The Detroit Red Wings will hold three intrasquad scrimmages today, with Tuesday’s scrimmage scheduled to start at 10:20 AM (streamed on DetroitRedWings.com), and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with several members of the team and its coach regarding the intensity and pace that one might expect to see starting tomorrow:
“The intensity will be high,” Blashill said in a Zoom call Monday with reporters. “Guys understand we have to use these scrimmages as springboards to get ready for the season and get ready for games and to figure out who will be in what spots. We don’t have exhibition games. The intensity will be higher than one of the red and white scrimmages in Traverse City where you have eight more exhibition games three more weeks (before the regular season begins). We’ll treat it as much more serious and get a lot out of it. We’ll use the scrimmage as a good evaluation.”
As NHL camps opened Monday for the 24 teams that took part in the summer’s Return To Play, the Wings — and the six other teams that didn’t qualify — already were on their fourth consecutive day of on-ice practice. The seven teams that didn’t qualify were allowed three extra on-ice days.
The pace and intensity has pleased Blashill, who even feels the Wings are a little further ahead than normal in terms of establishing how they want to play.
With no exhibition games, no traveling around, and the coaching staff setting a schedule of scrimmages and practices, the first week has been effective.
“One thing for sure, generally you get into exhibition season and the exhibition games are god but you don’t get enough practice time as a group,” Blashill said. “From a preparation standpoint, if we could normally have this, when you’re not traveling and keeping the group together, it’s easier to implement your systems quicker. I do think we’re further ahead. We get to choose when to play the exhibitions (scrimmages) and what makes the most sense, and allows us to implement all of our systems on ice or video, prior to playing the scrimmage.”
Update: Here’s more on the scrimmages from MLive’s Ansar Khan:
“I think our guys understand we have to use these scrimmages as both springboards to get ready for the season and also to figure out who’s going to be in what spots,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “So, I think the intensity will be higher than it would be in one of the scrimmages in Traverse City in a camp where you have eight more exhibitions to go in three more weeks.
“We’re certainly going to treat it as such, more serious, make sure we get lots out of it. I waited a few days to make sure we get a lot of our systems in place, so guys know what they’re doing when they’re out there and it’s a chance for them to go live.”
Blashill probably will have his top two lines on opposite sides. That would pit Dylan Larkin’s line, with Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi, facing Robby Fabbri’s line, with Filip Zadina and Bobby Ryan.
In that case, the third and fourth lines likely would be separate teams – Valtteri Filppula centering Vladislav Namestnikov and Sam Gagner while Luke Glendening centers Adam Erne and Mathias Brome, who has filled in for Darren Helm the past two days. Helm, deemed unfit to practice, isn’t likely to scrimmage after being off the ice for two days.
The Red Wings in a typical season play eight exhibition games. This will be as close to a real game as they have played since March 10.
“There’s nothing that can really recreate an actual National Hockey League game, so I think the more reps you can get that are game-situation scrimmages and feeling the pressure coming at you the easier the game becomes,” Gagner said. “I think guys are excited to get in that situation and get that feeling back.”
