The Malik Report

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reports that the Red Wings’ various call-ups from Grand Rapids have yielded success in Detroit…and some difficulties for their AHL affiliate:

The Griffins are coming out of their much-needed AHL All-Star tonight when they play a road game against the Milwaukee Admirals.

Grand Rapids leads the Central Division by three points over Texas (Dallas Stars) and five over the Milwaukee (Nashville Predators). But injuries, call-ups and illnesses have caused some struggles of late. They didn’t score a single goal in back-to-back losses to Colorado. It was the first time the Griffins were shutout in back-to-back game since 2016.

It helps the Griffins that the Red Wings sent Shine back to Grand Rapids, and that Carter Mazur is starting to get his timing back after missing most of this season with the injury. Injured Amadeus Lombardi could be back in another week.

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings prepare for their final game before the Four Nations break, a Saturday afternoon matinee game against the Tampa Bay Lightning (1 PM EST start on ABC/Sportsnet/97.1 FM).

Again, Tampa Bay beat Ottawa 5-1 last night, so the standings look as follows this morning, with Tampa’s 29-20-and-4 record sitting 1 point ahead of the Red Wings’ 28-21-and-5 record. Tampa Bay has a game in hand on Detroit, which they will expend on Sunday vs. Montreal.

The Wings took to the ice at the BELFOR Training Center under Little Caesars Arena at 11 AM:

Continue reading Tweets from Friday’s practice: Wings prepare for Bolts with Compher set to rejoin lineup

TSN’s Craig Button posted a list of his top 50 NHL-Affiliated prospects, and only two Red Wings, one Axel Sandin Pellikka (#6 overall) and Trey Augustine (#20 overall) cracked his list.

Two’s better than none.

Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson has been interviewed by Hockeynews.se regarding his emergence as the second-pair stalwart on the Wings’ blueline, but the interview and accompanying paywalled article are, of course, in Swedish:

I’m not a fan of power rankings as a rule, because they’re mostly “opinion lists,” but we’ll take the opinion of one Arda Orcal and run with it here:

15. Detroit Red Wings

Previous ranking: 20
Points percentage: 56.48%

What’s super: Being young. The Red Wings have recently clawed back into playoff contention. But what’s a great sign for the Wings is that they are a competitive team fighting for playoff participation with a core group that is 24 and under. Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond are leading that charge, but players such as Marco Kasper, Jonatan Berggren, Elmer Soderblom and Simon Edvinsson have been showing up and showing out.

Continued; coach McLellan has allowed the Wings’ younger players to “earn spots” on the team a bit more regularly than coach Lalonde, but Griffins coach Dan Watson deserves his share of credit for helping develop the Grand Rapids Griffins’ top prospects into NHL players, too.

It certainly feels like The Athletic’s resident statistical gurus don’t like the Red Wings very much, but The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn might give the Wings a little bit of credit here as he reports that Moritz Seider’s not earning as many tough minutes on the Wings’ top defensive pairing:

The Red Wings have been unbelievably hot under new coach Todd McLellan with a 15-4-1 record that has the team in a playoff spot. A run like that feels almost miraculous given where the team was when he was hired and McLellan obviously deserves a lot of credit. It also makes you really question some of Derek Lalonde’s decisions when he was coach.

One of those decisions was the bafflingly difficult burden placed on Seider. Lalonde gave him the absolute toughest matchups in the league and it did a number on his numbers. McLellan has eased things considerably and it’s made a difference.

Lalonde had Seider facing opponents with an average Offensive Rating of plus-3.0, 2.5 higher than the remaining team average (excluding his primary partner). Under McLellan, that burden has eased to a plus-2.5 opponent Offensive Rating faced, just 1.1 goals higher than team average.

That’s made a big difference for Seider, who leads the team’s defensemen in xG under McLellan at 49.7 percent. Under Lalonde, he was middle of the pack at 45.4 percent.

Continued (paywall); there are a lot of people who are questioning what coach Lalonde was doing…

And this speaks to the emergence of Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson as a reliable defensive pair under coach McLellan.

The Wings can spread their match-ups around these days, and being “freed up” a bit from the “only shut-down guy on the D” role has helped Seider excel both defensively and offensively speaking.

The Red Wings’ management team, and specifically speaking, its general manager, tends to speak with the Red Wings’ head coach on a daily basis about player personnel matters. That was true for Derek Lalonde, and it’s true for Todd McLellan.

As the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton notes, coach McLellan is not “tipping his hand” as to whether the Wings will “buy” at the trade deadline, and that’s good:

However, when asked about that possibility after Thursday’s practice, coach Todd McLellan answer coolly, saying, “I’m not prepared to answer that question right now. That’s a March question. I think the trade deadline’s in March. I don’t even know when it is.”

“We’re a full month away,” he added.  “We’ve got so much in front of us right now, so that’s not a question I’m going to answer right now.”  When informed by a reporter that the Red Wings play just eight more times before that date, McLellan quipped, “When it gets down to two or three, maybe we’ll figure it out.”

McLellan was also asked whether the international break for the 4 Nations Face-Off will give he and general manager Steve Yzerman an extended chance to unpack their plans.  The coach once again declined to embrace that possibility.  Instead, he emphasized that those conversations are constant and ongoing, therefore the break is unnecessary to spur them.

“Yes, it is, but it’s nothing special, because we do this [all the time],” McLellan said.  “We just spent a half hour talking hockey and teams and players and things like that, so we do that on a regular basis, almost daily.  So this break isn’t gonna change a lot.  There may be things that come up and we discuss, but I don’t think it’s going to throw our routine out of whack.”

Continued

Per the West Bloomfield, MI Patch:

The Detroit Red Wings Alumni will face off against a local hockey team known as the “MI-UCP Pucksters”, with both teams raising money and awareness for MI-UCP. on Saturday, March 15, 2025 at the St. Mary’s Arena in Orchard Lake. Over the past 23 years, this event has raised nearly $650,000 to assist the 2.3 million Michiganders who live with disabilities. 

This year’s event, the 23rd of its kind, will showcase two hockey games: A sled hockey exhibition featuring adult and youth sled players from Belle Tire Sled Hockey and the MI-UCP Sledsters at 5:00 p.m. followed at 7:00 p.m. by the MI-UCP Pucksters against Detroit Red Wings Alumni.

The charity event is open to the public and admission is FREE! 

There are two rosters playing on Saturday March 15, 2025 at the St. Mary’s Arena in Orchard Lake. Those looking to get involved can donate directly to a player from either team by visiting the MI-UCP website, where each player has a fundraising goal in support of MI-UCP. The website is https://www.mi-ucp.org/hockey

The MI-UCP Pucksters is a team of local hockey players at every level who will take on the Red Wing Alumni and each player has a goal to raise at least $500 for MI-UCP (many end up raising much more).

The Tampa Bay Lighting defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-1 on Thursday night, so they sit 1 point ahead of the Detroit Red Wings in the Atlantic Division standings:

The Associated Press posted a preview of Saturday’s game between the Wings and Bolts (1 PM EST start on ABC/Sportsnet/97.1 FM):

Continue reading Standings update and an early Red Wings-Lightning game preview

NHL.com’s staff writers picked potential “unsung heroes” who may step up during the star-studded Four Nations Face-Off, and they picked both of the Red Wings’ representatives as less-heralded players who may star in the tourney:

Dylan Larkin, Team USA

In a tournament like this, some stars must swallow their egos, accept lesser roles and excel in them. Canada has a history of success with it in best-on-best tournaments. Now the United States has the depth of talent and the height of expectations to do the same. Larkin could be a key example. He’s the captain and first-line center for the Detroit Red Wings. He’s one of the NHL leaders in power-play goals this season with 12, and he has been one of the top point producers in the League since the holiday break (24 points; 11 goals, 13 assists in 20 games), when Detroit hired coach Todd McLellan. With centers Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel ahead of him in the 4 Nations Face-Off, he probably will have to play lower in the lineup for the United States than he’s used to with Detroit, but he can contribute in all situations. Larkin is a fiery competitor eager to play big games on the big stage for his country. Here’s betting that he will find a way to make a difference no matter the role he is given. — Nicholas J. Cotsonika, columnist

Lucas Raymond, Team Sweden

By the time the tournament is finished, Team Sweden’s points leader might not be one of its perennial All-Stars like William Nylander, Filip Forsberg, Victor Hedman or Erik Karlsson. Instead, don’t be surprised if it ends up being the 22-year-old forward from the Red Wings, one of the NHL’s young stars in the making. Raymond leads Detroit this season with 58 (21 goals, 37 assists) in 54 games, ahead of more established names on the roster like Larkin (50), Alex DeBrincat (43) and Patrick Kane (30). Beyond that, Raymond’s versatility will be something coach Sam Hallam is expected to rely on, especially on special teams. He is tied for third in the NHL with 25 power-play points (five goals, 20 assists), trailing only Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov (32) and New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes (26). He’s also chipped in with a short-handed goal and could find himself on the penalty kill for Team Sweden. — Mike Zeisberger, staff writer

Continued