The Malik Report

Four days after the Kansas City Mavericks and Toledo Walleye got into a brawl, the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe reports that the Walleye are still upset about the event:

What started the melee is the real problem and it must be addressed. [Garrett] Klotz suckered punched Toledo’s A.J. Jenks and leveled him. He then assaulted Jenks with a series of vicious cross-checks as Jenks lay on the ice.

It was eerily and nauseatingly reminiscent of the brutal attack Kalamazoo captain Ben Wilson put on young Walleye defenseman Simon Denis less than a year ago in the same venue.

I get that KC was fatigued and frustrated (down 4-0 and in the middle of a five-game losing streak). I even understand it if Mavericks coach John-Scott Dickson may have urged his team to “stir something up.”

But Klotz’s Neanderthal attempt to provide a spark is just bad for hockey and bad for the ECHL. The gruesome mental snap that resulted in nothing less than assault and battery would result in jail time off the ice.

Walleye coach Dan Watson is still fired up about Saturday’s incident. He called it a non-hockey play and called for stiff suspensions.

“It’s extremely dangerous,” Watson said. “It was uncalled for. It’s someone attacking someone who is defenseless. It’s a black eye for our league.”

Monroe continues, and the Kansas City Star’s Blair Kerkhoff reports that the Mavericks deny that their fights were encouraged by their coach:

[John-Scott] Dickson denied that Klotz or any of the Mavericks were out to rough up the opponent.

“I want to make this clear — players were not sent out to deliberately do anything,’ Dickson said in a statement. “Things were happening on the ice. We will always play till the end. Emotions and frustration came into play and that is hockey.”

Mavericks president and general manager Brent Thiessen was just as adamant in his denial that Kansas City players were deliberating trying to injure opponents.

“We at no time condone actions that put any player in jeopardy of being injured,” Theissen said Monday. “We have spoken with Klotz and will speak with the league on the matter. At no time, ever, were players instructed to “take on” players from an opposing team and to make accusations such as that is completely wrong and unfounded.

“That isn’t how this teams plays or approaches any game. It’s an unfortunate instance and we are very happy there wasn’t an injury to the opposing player.”

Continued, and WTOL’s Jordan Strack did a fantastic job of explaining the particulars of the brawl on Twitter:

HERE IT IS: FULL VIDEO OF THE WALLEYE VS. KC BRAWL — EVERYONE INVOLVED INCLUDING THE GOALIES. pic.twitter.com/yLg645d9Me

— Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) February 11, 2018

THIS IS STRONG: Kevin Tansey responds to the brawl between Toledo & Kansas City from Saturday night. He played for the Mavs last year and has been outspoken on social media. He had some extremely strong words about the incident & the player who started it, Garrett Klotz. pic.twitter.com/6akmJ57QGc

— Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) February 12, 2018

 

The Detroit News’ Rod Beard reported that the Pistons have covered a chunk of lower bowl seats at Little Caesars Arena with black Art Van seat covers; this morning, the Free Press’s Vince Ellis reports that the sponsorship agreement does not extend to the Red Wings:

The Pistons unveiled a partnership with Art Van Furniture company that introduced black seat covers with the Art Van logo over many center-court seats at Little Caesars Arena.

Workers removed the covering after the game so the agreement does not include the Detroit Red Wings.

The seat covers were added the same day Art Van Elslander, the company founder, died at 87.

The seat covers numbered in the thousands. The area included parts of the arena along each sideline and went to the top of the lower bowl. The seat covers were not behind the baskets.

The bright, red empty seats have embarrassed the Pistons, although they maintain attendance and revenue are up in their first season at LCA vs. the last season at the Palace.

In NCAA hockey, the Boston University Terriers fell short in the Beanpot final, losing 5-2 to Northeastern University. Kasper Kotkansalo finished even with 4 shots;

And in the WHL, Lane Zablocki had an assist and 2 shots in the Victoria Royals’ 5-4 loss to Kelowna.

 

The Detroit Red Wings will tangle with an ornery opponent in the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday evening (7:30 PM EST on FSD/Prime Ticket/97.1 FM).

The 27-19-and-11 Ducks are in a furious fight to earn a playoff spot in the Western Conference, finding themselves 1 point short of the final Wild Card spot in the West. They’ve won 2 of their last 3 games, but Anaheim’s had a bumpy February, most recently dropping a 3-2 shootout decision to the San Jose Sharks this past Sunday.

Anaheim spent Monday flying to Detroit to open a 4-game road trip, and Detroit took Monday off as the Wings are amidst a stretch of 10 games played over the course of 17 nights and afternoons, so we’ll look back at Sunday’s Ducks-Sharks game to yield context for Tuesday’s match-up.

The Orange County Register’s Eric Stephens reported that the Ducks “blew a point” on Sunday afternoon:

Continue reading The overnight report: Red Wings-Ducks set-up (and a bit of trade talk)

The Detroit News’s Rod Beard reports that the Pistons have found a novel way to deal with the empty red seats at Little Caesars Arena:

Pistons fans are seeing red no more.

At Little Caesars Arena, there’s a lot less red — the color of all the seats in the arena — after the Pistons added a few thousand black seat covers, sponsored by the Art Van furniture company, on Monday.

The seat covers were added the day after Art Van Elslander, the founder of Art Van company, died at the age of 87. Pistons officials confirmed that the covers are part of a new corporate partnership with Art Van and are not related directly to Van Elslander’s passing.

The agreement appears to be with the Pistons and not the Red Wings.

Continued…I don’t believe that the Wings will cover the seats, but one never knows.

The Under-18 Five Nations Tournament is taking place this week at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, and if you weren’t already considering attending a game or two, USA Hockey’s Becky Olsen offers a strong endorsement for the tournament:

Continued

 

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a Monday night notebook article, and he discusses the Wings’ 3rd period struggles and Tomas Tatar’s status as having just ended a goal-scoring slump:

Tatar hadn’t scored in eight games (only one in 13 games ) before scoring twice Sunday — including the overtime winner — in the 5-4 overtime victory over Washington.

“Two big goal-scorer’s goals there,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He’s a real big scorer. He gets a little streaky at times, and hopefully he can get streaky hot here. He’s been a little snake-bitten, but I also think the goals followed what has been real good play here the last little bit.”

The two goals Sunday give Tatar 14 for the season, likely not the pace the Red Wings would have hoped for after signing Tatar, 26, a restricted free agent at the time, to a four-year contract worth $21.2 million in July ($5.3 million salary cap hit).

Last season, Tatar had 46 points (25 goals, 21 assists), thanks to a hot finish. Tatar has gone over 21 goals each of the last three seasons.

Tatar admitted it’s been difficult lately not seeing the puck go into the net.

“When you have chances to score and the goals won’t go in, you feel frustration,” Tatar said. “When the team isn’t winning, it doesn’t feel good. When you score, it’s nice to score for sure.”

Kulfan continues…

Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:

1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James penned an off-day notebook discussing Anthony Mantha’s scoring potential:

Anthony Mantha’s bid for 20 goals as a rookie was cut short by a fight.

He’s closing in on the benchmark now in his second season with the Detroit Red Wings, with two months of games still remaining. Mantha picked up three goals during the trip to New York and Washington, giving him 19 goals in 52 games. He’s the Wings’ leading goal scorer, ranks third on the team with 33 points, and has their third-best points-per-game average at 0.63.

He’s showing the growth the Wings hoped to see when the season began.

“What I’m seeing is work ethic,” coach Jeff Blashill said after Sunday’s 5-4 overtime victory at Washington. “He’s been excellent. His second effort has been good. His skating has been really good. To me, it’s just the simplicity of bending his knees – when he bends his knees and skates, he’s excellent. That’s the fire-starter for him. What’s the one thing that makes the big difference? It’s when he bends his knees and skates as opposed to being straight-legged. He’s been working on that for a long time and I think his work ethic has been great here the last 10 games.”

St. James continues…

2. And of Twitter-based note:

Continue reading On Anthony Mantha, knees bent, and Tweets of note

The Athletic’s Topher Scott looked back at the Red Wings’ 7-6 OT loss against the New York Islanders, examining the reasons why the Red Wings collapsed in the third period. According to Scott, Tyler Bertuzzi’s should’ve-been-a-minor-penalty on Cal Clutterbuck wasn’t the main reason why the Islanders rallied, though the major penalty certainly helped:

Most people would look at Tyler Bertuzzi’s major slash as the penalty that swung the game. But to me it was Justin Abdelkader’s second-period fight with Johnny Boychuk that shifted the entire momentum of the contest.

With only a few minutes left in the second period, the Islanders had nothing going. They had only 11 shots on net, including a measly three in the second period, and Detroit had the game firmly in its grasp. The Red Wings were playing a solid road contest – frustrating the Islanders with simple, boring, defensive hockey.

But as the road team, you never want to poke the bear.

And with just over one minute left in the second period, Abdelkader prompted a fight by slew-footing Boychuk in front of the net, getting the crowd and the Islanders’ bench engaged into the game.

Scott continues (paywall), and here’s the Abdelkader-Boychuk fight:

 

 

NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti spoke with Red Wings defenseman Mike Green about #25’s uncertain future with the team:

“I haven’t thought about it, to be honest,” Green said. “If I have to make a decision, then I’ll think about it.”

But the reality is the Red Wings (22-23-9) will probably approach Green at some point in the next two weeks to talk to him about waiving the no-trade clause in his contract. Barring a dramatic rally in their final 28 games, the Red Wings will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight season following a remarkable run of qualifying in 25 consecutive seasons.

Even after their win Sunday, they sit eight points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. So, they’ll have to soon look to the future and see what assets they can get by trading Green.

“We’ll see what happens,” Green said. “Obviously, it’s coming close. There might have to be some decisions made, but right now I’m not too worried about it.”

The no-trade clause in Green’s contract gives him some control over his situation, which he acknowledged makes it easier for him.

“It definitely helps,” Green said.

Gulitti continues, wondering if Green is a fit for the Washington Capitals…