The Malik Report

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill is a passionate supporter of USA Hockey, for whom he’s served as a coach several times, and he spoke about the cancellation of the 2022 World Junior Championship today, as noted by MLive’s Ansar Khan:

“I had a chance to talk to the (U.S.) World Junior team before the tournament and like a lot of people I was really excited to see this group,” Blashill said. “It’s honestly devastating. I was crushed to see it. It’s been a really hard couple years for a lot of people. These are these young people’s dreams. These are huge moments. I’ve had a chance to coach in the World Juniors.”

The United States, Czechia and Russia each had to forfeit a preliminary-round game after players tested positive for COVID-19.

The Red Wings had eight prospects from their past two drafts participating – forwards Carter Mazur and Red Savage of the U.S., defenseman and top 2021 pick Simon Edvinsson and center Theodor Niederbach of Sweden, goaltender Sebastian Cossa and defenseman Donovan Sebrango of Canada, defenseman Eemil Viro of Finland and goalie Jan Bednar of Czechia.

“This World Junior group, the older guys on the team, if you go back to the start of this pandemic, they had their World Under-18s canceled (scheduled for Plymouth in April 2020),” Blashill said. “I know how much work goes into it, how much passion is involved. For it to just end on a drop of a dime is just crushing for everybody involved.

“It’s a great tournament and a great opportunity to showcase for the upcoming NHL draft. There’s tons of scouts out there that all the sudden don’t get to have those looks that they depend on to a large degree. Everybody is equal, we’re all going to adjust. I understand perspective. There are worse things in the world, I get that for sure. But when you’re talking about dreams of young people, it’s crushing. I think life is about experiences. They don’t get to have that experience. I feel terrible for them.”

Continued; TSN’s Darren Dreger and Bob McKenzie reported that 5 more players tested positive today, which was confirmed by the IIHF, and that really sucks. Here’s hoping that everyone who’s been affected by COVID gets well soon, and that the players get to go home ASAP.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discusses the Red Wings’ “return to play” after a nearly two-week-long break as the Wings will host the Washington Capitals tomorrow…

“It was good to watch last night’s game (Nashville-Washington) and you could see there was a lot of emotion,” [Wings coach Jeff] Blashill said. “That’s great, just getting back at it. This is what we do and to a large degree what we live for, so it’s great to get back going.”

The Lucas Raymond news is important because originally it was thought he might not be cleared until after the Washington game.  Raymond is the team’s most skilled goal scorer. The Red Wings were preparing as if Robby Fabbri would play in Raymond’s spot on the top line. At one point, the Red Wings had nine players on the COVID-19 list during the break.

“I think we were really lucky,” Detroit defenseman Moritz Seider said. “A lot of guys didn’t even have to sit out for even one game. We had a really good practice today. I think we can build on that and go form there and get excited for tomorrow. Obviously a big advantage for us (is) we don’t have to travel much. Hopefully we can focus a bit more on practices, and go back to work here.”

And Blashill noted that the Red Wings’ return to a nearly full lineup–minus Nick Leddy, at least–might alter the situation regarding one Joe Veleno:

With all the forwards back, the question now is what to do with rookie Joe Veleno.

“That’s a conversation between myself and Steve (Yzerman),” Blashill said. “Steve would ask me where I’d have him and then ultimately if Steve thinks it’s best for him to develop with more ice, depending on where I have him and what roles I have him slotted in, then certainly he might make that decision to say, ‘If that’s the case then I want to send him down.’ Obviously, if I have him in a ton of big roles that would be an easy decision for Steve. We just found out this morning that Raymond is available.

“That puts us in a decision on who the 12^th forward is and who the 13^th guy is. I’ll go through that process after practice. Ultimately, we want Joe to develop. So whatever is best for Joe’s development is what we’ll ultimately decide and that’s for further conversation.”

Continued; I’m betting that Veleno goes back to Grand Rapids for a bit.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James took note of Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider’s comments regarding his first Christmas in North America:

Seider spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Dylan Larkin and his family, describing it as a “really nice” time.

“The holidays were great,” Seider said. “I wasn’t sitting by myself. But other than that it was a lot of ‘me time,’ which was OK. You wanted to stay away from the guys, too, and mind public places. Obviously not quite what I really enjoy, but you have to do it and stay professional during that time. I was a lot on FaceTime calling the family during those days and see how they are doing.”

Seider’s family lives in their native Germany. His parents came for a visit in early December and brought goodies from home for their 20-year-old son.

“It’s always hard bringing that stuff over, but we did most of the stuff when they were here a couple weeks ago,” Seider said. “We just had a really good time and we cooked a lot, went out for dinners, and just enjoyed family time.”

Seider lived with Larkin while getting acclimated ahead of training camp in September. Once his spot in Detroit’s lineup was solidified, Seider moved into a house of his own. But it wasn’t until his parents visited that the house became a home. 

“It was nice to get together,” Seider said. “We were building a lot of furniture. Mom has a good touch for the decoration at home so that was a big help making it a bit more homey and cozy. Now when you open the door and just lay on your couch, you see actually some art work on the wall and some flowers on the table.”

Continued

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins, who play on Friday and Saturday:

UPDATE: The Red Wings on Thursday reassigned defenseman Donovan Sebrango to the Griffins from Canada’s National Junior Team. #GoGRG

Details >> https://t.co/sXNAdswLON pic.twitter.com/OvjdE2bKFr— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) December 30, 2021

Earlier this morning, the Associated Press posted a bare-bones Red Wings-Capitals game preview, and this afternoon, Field Level Media posted a second Wings-Caps preview ahead of tomorrow night’s game between the teams (7:30 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NBCS Washington/97.1 FM):

The Red Wings have been off since Dec. 18 due to COVID-19 issues. They were supposed to play the New York Islanders on Wednesday but the lack of available players for both sides led to Detroit’s fourth consecutive postponement.

In their last game, the Red Wings downed the New Jersey Devils at home 5-2 as Dylan Larkin recorded his first career hat trick. Tyler Bertuzzi had the other two Detroit goals. But there’s bound to be some rust as the Wings return to the regular schedule.

“It’s unfortunate,” No. 1 goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic said. “At this point we just kind of want to play games.”

Nedeljkovic cleared protocols this week and practiced on Tuesday. The Red Wings are hopeful of having most of their players back in action. NHL rookie points leader Lucas Raymond cleared protocol and can return to action, although defenseman Nick Leddy won’t be eligible to come off the list by Friday.

The Red Wings don’t want any more postponements after learning Wednesday’s game was off prior to boarding the plane for New York.

“I was disappointed,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “I’m happy for the guys who would have missed the game so they now don’t have to miss the game, but I want to play and get going. We’re all anxious to play again. (But) we all understand these are tough times and we just have to work through them.”

This will be the rubber match of the three-game season series. Detroit won in Washington 3-2 as Larkin scored an overtime goal. The Capitals won on Detroit’s home ice 2-0 on Nov. 11 as goalie Zach Fucale posted a shutout in his NHL debut.

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings practiced on Thursday in anticipation of playing Friday’s game vs. the Washington Capitals (7:30 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NBCS Washington/97.1 FM) with everyone eligible to play against the Caps but Nick Leddy, who MLive’s Ansar Khan reported is still in COVID protocols.

The Red Wings have a very busy schedule ahead of them in January, and Friday’s New Year’s Eve game kicks off a set of 16 games to be played over the course of 32 days.

After practice, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill and defenseman Moritz Seider spoke with the media:

Update: From NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale:

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill on the news of the cancellation of the #WJC2022 …

“I think life is about experiences. I think at the end of the day, that’s what life’s about. They don’t get to have that experience and, to me, I feel terrible for them.” pic.twitter.com/14jaFxQ4SW— Mike Morreale (@mikemorrealeNHL) December 30, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings dressed a game-ready lineup, absent one Nick Leddy, as Adam Erne, Jordan Oesterle and Lucas Raymond cleared COVID protocols and joined the team for Thursday’s practice at Little Caesars Arena’s Belfor Training Center.

The Red Wings will host the 19-6-and-7 Washington Capitals on Friday, barring unforeseen circumstances, and Washington beat Nashville 5-3 on Wednesday night, which was their first game after the NHL’s pause. The Caps are holding an optional practice in Washington today.

The Red Wings haven’t played since December 18th, when they beat the New Jersey Devils. Since then, four games have been postponed, and they’ll have to be made up during the Olympic Break or at the end of the 21-22 regular season.

Friday’s game will usher in a busy schedule: Detroit plays every other day from Friday until January 8th, with a matinee home game vs. the Bruins on Sunday and a home game vs. Nashville on Tuesday preceding a 3-game West Coast swing and a 5-games-in-8-nights stretch in the middle of the month. Overall, Detroit will play 16 times over the next 32 days.

After Thursday’s practice, the Red Wings met with the media corps via Zoom, and here are some Tweets from said media availabilities:

#RedWings Blashill said Leddy (COVID protocol) only player not available for tomorrow’s game against Washington.— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 30, 2021

That’s all we got.

Update: Also:

Moritz Seider said he went to Dylan Larkin’s house for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) December 30, 2021

Bummer for the kids who will have to spend 10 days in the hotels in Edmonton and Red Deer, mostly in a different country, to isolate. Get well, guys:

Another 5 positive test results from yesterdays testing at the World Junior Hockey Championship. Had the decision not been made to cancel the tournament, there would have been more forfeited games today and moving forward.— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 30, 2021

Update:

A footnote to this, in addition to five positive player tests involving five teams (CAN, SWE, SVK, SWE, GER) one staff member and one on-ice official also tested positive overnight from yesterday morning’s tests. https://t.co/6scQRpRN2E— Bobby Margarita (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 30, 2021

The final tally is that the IIHF conducted more than 8,500 tests with 34 positives, a positivity rate of .004. Which, I think, is 25 to 30 times lower than the general public. But when 1 positive on a game day can shut down a whole team/cancel a game, well, any is too many. ?‍♂️— Bobby Margarita (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 30, 2021

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The American Hockey League on Thursday announced that the Grand Rapids Griffins’ away game scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 2 against the Chicago Wolves has been postponed due to league COVID-19 protocols affecting the Wolves. A make-up date has not yet been determined.

Grand Rapids will return to action tomorrow, Dec. 31 for its 24th Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration at 6 p.m. against the Milwaukee Admirals at Van Andel Arena. Come and enjoy West Michigan’s Largest Indoor Fireworks Show immediately following the contest.

The Red Wings are currently practicing at Little Caesars Arena ahead of tomorrow’s game vs. the Washington Capitals:

🙂 https://t.co/eGsBbZq4kF pic.twitter.com/uyOFd7wQyC— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 30, 2021

#RedWings practice before tomorrow’s game vs. Capitals at ⁦@LCArena_Detroit⁩, which would be their first in 13 days.
Bertuzzi-Larkin-Raymond
Fabbri-Suter-Namestnikov
Erne-Rasmussen-Zadina
Smith/Rowney/Veleno-Gagner
DeKeyser-Seider
Oesterle-Hronek
Staal-Lindstrom
Renouf pic.twitter.com/IvEwn1Sg8z— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 30, 2021

As the Free Press’s Helene St. James and The Athletic’s Max Bultman have noted, Nick Leddy remains in COVID protocols.

Update:

Barber also practicing, rotating in on Suter’s line. Leddy expected to return from COVID protocol soon.— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 30, 2021

Red Wings lines today with rotations in parentheses:
Bertuzzi-Larkin-Raymond
Fabbri-Suter-Namestnikov
Erne-Rasmussen-Zadina (Barber)
Smith-Rowney-Gagner (Veleno)
DeKeyser-Seider
Oesterle-Hronek (Renouf)
Staal-Lindstrom— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) December 30, 2021

Update #2:

#RedWings power play units in practice:
1. Bertuzzi (net front), Fabbri (bumper), Larkin-Raymond (flanks), Seider (point).
2. Gagner (net front), Suter (bumper), Namestnikov-Zadina (flanks), Hronek (point). pic.twitter.com/KRRrRebv3g— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 30, 2021