The Malik Report

The WHL’s website posted a profile of Joe Hicketts, as written by Robert Murray. Murray penned a really lengthy discussion with “Hicksy” regarding his NHL debut, the work that went into making the NHL, and where he goes from here:

“You’ve just got to put your head down and keep working,” Hicketts said, offering advice for similar players in his position. “I’ve been told countless times by even NHL general managers [that I’m] too small, too slow, not in good enough shape.

“To make it, I’ve played one game and obviously there’s that fire now that you want to play more but it all starts in the gym, working on your shot, your skating. With today’s game, there’s so many resources that are available to help you.”

One of those resources came from his parents, who were with him growing up through minor hockey and made it to his debut.

“From the amount of time, effort, and money they put into me growing up through minor hockey, to get there to that point to see them after the game and how excited they were for me, it’s something that I think makes the whole journey up to this point worth it.”

 

Continued, and this one is worth your time…

Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff took note of a particularly ironic comment–well I think it’s ironic, anyway–made by Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper at the All-Star Game:

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper and Detroit’s Jeff Blashill are longtime friends and constantly take playful digs at each other through the media. Given the opportunity through the All-Star Game to coach Green, one of Blashill’s players, Cooper just couldn’t help himself.

“OK, so I’m going to let this one out of the bag,” Cooper said. “Jeff Blashill sent me a text right after the game saying you needed a few more Wings on the team and I sent one back to him that said, ‘(Green) finally got some good coaching.’

“It was great having him. He’s been doing that for a long time. Had we won the game, maybe (Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov) would have got MVP but Green would have been right behind him. He was great for us.”

Duff’s Monday notebook continues…

 

I will probably mention the fact that you can donate to The Malik Report at https://patreon.com/themalikreport or http://paypal.me/themalikreport once or twice a day. It may be annoying to see the same old post again, but it’s better than advertisements, and as I’ve said, I’d like to keep this ad-free for as long as possible (which is hopefully indefinitely).

How does this “crowdfunding” thing work? Well, you decide how much this content is worth to you, and you can set up a subscription with Patreon for as low as $1 a month, $2, 5, 10, at whatever level you feel you want to support the page, or you can make a one-time donation via Paypal.

Either way, your support is going to determine whether this page succeeds, because there are no paywalls here. I *will* however be setting up “freebies” and even an advisory panel for higher Patreon tiers. Right now I’m just setting things up and trying to figure out how things work…

Continue reading On crowdfunding

Red Wings GM Ken Holland spoke with the New York Times’ Andrew Knoll regarding Steve Yzerman’s passion for the game as the Tampa Bay Lightning’s general manager:

“Whatever you do in life, part of being successful is passion,” said Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland, who began training Yzerman during his playing career and presided over Yzerman’s three championships as a player before working with him when Detroit won another title in 2008. “It can’t be work. If it’s just a job, your energy level is going to be drained over time. That passion and desire to gather knowledge are what Steve had as a player and he’s also taken into the front office.”

Continued

From the Russian news agency “TASS“:

St. Petersburg SKA hockey team forward Pavel Datsyuk will be the captain of the team of “Olympic athletes from Russia” competing at the 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea, the head coach of the St. Petersburg SKA, Oleg Znarok, told reporters on Monday.

The team will head for South Korea on February 6 to prepare for the Olympics. “Datsyuk was designated as captain,” Znarok said.

Red Wings pro scout Glenn Merkosky was named to the AHL’s Hall of Fame  this weekend–as Merkosky is a legendary member of the Adirondack Red Wings–and Merkosky spoke with the Albany Times-Union’s Pete Dougherty about the honor:

Merkosky ranks in the top 15 in AHL playoff goals, assists and games played. He won three Calder Cups, given to the AHL champions — two as a player and one as an assistant coach.

A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Merkosky, 57, had his entire family on hand, including a brother who surprised him by flying in from western Canada.

“I came to Adirondack at a great time,” Merkosky said in his acceptance speech. “The Detroit Red Wings were building, they had great ownership in the Ilitches. The Ilitches would show up for playoff games and take the trips in from Detroit and take a real interest in our team. They treated us great and became a part of our lives. As an American Hockey League player, to have a relationship with the owners of your National Hockey League team, like we all did, was something special.”

Continued

After 8 years at Kukla’s Korner, I’ve decided to start a new chapter blogging on my own on https://themalikreport.com. I hope to continue providing excellent coverage of the Red Wings, their prospects and more on a regular basis, and I hope that you’ll come along for the ride.

The new The Malik Report works a little differently: instead of utilizing advertisements for revenue, I’m going to try my best to avoid ads for as long as possible (hopefully entirely), and instead attempt to use an “NPR model” of funding. I’m asking my readers (that’s you) to help me pay the bills by either making a one-time donation at http://paypal.me/TheMalikReport or to start a subscription to the blog on Patreon (at https://www.patreon.com/themalikreport).

My goal funding-wise is to attempt to generate as many $5-per-month subscriptions as possible, with the goal of 200 subscribers of the equivalent thereof. Under this Patreon model, I’ll be asking for subscriptions and not one-time donations for the Traverse City trips, equipment for work (i.e. a new computer), etc.

I’ve learned over the years that ads no longer pay the bills for blogs, so I’m turning to crowd-funding to survive, and while I’m not hoping to make a whole ton of money, I’d like to be able to get by thanks to the interest of my readers.

More than anything, my goal is to continue to create blog content for your perusal and enjoyment, and I simply feel that it’s time for me to take charge of my blog and work on my own. I inherited an audience on Kukla’s Korner, and now it’s time to build my own following and own community as a stand-alone blog.

It’s time for a new chapter in my blogging career, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

Grand Rapids Griffins forward Matt Puempel appeared on WOOD TV’s Sports OT with Larry Figurski on Sunday. Puempel and Matt Lorito will represent the Griffins at the AHL’s All-Star Game tonight (7 PM EST on the NHL Network):

If you’ve been following the Wings’ prospects on TMR at Kukla’s Korner, you probably know that Michael Rasmussen and Dennis Cholowski have displayed dominant form in the WHL, but if you’re not familiar with the pair, the Free Press’s Helene St. James has you covered:

Rasmussen, 18, had a goal and two assists as he played back-to-back games over the weekend for the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League. The Ams won both games, improving to 25-16-7 and taking over the first wildcard spot in the WHL playoff race.

Rasmussen has 17 goals and 17 assists in 24 games. His 1.42 points-per-game average leads the team, and his nine power-play goals rank second on the team.

A 6-foot-6, 215-pound center, Rasmussen had an impressive first camp with the Wings. He was adept at going to the net and screening opposing goaltenders, and scored four goals in five exhibition games.

Fellow top prospect Dennis Cholowski is also having a standout season: he just had an eight-game point streak snapped over the weekend, leaving him with 13 goals and 36 assists in 47 games (he has 10 assists in 10 games since being traded to the Portland Winterhawks from the Prince George Cougars). Cholowski, drafted 20th overall in 2016, ranks fifth overall in scoring among WHL defensemen.

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa penned an article about the progress made by Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha, and he prefaced it with the following:

It is fairly bleak, for certain. Late January, the All-Star weekend, and the Red Wings looking forward not to the playoffs, but to the intrigues of the trade deadline.

For a second season, a roster of stars too old, and prospective ones either developing or not, is failing to add up to postseason play.

The contracts up and down the roster suggest this could go on for a while.

That their performance in the last game before the break sputtered and coughed like too many before, in a season when a team that vowed to play with chip firmly on shoulder has sometimes skated and played docilely.

There are, however, reasons for Red Wings fans to be optimistic. Some fans recoil from the assertion, but good things are happening for the Red Wings.

They are certainly less compelling than playing and winning in late May and June. But to regain that glory, the Wings must emerge from the decline.

Krupa continues