The Malik Report

The Detroit Red Wings engaged in their final practice of their 2021 training camp on Tuesday, spending most of their time working on situational power play vs. penalty-killing drills, working on puck retrieval and breakouts, and generally attempting to replicate in-game situations.

There was a little less out-and-out skating from end to end of the rink today, and much more strategy regarding defensive zone coverage and trying to capitalize on scoring chances. Blashill did not spare the rod when he felt that a team that was clearly a little tired after 6 days of training camp was lollygagging a bit.

In the second group, I noticed that he spent a fair amount of time with Moritz Seider, who, according to coach Blashill, needs to a) know what he’s going to do with the puck offensively before he gets it and b) know that the simple play is often the wisest play defensively speaking.

Blashill also told the media that he’s going to put Filip Zadina on a line with Sam Gagner and Joe Veleno for a bit, taking Zadina away from the Larkin-Bertuzzi pairing, and he stated that Lucas Raymond will have to be the best player on the ice after every game he plays in for the Red Wings to keep him on the roster to start the season; otherwise, the Wings see no harm in sending him go GR for “finishing school” (my term, not his).

The Red Wings now head back to Little Caesars Arena to prepare for tomorrow’s game vs. Chicago (8:30 PM EDT, NBCSCH/NHL Network ‘Joined in Progress’) and Thursday’s tilt vs. Buffalo (7:30 PM on DetroitRedWings YouTube).

Continue reading Impressions from Tuesday’s practice (9/28) at Red Wings training camp 2021

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill spoke in no uncertain terms when asked what Lucas Raymond must do to make the Red Wings’ roster out of training camp, as noted by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

“You should walk out of a game and feel like he was one of the better players on the ice,” Blashill said. “It should be clear to my wife that he should be on the team.”

Blashill clearly was having some fun with his answer. He added: “By the way, my wife, that’s not a slight on her. She knows hockey pretty well. She’s been around a long time. She should be able to pick out who the best players are. “

Blashill’s point is Raymond has to make it obvious that he deserves a spot on the team. He can’t just have a slight advantage over a veteran player. He needs to prove he can have a significant impact, not just look dangerous offensively now and then.

“It’s just the reality of it,” Blashill said. “It shouldn’t be a hard decision. Because here’s the thing – if guys are equal, then you keep your depth by starting a guy like Lucas Raymond in the minors and letting him earn his way back on the team.”

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings are about to embark upon an exhibition season in which they will play 8 games over the course of only 11 nights, and Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill addressed the situation as it stands today, as noted by the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

“They’re valuable from an evaluation standpoint, for sure,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “Whoever can grab jobs, grab jobs. It’s as competitive here as it has been for a long time.”

Nearly every NHL team has, essentially, two rosters during the exhibition season to play the onslaught of exhibition games, and to evaluate so many players. Blashill was going to have a “Detroit” lineup and a “Grand Rapids”, minor league-heavy lineup for these next two weeks.

“But I don’t know who is on that Detroit team, yet,” Blashill said. “I stayed with two split groups and we keep going. We’ll see during the exhibition season to determine who is on the team.”

An injury to forward Jakub Vrana (shoulder), and keeping forwards Dylan Larkin (neck) and Tyler Bertuzzi (back surgery) on a planned schedule heading into the regular season (both were hurt at the end of last season), all have impacted the lineups.

“It’s a little like that movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’,” said Blashill, as to how the coaching staff devises exhibition lineups. “You have all these numbers, and we have an Excel spreadsheet, and three guys get hurt and you have to re-plan it. We’re in the re-planning stage.”

Continued, with talk of Troy Stecher and Kirill Tyutyayev…

Bally Sports Detroit filed one final training camp report, in which coach Jeff Blashill reflected upon Jakub Vrana’s uncertain-to-start-the-season status:

As @DetroitRedWings Training Camp concludes, we check-in with @JohnKeatingBSD and head coach Jeff Blashill in Traverse City on where the Wings stand before their first preseason tune-up tomorrow in Chicago. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/xhnZvN4yee— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) September 28, 2021

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article discussing what Pius Suter brings to the Red Wings:

The Detroit Red Wings signed Suter to solidify their troublesome second-line center spot and boost their offense and have liked what they have seen thus far in training camp.

“He’s a very heady player,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He doesn’t have ‘Wow you!’ physical tools. He doesn’t shoot it a million miles an hour, he doesn’t skate like crazy. He’s not super big. But he’s really smart. He knows where to be. When I say smart, it’s both offensively and defensively. He knows how to play the game of hockey. He’s efficient and so far, he’s done a real good job.”

Suter, 25, had a decent rookie season with the Chicago Blackhawks (14 goals, 27 points in 55 games), including a hat trick against the Red Wings. But Chicago did not make him a qualifying offer, so he signed a two-year deal with Detroit at $3.125 million per season.

“I want to play and also help the team grow,” Suter said. “A lot of guys are around my age, so kind of bring that group up together, win more games every year and go from there. The role is very interesting. It’s a good spot, great organization, a lot of history, so it’ll definitely be fun.”

Continued

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has filed a subscriber-only article discussing Danny DeKeyser’s status as fully healthy after recovering from a major back surgery that cost him the better part of two years:

“I don’t think I really ever knew how much better I was going to get,” DeKeyser said Tuesday on a Zoom call with media. “I was just preparing to play with whatever strength that I got back, and yes, it was definitely frustrating throughout the process because it took so long to get healthy. It was an injury (DeKeyser’s disk was pressing on spinal nerves) that wasn’t a simple thing, it was fairly complex, and you were unsure how it was going to heal.”

Not having all the strength in his lower body was affecting DeKeyser. It reached a point where the Red Wings sat DeKeyser for almost three weeks, a total of nine games, simply to work in the weight room and regain strength.

The rest helped.  DeKeyser returned in late February and as the weeks progressed, a sense of normalcy and effectiveness returned to his game. Now, DeKeyser heads into this regular season so much more confident and at ease than compared to last season.

“It took a while to get better,” he said, “but it was nice to kind of turn the corner and once I did that, I was a lot more confident.”

Continued (paywall)

The Associated Press posted a capsule report regarding Dylan Larkin and his Red Wings team’s outlook:

The Detroit Red Wings have been mired in a long, painful rebuild and the end doesn’t seem to be in sight from outside the organization. The last time they made the playoffs five years ago, Dylan Larkin was a rookie. When the captain and center looks at the reshaped roster, he doesn’t have to feign optimism.

“It’s exciting, more so than any of my training camps in the past,” Larkin said. “We’ve had more competition at every part of our lineup.”

General manager Steve Yzerman, entering his third season in charge of the front office, also sees more talented players vying for playing time and yet still sounds as if he’s asking for more patience.

“I think we’re making progress, but it may not necessarily relate into wins and losses,” Yzerman said.

The Red Wings can help their chances if they start the season healthy and stay that way for their first 82-game season in two years. Larkin is recovering from a neck injury that limited him to 44 games last season. Tyler Bertuzzi is coming back from having back surgery in April.

“They’re a pair that I’d like to keep together all season if I can,” said coach Jeff Blashill, who was given a contract extension despite a career record of 177-221-62 in Detroit.

Continued

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan let me know that the following Red Wings exhibition games will air on Detroit radio, per Wings play-by-play announcer Ken Kal:

Wednesday’s Blackhawks game will air on WWJ starting at 8:15 PM EDT;

September 30 vs. Buffalo will air starting at 7:15 PM on WWJ;

October 6 @ Columbus starts at 6:45 PM 97.1 the Ticket;

And October 7th vs. Pittsburgh starts at 7 PM 97.1 the Ticket.

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the media for an extended period of time today, speaking for 19 minutes on a wide range of topics:

FYI: Tomorrow’s game between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks (8:30 PM EDT start) will air on NBC Sports Chicago Plus, and it will be “Joined in Progress” by the NHL Network, which is airing a “double-header” with the New Jersey Devils slated to play the Washington Capitals at 7 PM.

Long story long, the game should probably air on the NHL Network in part, but if you want to watch the first period, you’ll still need to do Ye Olde Bootleg Stream.

[Edit: if you did not already know, Thursday’s home game vs. Buffalo (7:30 PM EDT) will air on the Red Wings’ YouTube channel, with Ken Kal and Paul Woods doing play by play /end edit]