The Malik Report

Of Red Wings-related note from my illness-induced day off:

1. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan penned an article discussing the Wings’ win over Washington from a larger perspective…

This easily could have been a loss the last several years — in fact, it was Wings’ first victory against Washington since Feb. 11, 2018 — and it felt early as if it would be. But this just might be a growing, developing team taking shape.

“We’ve been in situations where we’ve found our way to wins and that breeds confidence, so that’s part of it,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “We have some guys that have matured over the years in terms of living through some of that. As hard as some of those moments are to live, you hope you grow and a number of our guys have grown even through some of the difficulties we faced. And we have some new faces that have a calm demeanor to them and just kind of keep playing.”

The Capitals noticed a different type of Wings team.

“They are a good team,” Capitals forward Lars Eller said. “They’re probably better than people give them credit for.”

Kulfan continues;

2. Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a set of Halloween-themed power rankings…

15. Detroit Red Wings (4-2-1)
Can’t you just picture GM Steve Yzerman in a lab coat, a mad scientist cackling to himself, an evil genius who knows he’s a few tweaks and turns from unleashing another perennial contender on the world?

3. WXYZ’s Brad Galli explained how Lucas Raymond’s first rookie card will be available via Upper Deck’s ePack feature:

Continue reading Off-day round-up: Kulfan on the Wings’ win over Washington; ‘Mad Scientist’ Yzerman; Lucas Raymond’s rookie card; Edvinsson, Olympian?

A good reminder:

These 5 Roasters hold nothing back on Brett Hull. Tune in to hear the embarrassing stories on Monday, November 22 at 8pm, & laugh along for an important cause. You can catch the Celebrity Roast on @BallySportsDET or livestream on our website.

Details: https://t.co/wsvqGk4IwW pic.twitter.com/D2GHMrEGNw— Jamie Daniels Foundation (@JDanielsFund) October 29, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings take on the 7-and-0 Florida Panthers this evening (7 PM EDT on ESPN+/hulu/97.1 FM), and prior to both teams’ morning skates, the Florida Panthers made the following announcement:

Statement from Florida Panthers General Manager Bill Zito on Interim Head Coach Andrew Brunette. pic.twitter.com/6rHZBYuL19— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) October 29, 2021

And if you aren’t already aware, tonight’s game is on ESPN+ only:

Friday’s game vs. Florida is the first of eight games to air exclusively on @ESPNPlus during 2021-22 season!

Details: https://t.co/ZN4gx7BTd6
Subscribe: https://t.co/8X8u2yZWxj pic.twitter.com/rIEEjPWskM— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 28, 2021

The beat writers didn’t Tweet out lines this morning, so the Red Wings were the first to let us know that the Wings were actually holding a morning skate…

Morning work. #LGRW

?: https://t.co/a1ZFiGyALB pic.twitter.com/wJbhbSkgDs— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 29, 2021

Ken Kal also said, “Hello”…

Tonight’s “Spooktacular” Line Ups on Halloween ? night ⁦@LCArena_Detroit⁩
Muhuhaaaaa! pic.twitter.com/JuzMIXEmv6— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) October 29, 2021

As far as game previews are concerned, MLive’s Tyler Kuehl set up tonight’s affair…

Continue reading Red Wings-Panthers morning skate Tweets and articles: No line rushes + game previews galore

My apologies for the radio silence on Thursday afternoon and evening. A long stretch of not taking the best care of myself caught up with me, and I just crashed around noon, and couldn’t get up.

I’ll get back to work on Friday morning and catch up with the prospect stuff that happened on Thursday. I’m still feeling wrecked, so a good night’s sleep is in order before getting back to work.

97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield notes that the Red Wings received praise from a surprising source after last night’s 3-2 overtime win–their opponents:

They are a good team,” [Lars] Eller said. “They’re probably better than people give them credit for. Could we have played better? Yeah. Did we play poorly? No. Even when we were up 2-0 it was a game. They kept playing and we weren’t good enough to close it off today.”

Seven games into the season, the Wings are 4-2-1 — tied for second place in the division with the Sabres. Which is an apt reminder that the season is young. That a lot will change. But things are changing for the better in Detroit. This is the team’s best seven-game start since 2016-17, when everything crumbled. Those Wings were growing old. These Wings are growing up.

“We’ve been in situations where we’ve found our way to wins, and I think that breeds confidence,” Blashill said. “That’s part of it. I also think we have some guys that have matured over the years in terms of living through some of that. As hard as those moments are to live, I think a number of our guys have grown through some of the difficulties we’ve faced. And then I think we have some new faces that have a calm demeanor to them and just keep playing.”

The newest faces picked up the assists on Larkin’s game-winner. Raymond leads all rookies this season with four goals and eight points. The three players picked ahead of him in last year’s draft, in the lottery the Wings may have won by losing, have one goal and five points combined — not that we’re keeping track (yet). Seider leads all rookies with six assists and, not for nothing, 21:50 of ice time per game.

“We had them out there (in OT) because we think that they’d give us a chance to make a real good hockey play, and they did,” Blashill said. “Both guys have played good hockey for us and deserved the opportunity to go out there.”

Continued; this year’s Wings are plucky, that’s for sure.

In the Red Wings’ latest episode of “The Crew,” LCA facilities supervisor Dave Jones talks about the means by which the Wings’ rink crew changes over Little Caesars Arena’s floor from ice hockey to basketball and/or concerts (and back):

AWood40 on YouTube posted yet another set of highlights, this time recapping last night’s 3-2 overtime win over the Washington Capitals. Enjoy:

Detroit’s home tomorrow vs. the unbeaten Florida Panthers (7 PM EDT start on ESPN+/97.1 FM) and then the Wings head to Toronto for a Hockey Night in Canada game vs. the Maple Leafs (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/97.1 FM), so the next two games will be rough sledding. Enjoy the Wings’ successes while we can!

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski wrote a lengthy article for ESPN+ which discusses the Red Wings’ rebuilding effort, which is slow, but steady. Some blogger got quoted in the article, but that part isn’t important:

In April 2019, the team announced that franchise legend [Steve] Yzerman, who stepped down as Tampa Bay GM in September 2018 to spend more time with his family, would become the new general manager. [GM Ken] Holland was kicked upstairs, before leaving for the Oilers one month later.

“I started the rebuild. It was a philosophical direction change that Ken Holland started somewhere in 2017-18. Steve came back, and he’s done a fabulous job,” Holland said.

Remember that line from Yzerman: “This is going to take time.”

The biggest virtue of the “Yzerplan” is patience.

“Our philosophy isn’t to rush anyone. Slowly challenge them in better leagues and harder situations. Let them feel their way through it. They’ll tell us when they’re ready, from their play, when they’re ready to step into the NHL,” Horcoff said. “And not just step in. We don’t just want to give them games. They need to come in and play meaningful roles.”

What rebuilding teams want to avoid is the toxicity that can come with losing. That stench festers. Horcoff got a whiff of it when he was the captain of the Edmonton Oilers from 2010 to ’13.

“It’s not easy for any player, even the veterans,” he said. “These young guys were coming in — Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov — and we had some down years. It was tough on them. It’s hard to learn to win when you’re not.”

Continued, with more quotes Ken Holland, Shawn Horcoff, from Jeff Blashill, and me…

In the, “Way too early” department, from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

It’s not the best start to the NHL season a Detroit Red Wings team has posted since the 2004-05 NHL lockout. However, it does match up exactly with the launch of the club’s most important season during that span.

Wednesday, the Red Wings were rallying from a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 victory Wednesday against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. Achievement of the victory came via captain Dylan Larkin’s overtime goal.

“I think it shows a lot of character,” Red Wings forward Adam Erne said of the comeback road victory. “They’re a highly-skilled team with a lot of big names. We just stuck with it, stuck to the gameplan. Eventually it paid off.

The outcome is leaving the Red Wings sitting with a 4-2-1 record for the 2021-22 NHL season. Interestingly, the last time the club was sitting at 4-2-1 in the standings following seven games was during the 2007-08 season. That also happens to be the most recent season ending with a Red Wings Stanley Cup celebration.

Continued; hope is a wonderful thing, but realism is not a bad thing, either, and the Red Wings are clearly a better team after seven games…

But let’s not get carried away.

Yet.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman filed a mailbag feature this morning, and, among his many answers to reader queries is the following:

What’s the plan for Joe Veleno? I’d love to see him up at some point soon. — Chad M.

There’s a decent chance you will. In fact, Blashill said a couple of weeks ago, “There’s going to be a time when Joe plays for us this year. I would bet on that.”

That was while he was explaining that the chance for Veleno to thrive high in the lineup in Grand Rapids was the main reason they sent him down to start this season.

“If he wasn’t going to be in our top six — maybe you could make an argument in the middle-six somewhere — but we just wanted him to be in really important roles,” Blashill said.

The key was Veleno building confidence and continuing to develop his offensive game, so he’s ready when the Red Wings do need him in that top-six or top-nine capacity.

“When (he’s called up), we want to make sure Joe’s feeling really confident and that he’s playing at a really, really high level and continue to develop the offense,” Blashill said. “I don’t know what Joe’s offensive ceiling is. I know he can be a really good third-line player. I know that. I really believe that. But can he be more than that? Well, we’re hoping so, and he’s hoping so. He wants to be. Well, to do that, you’ve gotta (score points), and you’ve gotta produce and you’ve gotta be in those offensive situations, and I didn’t have spots for him here right now, so let’s have him do it in Grand Rapids.”

Continued (paywall)