Kukla's Korner

Red Wings prospect news, Joe news and video…stuff…

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

04/23/14 at 04:40 AM ET | Comments (1)

What follows is a bleary-eyed blogger's assortment of "stuff that didn't make the recap" (I worked really *#$%@& hard on that recap...at least give it a glance...) and prospect news.

The latter before the former: None of the Wings' prospects who took part in playoff hockey had good Tuesdays.

In the QMJHL, Anthony Mantha had a hat trick, but his Val-d'Or Foreurs dropped a 6-5 OT decision to the Halifax Mooseheads, who trail the Q's conference final 2 games to 1.

Mantha has 14 goals, 7 assists and 21 points in 13 playoff games played;

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Red Wings-Bruins Game 3 wrap-up: ‘We Need More from Everybody’

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

04/23/14 at 04:10 AM ET | Comments (1)

The Detroit Red Wings' 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins included a telling moment. Sergei Fedorov, who is both CSKA Moscow's general manager and an every-summer resident of Metro Detroit, was spotted in the press box, speaking with Ken Holland and Chris Chelios.

I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of the Red Wings' fans would've given their left knee (or the right one? Brad Marchand will let us know) to see Fedorov or Chelios suit up, but the Wings aren't built that way anymore.

On Tuesday night, the Wings had six forwards and two defensemen who participated in last spring's Grand Rapids Griffins' Calder Cup run in their lineup, as well as a total of four "second year" defensemen and four "real" rookies. The team's dressed support players (Drew Miller, Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader and Kyle Quincey) aren't exactly scorers, and the player who's been playing a Chelios-like leadership role was out with a bad back.

This is the state of the Red Wings right now, especially if Datsyuk, Franzen (yes, I know, boo), Legwand and Kronwall are being shut down by the Bruins' checking:

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Jimmy Fallon pokes fun at Penguins and Bruins’ head-shots

Blog: KK Hockey By George Malik

04/22/14 at 11:56 PM ET | Comments (0)

George here on the late shift...As I attempt to pen a little recap of a disheartening Wings loss, I at least got to see Jimmy Fallon make fun of NHL players' head-shots, playing a high-school-style "Most Likely to Be Voted to..." game:

Pittsburgh's Beau Bennett, Simon Despres and Matt Niskanen and Boston's Brad Marchand, Dougie Hamilton and Zdeno Chara all received jeers.

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Red Wings-Bruins Game 3 quick take: Wings were awful, but B’s might overlook ‘em now

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

04/22/14 at 10:20 PM ET | Comments (51)

After watching what may have been the worst Red Wings game since...The 6-1 loss to Ottawa, this time a 3-0 loss to Boston, I have two hopes:

1. I sincerely hope that the Red Wings' forwards start doing things other than cheating toward offense and begging their defensemen to be the only ones who shoot pucks on the power play;

2. I hope the Bruins buy into what their media corps is selling, because the Wings may have been manhandled in two consecutive stinkers--from the goal on out--but as far as the B's media has informed us on Twitter, it's time to prepare for the Canadiens-Bruins series, which will start after Saturday's game, apparently.

Very regrettably, Brad Marchand's flop-and-flail-and-grab-the-wrong-leg crap (he's been targeting Brendan Smith, who did try to knee Marchand, all series long), may have been the highlight of the night for Red Wings fans.

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Video- Coach’s Corner Tonight

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

04/22/14 at 08:43 PM ET | Comments (0)

Don Cherry and Ron MacLean discussed the first period of the Tampa/Montreal game and a few other topics including Cherry's view of the Matt Cooke hit last night.

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All Gary Bettman

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

04/22/14 at 08:18 PM ET | Comments (0)

Gary Bettman is in Philadelphia tonight for the Rangers/Flyers game and did a Q & A with the media...

from Randy Miller of NJ.com,

• On whether he likes shootouts:

Bettman: “I like the shootout in the way we use it. I wouldn’t like the shootout in the playoffs, and the fact is I like the shootout better than ending a game in a tie. And so the issue is can we tweak overtime so maybe there are slightly fewer shootouts? But the fact is, no matter what your opinion is – from the media or hockey person or fan – watch the buildings when the shootouts are going on. Everybody is on their feet. Everybody is interested. Everybody is watching. When games were ending in ties, that wasn’t so much the case in overtime. ... Nobody is looking for a fundamental adjustment. We’re looking more for a tweak to see if maybe we can get a few more games decided in overtime, but the shootout is a concept that’s here to stay."

• On the salary cap going up next season from $64.3 million this season:

Bettman: “The system is designed to deal with fluctuations in the Canadian dollar because hockey related revenues, which is used to compute the salary cap, is done in US dollars. So if the Canadian dollar goes down, the cap isn’t as high. Don’t hold me to this, we’re somewhere in the $69 million to $70 million as a guess. We’re don’t have all the data. We don’t have all of the reports from the clubs yet. That would be a wild guess. It’s a ballpark guess.”

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Open Post- Get On The Edge Of Your Seat And Watch 5 1/2 Hours Of Playoff Hockey Tonight

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

04/22/14 at 06:40 PM ET | Comments (2)

Tonight Tampa Bay must produce a win in Montreal or else they can start making tee times tomorrow.

Big game in Detroit with the Wings trying to bounce back from an ugly loss in Boston.

The Rangers and Flyers are tied 1-1 in the series and now Philadelphia has home ice for the next two games.

Biggest question for the late game is can the LA Kings slow down the San Jose Sharks' offense and score one more goal to get back in the series.

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Have You Heard The News About Uncle Joe And His Obscene Live Blogs?

Blog: Abel to Yzerman By IwoCPO

04/22/14 at 05:52 PM ET | Comments (361)

There are no trends. Some would say, during the playoffs, that nothing real exists. We boiled the Easter Bunny on Sunday, a nifty addition to a growing list of domestic pets sacrificed in the name of our cause.

We've turned an innocent train, just a small, clean little choo choo, into a den of sin and drunken excess. We've done everything possible to assure an easy entrance into Hell just based purely on our conduct during the last ten playoffs, or so.

We've been juvenile, disgusting, despicable, redolent.

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All About Matt Cooke

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

04/22/14 at 04:22 PM ET | Comments (14)

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

In hockey parlance, Cooke’s wires crossed. He was late on the hit, and refused to abandon it. This wasn’t one of those plays where a defenceman is the last man back, and either he takes the puck carrier down or it’s a breakaway. There were three, perhaps four Wild teammates between the puck and the goal, but give the industrious Cooke credit here. He still likes to finish what he starts.

Barrie, the kind of player who actually sells tickets in the National Hockey League, is on the shelf for some period of time. (We won’t believe the Avalanche time line during a playoff series, any more than we’ll buy whatever defence Cooke brings to NHL disciplinarian Stephane Quintal’s office.) And, of course, the NHL Players’ Association will send out a representative or two in defence of Cooke, when what they should be doing is acting on behalf of Barrie and the other 885 union members and hide Cooke’s skates for good.

Of course, we’ve written that before too. It never really changes, does it?

Why should it? Matt Cooke never does.

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Adrian Dater of All Thins Avs turns this incident into more about himself, than Cooke...

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A superb profile of Red Wings prospect Teemu Pulkkinen

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

04/22/14 at 02:34 PM ET | Comments (0)

Red Wings prospect Teemu Pulkkinen had a very, very solid North American pro debut, and today, Griffinshockey.com's Alan Cross profiles one of the Wings' brightest prospects (via RedWingsFeed). Pulkkinen hopes to help the Grand Rapids Griffins defend their Calder Cup championship:

Teemu Pulkkinen has enjoyed a landmark rookie season in North America, to say the least. The Vantaa, Finland, native ended the 2013-14 regular season as the leading scorer for the Grand Rapids Griffins with 31 goals and 28 assists in 71 games. He tied for 16th overall among AHL scorers and ranked second among league rookies. As a result, he was named to the 2013-14 AHL All-Rookie Team on April 9. And in March, he made his NHL debut with the Detroit Red Wings.

Still, it’s not enough.

“My own game? It’s been OK,” said the 22-year-old Pulkkinen following a recent Griffins practice. “Of course, you always want to do better as a player. It’s been OK, but I know that I can do better, and I want to play better.”

Cross continues at length, and the Griffins are heading to Abbotsford, BC to face the Abbtosford Heat in the first round of the AHL playoffs tomorrow evening.

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