The Malik Report

Of Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. Here’s the Wings’ Game Day Preview video:

2. Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff spoke with coach Jeff Blashill regarding the challenges that the Lightning present:

Continue reading Evening news: A Game-Day Preview, Blashill on the Bolts and Nielsen the scorer

The Athletic’s Craig Custance penned a list of solid non-rental players on the trade market, and four of the players–Gustav Nyquist/Tomas Tatar, Jimmy Howard and Danny DeKeyser were listed from the Red Wings:

13. Danny DeKeyser, D, Red Wings – Teams have expressed interest in DeKeyser, although those who like him, like him at $4 million per season (through 2021-22) much better than they do at his full-rate of $5 million. Like most of their players not named Dylan Larkin, the Red Wings are listening here but not looking at a DeKeyser deal as a salary dump or even a player they’re eager to retain salary on. The most likely scenario for the Red Wings at the deadline is a Mike Green trade and potentially a trade involving a winger. But DeKeyser could be lured away and teams like him at the right number. “It’s just managing him,” said an NHL scout. “I think he’s a good player. He can provide value. He’s a little overpaid but with the cap rising, it’s probably fine.”

Continued (paywall)…

Grand Rapids Griffins announcer Bob Kaser sets up the Griffins’ 2-game series against the AHL’s Western Conference-leading Manitoba Moose (tonight and Saturday in Winnipeg) via a 3:33 Game-Day Preview video:

 

From the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

Darren Helm was watching Olympic skeleton when he, a man once nicknamed ‘Danger’ because of his speed on ice, found himself curious.

“I just want to know how they get into a sport like that,” Helm said Thursday. “Like, what makes them join that event.”

As the Detroit Red Wings prepared for the evening game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena, the television in the visitors locker room was tuned to coverage of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. As highly trained athletes themselves, players are fascinated by a variety of the events. It is bittersweet for some that the NHL decided to forgo participating, but that doesn’t affect enthusiasm for watching, dreaming about trying out an event, and picking teammates to participate.

“Whenever there is a chance to watch I turn it on,” Helm said. “I think there are a lot of really interesting events – bobsled, luge, skeleton, that’s all pretty interesting to me. It’s pretty exciting. The skiing stuff, snowboarding, the half pipes. I think almost every event has that certain element that’s exciting to watch.”

Continued, and St. James spent 9-and-a-half minutes speaking with the Wings about Olympic events:

 

Updated at 3:33 PM: The Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning will face off this evening (7:30 PM EST on FSD/FS Sun/97.1 FM) after engaging in a morning skate where news was hard to come by.

It appears that Jimmy Howard and Andrei Vasilevskiy will oppose each other in goal, and it sounds like Andreas Athanasiou will miss the game due to an illness (per the Free Press’s Helene St. James), but at almost 3 in the afternoon, all that’s out there is “Bolts stuff.”

The Lightning spoke with TampaBayLightning.com’s Jacob Lynn about heading home for an extended stretch after spending most of the first two thirds of the season on the road, as well as tonight’s match-up with Detroit…

Continue reading Red Wings-Lightning game-day updates: Mostly Bolts stuff

From the Detroit Free Press…

The dramatic story of the five Russian hockey stars who helped propel the Detroit Red Wings to two Stanley Cup championships is the focus of Freep Film Festival’s opening night film.

The world premiere of “The Russian Five” documentary will open the fifth annual Freep Film Festival on April 11 at the Fillmore Detroit.

The movie, directed by Port Huron native Joshua Riehl, includes new interviews with Russian Five stars Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Viacheslav Fetisov, along with other Red Wing and NHL greats, including Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan, Darren McCarty and Wayne Gretzky. Top brass like Jim Devellano, Scotty Bowman and Tom Wilson also appear, as does actor and super fan Jeff Daniels.

The film gives the behind-the-scenes story of the Red Wings’ strategy in luring the five Russian players, including the under-cover-of-night defections of Fedorov and Vladimir Konstantinov. It also provides new insight into many key moments in Red Wings’ history, including coach Bowman’s decision to play all of the Russian Five at the same time, the bloody rivalry between the Wings and Colorado Avalanche, the 1996-97 Stanley Cup run and the horrific limousine accident that seriously injured Konstantinov and masseuse Sergei Mnatsakanov in the celebration aftermath.

“I think the story of the Russian Five is one of the most exciting chapters in the history of sports in Detroit, and I’m absolutely thrilled to screen our documentary at the Freep Film Festival,” said director Riehl. “There won’t be a better audience for this film anywhere in the world, and I can’t wait to share it with the people of Detroit.”

Continued

 

Of note from TSN’s Frank Seravalli’s “Trade Board” report:

At No. 24, Detroit’s Petr Mrazek is the top-ranked goalie on the board. The Philadelphia Flyers recently lost starter Brian Elliott for a period of five-to-six weeks after core muscle surgery. Mrazek is an RFA at the end of the season and the Red Wings are not expected to qualify him at $4 million. That is the exact situation under which Philadelphia rescued and resuscitated Steve Mason’s career from Columbus on Deadline Day in 2013.

The belief is the Red Wings are looking to move one of either Mrazek or Jimmy Howard before the deadline. Howard, 33, has one more season remaining at $5.3 million. A comparable either-or situation exists up front in Detroit. Gustav Nyquist ranks No. 27 on the list, but the Red Wings are also shopping two-time 20-goal scorer Tomas Tatar. The difference is Tatar is in the first season of a four-year, $21.2 million deal.

Continued

Today we’re kicking off The Malik Report’s logo contest. Anyone can enter, and the winner will earn $50 and a cut of merchandise sales.

I’m looking for two logos: a 500-pixels-wide-by-100-pixels-high banner using “The Malik Report” name as an anchor and incorporating Red Wings red (Pantone 186), black, gray and/or white into the logo, anda 150×150-pixel design to use as the webpage’s bookmark logo, and possibly a hat design.

Whether you use part of the Wings’ logo in the design is up to you, but using an entire Wings logo probably won’t fly.

If you are interested in taking part in the contest, please either post your submission below via upload of a logo from your Imageshack, etc. account, or email me at rtxg@yahoo.com with your submission. Ideally, I’d like the submissions to come in by Tuesday, February 20th.

Also “ideally,” I’d like to conduct several votes as to which “banner” and “bookmark” pass muster by February 28th, with a winner declared on March 1st. That may not be realistic, but setting a two-week timeline for the contest seems logical.

Thanks for reading and participating!

 

Updated 4x at 12:59 PM: The Detroit Red Wings hope to snap a 10-game losing streak when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning this evening (7:30 PM EST on FSD/FS Sun/97.1 FM).

Our friends in Tampa Bay are annoyed with themselves after dropping 2 straight games, and the Bolts will be desperate to bolster their status in a dogfight for the Atlantic Division title when they play the Wings this evening.

The Lightning took to the ice first at Amalie Arena for their morning skate, per Fox Sports Sun’s Paul Kennedy…

@TBLightning Morning Skate underway with @CoopersLaw offering instruction. Seeking four game regular season sweep of @DetroitRedWings 7pm @FOXSportsBolts pic.twitter.com/jSUd4tZpGF

— Paul Kennedy (@PaulKennedyFOX) February 15, 2018

The Lightning said, “Hello”…

Continue reading Red Wings-Lightning morning skate Tweets: Bolts want to get back to winning; AA out sick

South Korean hockey coach and former Grand Rapids Griffins assistant coach Jim Paek spoke with The Coaches’ Site regarding his journey with the Korean national ice hockey team:

Being a part of Olympic hockey is great for our team, it’s helped tremendously, giving [the sport] a lot more visibility. And with how hockey in China has taken off, that’s grown the sport on this side of the world, and it’s given notice to the rest of the world that there is hockey over here in Asia.

For us in the hockey world right now, there’s a huge buzz. The media coverage we’re getting for the hockey team is fantastic, it’s on TV and in the papers. It’s never been seen before and people are starting to notice the sport. It’s really exciting.

There are always hurdles and obstacles you have to overcome. But with the support from the Korean Ice Hockey Association, people in the hockey circle, and even the fans now, especially with the media supporting us, we’re really fortunate.

The Olympics are not the end goal for us, it’s just the start. Being a part of the Olympics here is the start of something great to come for Korean hockey.

When you go to one of the IIHF conferences and then you can see all the countries that are involved in hockey, it’s unbelievable. Kuwait, India, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, places you never thought there’d be hockey have teams now.

Why? It’s a great sport. Once you play it, you get hooked. It teaches you a lot of things and life skills — team play, leadership, discipline. And it’s a great sport to watch.

Continued