The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s preparations for training camp, which begins at Centre ICE Arena this morning:
Lalonde and assistant coaches Bob Boughner and Alex Westlund are among the many new faces brought in by Steve Yzerman in his fourth year as general manager. Along with Alex Tanguay, the only bench coach left from Jeff Blashill’s tenure, the group has been busy preparing changes when the Wings take the ice Thursday at Centre Ice Arena.
“In today’s day and age, with being able to do so much virtually, I think we got well out in front of this,” Lalonde said. “Even probably a month ago, talking with Steve, I thought we were a little further ahead of where I expected. We did a once-a-week Zoom with staff, and then we got together 10 days prior to camp. We’re in a good spot. Hopefully it translates to a good start of camp. We’ll have emphasis of team defense. a lot of the first couple days you’ll see will be play without the puck and improving in some of those areas that we struggled last year. We were one of the worst teams in any defensive category last year, so that’s a good starting point. A lot of that is team effort, everybody on the ice pulling the same way. Keep the puck out of your net. A lot of camp early on will be our play away from the puck.
“Special teams will be a big part of it. We’ll introduce that Day 3 or 4, leading into our Red and White Game and having those types of repetitions before exhibition.”
Wednesday saw players undergo physicals. The camp roster featured 40 forwards, 21 defensemen and eight goaltenders, who will break into three groups the first three days. Sunday features the Red and White Game, and after Monday’s practice the Wings will return to Detroit for an eight-game exhibition slate. The Wings open their preseason slate on Tuesday against the Penguins in Pittsburgh.
“We kind of projected a Detroit roster, projected a (Grand Rapids) roster,” Lalonde said. “You’ll see some guys jumping around a lot throughout the first couple days. Not a lot of theme to who’s where — it’s more about team structure, more about chemistry with guys playing with each other. We’re going to have a ton of time with eight games. That’s a lot, exhibition-wise, in the NHL.”
