The Detroit Red Wings begin training camp on Thursday at Centre ICE Arena. This afternoon, MLive’s Ansar Khan has asked five pertinent questions regarding training camp, and now the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan is offering an article discussing 10 storylines to look toward starting on Thursday (it’s a subscriber-only story):
► 5. Playing time on defense
There are plenty of NHL-caliber players and only six positions in the lineup, so the competition beginning in training camp will be intense. Seider, Nick Leddy, Filip Hronek and Marc Staal figure to man the top-four spots.
But, they will be pushed by Troy Stecher, Danny DeKeyser, Jordan Oesterle, Gustav Lindstrom and minor-league free agent Wyatt Newpower, who all at least figure to battle for the two spots on the third-pairing.
It’s a good situation to be in for Blashill, who might have some tough decisions to make on playing time. The Wings have more quality options on defense than they’ve had in recent seasons.
► 6. Welcome to the Wings
There will be plenty of new faces to welcome into the locker room and lineup this weekend in Traverse City.
Leddy, Suter, Oesterle, Stephens, goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, and forward Carter Rowney are all players brought in during the offseason, as the roster again saw changes.
These next several weeks will be important for Nedeljkovic, as goaltenders, in general, have plenty to work on this time of year.
For Nedeljkovic, coming over to a new team, getting comfortable and familiar with the players in front of him, and getting acclimated again to tracking pucks will be vital during the exhibition season.
► 7. Who will wear the ‘A’?
The Wings will need to find replacements for alternate captains Luke Glendening (signed with Dallas) and Frans Nielsen (bought out).
There are plenty of options.
Veterans such as Staal (who wore the A on occasion last season), DeKeyser and forward Sam Gagner are all viable options. Each was, or has been, a respected veteran in the locker room in recent seasons and would be obvious choices moving forward.
Continued (paywall)
