The Malik Report

The Detroit Red Wings have a trap game-and-a-half on their hands tomorrow at Little Caesars Arena as they host theNew Jersey Devils (8 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/MSG+/97.1 FM).

The Red Wings, who stand at 14-13-and-3 after last night’s 5-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, are going to be facing a 10-13-and-5 Devils team that has lost 4 straight games and 8 of their past 10, including their most recent loss, a bitter 5-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.

As you and I know by now, the Wings have tended to rise to the occasion against their best opponents, and have fallen short against teams that are struggling, and New Jersey defines a “struggling team” right now.

Neither team practiced today, and both teams have players in COVID protocols, so we don’t know too much about the respective teams’ lineups for tomorrow, other than the fact that Jonathan Bernier (hip) will not be healthy enough to face his former employer.

NewJerseyDevils.com’s Catherine Bogart and Sam Kasan offer the following preview of tomorrow’s game:

Continue reading Red Wings-Devils set-up: Wings face a ‘trap game’ vs. winless-in-four Devils

The Edmonton Sun’s Derek Van Diest posted a profile of Red Wings prospect and Edmonton Oil Kings goaltender Sebastian Cossa, who is fairly likely to start the World Junior Championship as Team Canada’s #1 goalie:

Sebastian Cossa is not one to shy away from the pressure of being Canada’s starting goaltender at the world junior hockey championship. In fact, you could say he was built for it.

At six-foot-seven, Cossa, 19, is an imposing figure in net and is battling with incumbent Dylan Garand, of the Kamloops Blazers, and Brett Brochu, of the London Knights, for playing time at the tournament, which begins Boxing Day in Edmonton and Red Deer.

“I’m pretty loose, I like the pressure,” Cossa said earlier this week. “When it’s a 1-0, or 2-1 game and there is two minutes left, there is nowhere else that I would want to be than on the ice. I think just the confidence I have in myself and being a goalie is perfect for me.”

Canada opens the tournament against the Czech Republic on Dec. 26 at Rogers Place, where Cossa plies his trade for the Edmonton Oil Kings.

…

Cossa credits his physical tools as two of his biggest attributes when it comes to stopping the puck.

“I have a lot of confidence and I think with just my size and athletic ability, I’m able to put it all together and I can stop quite a bit of pucks,” he said. “I cover a lot more net and I just have to stop the puck. There are obviously bigger holes being a bigger guy, but there are a lot of guys I can look up to in the NHL, some bigger guys. There are a lot of pros and cons, but I’m trying to make the best of it.”

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes this evening that Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill is now the NHL’s second-longest-tenured coach:

After Paul Maurice stepped down as Winnipeg Jets coach today, Detroit Red Wings’ Jeff Blashill became second in seniority among active NHL coaches with their current team.

Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper is the seniority leader. He was hired March 25, 2013 by Steve Yzerman when he was the Lightning’s GM. Cooper has won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.

Former Detroit general manager Ken Holland hired Blashill on June 9, 2015.  Jeff Blashill made the playoffs in his first NHL season as head coach and then has missed the past five seasons. The Red Wings are in their fourth season of rebuilding under Yzerman, although the rebuild technically started under Holland.

The team has shown improvement this season under Blashill, mostly because Yzerman’s first two drafts are starting to bear fruit. His first two first-round players, Moritz Seider (2019) and Lucas Raymond (2020) are already among the Red Wings’ most top players. But this team still has a long way to go to be a contender.

Seider is really the team’s most important defenseman and Raymond is a first-line performer.

Continued

The Red Wings and Pistons are holding a double-header at Little Caesars Arena for the first time tomorrow, December 18th. The Pistons will play a 12 PM EST game against the Houston Rockets, and then the Red Wings will host the New Jersey Devils at 8 PM EST.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with Ilitch Sports & Entertainment’s Tim Padgett regarding the first attempt to pull off an NBA-and-then-NHL-game-hosting day:

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge but it’s something that we’re excited about, and something we’ve been looking forward to doing since we opened the venue (in 2017),” said Tim Padgett, vice-president of venue operations for Ilitch Sports & Entertainment. “It’s something we’ve been planning for a long time and we’re in good shape for it. We’ve had a lot of meetings, literally for months. To see it all come together, it will be super satisfying for sure.”

The hoopla actually began Friday with the WJLB Big Holiday Show concert at LCA. That meant the conversion team was transforming the venue for basketball, with shoot-around beginning as early as 9 a.m., then converting for hockey immediately when the Pistons end at approximately 2:30 p.m.

“There’s no rest for those guys,” said Padgett of the approximately 80-member team that transforms the arena from event to event. “They’ll put in a very long day (Saturday). They’ll be in the arena at night converting all night and be ready for the shoot-around and they’ll get some time off during the day and be back for hockey.

“Then we’ll have the Pistons on Sunday (against Miami, 6 p.m.) and would have had the Wings on Monday (the game has been postponed) and back to basketball Tuesday with Oakland and Michigan State. That COVID game (Colorado’s COVID issues necessitated Monday’s game to be postponed), as much as we hate to see it happen, it gives our conversion team one night of rest they weren’t expecting.”

Having a basketball and hockey game on the same day gets a large segment of fans into downtown Detroit for essentially the whole day. It also frees up the calendar to get concerts or shows for open, available evenings.

“People will take in both games, which is awesome, and there will be a lot of people in the district going to restaurants, and going forward, it gives us an opportunity to put more events in the building,” Padgett said. “Normally you’d see a more of a Pistons game on Friday night, but we’re able to get our guests an opportunity for a concert and both (teams) on Saturday and a Pistons game on Sunday.”

Continued, and this is a very good read!

“Some days are better than others” is one of my favorite U2 songs, and it’s certainly true for blog fundraising.

There are days that your generosity seems to know no bounds, and days where I really feel the holidays and inflation squeezing your wallets. I understand where you’re coming from, and it’s…

It’s a hard thing to do, to plain old ask for support, and I’m learning to get comfortable being uncomfortable. We’re fairly close to getting the property taxes paid off, but nowhere close to being able to afford a phone that, in the words of Aunt Annie, isn’t “breaking apart” (my screen is peeling right off my 6-year-old phone, which is kind of scary), so:

This is the NPR of blogs, for now, at least. No ads, no paywalls, but yes, fundraising posts. And if you can assist me in staying in my condo and just doing the basic stuff that a non-profit does, that would be awesome. If not, that’s okay.

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.

From the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRIFFINS RELEASE HUMITZ FROM PTO

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday released left wing Max Humitz from his professional tryout.

A second-year pro, Humitz competed in one contest with Grand Rapids during his third stint with the team this year. The forward logged one assist in two games with the Griffins from Nov. 5-6 and appeared in four contests from Nov. 17-28. The Livonia, Mich., native has skated in seven games this season with Grand Rapids, totaling one assist and a plus-three rating. Humitz will return to the Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL) where he has eight points (6-2—8) and eight penalty minutes in nine outings

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe on Friday:

In the Finnish Liiga, Eemil Viro did not play in TPS Turku’s 4-2 loss to Lukko as Viro is with the Finnish World Junior team;

Otto Kivenmaki finished a +1 in 17:19 of ice time as the Lahti Pelicans lost 4-3 to KalPa;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Filip Larsson was absent from HV71’s roster, but they won 4-0 over Tingsryds AIF anyway;

And Albin Grewe remains out for Mora IK with a concussion. Mora won a 3-2 decision over Vasteras IK.

Per the AHL:

Due to league COVID-19 protocols affecting the @TorontoMarlies, their games through Dec. 21 have been postponed.

Details: https://t.co/q5bWPAWeuv pic.twitter.com/CnvKNEK1pW— AHL Communications (@AHLPR) December 17, 2021

Grand Rapids was to have hosted the Marlies tonight and Sunday.

The Griffins’ home games scheduled for this Saturday, Dec. 18 and Sunday, Dec. 19 against the Toronto Marlies have been postponed due to league COVID-19 protocols affecting the Marlies.

Ticket info >> https://t.co/WR4tk9ns3U pic.twitter.com/3g7UD6C1A5— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) December 17, 2021

Here’s the Griffins’ press release:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The American Hockey League on Friday announced that the Grand Rapids Griffins’ home games scheduled for this Saturday, Dec. 18 and Sunday, Dec. 19 against the Toronto Marlies have been postponed due to league COVID-19 protocols affecting the Marlies, as well as Toronto Public Heath workplace guidelines.

Make-up dates have not yet been determined. All tickets purchased for this weekend’s games will be honored for the rescheduled game dates that will be announced soon. Those using mobile ticketing will see the new date and time automatically reflected when make-up dates have been determined, and all printed tickets will be valid for the new dates. Fans who have questions regarding their Dec. 18 or Dec. 19 tickets are asked to email customerservice@griffinshockey.com.

The Griffins will return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 22 when they welcome the Milwaukee Admirals to Van Andel Arena at 7 p.m. Fans can watch the game via AHLTV or tune in to Newsradio WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM.

From the NHL:

The @NHL has extended the period of game postponements for the @NHLFlames through Dec. 23.

Additionally, @Avalanche and @FlaPanthers games also will be postponed at least through the scheduled completion of the League’s Holiday Break on Dec. 26. https://t.co/uwKuHkEhJw pic.twitter.com/d8r558IcCa— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 17, 2021

So the Red Wings’ game vs. the Avs at Little Caesars Arena on December 20th has been postponed…And the Wild, who are the Wings’ last opponent before Christmas (in Minnesota on the 23rd), have had their last two games postponed due to COVID issues on their opposing teams.

The Red Wings are confirming the news:

Red Wings vs. Avalanche game on Dec. 20 has been postponed.

More details to come. https://t.co/7lodH57yXA— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 17, 2021

All tickets for Monday’s game will be valid once a new date for the game is selected.— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 17, 2021

Update #2: Here’s the NHL’s press release, per the Red Wings’ PR:

NHL FURTHER DELAYS FLAMES’ RETURN TO PLAY; AVALANCHE & PANTHERS ALSO SHUT DOWN THROUGH THE HOLIDAY BREAK

NEW YORK (Dec. 17, 2021) – The National Hockey League announced today that it has extended the period of game postponements for the Calgary Flames through their game previously scheduled for Dec. 23 against Seattle. Additionally, due to concern with the number of positive cases within the last two days as well concern for continued COVID spread in the coming days, the Colorado Avalanche’s and Florida Panthers’ games also will be postponed at least through the scheduled completion of the League’s Holiday Break in the schedule on Dec. 26. The decision was made by the NHL’s, the NHLPA’s and the Club medical groups.

A decision on when each team’s training facilities will re-open will be made by the League and the NHLPA in the coming days. The League is in the process of reviewing and revising all three teams’ regular season schedules.

The Flames’ postponed games to date include: Dec. 13 @ Chicago; Dec. 14 @ Nashville; Dec. 16 vs. Toronto; Dec. 18 vs. Columbus; Dec. 21 vs. Anaheim; Dec. 23 vs. Seattle.

The Avalanche’s postponed games include: Dec. 18 vs. Tampa Bay; Dec. 20 @ Detroit; Dec. 22 @ Buffalo; Dec. 23 @ Boston.

The Panthers’ postponed games include: Dec. 18 @ Minnesota; Dec. 21 @ Chicago; Dec. 23 vs. Nashville.

The Flames, Avalanche and Panthers organizations have followed, and will continue to follow, all recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of their Players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, state/provincial and federal agencies.

Daily Faceoff’s Chris Peters was tasked with listing a set of 32 prospects to watch during the World Junior Championship in Edmonton starting on Christmas Day, and his pick for the Red Wings is a good one:

Detroit Red Wings: Simon Edvinsson, D, Sweden

The Red Wings have eight prospects in the tournament, but the one I’m most looking forward to seeing is Edvinsson, who has been having a phenomenal year in Sweden. He does a little bit of everything, but has really seen his offensive game blossom this year. As a 6-foot-5 defenseman with outstanding mobility, he should play major minutes for Sweden in this tournament.

Others: G Sebastian Cossa (CAN), C Red Savage (USA), RW Carter Mazur (USA), D Dononvan Sebrango (CAN), D Eemil Viro (FIN), G Jan Bednar (CZE), C Theodor Niederbach (SWE)

Continued