit in 2018, and general manager Steve Yzerman has indicated the Prospect Showcase — previously known as the Prospect Tournament when as many as eight teams converged on Traverse City for a week — will alternate between Dallas and Traverse City, unless they can find more franchises to participate in more of a tournament setting.

“We’re looking for more teams,” Rodes said. “It seems like since Covid, more teams are looking to stay closer to home.”

Put bluntly, the teams that saw what Detroit had going in Traverse City wanted a piece of the action for themselves, and they got a little cheap, too, in terms of the expense of flying their prospects to Traverse City to stay for a week, so teams have chosen to stay closer to home for the most part. That being said, I believe that 22 or 23 of the NHL’s 32 teams have some sort of prospect vs. prospect tournament these days.

Also, regarding the Red & White Game:

Continue reading Record-Eagle: Red Wings’ training camp activities in Traverse City will be short, but they’re going to scrimmage each day

Eddie Genborg earns praise after scoring his first goal for Timra IK

As noted on Tuesday, Red Wings prospect Eddie Genborg scored a goal in Timra IK’s 5-2 win over Genborg’s previous team, Linkopings HC (via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter).

Playing on Timra’s first line, Genborg, a 2025 2nd round pick, chipped home a bouncing puck in front of the opposition net:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of some Swedish praise for Genborg from both his teammate Jonathan Dahlen (who scored a hat trick on Tuesday; Dahlen is an SHL star player), as well as an SHL analyst…

Continue reading Eddie Genborg earns praise after scoring his first goal for Timra IK

Tweet of note via Red Wings Prospects: Max Plante named alternate captain at University of Minnesota-Duluth

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter: University of Minnesota-Duluth forward Max Plante was named an assistant captain at UMD:

Does Dylan Larkin face pressure? Yes. Blame for the playoff-less streak? No.

Yardbarker’s Chris Morgan offers a list of 20 NHL players who he believes will be under the most pressure to perform this upcoming season, and Morgan lists Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin on his list:

Dylan Larkin

The Red Wings made the playoffs for 25 straight seasons between 1990-91 and 2015-16. Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Henrik Zetterberg all captained the Red Wings to playoff appearances, the first two hoisting Cups. Detroit has now missed the playoffs nine seasons in a row, including every season Larkin has been captain. This kind of drought doesn’t fly in Hockeytown. It pretty much needs to end now. If it doesn’t, Yzerman, now the general manager, will take some blame, but Larkin will also receive a lot of it.

Continued; Larkin is always under significant pressure as the Red Wings’ captain…

But he’s not going to be at fault if the Red Wings miss the playoffs. Larkin brings his best effort every night, and while he’s still looking for the most consistency he can muster, the Wings’ much-beleaguered captain does a damn good job.

Discussing AHL preseason games (or the lack thereof)

Via the Hockeytown West Podcast, Inside AHL Hockey’s Tony Androckitis reports that the Grand Rapids Griffins won’t play a preseason game this upcoming season:

The Hockey News’s Jake Tye wondered aloud whether the Red Wings and Griffins might want Grand Rapids to play in some stand-alone exhibition games in order to further evaluate the Wings’ prospects when the NHL drops down from 8 exhibition games to 4 exhibition games…

Continue reading Discussing AHL preseason games (or the lack thereof)

Prospect round-up: Buchelnikov 1A, Genborg 1G, Anton Johansson 23:13 played on a busy day in Europe

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the KHL, Dmitri Buchelnikov registered an assist, finishing with a penalty, a won faceoff and a hit in 16:18 played as CSKA Moscow lost 6-5 in a shootout to Spartak:

In the SHL, Michal Svrcek dressed but didn’t play a shift as Brynas IF lost 7-5 to Lulea Hockey;

Anton Johansson took 2 shots, finishing even in 23:13 as Leksands IF won 4-2 over Orebro Hockey;

And Eddie Genborg scored a power play goal, finishing at -1 with 2 shots and a minor penalty taken in 15:20 played as Timra IK won 5-2 over Linkopings HC:

Promotional Tweet: Grand Rapids Griffins advertise a ‘Pick ‘Em Plan’

Here’s a little free advertising for the Grand Rapids Griffins:

Kulfan asks 10 training camp questions

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan asks 10 pertinent questions of the Red Wings ahead of the start of training camp on Thursday:

▶ 5. Can Kasper, Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, Elmer Soderblom and Jonatan Berggren take further steps in their careers? It seems vital, since the Wings are banking on internal improvement. All these young players earned NHL opportunities last season and showed promise. If the Wings are going to move up the standings, all these players will need to continue to improve and flourish. Most of them will get key roles, play key minutes, and as their progress goes, so go the Wings in a big way.

▶ 6. Who will play with Larkin and Raymond? As noted above, Kasper thrived playing with these two last season. Copp, returning from injury, would make an interesting fit. Newly acquired James van Riemsdyk, with his style of play and effectiveness around the net, seems well suited. Soderblom and Berggren had chances last season and had some success playing on Larkin’s line. There are a lot of possibilities.

▶ 7. Is there a spot in the lineup for Nate Danielson, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Carter Mazur, or any prospect? The defensive unit appears set, so for Sandin-Pellikka to make the roster, it would seem an injury (or trade) would have to occur. But as good a prospect as Sandin-Pellikka is, some seasoning in Grand Rapids might be best for him adapting to North American pro hockey. There is an extra forward spot available, but the Wings don’t ever want a youngster like Danielson, Mazur or Brandsegg-Nygard to be healthy scratches in the NHL if there’s ample playing time available to them in the AHL. Any of these young forwards would basically have to play well enough to take over someone’s job. It is possible.

Continued (paywall)