The Malik Report

The Free Press’s Helene St. James reports that Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill still believes that his team can use their extended break between playing hockey games to improve their team as they battle through a COVID outbreak:

Steve Yzerman called with the news just before practice, and by the time he took the ice, Jeff Blashill had his message ready for the Detroit Red Wings: They would not be facing the Islanders because Wednesday’s game was the latest casualty of COVID-19, but the work focus remained the same.

“I just said, we weren’t going to play and we weren’t going to travel, but we need to get better,” Blashill said Tuesday afternoon. “And as we sit here today, we are playing on Friday, so we have to make use of this time and make sure we are getting better in practice. The guys went out and had a good practice.”

The Wings, who were so hard hit by the virus they shut down Dec. 19-25, gained two more players as goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic and forward Filip Zadina were removed from quarantine, joining a list that since Sunday includes Blashill, Pius Suter, Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen.

Forward Lucas Raymond and defenseman Nick Leddy are among those still in protocol, and Blashill does not expect either to be available for the New Year’s Eve game against the Washington Capitals.

…

The NHL opted out of sending its players to the 2022 Beijing Olympics just before Christmas because the league needs the allotted break in February to fit in a full season. The Wings have only had one game at Little Caesars Arena postponed.

“It does give us that time period, but there’s challenges with that — it’s not like the buildings are sitting empty,” Blashill said. “Some of us are going to end up with games that are on top of each other, that you would like to avoid, and that was part of the reason I would have liked to play. I don’t want to, two weeks from now, to play every other day for three straight weeks and never practice. But it is out of our control.”

Continued (paywall)

My apologies for the absence this past afternoon and evening. I’m dealing with some lovely seasonal depression right now, and just before 3 PM today, I basically crashed, going to bed and not getting up until just after midnight.

I felt gloomy and down, and just struggled to get back up out of bed until I had to get up to give Aunt Annie her dinner (she eats quite late, but it works for her).

I’ve been dealing with some relatively moderate depression for the past month or so, but I’m trying to work through it as much as humanly possible. Given that it’s a one-man blog, sometimes I struggle with my anxiety and depression, and sometimes they slow the blog to a halt.

I know that it’s a busy time of year, between the Red Wings engaging in practices (games or no games, there’s stuff to write about) and the World Junior Championship, but I guess that on Tuesday afternoon and evening, it appears that I needed some time off to just let myself feel my feelings and be gloomy, weird as that sounds.

I have a therapy appointment next week (not on a game day), and I’ll be talking to my therapist about the stuff I’ve been dealing with, so I’m okay (I have good support systems and people who let me know that I matter), but I’ve been stumbling from time to time, and that was Tuesday night for me–a rough go.

I’m going to let myself have the evening off and get back to work on Wednesday, mental health permitting. I apologize for the interruption in service, and I’ll do my best to continue to battle through this until it lets up a bit. Chronic mental illnesses are just that–chronic–so I deal with my daily challenges through therapy, psychiatry and medication, but sometimes we all screw up.

I’m sorry I had a stumble. I’ll get back up as soon as I can.

As you already know by now:

NHL POSTPONES ONE GAME DUE TO COVID-RELATED ISSUES AND NINE GAMES DUE TO CANADIAN ATTENDANCE RESTRICTIONS

NEW YORK (Dec. 28, 2021) – The National Hockey League announced today that due to COVID-related issues affecting both Clubs, tomorrow’s Detroit Red Wings at New York Islanders game has been postponed:

Wednesday, Dec. 29 Detroit @ New York Islanders

In addition, the NHL announced that due to current attendance restrictions in certain Canadian cities, nine additional games will be rescheduled for dates later in the season when such restrictions may be eased or lifted:

Friday, Dec. 31 Pittsburgh @ Ottawa Winnipeg @ Calgary

Monday, Jan. 3 Carolina @ Toronto

Tuesday, Jan. 4 Washington @ Montreal

Thursday, Jan. 6 Toronto @ Montreal

Saturday, Jan. 8 Buffalo @ Montreal Seattle @ Winnipeg

Monday, Jan. 10 Columbus @ Montreal Minnesota @ Winnipeg

Make-up dates for the games have yet to be established.

As well, the Boston-Montreal game on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at Bell Centre will now be played at TD Garden in Boston, MA. A make-up date for the Montreal Canadiens’ home game against the Boston Bruins will be announced at a later date. 

Per the Toledo Walleye on Twitter comes the Red Wings Alumni’s team roster for Thursday’s game vs. a team of Toledo Walleye and Goaldiggers alums, representing Toledo Hockey:

JUST ANNOUNCED: We’ve released the entire @DetroitRedWings alumni team roster ahead of Thursday’s game. ?

? https://t.co/AOu31vz1gL pic.twitter.com/uh8pNmsRA1— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) December 28, 2021

The Hockey News’s Matt Larkin posted a list of the best trades made over the course of the past calendar year, and the Red Wings made the list thanks to the Alex Nedeljkovic deal:

8. Detroit Red Wings acquire goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic from the Carolina Hurricanes for goaltender Jonathan Bernier and a 2021 third-round pick (Aidan Hreschuk)

Why did the Hurricanes gift the Red Wings a Calder Trophy finalist? Reportedly, Carolina felt his ask of $3.5 million was too high and dealt him because he was arbitration eligible. The Wings swooped in and got ‘Ned,’ who had a .932 save percentage last season and ranked second among all qualified goalies in 5-on-5 goals saved above average per 60, for just $3 million a year. Anyone predicting he’d get a reality check playing on a rebuilding team is digesting crow. He held a .918 SP into mid-December despite getting significantly less defensive support than he had in Carolina.

All the Hurricanes ended up with was the third-rounder, as they couldn’t work out a deal with Bernier.

“We tried to make something work, the terms, and it just didn’t work,” Bernier told me in the off-season. “Especially for a goalie, it’s a great system, they have a great team, good defensive team and it would’ve been a big change from (Detroit) to there. But it’s a business, and they have a competitive team, so they had an amount and terms in their head they didn’t want to go over, so it just didn’t work out for both of us.”

Continued; cap space makes the world go round…

We’re going with “I’m not surprised” regarding this news from Team Canada’s World Junior team, per Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff.

I had a feeling that Sebastian Cossa would wind up as the backup for the Canadian World Junior team, despite his excellent pedigree, because Dylan Garand and Brett Brochu had both given a year of service to a team that tends to defer to veterans.

That seems to be what’s happening thus far–though the Canadians have only played one game out of four preliminary round games…

So:

TSN.ca reported undrafted London Knights goalie Brett Brochu will start for Canada tonight at 7 p.m. against Austria (NHL Network). Canada defeated Czechia 6-3 in its opener with New York Rangers prospect Dylan Gerand in net.

Austria is one of the weaker teams in the tournament. Finland defeated Austria 7-1 in its opener. This should not be a challenging game for Canada. Red Wings prospect defenseman Donovan Sebrango is playing for Canada. He scored in Canada’s opener.

The Red Wings drafted Sebastian Cossa 15th overall last summer.  He is 53-10-7 during his Western Hockey League career.

Continued; again, I just feel that, absent a dominant performance in the pre-tournament half-game that he got behind Garand, which he did not deliver, Cossa was gonna have to “put in a year,” and that’s where we are.

I appeared on Jablam Sports Hockey’s Podcast yesterday with host Peter Bojarinov as part of an LA Kings-themed show. Myself and NHL.com’s Rob Taub discussed “naughty or nice” lists and our respective teams as well over the course of a 50-minute conversation:

The Associated Press has posted a very early Red Wings-Islanders preview ahead of Wednesday’s game between the two teams (7:30 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit Plus/MSG+/97.1 FM):

BOTTOM LINE: The New York Islanders host Detroit after Dylan Larkin scored three goals in the Red Wings’ 5-2 victory over the Devils.

The Islanders are 4-9-2 against conference opponents. New York is last in the league averaging just 5.6 points per game. Mathew Barzal leads them with 17 total points.

The Red Wings are 9-7-2 against conference opponents. Detroit ranks eighth in the Eastern Conference recording 7.7 points per game, averaging 2.8 goals and 4.9 assists.

In their last meeting on Dec. 14, Detroit won 2-1.

TOP PERFORMERS: Barzal has 17 total points for the Islanders, five goals and 12 assists. Anders Lee has four goals and two assists over the last 10 games for New York.

Larkin leads the Red Wings with 29 points, scoring 15 goals and adding 14 assists. Lucas Raymond has two goals and six assists over the last 10 games for Detroit.

LAST 10 GAMES: Islanders: 3-3-4, averaging 2.5 goals, 4.4 assists, 3.7 penalties and 10.7 penalty minutes while giving up 2.4 goals per game with a .927 save percentage.

Red Wings: 6-4-0, averaging 2.9 goals, 4.8 assists, 2.8 penalties and 6.5 penalty minutes while giving up 3.1 goals per game with a .903 save percentage.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James filed her morning article today, discussing Dylan Larkin and coach Jeff Blashill’s takes on the ways in which COVID-19 is affecting the Red Wings, who have 8 players currently unavailable due to COVID protocols:

“You’re thinking about it constantly,” [Larkin] said. “There is a little bit of anxiousness with testing every day, showing up to the rink, wondering if you’re going to be done for 10 days or you’re going to be able to play.

“You have to be a good pro. You have to be ready for whatever comes at you. But it is very difficult and it can be frustrating at times, I’m sure, for the guys that test positive and don’t have any symptoms, but there are protocols and we just try to follow them. But it is a very tough situation showing up and not knowing if you’re going to be positive or negative.”

General manager Steve Yzerman said Dec. 18 that everyone in the organization was being encouraged to get the booster shot, and not being able to practice for one week facilitated that step. 

“Some guys did and certainly it was offered,” Blashill said. “If the booster can help us keep people on the ice, players have been encouraged to do that, with the end goal of trying to stay eligible to play and not contract the virus.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt there’s an anxiety around guys who haven’t tested positive of almost waiting to feel like you are going to test positive, as transmissible as this has been. You are nervous and you feel every little thing with your body that isn’t 100% perfect and you wonder if you’re going to test positive. That’s not an easy thing, but it’s not unique to us, nor is the challenge of being off for a number of days unique to us. Both of those things, we are going to have to make sure we handle and that we have that mental toughness.”

Continued

Of prospect-related note in North America:

In the WHL, Sebastian Cossa’s Edmonton Oil Kings lost 6-5 to the Regina Pats;

And Alex Cotton had an assist, finishing at +1 with 5 shots–but he also took 9 minutes in penalties (which means he got in a fight)–during the Vancouver Giants’ 3-1 loss to Victoria.