The Malik Report

Of Red Wings-related note in the “not necessarily major news” category:

1. Christopher and Mrs. Ilitch took in the Red vs. White Game today. Fox Sports Detroit will officially reveal that a little later today, but I heard it from the security gents at the rink, who took the pair back to Cherry Capital Airport to fly back to Metro Detroit after the game;
2. And many Red Wings fans are already having a good time with the Detroit Red Wings’ 2021-2022 season headshot photos, which are up on Getty Images’ website right now.

After the Red vs. White Game on Sunday, forwards Pius Suter and Mitchell Stephens spoke with the media, as did coach Jeff Blashill:

MLive’s Ansar Khan penned an article discussing the Red Wings’ situation with Jakub Vrana, who’s seeing a shoulder specialist on Monday, as well as the team’s plan to get Dylan Larkin slowly but surely back into full-contact activities:

Dylan Larkin did not participate in Sunday’s Red and White training camp scrimmage, but Blashill said he will get in some preseason games.

“I’m not going to use him in the first (several) games,” Blashill said. “We got a progression we’re working through and part of that was not to put him in today’s game and part of it is not going in those early exhibition games, but he’ll get in there eventually. I’d like to get him in probably three.

“I prefer some of those veteran guys get in the latter half (of the preseason) so they can hit the ground running once we get into the regular season.”

Larkin missed the final eight games last season due to a neck injury but practiced the first three days of camp.

Continued

DetroitRedWings.com’s Ethan Sears offers a trio of takes from the Red vs. White Game, in which Team White defeated Team Red 3-2 in a shootout:

All week, one of the running subplots of Red Wings training camp has been the new-look power play under assistant coach Alex Tanguay. On Sunday, the power play still looked like a bit of a work in progress. The penalty kill, though, was prolific.

In the first run of special teams play, the penalty kill units limited the power play to just a few shots, none of them particularly threatening. The power play units looked a little more dynamic with Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond involved, respectively, but still struggled to get shots off and keep the offensive zone.

“I take a lot of pride in that responsibility,” Sam Gagner said of the penalty kill on Saturday. “I think it’s something that I want to continue to grow into. It’s gonna be important for us to have a really strong penalty kill like we did last year to win some games. If we can do that and get the power play going, it’s gonna help our group.”

The power play units had a bit more extended zone time and chances during the second run of special teams play – the best coming on a Tyler Bertuzzi one-timer from the right circle – but the penalty kill was still ultimately successful each time.

Continued; good stuff from the Wings’ new correspondent.

You may have noted that Jakub Vrana (shoulder), Dylan Larkin (stupid neck injury from stupid Jamie Benn) and Marc Staal did not take part in the Red vs. White Game today. According to coach Jeff Blashill…

Staal wasn’t hurt, he just didn’t play today. Berggren progressing, McIsaac progressing.— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 26, 2021

Blashill says Vrana’s seeing a specialist tomorrow.— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 26, 2021

Blashill is back to his slightly salty self…He told Helene St. James that he would not divulge the location of the specialist that Vrana’s seeing. In other words, welcome back to upper-and-lower-body-injury land.— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 26, 2021

Blashill tells Khan that Dylan Larkin will be available in the preseason, but not in the first couple of games, and not today. He’ll get in 3 exhibition games.— George Malik (@georgemalik) September 26, 2021

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff penned an article discussing the potential fits for the Red Wings’ penalty-kill on a Luke Glendening-less team:

Looking at the big picture, the penalty-killing performance of the Detroit Red Wings doesn’t paint a pretty picture. They finished 27th in the NHL, successfully killing off infractions at a pedestrian 78.7% rate. Detroit allowed 33 power-play goals, the 13th-most in the league.

However, from March 27th onward, a different penalty-killing unit emerged from the shadows of what had been a dismal year and began to display an ability to hold their own, not to mention hold opposition power plays off the scoresheet.

From that point onward, Detroit’s didn’t allow a power-play goal in 17 of the last 21 games of the 2020-21 season. The Wings killed off 52 of 57 shorthanded situations (91.2%). Considering that the Vegas Golden Knights (86.8%) led the league, it would certainly appear that the Wings found a working formula while down a man. In fact, they closed out the season successfully killing off 16 straight penalties.

There is, however, a caveat to all the good news. Two of Detroit’s top three penalty-killing forwards in terms of ice time, Darren Helm and Luke Glendening, no longer wear the winged wheel. Both departed in the summer via free agency.

Continued (paywall)

DetroitRedWings.com’s Ethan Sears presents a Sunday notebook in which he discusses Red Wings forward Filip Zadina’s desire to grab and hold onto an offensive foothold in the NHL:

“Ultimately as a player, the best players find ways to create space and some guys do it being super fast and some guys do it being big,” [Red Wings coach Jeff] Blashill said. “He’s gotta use his brain for sure. He’s gotta give and go, he’s gotta find the open areas at a critical moment where he can get a puck back.

“I think learning to get the puck out quicker and learning to be accurate with the shot is important. I think when you’re younger, you work on shooting it as hard as you can. But that’s not really the point. The point is to find those little openings not to miss the net and to score. So again, I think he worked hard at it.”

With Jakub Vrana missing the first few days of training camp, Zadina has been skating on a line with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi, an opportunity he hopes carries into the preseason.

“I’m doing the best I can to stick with them as well. It depends how I play hockey with them,” Zadina said. “We might be playing together at the start of the season. It’s still too far ahead to tell if I’ll be playing with them.”

Like the team as a whole, Zadina’s outlook for the season is simple: improve as much as possible.

“Just hold onto the puck, play with the puck, go more to the net,” Zadina said. “Just force myself a little bit more to shoot the puck and just believe.”

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff ponders whether Joe Veleno is a better fit at wing than center on this year’s Red Wings roster:

It’s not fourth line center or bust for Joe Veleno to make the Detroit Red Wings’ roster.

“There is a world where he is competing on the wing for sure,” Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said.  “There is no doubt.”

Veleno probably helped his roster chances by coming to training camp bigger and stronger than he was last season. He seems more confident.

“Obviously there are unforeseen things like injuries,” Blashill said. “Let’s see where it goes. The biggest thing is he has to make a statement every time he’s on the ice that he’s going to make us better.”

Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman has made it clear that even prize rookies must earn their place. The Red Wings won’t hand a roster spot to a rookie and see what happens.

“It’s not about making our team,” Blashill said. “It’s about making our team better.”

Continued

Here are the rosters for the Red vs. White Game, which starts at 12 PM on the Red Wings’ YouTube channel:

? vs. ⚪️#DRWTC pic.twitter.com/p5WRez2rMm— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 26, 2021

Also:

No Dylan Larkin, no Jakub Vrána on the Red-White game rosters today— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) September 26, 2021

I also don’t see Marc Staal on the roster— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) September 26, 2021

In the only Red Wings prospect action in Europe today, William Wallinder scored a goal in Rogle BK’s J20 team’s 6-1 win over HV71, finishing at +3 with 2 shots.