The Malik Report

A good reminder from Grand Rapids Magazine’s Danielle Nelson:

The Grand Rapids Griffins again are partnering with Versiti Blood Center of Michigan to host a blood drive.

The event will be from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, at Van Andel Arena, 130 W. Fulton St. in Grand Rapids.

Donors can make an appointment or just go to the B, C and D banquet rooms at the arena. Versiti is looking to collect 54 pints of blood.

Individuals who register and attempt to donate blood will receive a Griffins swag bag and an entry into the Drive to Save Lives Sweepstakes to win a new car. Participants must be 18 years or older.

More information is here.

Updated 2x at 11:37 AM: MLive’s Ansar Khan reports from the Red Wings’ Monday practice, a day after the Wings lost 5-1 to the Boston Bruins:

#RedWings practicing before facing San Jose tomorrow at ⁦@LCArena_Detroit⁩ Leddy is out of COVID protocol and skating. Suter only player not practicing. pic.twitter.com/B10bPSLa4G— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 3, 2022

The Red Wings will host the 17-15-and-1 San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, and then the Wings head out West to play Anaheim on Thursday, Los Angeles on Saturday, and the Sharks in San Jose next Tuesday, January 11th.

Update:

#RedWings practice lines:
Bertuzzi-Larkin-Raymond
Fabbri-Rasmussen-Zadina
Erne-Veleno-Namestnikov
Smith-Rowney-Gagner
DeKeyser-Seider
Staal-Hronek
Leddy-Lindstrom
Oesterle pic.twitter.com/4fedy8feDa— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 3, 2022

Update #2:

#RedWings power play units:
1. Bertuzzi (net front), Raymond (bumper), Larkin-Fabbri (flanks), Seider (point).
2. Erne (net front), Gagner (bumper), Veleno-Namestnikov (flanks), Hronek (point).
Leddy rotating in with Gagner. Zadina not practicing on power play. pic.twitter.com/iCzZBes7yv— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 3, 2022

Good news for Nick Leddy:

UPDATE: Nick Leddy has been removed from the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 3, 2022

The Score posted a set of power rankings this morning, and their “New Year’s Resolution” is for the Red Wings’ fans to be patient, which is both an incredibly wise recommendation, and one that’s hard to follow:

24. Detroit Red Wings (15-15-3)

Previous rank: 22nd

Be patient. There’s no way Steve Yzerman would entertain any other method when it comes to building his team, but Red Wings fans need not jump the gun either. The building blocks for Detroit’s roster are mostly in place, so let 2022 be a precursor of what’s to come.

Continued

The Red Wings reassigned several players to Grand Rapids from the taxi squad for this past weekend’s pair of Grand Rapids Griffins games, but CapFriendly Tweeted out some transactions which suggest that the players will head back to the Wings’ taxi squad today:

Continue reading Tweets of note: With weekend’s Griffins games over, Wings will reassign players to taxi squad

The Athletic’s Max Bultman makes 8 Red Wings-related hockey predictions this morning, attempting to discern the Red Wings’ future personnel moves and overall team performance:

Nick Leddy is traded: The trade deadline is still nearly three months away, but already, it’s becoming clear who the Red Wings’ No. 1 trade chip will be. Leddy has given the Red Wings some much-needed mobility from the back end, but his actual on-ice results have been mixed, making him easy enough for Detroit to part with when teams inevitably start looking for playoff reinforcements. There are other pending UFA left-shot ‘D’ who will get more attention — including 2019 Norris Trophy winner Mark Giordano and Canadiens playoff horse Ben Chiarot — but Leddy has the blend of offensive upside and playoff experience to make him a commodity this spring.

Could Detroit get back the second-round pick they shelled out for him this summer? Leddy’s eight points in 31 games have been a bit underwhelming, but it’s at least plausible because of his track record — especially if Detroit helps the acquiring team by retaining some salary. The Islanders were also facing cap pressure when they moved Leddy this summer, which the Red Wings assuredly are not. They don’t have to move him at all, particularly if they keep hanging around the postseason picture, but the guess here is someone will step up and make a reasonable offer that Yzerman accepts.

Dylan Larkin finishes 2021-22 with a career-high 33 goals and signs a contract extension this offseason: While the instant impact of Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider has been the dominant story of the Red Wings 2021-22 season, not far behind has been a career year from Larkin. His 15 goals through 29 games have him on pace for just about 40 this season, and while his 18 percent shooting percentage (nearly double his career average) suggests that pace will slow, he still stands a chance of topping his career high of 32 — especially if Detroit coach Jeff Blashill keeps him slotted between Raymond and Tyler Bertuzzi.

This kind of bounce-back has been exactly what the Red Wings needed from their captain after a quieter season last year. Larkin once again looks like a legit No. 1 center, and with Detroit suddenly appearing much closer to postseason contention than before this season, his up-tempo, full-ice game is only going to become more important for the Red Wings. And soon, it’s going to be time to extend him.

Continued

The Red Wings and Sharks will be coming off losses when the two teams meet on Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena. Detroit lost 5-1 to the Boston Bruins on Sunday, and the Sharks dropped an 8-5 decision to Pittsburgh Sunday as well.

The Associated Press has already posted a bare-bones preview of Tuesday’s game at Little Caesars Arena (7:30 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NBCS California/97.1 FM):

San Jose Sharks (17-15-1, sixth in the Pacific) vs. Detroit Red Wings (15-15-3, fifth in the Atlantic)

…

BOTTOM LINE: San Jose visits Detroit looking to end its three-game road slide.

The Red Wings are 11-5-2 at home. Detroit ranks 10th in the Eastern Conference averaging 4.7 assists per game, led by Lucas Raymond with 0.6.

The Sharks have gone 8-8-0 away from home. San Jose is 16th in the Western Conference with 29.6 shots per game and is averaging 2.8 goals.

…

TOP PERFORMERS: Dylan Larkin leads the Red Wings with 30 points, scoring 15 goals and registering 15 assists. Moritz Seider has one goal and six assists over the last 10 games for Detroit.

Timo Meier leads the Sharks with 21 total assists and has 34 points. Tomas Hertl has eight goals and four assists over the last 10 games for San Jose.

LAST 10 GAMES: Red Wings: 4-6-0, averaging 2.6 goals, 4.3 assists, 3.3 penalties and 7.8 penalty minutes while giving up 3.5 goals per game with an .888 save percentage.

Sharks: 4-6-0, averaging 3.1 goals, 5.6 assists, 2.8 penalties and 6.2 penalty minutes while allowing 3.5 goals per game with an .893 save percentage.

The Red Wings will play San Jose 2 times in one week; they’re scheduled to play in San Jose a week from Tuesday.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted her customary early-morning column today, discussing the Red Wings’ 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins and their 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals. As St. James notes, the Red Wings were pushed around by both the B’s and Capitals, and as Detroit’s not able to match their opponents hit-for-hit, the Wings’ power play must serve as Detroit’s enforcer:

A power play is an opportunity to punish a foe for a transgression, but the only ones feeling remorse are the Detroit Red Wings themselves. They begin the first week of a new year humbled by two losses at home, welcoming  2022 with a 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins two days after ringing out 2021 with a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals. Coach Jeff Blashill noted after Sunday’s matinee at Little Caesars Arena that the Bruins, “want to bully you, that’s how they are, and I didn’t think we fought hard enough for ourselves.”

Captain Dylan Larkin put it similarly: “It was a physical game. It was a physical game against Washington, and I’ve really felt that when it’s gotten physical we’ve just been kind of been mediocre. We need to push back when it gets physical.”

The Wings were outshot 37-24 against the Bruins, and 27-20 against the Capitals. Goaltenders Thomas Greiss and Alex Nedeljkovic did what they could, but Nedeljkovic couldn’t withstand the egregious defensive blunders that led the Bruins to a three-goal third period.

Beyond being pushed around, the Wings’ big failure has been on the power play — they were 0-for-3 against Washington, and 0-for-4 against the Bruins. All four power plays against Boston came while it was either a tied or one-goal game. On one of the man advantages, the Bruins had possession for the entirety of the first minute, and the Wings never registered a shot on net.

“We didn’t execute, didn’t even get shots,” Larkin said. “They had the puck. We have to find a way to get to our spots and when the puck is on our stick, we can’t force it. We forced it way too much. We had way too many plays get broken up just by forcing it, not moving it around the outside to get our spots to get the shots.

“We didn’t have pushback. The power play would have been key to come back. That third period, we were way too passive. We pushed but we gave up chances going the other way, and we can’t do that. We have to come up with more of a team effort offensively and score on them and pin them in and make it hard on their D, and we just didn’t do that in the third period.”

Continued (paywall)

NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale lists 6 rookies who “are capable of combining offense and physical play,” and as you might expect, one of the players listed is one Moritz Seider:

Moritz Seider, D, Detroit Red Wings: The 20-year-old, selected with the No. 6 pick in the 2019 draft, leads all rookie defensemen in assists (18) and points (21), and is first among all rookies in power-play points (eight), blocked shots (58), and average ice time (22:27) in 33 games. He’s also third among all rookies in points. Seider (6-4, 197) is second among NHL rookie defenseman with 14 takeaways, and fourth with 46 hits. In 41 games with Rogle of the Swedish Hockey League last season, he scored 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists), led the club with 91 hits and was third with 45 blocked shots.

“He’s got a definite toughness to him, physicality side to him,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “If you search the internet, you’ll see a loop of huge Niklas Kronwall-type hits he had last year in the Swedish Hockey League. I think he’s got to get stronger and thicker to do that in the National Hockey League still, but he’s got that edge to him for sure. He can punish people from a physical standpoint, so he definitely has that in him.”

Continued

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in North America on Sunday:

In the WHL, Alex Cotton finished at +1 with 2 shots in the Vancouver Giants’ 4-3 overtime win over Kelowna;

Sebastian Cossa had a rough night, giving up 5 goals on 25 shots in the Edmonton Oil Kings’ 5-2 loss to Prince Albert;

In the BCHL, Kienan Draper had an assist in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 3-2 shootout loss to Surrey;

In NCAA Hockey, Jack Adams finished even with 4 shots in the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s 5-0 win over Niagara;

Chase Bradley finished at -2 in the University of Connecticut Huskies’ 6-2 loss to Harvard;

And Ryan O’Reilly scored a goal, earning first star honors as he finished at +1 with 2 shots in the Arizona State University Sun Devils’ 3-2 win over Cornell:

comin in hot ?@oreilly_ryan /// #BeTheTradition pic.twitter.com/qh0KFrI41E

— Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) January 3, 2022