Red Wings-Blues quick take: Blues beat Wings 4-0, stretching Detroit’s losing streak to 3 games

The Detroit Red Wings hosted the St. Louis Blues to wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule on Monday night, with the Red Wings hoping to snap a two-game losing streak and a situation where the Wings had won 3 of their past 11 games. The Blues had lost 3 straight and 5 of 6, so Detroit’s opponent was in a desperate position as well.

On Monday night, Detroit just looked like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the peanut butter or jelly. From Dylan Holloway’s first goal at 16:14 of the 1st period to Holloway’s hat-trick empty-netter at 15:54 of the 3rd, the Blues out-worked, out-hit, out-skilled and generally dominated every Red Wings line that wasn’t the Veleno-Kasper-Berggren line, even the Seiders, Larkins and Raymonds had off nights, Cam Talbot was just OK, and Detroit dropped its third straight game in disappointing and deflating fashion.

The Wings will have to do some soul searching over the Christmas break, because they host Toronto, Washington and Pittsburgh on the 27th, 29th and 31st, respectively, and then head to Columbus on the 2nd and Winnipeg on the 4th of January, so the schedule affords Detroit no “off nights.”

I do not want to guess as to whether the Red Wings will have their current personnel or coaching staff at Friday’s morning skate before the Leaf game, but I would like to suggest that if Chris Kreider is sitting in New York, he’s exactly the kind of player that the Red Wings need–a tough, net-front goal-scorer.

I doubt such a trade would happen, but it’s a nice thought to take us out into the Christmas break, a very necessary 3 days off for both the Red Wings and their fan base.

Continue reading Red Wings-Blues quick take: Blues beat Wings 4-0, stretching Detroit’s losing streak to 3 games

Tweet of note: Bruce and Kal preview Wings-Blues on The Forecheck

DetroitRedWings.com’s Daniella Bruce and 97.1 the Ticket’s Ken Kal preview tonight’s Red Wings-Blues game on the latest episode of “The Forecheck”:

‘Paying the bills time’ fundraising

Aunt Annie and I are attempting to stay afloat financially this month, and so while I am not thrilled about having missed time recently, I’ve been back for over a week, and as we look toward Christmas, it’s necessary to do a little fundraising.

If you don’t want to, you don’t have to, but if you are willing to lend a hand in the form a of a couple of bucks, they would be gratefully received and greatly appreciated:

The Malik Report needs your support to function. You receive quite a bit of information “for free,” but providing that information is not done for free. As such, we would like to ask that you kindly contribute to our monthly expenses.

If you’re willing to lend a hand, we have a PayPal option at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport; there’s Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2; if you’re into the, “I don’t want to use any of those pages” option, here’s always the Giftly option by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com…

And in the banking options, you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check, or “Zelle” me via my email, rtxg@yahoo.com.

It’s my pleasure to provide you with as much information as I can give, but this is also a job, and it requires money, time, energy and effort (a.k.a. work). If you are willing or able to support this endeavor, it is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Have the Red Wings recalled William Wallinder?

HockeySverige.se’s Konrad Gronlund is reporting that the Red Wings have recalled William Wallinder from Grand Rapids:

William Wallinder scored his first AHL goal for the season five days ago.

Now he’s been called up from Grand Rapids and is ready to debut for the Detroit Red Wings. The announcement comes after Swedish Simon Edvinsson injured himself and thus is out of the lineup. This according to several sources, including Around The Horn.

William Lagesson and Swedish affiliation Marco Kasper have also been called up in the NHL. But for both, it’s a summons to the NHL in the crowd.

Wallinder is listed on the Red Wings’ roster page currently:

The Red Wings would have to put a player on IR to find a spot for Wallinder.

Shapiro discusses neck guards with Marco Kasper

EliteProspects’ Sean Shapiro spoke with Red Wings forward Marco Kasper regarding his status as a rare player who wears neck protection, and Kasper had this to say about his choice:

“They’re actually really comfortable for me, with the brand I’ve used with it built into my shirt,” Kasper said. “I think the biggest thing for some guys is the comfort level, they just feel more comfortable without it.”

There’s also an unspoken peer pressure to it, Kasper said. Once you reach the NHL, it’s normal to ditch the neck guard, almost a rite of passage, and when Kasper made his NHL debut during the 2022-23 season, a one-game cameo, he actually did his best to roll the neck guard down to better fit in.

“When you look around and nobody is wearing it, you try to fit in like that,” Kasper said. “So you try to roll it down or don’t wear it all, because you want to be like everyone else, prove you belong. But then the accident happened (with [Nottingham Panthers forward Adam] Johnson), and you think about it and I’ve never thought about rolling the neck guard down again.”

Continued (paywall); I’ve never worn a neck guard as a skater, but the technology is there now, and I think it’s a pretty good idea.

Two more game-day previews

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a game-day notebook which discusses the Red Wings’ need to rely upon an interim set of defensemen with Simon Edvinsson and Ben Chiarot out due to upper-body injuries…

“It has to be (a) next-man-up (mentality),” [Justin] Holl said. “We have a lot of good defensemen here, and we’re confident in our ability to control the situation. Guys might be playing left or right (side), or different sides than they’re used to, but it’s a part of the game. We’re professional and we have to figure it out.”

Lagesson, 28, was signed as an unrestricted free agent on July 1 to be a player capable of providing the Wings NHL experience, for this very type of injury-riddled situation. Lagesson played 16 minutes 18 seconds Saturday on 23 shifts, with a minus-two rating.

“It’s fun to be in the NHL again and I’m going to try to help the team win again,” Lagesson said “I’ll play my game, a hard and tough game.”

The defense was pretty much set coming out of Wings’ training camp, with Johansson securing the bottom-pair/extra defensemen role, not being waiver exempt anymore. Lagesson understood the odds were stacked against him making the opening-night roster.

“There’s always tough competition, but I was hoping to start up here,” Lagesson said. “But I’m here now, and that’s great, and I’m going to advantage of the opportunity. (It was) just a numbers game, and they had some other guys who were going to get an opportunity. Those are the decisions for management, and I’m just trying to do my job and battle hard every day.”

Kulfan also notes the following…

Lalonde isn’t surprised forward Joe Veleno is on a three-game goal-scoring streak.

“We talk about getting out-competed a little bit in Montreal, those guys did not,” said Lalonde, noting the Veleno, Marco Kasper and Jonatan Berggren line. “That was an excellent line, with underlying numbers and scoring, they worked. Joe has done that the last couple of games and he’s been rewarded with it, with some offense.”

And DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted a game preview as well:

Continue reading Two more game-day previews

Red Wings-Blues game-day notebooks

The Red Wings’ beat writers filed their game-day notebooks over the course of the last hour, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes the Wings’ defensive situation going into tonight’s game vs. St. Louis…

Injured Edvinsson (upper body) skated today, but has been ruled out for tonight. Chiarot was injured in Saturday’s lopsided loss to the Montreal Canadiens. He’s also out, and the Red Wings will reevaluate him after their Christmas break. Coach Derek Lalonde said his hope is Edvinsson will be back in the lineup Friday when the team plays the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“Obviously, we have not handled Simon being out very well,” Lalonde said.

The Red Wings are 0-3 when he doesn’t play at all, including the last two games against Montreal.

“It’s probably on me and our staff to be creative tonight, ” Lalonde said, “and get that home matchup and our D to step up.”

Chiarot had been plus-9 in the four games before being injured.

“It’s an upper body, something that’s plagued him throughout his career,” Lalonde said. “Hopefully, we’ll get a better feel with a couple days off.”

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Alex DeBrincat, Justin Holl and coach Lalonde about the Wings’ need to earn a moral victory tonight…

“We got to empty the tank tonight,” Alex DeBrincat said. “Leave it all out there and get the two points.”

The power play has been ranked in the top 10 all season and still sits ninth (22.7 percent), but it’s just 2 for 25 in the past nine games (eight percent).

“Today’s penalty kills, you get those passive diamonds and you have to get the box moving with puck movement,” Lalonde said. “If you get stagnant and you just sit there, you’re playing into the passive penalty kill. You have to have a certain plan against certain penalty kills and sometimes we just get in a perimeter-stickhandle- hold it, and it’s too easy to defend it.”

They continue to swap out some personnel and switch players between units.

“I think we’re still generating chances, they just aren’t going in,” DeBrincat said. “When that happens, you got to change some stuff up. We got to go out there and execute and we have the players to do it. We just got to put it in the net and try to feel good about ourselves, be a difference-maker. I think when we get two, three chances in a game, we got to put one in the net and really help the team out.”

Also:

The Red Wings have allowed 13 goals in the past three games and four or more goals in 5-of-6 games. That’s not all on the goaltending, but Cam Talbot, who starts tonight, and Alex Lyon haven’t been sharp in recent games while returning from injuries.

“What was also a stinger the last two games was the one reliable position for us has been those two, Talbot and Lyon, and they had struggles the last couple of games,” Lalonde said. “So, I expect Cam to get his game back in order.”

As far as the Blues are concerned, StLouisBlues.com’s Chris Pinkert posted a game-day update…

Continue reading Red Wings-Blues game-day notebooks

Praise for Kiiskinen, Sandin Pellikka and Augustine

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis listed his Top 20 NHL prospects to watch at the 2025 World Junior Championship in Ottawa, and he included several Red Wings prospects in his list:

Jesse Kiiskinen, RW, Finland (Detroit Red Wings)

Kiiskinen is set to make his return after a solid showing back in Sweden a year ago. The winger hasn’t slowed down in his Draft+2 campaign and is on pace to finish with just under 50 points with HPK in Liiga this year. Those are some incredible numbers for a U-20 player, and he’s almost always one of Finland’s top players whenever he hits the ice.

…

Axel Sandin Pellikka, D, Sweden (Detroit Red Wings)

Sandin Pellikka has been making Detroit Red Wings fans giddy with the prospect of seeing him in the NHL in the next few years. The skilled, puck-moving blueliner was named top defenseman at this event a year ago and has a realistic opportunity to become just the second player in tournament history to win it twice after Slava Fetisov took the title in 1977 and 1978. Sweden has a legitimate shot to challenge for gold yet again this year, and if ASP plays like he did last year, it’s very possible they’ll get revenge for the early exit last year.

…

Trey Augustine, G, USA (Detroit Red Wings)

Augustine is the top goaltender in the tournament, and is one of the best goalie prospects across the NHL, period. Augustine is putting up some outstanding numbers as a college sophomore, registering an 11-2-1 record with two shutouts and a .930 save percentage. He has a great team in front of him, sure, but Augustine has managed to be an absolute star at every level he has ever played in and has a near-perfect record at the World Juniors, too.

Continued