The Malik Report

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills filed a notebook article in which he discusses Jordan Oesterle’s homecoming with the Wings, the Wings’ home record, and Givani Smith’s presence on the Wings’ second line, but this line from coach Jeff Blashill caught my eye..

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond has appeared in all 22 games during his rookie season, and more than earned his spot. He’s been especially impactful at home.

Last week, the 19-year-old scored one goal in each of Detroit’s games at Little Caesars Arena, including the game-winner in overtime against Buffalo on Nov. 24. In 11 home games, Raymond has tallied seven points, including four goals and three assists.

“I think he’s got a chance to be a really good player,” Blashill said. “But he’s got to prove it on a night-to-night basis and if we sit here after the season, and he’s had a whole bunch more milestones, then he gives you more reason to believe that’s what he is.”

One month after fellow rookie Moritz Seider earned the award, Raymond could very well be in the mix for the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for November. Raymond has 12 points on five goals and seven assists in 13 games played this month. Raymond and the Red Wings will wrap up their November slate on Tuesday night at Boston.

As did this quip from the Free Press’s Dana Garauder’s notebook:

The Wings’ other celebrated rookie, Lucas Raymond, is easily outpacing his peers statistically. Entering Monday’s action, Raymond led all first-year players with nine goals, 12 assists and 21 points. No other rookie has more than 14 points. Raymond has points in six of his last seven games and added to his brilliant start by scoring the game-winner against the Sabres.

Blashill cautions that it’s way too early to measure Raymond’s potential.

“It’s 22 games. It’s not five but it’s certainly not 500,” he said. “We have to be patient and let guys prove what they are over a long period of time. There’s certainly been a lot of good young players in this league that have had a great first or second year and kind of ended up not being to that height.”

Continued; sounds a little Babcockian, doesn’t it? I’m not so worried about where Raymond’s head is at in terms of his self-confidence versus his ego.

2. Regarding Oesterle, he’s been playing with Moritz Seider of late, and the Dearborn Heights, MI native says that he’s enjoying the ride, as he told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

Continue reading Notebook round-up: Blashill expects more from Raymond; Oesterle takes advantage; ‘talkin’ about the road’

The Red Wings have been particularly entertaining to watch over the course of their first 21 games, and Sportsnet’s Justin Bourne took note of the fact that the Red Wings and Ducks have made particular improvement in the “you can watch the teams and not be bored” category in his “Five quarter-mark thoughts“:

2. The Ducks and Red Wings are legitimately better teams

Even with records of just over .500 in their past 10 games, both of these teams have shown enough speed and skill and improvement to make me believe they’re legitimately better. Oh weird, adding dynamic, exciting stars at both forward and defence helps, who knew?

Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, to go with Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, are among the handful of names I’m most excited about adding to the NHL this season. Zegras is italicized nasty out there, and Raymond is a dynamic offensive force, too. The first step in a rebuild is going from awful to watchable before becoming “good” and both of these teams are watchable now, thanks in large part to these four names.

Continued

From the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:

The Toledo Walleye have signed Adam Parsells, a 6-foot-6, 192-pound defenseman who is in his first pro season.

Parsells, a native of Wausau, Wis., has appeared in one game in the ECHL and two games in the American Hockey League this season.

Parsells was released by the Indy Fuel on Saturday. He did not play in Toledo’s game against Indy on Friday night at the Huntington Center.

The defenseman has appeared in two games this year with the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL and one with the Fuel. He has not recorded any points or penalty minutes.

The 24-year-old played in two games for the Utah Grizzlies in 2020-21 after completing his college career at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Continued

This recall was not accompanied by a notice that anyone got COVID or got hurt, but the Wings are playing 2 games in 2 nights, so perhaps the team felt it needed an extra body:

Kyle Criscuolo recalled by Detroit

Forward has 12 points in 12 games with Griffins

DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings today recalled center Kyle Criscuolo from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Criscuolo, 29, has played parts of four seasons with the Griffins over two separate stints with the club, rejoining the organization in 2020-21 after signing with Grand Rapids to begin his professional career in 2015-16. In 262 AHL games between the Griffins, Rochester Americans, Lehigh Valley Phantoms and San Diego Gulls, he has logged 150 points (62-88-150), a plus-27 rating and 94 penalty minutes. As a first-year pro in 2016-17, Criscuolo helped the Griffins capture a Calder Cup championship, contributing 41 points (17-24-41) in 76 regular-season games and adding nine points (5-4-9) in 19 postseason contests. This season, the 5-foot-9, 175-pound forward is tied for the Griffins lead in points-per-game, racking up 12 points (5-7-12) in 12 games. Criscuolo also played in nine NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres during the 2017-18 campaign.

A native of Southampton, N.J., Criscuolo spent four seasons at Harvard University from 2012-16 and logged 113 points (53-60-113), a plus-42 rating and 46 penalty minutes in 124 collegiate games, serving as captain of the Crimson as a junior and senior. Harvard won an ECAC conference championship in 2015, and Criscuolo was a back-to-back ECAC Student-Athlete of the Year, All-Ivy League Second Team and All-ECAC Second Team member. Prior to his time at Harvard, Criscuolo spent the 2011-12 season in the USHL with the Sioux City Musketeers, notching 44 points (21-23-44) in 59 games.

Dealing with chronic mental illness–for me, at least–is more like living on a continuum of feelings as opposed to the stop-and-start of specific events.

There’s always a certain level of what I describe as “background radiation” within one’s perceptions that doesn’t quite line up with reality, there’s always a certain amount of discomfort, and you just sort of learn to battle through it as many days as you possibly can.

Today, after practice, my depression did really get the better of me, hitting me as if it was a big, heavy wave that knocked me over, and feeling gloomy about being such a tiny little blog of so little importance that has to kick and scream and fight to fund-raise every month…It just kind of hit me that I may always be small-market–the Lucas Raymond story going over the heads of the “in crowd” certainly illustrated that–and I just didn’t want to do anything.

It turns out that, when I woke up, I found an aunt in an equally foul mood, and she reminded me of course that this little blog and its little community isn’t all about me. The whole damn reason I do this is because I want to share the level at which I would be following the Wings anyway with the small community of readers that are the whole reason TMR exists.

I’m not sure what the answer to feeling inferior about “being small” is, but I think that I could have found a less clunky way of dealing with the wave of depression that hit me than simply letting it knock me down and not getting back up.

I’m sorry for the interruption in service, but this was a bad day for me, and sometimes the way my brain responds to having a bit of an existential crisis is to get depressed, and there are days that I can fight through the chemical wave, and there are days that it knocks me down. And I stay down sometimes, because there are days that hurt more than others.

The Detroit Red Wings practiced on Monday without the services of Filip Hronek, who coach Jeff Blashill told the media is dealing with a non-COVID illness, and should be available for the Wings’ road game vs. Boston tomorrow night (7 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet West/Sportsnet Pacific/97.1 FM).

Shortly after coach Blashill and defenseman Jordan Oesterle spoke with the media, the Red Wings made their availabilities viewable on YouTube:

MLive’s Ansar Khan reported that Filip Hronek did not participate in Monday’s Red Wings practice at Little Caesars Arena.

With the Wings slated to play three times this week–in Boston on Tuesday, at home vs. Seattle on Wednesday, and at home vs. the Islanders, COVID protocols working out, on Saturday…

The Wings need all hands on deck as November’s 14-game schedule gives way to December’s 13-game schedule (and, in other words, it doesn’t get any easier from here schedule-wise, though the schedule’s game-spacing is a little less brutal).

After a very lengthy practice, and some shenanigans…

Friendly locker room bet paid off between Ohio native (good sport) @alexned_ and @Dylanlarkin39. ?#GoBlue x #LGRW pic.twitter.com/fBaLX9eoIv— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 29, 2021

The Red Wings spoke with the media:

Filip Hronek missed todays practice with a non-Covid illness. Jeff Blashill said he anticipates Hronek will be available tomorrow in Boston. #LGRW— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) November 29, 2021

I don’t know how this would work, practically speaking, but the fact that Brad Marchand might be suspended for tomorrow’s game due to a slew foot helps:

Coach Blashill when asked how to improve their road record, “Bring our crowd with us.” #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Carley Johnston (@carleykjohnston) November 29, 2021

Jeff Blashill said “we would like to take our crowd” on the road. Also added his team needs to be able to find momentum on the road. #LGRW— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) November 29, 2021

Update:

Filip Hronek did not practice today due to a non-COVID related illness. Coach Blashill anticipates him to be available tomorrow in Boston. #RedWings— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 29, 2021

Blashill said he anticipates Hronek (non-COVID illness) being ready for tomorrow at Boston. #RedWings— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) November 29, 2021

I never know when the timing is right to drop one of these, but something happened today that I will share with you to frame what I’m about to say:

I noticed this morning that my reporting regarding Aftonbladet’s news that Lucas Raymond hasn’t been included on the Swedish Olympic master roster, thus diminishing his chances of being part of the 2022 Swedish Olympic team (significantly), was re-reported by a major news reporter who probably doesn’t read TMR, and then Tweeted out by someone else in Wings Twitter land who may or may not know I exist.

Long story long, that pissed me off, because it reminded me that TMR is always going to have a limited audience, and that I’m just not part of the “in crowd” when it comes to Wings Twitter land.

For better or worse, you get the reportage here, but not the self-promotion. You know I’d do this for free if I could, and you know the ego just isn’t here for the most part. It’s about reporting the news as best I can around here, and the rest of that bullshit is excluded as much as is humanly possible.

But we’re small here, and we’re probably always going to be small, so I’m accepting that concept and just moving on to continue to provide you with the best news possible from this one-man show.

Going into “Cyber Monday” and ahead of “Giving Tuesday,” I know that times are tough and that inflation and gas prices are hitting us all in the wallet…

But Aunt Annie and I are halfway to our goal of raising our delinquent property taxes, with $748 to go, and my cell phone is literally falling apart and requires about $600 to replace.

So I need to do something I hate in asking for financial assistance in paying those bills without reinvesting much of what you give into the website.

If you can lend a hand to the smallest of small businesses, we are essentially a non-profit here–what “profit” I make goes to paying the bills, buying essential stuff and that’s about it–and I’m hoping that, somehow, a fundraiser that almost never goes well will go better this time around.

Aunt Annie and I need some help here, just to keep the taxes paid and the stupid cell phone paid for because my credit rating is probably a single digit due to all the student loans.

If you’re willing to lend a hand, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check.

I’m gonna try to keep the “no commercials, no ads” thing going for as long as I can, but doing so requires me to request financial support from time to time, and it’s a little early for “Giving Tuesday,” but it’s time.

The Detroit Red Wings took to the ice at Little Caesars Arena’s Belfor Training Center today, ahead of tomorrow and Wednesday’s games against Boston (in Beantown) and Seattle (at home), respectively.

Today, the Wings’ defense seems to have taken a hit:

#RedWings on ice for practice. Hronek not skating, in addition to DeKeyser (COVID protocol) and Veleno (upper body injury). pic.twitter.com/YMqMrI4T6W— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) November 29, 2021

#RedWings lines at practice prior to game in Boston tomorrow (7, ⁦@BallySportsDET⁩):
Bertuzzi-Larkin-Raymond
Fabbri-Suter-Smith
Namestnikov-Rasmussen-Erne
Gagner-Rowney-Zadina
Leddy-Seider
Staal-Lindstrom
Renouf-Oesterle pic.twitter.com/GM7SSkItZQ— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) November 29, 2021

#RedWings power play units:
1. Bertuzzi (net front), Fabbri (bumper), Larkin-Raymond (flanks), Seider (point).
2. Erne (net front), Suter (bumper), Lindstrom-Zadina (flanks), Leddy (point).
If Hronek can’t play tomorrow looks like they want to keep a right shooter on left flank. pic.twitter.com/IUjsC0x0QQ— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) November 29, 2021

Red Wings goaltending prospect Jesper Eliasson has had a rough go over the past couple of seasons.

He’s only 21, but he’s played for six organizations over the past three seasons, having been loaned out first by the SHL’s Vaxjo Lakers to IK Oskarshamn of the Swedish Allsvenskan, then back to Vaxjo in the SHL, then to Almtuna IS of the Swedish Allsvenskan, then to the Red Bulls Salzburg of the ICE Hockey League, then picked up by Farjestads BK of the SHL, played a game for Farjestad, and then loaned out to Almtuna IS of the Allsvenskan again.

None of this has been good for the 6’3,” 209-pound goaltender’s development, so you can imagine that Eliasson’s stats are not excellent (and they’re pretty bad).

This morning, Expressen’s Adam Johansson and Johan Svensson report that Eliasson’s being returned to Farjestad (which has a full complement of goaltenders) by Almtuna, which is not satisfied with the way things have gone for Eliasson in the Uppsala-based team.

Now Farjestad will have to find a new home for Eliasson, who continues to bounce around like a tennis ball.