Impressions from the first day of the Red Wings’ 2022 training camp

The Detroit Red Wings began their time under the mentorship of coach Derek Lalonde on Thursday morning at Traverse City’s Centre ICE Arena, on a blustery day that’s significant in terms of marking a new chapter for the rebuilding team and a significant day in the life of this blogger (more on that later).

The Red Wings’ 67 roster players were divided into three groups, Team Lindsay, Team Howe, and Team Delvecchio, and they were preceded on the ice by a set of injured players.

I was surprised to see Andrew Copp (abdominal surgery), Jake Walman (shoulder) and prospects Jake Uberti and Tnias Mathurin (undisclosed) skating together when I got into the rink around 8:15 AM, with goaltenders Andrew Oke and Jan Bednar working with Grand Rapids Griffins goaltending coach Brian Mahoney-Wilson at the other end of the ice.

It’s also worth noting that, after the gents took a leisurely skate, I did see Oskar Sundqvist (undisclosed), Robby Fabbri (ACL) and Mark Pysyk (Achilles) taking part in the video sessions ahead of Team Lindsay’s 8:30 AM-to-9:30 AM practice.

And it’s worth noting that the video sessions were long, even for Team Lindsay, whose 12 forwards, 3 defensemen and 2 goaltenders are made up of prospects, try-outs, and Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted prospects.

They were in fact led in practice by Griffins coach Ben Simon, Toledo Walleye coach Dan Watson and assistant coach Alden Hirschfeld, so there’s a little bit of delineation already as to which teams are Red Wings-bound for the most part (Team Howe and Team Delvecchio), and which teams represent the future (and the Griffins and Walleye).

Anyway, Team Lindsay’s drills still involved what I would later witness were the bedrocks of coach Derek Lalonde’s defensive game, which really begins with tracking opposing forwards as they break out with the puck in the other team’s offensive zone.

It’s remarkable how aggressive the Red Wings’ new defensive game is going to be, and how much responsibility and effort it entails.

Anyway, yeah, there were the usual break-outs, 2-on-0’s, and tracking drills, but much of what I watched involved situational drills in which a puck was dumped in, and players had to “square up” in terms of their defensive coverage as they tracked their opponents.

Mind you, Team Lindsay’s practice was a condensed version of the two-hour-long coach Lalonde session, but the message was sent and it was taken in by the players who participated.

Team Delvecchio didn’t take to the ice until 9:30, a full 20 minutes after Centre ICE’s first-floor vestibule was “locked down” so that the first of two “main teams” could engage in a lengthy video session in which coach Lalonde and his staff broke down their new systems of play. 20 minutes is an incredibly long time to go over video with any group of athletes, but the first day’s message seemed to be, “We’re going to be thorough, and so can you.”

The emphasis throughout involved turning break-outs and initially innocent 2-on-1 or 3-on-2 drills to full-out, 5-on-5 attack and defense drills, where players were either tracked or attacked all the way up and down the ice.

At certain points, the goal was to score; at others, the goal was to clear the puck out of the defensive zone, and all six coaches on the ice–I recognized some of them in Lalonde, assistant coaches Bob Boughner and Alex Tanguay, assistant coach Jay Varady and goalie coach Alex Westlund, but I’m going to have to guess that the sixth coach was video coach LJ Scarpace–were emphatic, were taking part in illustrating certain drills, and were keeping up a pace kept by the head coach.

Who was loud. Coach Blashill was a “quiet talker” by comparison, and this staff is a noisy one. It’s not aggressive or mean in that sense, so we’re not hearing or witnessing players get barked at, but there was an emphasis on getting one’s butt to work and keeping up a professional pace as drills were executed, and when that failed or people got confused, the explanation or correction came quickly and at a high decibel level.

The first hour’s practice ended with what I call “street hockey”–nets set up at the half boards, and, in this case, set-ups where there were 2-on-2’s and 4-on-4 situations, and the practice ended with some short center-ice laps and a sort of “‘shootout,” whose loser had to take an extra center-ice lap.

If all of that sounds exhausting, after another 10 minutes’ worth of video, things really got underway over the course of the second hour of practice.

Instead of giving you all the details on a drill-by-drill basis, I’ll tell you the bottom line:

The players basically worked on situational defensive drills, and the pace was blisteringly and bruisingly high.

On Team Delvecchio, Moritz Seider and Ben Chiarot were paired together, and Chiarot wasted no time in introducing himself to his teammates by checking the snot out of them. As hard as Jakub Vrana, David Perron, Dominik Kubalik and Jonatan Berggren (who was fantastic) played offensively, the Wings’ defense matched every stride and every shot, and while there were hiccups from the goalies at times, Sebastian Cossa, Alex Nedeljkovic and “new guy” Jussi Olkinuora were excellent in goal.

Everybody wanted to impress on their new teacher’s first day, and through the first practice, at least, I felt that it was “mission accomplished” for everyone.

Now I didn’t get to see as much of Team Howe–the team which includes Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi and Lucas Raymond–as much as I did the early-morning team, because I had to scurry upstairs to the media area to wait for interviews from Team Lindsay, and as much as I was happy to speak with David Perron and Alex Nedeljkovic, it was a big disappointment that I knew was going to be part and parcel of having to wait for players to finish their workouts, shower, etc. etc.

Team Howe was on the ice as of 11:30 AM, and I really didn’t get to see them work until sometime closer to 12:40, because there was just a long wait for interviews, and that’s part of the business.

But I can tell you for sure that Team Howe was engaging in a slightly smoother set of drills–mostly because the coaching staff had worked the kinks out over the first practice–and when I watched the final 45-or-so minutes of Team Howe’s practice, the players were going full-out, skating with as much enthusiasm, panache, physicality and skill as Team Delvecchio did.

There was a very big “impress your new teacher” vibe throughout all three teams’ practice, and, perhaps for the first time in a long time, the sense that jobs might be on the line in a way that they weren’t over the last couple of years of coach Blashill’s reign.

And that’s no indictment on Blashill–that speaks to the depth, or the lack thereof, on the team that Ken Holland left for Steve Yzerman to rebuild, and the team that Steve Yzerman is still rebuilding.

How far along is that rebuild? That’s going to be hard to say until we’re watching the Red Wings play games that count in the regular season, but until then, I think that both training camp and the exhibition season are going to indicate a kind of depth available to the coaching staff that just hasn’t been there for a good five years.

In terms of impressions and assessments of the Red Wings’ participating players, on a “team by team” basis…

TEAM LINDSAY

Forwards:

#56 Pasquale Zito: I didn’t see Zito in the morning. The 19-year-old Niagara IceDogs center played in the prospect tournament, and the 6’1,” 181-pound center certainly didn’t disappoint in terms of physical play or the ability to utilize his skating to finish checks and make life miserable for opponents, but he tends to take himself out of scoring plays by doing so. After missing the 2020-2021 OHL season due to the pandemic, he posted 42 points in 49 OHL games last year for Windsor, so he knows how to produce.

#58 Riley Piercey*: Even after his four-goal game in the prospect tournament, I’m still not certain whether the free-agent invite out of the OHL’s Flint Firebirds is really a 6’3,” 193-pound power forward, or whether he’s a stationary sniper who just happened to have the game of his life and career a week ago. The 20-year-old Piercey posted 27 goals and 58 points for Flint in 57 games last year, but he’s struggled with the fact that he, like Zito, seems to enjoy laying folks out more than he does laying the puck in the back of the net, and as a young and developing power forward, you’ve really got to find a way to know when to dash and when to flash.

#61 Jake Uberti**: The 20-year-old Mississauga Steelheads forward skated with the injured guys, and that’s the most I’ve seen of the 6’2,” 197-pound Toronto native. He has yet to find his scoring stride at the OHL level.

#72 Trenton Bliss**: Big sand strong, the 6’1,” 193-pound graduate of Michigan Tech is 24 and Grand Rapids Griffins-bound after a successful college career. He had a very solid pair of games at the prospect tournament, and the point-per-game NCAA forward is more likely to start out as a grinder at the AHL level, but he and Jake Worrad will form a fine third or fourth-line pairing in GR.

#75 Cedric Lacroix**: The 27-year-old Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted forward is listed at 6’1″ and 187 pounds, but man, he was nasty on the ice, and if you look at his point totals (click on his name to do so), you’ll find that Lacroix is more known for putting up healthy penalty-minute totals than he is for putting the puck in the back of the net. In the AHL, you still need someone who can ride shotgun, and that’s what Lacroix is most likely to be doing with Grand Rapids this upcoming season.

#78 Amadeus Lombardi: The 19-year-old Lombardi may stand at 5’10” and 165 pounds, but the Flint Firebirds forward and 2022 draft pick has proven that he’s more than merely a 4th-round pick who will provide the organization with some sort of depth down the line. The little booger was a force to be reckoned with during the prospect tournament, and he gave no quarter to his bigger opponents today, either. Ideally, the speedy little “Ammo” heads back to the OHL, continues to post near-point-per-game totals, and he comes back next year, has another great prospect tournament, and he signs an entry-level contract. From there, he’s got a real scoring touch and no fear, and that’s encouraging.

#79 Kirill Tyutyayev**: 22, finally healthy after suffering a shoulder injury, an full of his own level of pluck at a Red Wings-listed 5’9″ and 179 pounds, the Russian is full of dekes, dangles and masterful, elegant skating, but he’s really got to bear down in his upcoming AHL season and work on finishing his scoring chances. The difference between being a stick-handling maestro who becomes an NHL player and a stick-handling maestro who makes his money on YouTube is very slim, and it’s up to Kirill to become the former and not the latter.

#83 Marcus Limpar-Lantz*: The 20-year-old Swede is trying to break into North American Major Junior hockey after a couple of successful seasons with Orebro Hockey’s Under-20 team, and he’s finding out that AHL and NHL-level competition far outweighs what you encounter in the J20 league. At 6′ and 188 pounds, Limpar-Lantz is solid enough physically, he skates well and he’s got a right shot that’s smart, but his job is to take what is very evidently a little bit of culture shock adjusting to North American hockey and applying his levels of competition at which he’s at least surviving to thrive with the OHL’s Erie Otters this upcoming season.

#84 Julien Anctil*: The Rimouski Oceanic forward and free agent invite is a 6’2,” 177-pound native of Quebec who will play in one final QMJHL season as a 21-year-old thanks to the pandemic, and the 68-point-scorer just didn’t display the level of “pop” that he possessed among his peers at the prospect tournament, centering the fourth line instead. There’s potential there, but it’s more of a long-shot’s variety.

#86 Ivan Ivan*: He of the bemusing name, the 20-year-old Ivan was a free agent invite from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, and the 6,’ 199-pound forward probably needs one more season in the “Q” in order to sort himself out as a growing forward and someone who can finish scoring chances, and has the talent to do so, but, for whatever reason, he cannot or will not make the physical sacrifices to do so yet.

#87 Jacob Mathieu*: All of 18 years old, Mathieu stands at only 5’10” and 177 pounds, and the Rimouski Oceanic forward was passed over in his first draft year because he’s slight and posted 35 points in 68 games. He was out of his physical element during the prospect tournament, but things can always get better when you’ve got a couple of developmental years to go in the “Q.”

#94 Mitchell Martin*: The 19-year-old Kitchener Rangers forward was also a free agent invite, and the 6’3,” 199-pound forward sometimes played a power forward’s game, and sometimes he’s big and heavy and hard on the puck and physical against other players. The emphasis is on sometimes, and that’s where he has to continue to work on honing his consistency.

Defensemen:

#47 Wyatt Newpower: Red Wings-contracted but Grand Rapids Griffins-bound, the 24-year-old is going to have to work very hard to not get squeezed out by the Red Wings’ European imports. 6’3″ and 207 pounds, the right-shooting defenseman keeps up talent-wise and keeps up in terms of the pace of his play, and he’s hard and physical, but there are younger and flashier models in the store. We’ll see how things pan out for him, as the AHL is a place where you need a big, tough defenseman or two.

#63 Jeremie Biakabutuka*: The fact that the 20-year-old free agent invite is on the “third team” may be an indicator that the Red Wings, despite giving Biakabutuka a long look during the prospect tournament, are probably sending the 6’4,” 201-pound defenseman back to the Charlottetown Islanders of the QMJHL. That being said, whether they can draft him as a 21-year-old next spring or just pluck him off the free agent marketplace is yet to be determined, and I think that, be it the former or the latter, Biakabutuka did enough to impress both Detroit and other professional teams that there’s a real future for him. He’s a big, mobile defenseman who shoots right, is physical and knows how to play a balanced offensive game. He may not be the next #1/2 defenseman on a team, but as a middle-pair guy, he’s a “bonus draft pick” in the making.

#95 Tnias Mathurin: The Red Wings haven’t been able to see the 6’3,” 201-pound North Bay Battalion defenseman and 2022 draft pick as he’s been injured. His injury may have been the reason that Biakabutuka was added late in the game to the prospect tournament. I liked Mathurin at the summer development camp, and it’s hard to tell whether he’s a third-pair, complementary defenseman or something more, but he’s only 18 and there is room for him and his game to grow.

Goaltenders:

#31 Andrew Oke*: I don’t think that anyone is going to complain about the free agent invite and Saginaw Spirit goaltender’s performance as an 18-year-old. The 6’2,” 202-pound native of Shelby Township was asked to come to the prospect tournament and get a game in–half-a-game, actually–and he acquitted himself pretty well despite posting middling numbers. Oke is still a work in progress, on an OHL team that is a work in progress, but his fundamentals are good, his reflexes are good, he works hard and he is going to continue to improve.

#60 Jan Bednar: Part of me is honestly disappointed that the 6’4,” 199-pound goaltender is not getting to play against the “big boys” prior to what will probably be his final Major Junior season. There’s a lot on the line for the 20-year-old Acadie-Bathurst Titan goaltender, and he could be anything from an inconsistent flop to an NHL prospect, depending on how he performs this upcoming season and thereafter. He’s got a ton of talent, but not a lot of consistency, and that will have to be rectified for him to continue his professional ascent.

Injured reserve:

#68 John Lethemon**: Lethemon participated in the summer development camp, but the 26-year-old Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted goaltender and probably Toledo Walleye-ticketed goaltender is on the IR, and the 6’3,” 199-pound goaltender may lose his spot to Sebastian Cossa as a result. He’s got good fundamentals and solid character, and he’s played at the ECHL level, so that would seem to be where he fits when he comes back.

TEAM DELVECCHIO:

Forwards:

#15 Jakub Vrana: I really liked what coach Lalonde had to say about Jakub Vrana–that he needs to take another step and be more than a goal-scorer. There’s no doubt that, at 26, Vrana is someone who can score 30 goals, but what’s the 6,’ 190-pound winger going to do to generate positive momentum for the team when he’s not scoring? He’s one of those players that either makes a very big impact or makes no impact at all, and getting Vrana to buy into the concept that he can forecheck, back-check and generally “do stuff” when he’s not scoring would be wonderful.

#21 Austin Czarnik: The Red Wings signed the 29-year-old Czarnik over the summer because the Detroit native is a 5’9,” 170-pound winger who scores a point per game at the AHL level, and then he goes up to the NHL level for five, ten or fifteen games a year, and he does pretty well up there, too. I liked his pluck and jab for a smaller guy, and the right-shooting winger is definitely speedy and hard-working. First impressions, good.

#25 Taro Hirose: The now-26-year-old Hirose is probably going to be waived, clear, and be sent to Grand Rapids, too, as he’s an assist machine at the AHL level. 5’10” and 162 pounds, Hirose was Mr. Frustration on Thursday, visibly upset with himself when passes and shots went astray, and that was a little strange as Hirose is usually too even-keeled for his own good. A little emotion never hurt anyone, and if the diminutive winger can find some fire, maybe that would be a good thing for him.

#27 Michael Rasmussen: Sometimes we forget that Rasmussen is still just 23 years of age, and the 6’6,” 211-pound center has been working between Vrana and Perron in Andrew Copp’s absence. Now that’s just a first-day-of-training-camp line, and coach Lalonde promised us that the teams would be juggled, so nothing is set in stone, but it’s still a nice little plug to know that a player who is theoretically slotted to center the fourth line this season can still be trusted to play on the second line. Rasmussen hasn’t connected in terms of his scoring as a prospect, but he’s conscientious defensively, he’s very physical, he “plays the right way” in all three zones, he’s got a good shot and he’s got a good pass, and he can stand in front of the net (and stands to improve there). I still think that we’ll see him turn out to be a very solid player.

#42 Kyle Criscuolo: Much like Czarnik, Criscuolo is NHL-contracted, but AHL-bound. As a 30-year-old who stands at only 5’9″ and 167 pounds, Criscuolo is a 40-to-50-point guy at the AHL level, someone who helms your second or third line and busts his tail working hard to play responsible hockey. He’s bounced around the NHL, but came back to the organization with which he’s found the most success.

#48 Givani Smith: 24-year-old Givani Smith may be an endangered species in Detroit as a 6’2,” 214-pound enforcer who may or may not earn a spot in the NHL lineup, but I don’t think he’s going down without a fight. Smith had a lot of confidence on the first day of training camp, sinking goals and bumping bodies consistently. I don’t know if he’ll win out in the contested battle for fourth-line spots, but I know he will give all his effort in order to remain an NHL’er.

#52 Jonatan Berggren: Smith has to work so hard because people like Jonatan Berggren are on his tail. Hell, he’s on Michael Rasmussen’s tail. Bigger than he used to be at 5’11” and 197 pounds, the no-longer-small Berggren is just an absolutely elite passer who has worked on his skating, worked on his physicality, and grown into his body as a 22-year-old, and after posting 21 goals and 43 assists for 64 points in 70 AHL games this past season, it is very visible–even on the first day of camp–why the Red Wings’ GM is high on Berggren’s potential as a middle-of-the-lineup passing machine. He just skates so much better than he used to, and his pace is much more consistent. Great first impression this year.

#57 David Perron: I’m really relieved that David Perron is on the Red Wings’ roster and not someone else’s this season. The 34-year-old has always been one of my least favorite players for the Red Wings to play against, because the 6’1,” 196-pound forward plays a borderline dirty, borderline nasty game, and he gets away with it–and scores some goals in the process! A three-time St. Louis Blue, Perron has scored 60, 58 and 57 points over the past three seasons, and as skilled as he is, as crafty as he is, and as sneaky as he is, there’s no reason to think that he’s going to slow down now. The Sherbrooke, Quebec native is also very motivated to help the Wings after being spurned by the Blues, and it’s good to have a veteran with a “burr under his saddle,” as they say, to support the cause.

#70 Oskar Sundqvist: Now 28, I really liked what the 6’3,” 220-pound winger brought to the Red Wings after they acquired him from the Blues, and while he only sipped coffee while talking with Andrew Copp, Robby Fabbri and Jake Walman on Thursday, I think that the idea of a “fourth line” with Rasmussen at its center and the hard-forechecking Sundqvist on the wing is an exciting proposition for the Wings–and a painful one for its opponents. The big man is a hunk of meat, and he busts his ass working hard. I like that kind of blue-collar player on any team to which I have a partisan following.

#74 Cross Hanas: Hanas has the potential to be a special player, providing that he keeps working on his game and his body. He’s listed at 6’1″ and 180 pounds, and he’s really developed into a passing machine in the WHL, posting 60 assists in 63 games last season, and he was a fantastic “outlet valve” during the prospect tournament, buying his teammates time and space before saucering slick passes to them. The problem is that he’s basically Jonatan Berggren 2.0, and the way Hanas plays, he’s going to have to get a little stronger, because he’s a scrappy bugger.

#76 Tyler Spezia**: The Red Wings and Griffins have a couple of these guys–Spezia, like Criscuolo and Hirose and Czarnik, is only 5’10” and 170 pounds, and Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted at 29–but I hear nothing but glowing reports of Spezia’s work ethic for the Griffins, and the Clinton Township, MI native is a leadership player for Grand Rapids and

#81 Dominik Kubalik: If I am to be impolite and honest here, Kubalik is sort of the poor man’s Jakub Vrana. The 27-year-old stands at 6’2″ and 190 pounds, and he posted 30 goals in his rookie year with Chicago, some three seasons ago, and 17 and then 15 goals in the two following seasons. Just as the Red Wings bet that Pius Suter would be a very solid second or third line center (which came true, sort of), they’re hoping that Kubalik can at least generate 15+ goals on the third line here, and possibly hit 20 or more. I think that’s a reasonable expectation for the free agent singing, and on the first day I’ve seen of him wearing red and white (and not black), he looked sharp and solid.

#90 Joe Veleno: Still only 22, and still Grand Rapids Griffins-eligible if the Wings don’t feel that he should be playing on the fourth line, the 6’1,” 203-pound Veleno does look as if he’s put on a good five pounds’ worth of muscle and that he’s very serious about earning back his NHL job this season. Veleno still possesses 40-to-50-point potential, but I think he’s going to have to earn it by playing a checking role–and embracing that role–for now.

Defensemen:

#8 Ben Chiarot: I don’t think that we’re ever going to like the Chiarot contract, but let’s put that aside for a moment, and remember that the 31-year-old defenseman is 6’3″ and 232 pounds, and is mean…And the Red Wings haven’t had one of those guys in the lineup for a while. Chiarot was doing his best not to injure his teammates on Thursday, and he was just not doing so. The man is BIG, the man is MEAN, and the man means business. I also think that he’s aware that his time in Montreal and his time in Florida were not equal to his sometimes dominant play as a middle-pair defenseman in Winnipeg, and I am hoping that Chiarot really wants to reclaim that spare, smart form again. First day, he looked like he knew he had robbed a bank and gotten to play with Moritz Seider on top of it, and nobody was gonna take the ball from the junkyard dog’s mouth. I like that.

#20 Albert Johansson: Turning-North-American-pro at 21 years of age, the 6,’ 184-pound Johansson has put on some weight, given that the Wings were initially listing him and Eemil Viro at an identical 6′ and 164 pounds, and he the Farjestads BK graduate just looks smart, spare and of excellent skating, strong positioning and superb passing form. I’ve been damn impressed with the first few looks I’ve had at him, and if you want a pair of potential second-pair, passing defensemen, look about you at Johansson and Viro this fall in Grand Rapids.

#32 Brian Lashoff**: I’m gonna be blunt and honest here: Brian Lashoff, the Grand Rapids Griffins’ captain, is a 32-year-old who’s been both traded and reacquired (albeit at an AHL rate) by the Red Wings because he is absolutely one of the classiest human beings I’ve ever met. Lashoff is not an NHL defenseman in the making any more, but the 6’3,” 210-pound defender plays as a stalwart two-way level when he’s in the AHL, serving as a real quiet leader and hardest worker in the Griffins’ room, and he’s earned every bit of the success he’s achieved (and probably more). I think that Lashoff is still a very serviceable player to call up on a pro try-out or a short-term deal, knowing that he’s going to be steady and simple at the NHL level, and then he’ll head back to GR, where he’s built a career and home, and he’ll lead your damn team. Best of both worlds there.

#44 Donovan Sebrango: Sebrango is cut from a similar cloth, and I hope that the 20-year-old defenseman has more pro success than Lashoff. Having already accumulated 96 games of AHL experience thanks to the pandemic allowing Sebrango to essentially skip the latter parts of his OHL career, the 6’1,” 197-pound Sebrango is a slimed-down version of Chiarot, sometimes downright mean, always spare and efficient, with a flair on his hard, low shot and a willingness to block shots and stick check his way out of jams and sacrifice his body to make life miserable for others. He’s fun to watch, he’s still growing into his body, and he’s going to be that kind of Bob Rouse/Brad Stuart defenseman that you can use in every situation.

#49 Seth Barton: Seth Barton and Wyatt Newpower are comparables here, in that they’re older (Barton is 23), big and tough (Barton is 6’3″ and 194 pounds), and really being challenged by the Sebrango/Johansson/Viro/Edvinsson quartet. The Griffins always want to contend for a playoff spot in the AHL, and they were unable to do so last season, so it’s going to be interesting to see how many of the Griffins’ D corps from last season remain, and how many of the young bucks are going to be wresting spots away from them. There is no shame in spending some time in Toledo to dominate at the ECHL level, even if you’re 23 or 24, but I have a feeling that Barton and Newpower are going to want Johansson and Viro to consider that proposition instead.

#53 Moritz Seider: The Red Wings’ best defenseman is in a whole other planet away from the guys battling for spots on the Griffins, never mind a whole other stratosphere. Still just 21, the 6’4,” 204-pound Seider could very well be a wee bit stronger and a wee bit nastier this season, and if he can keep up the offensive pace, he is an elite all-round defenseman who can post 50+ points, skate up and down the ice like few of his peers, and lay waste to opponents who think they’re coming in for an easy hit, or even those who think they’ve got this young punk figured out. The sky remains the limit for Seider, and he’s up there already.

#77 Oscar Plandowski: As I’ve said before regarding Plandowski, all tools, not much of a toolbox. The 19-year-old Charlottetown Islanders defenseman is an amazing skater, in no small part due to the fact that his mother is a professional skating coach. He has great hockey sense and a smart shot and good passing skills, which make sense given that his father is the director of amateur scouting for Arizona. He’s slick at times and a little skittish at others, because he’s 19, and he’s going to be competing for a contract on a stacked blueline, so he still needs to put the great but disparate tools of his game together.

#82 Jordan Oesterle: Oesterle is a great “hometown story” given that he’s from Dearborn Heights, but if the 30-year-old ends up losing his spot to an Edvinsson or even a Sebrango, it’s going to be based on merit. I like the way that Oesterle played last season, even though he had some difficult times, and the 6,’ 187-pound defender may not be best-suited to be Moritz Seider’s partner, but he sure looks like a good third-pair defenseman who plays a no-frills game. He’s going to be fighting for his pro life this fall, and I hope he makes it, but if he doesn’t, I hope he succeeds wherever else he ends up, be it GR or somewhere else on the waiver wire.

Goaltenders:

#33 Sebastian Cossa: What a difference a year makes. 19 until November, the Red Wings now have Cossa listed at a gargantuan 6’6″ and 229 pounds, and the massive Edmonton Oil Kings alumnus and WHL Champion has really grown into his body and his overall game. There were definitely times on Thursday that he got smoked by NHL competition playing Prospect Tournament-level hockey, but Cossa, for the most part, looked very calm, collected and poised out there among the best that the Red Wings could throw at him. He’s just no longer a reflexes-and-size-first goaltender; instead, he’s patient, he’s still got fantastic natural gifts in terms of his reactions and skill set, and he’s big and athletic and now, mature. There’s a bright future ahead of him, probably in Toledo this year, if not back in Edmonton, but we’ll see how things shake out.

#39 Alex Nedeljkovic: I asked the 26-and-a-half-year-old goaltender if there was anything he did technically to improve over the course of the offseason, and he said he did some things, but didn’t want to go into detail. The 6,’ 208-pound Nedeljkovic is no giant, but after an up-and-down season with the Red Wings last year, the NHL sophomore in terms of his full-season experience is going to have a better netminding partner in Ville Husso, and he’s still going to have spark lit under him regarding earning the starting job outright. Principled, knowing when to use his fine fundamentals and when to flop and flail athletically, he’s a very good goalie. Can he be great for the Wings? We’re about to find out.

#45 Jussi Olkinuora: I mean, we are really talking about a wild card here. Olkinuora is 31, he’s a 6’3,” 202-pound goaltender who played for Metallurg Magnitogorsk last year, then won MVP of the frickin’ Olympics, and he’s so old-school that he still uses leather leg straps on his leg pads. I haven’t seen much of him playing, but what I’ve seen is the game of a 31-year-old who’s giving North American hockey the second or third try for the sake of making the NHL. Who’s gonna stop him?

Injured Reserve:

#14 Robby Fabbri: The 26-year-old may not be back until he’s 27 in January, but the 5’11,” 185-pound winger has integrated well into the Red Wings after being brought over from St. Louis, and he still has more to give in the goal-scoring department. The affable Fabbri isn’t big by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s smart and diligent, and he works hard. By the time he’s healthy, the Wings will have some injuries, and he’ll be a necessary addition.

#96 Jake Walman: Another wild card, the 26-year-old defenseman looked good when the Wings brought him over in the Nick Leddy deal, but he was dealing with shoulder issues then, and he had to have his shoulder surgically repaired in the offseason. 6’2″ and 215 pounds, Walman plays a two-way game, and he’s solidly physical, he possesses good passing and strong shooting skills, and he’s a very good skater. Will he fit in on the new-look Wings blueline? I’m not certain.

TEAM HOWE

Forwards:

#11 Filip Zadina: This is a pivotal season for Filip Zadina, which I’m sure you already know. Still young at 22, the 6,’ 190-pound forward has yet to click for the Red Wings, and while many of us still believe that Zadina possesses the skills of a 20-goal-scorer, there’s some point at which Zadina, who was signed to a particularly cap-friendly 3-year deal this past summer, has to begin producing. How does he fit in? Will he play alongside Suter and Kubalik on the 3rd line? Will he have to drop down a line and earn his chances while skating with Rasmussen? Will he earn more favorable defensive match-ups either way? There are a lot of questions here, and Filip has to answer them.

#22 Matt Luff: Luff is something of an unknown quantity to me. Only 25, the 6’3,” 212-pound winger hasn’t really stuck at the NHL level as of yet, but he’s posted nearly point-per-game totals in the AHL, and he’s a big man on top of it all, so perhaps the Wings envision him as a stout winger who can come up to the NHL in a pinch as a solid third or fourth-line winger. I’m curious to see what he brings to the table.

#23 Lucas Raymond: It would make sense to suggest that Lucas Raymond can only get better, and at 20, still growing into his 5’11,” 176-pound body, I don’t think that it’s unreasonable to expect Lucas Raymond to be a better, more consistent player with a full year’s worth of NHL experience and a full year’s worth of acclimation to the NHL grind under his belt. I do know that Dylan Larkin told us that he challenged Raymond to be a better, more tenacious player this past summer, and I do know that, at least on the first day of training camp, Raymond was sinking shots and tucking in rebounds with a sort of unsatisfied hunger that I haven’t seen before. Here’s hoping.

#24 Pius Suter: At 26, the 5’11,” 179-pound Suter may in fact be better-suited to playing as a third-line center, and I think that his reunion with Dominik Kubalik will afford the slight but smart Suter to experience an offensive renaissance of sorts. I don’t expect him to be the Wings’ #2 center any more–that was too much to ask of him–but as a complementary scorer as opposed to a secondary one, I see him thriving.

#26 Pontus Andreasson: Not many of us know much about the 24-year-old from Lulea Hockey of the SHL, other than the fact that he’s known as a goal-scorer, and the 5’10,” 183-pound center did just that on Thursday. I kept on wondering where that little dude wearing #26 came from, and why he looked so much like Jiri Hudler, jabbing pucks into the net like it was going out of style. Again and again, Andreasson would get a chance, and it was in the back of the net. So that’s encouraging.

#46 Chase Pearson: Pearson, a 25-year-old center who’s listed at 6’2″ and 200 pounds, is very mobile and smart, understanding that he’s going to earn his living as a checking-line center. I’ve liked his game since I first saw him play, and I’m sorry that he’s dealing with a personal issue and has had to step away from the team for now. He’ll be waived, sent to GR, and he’ll work his way back.

#50 Dominik Shine**: Another one of the “little guys,” the 29-year-old Shine is 5’11” and 176 pounds, and the Pinckney, MI native has been with the Griffins since 2016-17, and he’s been a model citizen, on and off the ice. He’s a grinder and he’s not big, but he posted 32 points in 71 games last year, which was a significant up-tick, and he’ll continue to fend off the kids after his job.

#59 Tyler Bertuzzi: I remember when Tyler Bertuzzi got into a fight with Nick Jensen and messed up Jensen’s shoulder during a summer development camp in Traverse City as an 18-year-old kid. Now he’s 27, at the peak of his career, and we don’t really know whether he’s gonna finish this year as a Red Wing. At 6’1″ and 186 pounds, the pesky Bertuzzi is a real power forward and a pain in the rear to play against, he scores 30 goals, he’s immensely popular “in the room,” and the question isn’t whether he’s going to replicate last year’s success, it’s whether he’s going to be here long-term. That’s weird, too.

#62 Drew Worrad**: I really enjoyed watching Worrad at the prospect tournament. A Western Michigan grad, the 25-year-old is going to Grand Rapids, and he’s going to be a grinder, and the 6’1,” 186-pound right-shooting center is going to excel in that role.

#67 Joel L’Esperance**: The 27-year-old L’Esperance is a native of Brighton, MI, and the Grand Rapids Griffins signed the 6’2,” 210-pound winger because he’s a 40-to-50-point-scorer and 20-to-25-goal-scorer at the AHL level. He has yet to stick at the NHL level, but he’s been very good with the Texas Stars, and he’ll try to recreate some of that magic in Grand Rapids.

#71 Dylan Larkin: The one guy with the letter on his chest (the Red Wings’ alternates have yet to be determined) is the one guy that coach Derek Lalonde seems to be willing to lean upon the most, and 26-year-old Dylan Larkin is leaning right back. Hopefully finally healthy after a couple of seasons where he had to pull the chute early, Larkin is an elite first-line center who will score nearly 30 goals and post a point per game while busting his ass and utilizing his superb skating skills to head-man the puck to teammates and out-race opponents to the puck. He’s absolutely essential to the team, and I have a feeling that he’ll be re-signed one way or another.

#73 Adam Erne: Erne is coming off a sub-par season in which he only posted 20 points in 673 games, and the 6’1,” 212-pound winger is suddenly in a fight for his job with the Wings’ third and fourth lines stacked full of players ready to fight for jobs. Erne is physical, heavy and hard to play against when he’s on, and sometimes a little inconsistent in terms of fit and finish when he isn’t. He and Givani Smith are going to be battling for one of the last spots on the roster, and it’s going to be a real fight.

#85 Elmer Soderblom: Part of the reason it’s such a fight at the bottom of the Wings’ roster is that Soderblom, massive at 6’8″ and 246 pounds at only 21 years of age, isn’t far off after graduating from the SHL’s Frolunda HC. Big Elmer is a remarkably talented big man, and while he isn’t physical, he’s going to be an exciting offensive force over the next couple of seasons. Whether he needs finishing school in Grand Rapids is basically up to the battle for roster spots, and where he fits in. It won’t be long before Big Elmer is up in the NHL.

Defensemen:

#2 Olli Maatta: Maatta is like having a human eraser. 6’2″ and 207 pounds, the 28-year-old isn’t elegant and isn’t flashy, but he does a great job of making very little happen, and that’s damn hard at the NHL level. A fine second or third-pair defenseman, Maatta is mobile, he’s heavier than he looks in terms of his play, and he’s got a very good stick and is a superb checker.

#3 Simon Edvinsson: Big Elmer and Big Simon have Big Time futures with the Red Wings. The question is “when” as opposed to “whether” or “if.” 6’6″ and 209 pounds, the 19-year-old Edvinsson may very well need finishing school in Grand Rapids, but he looked a lot more interested in playing actual defense than just gliding on the ice and creating offense with his sublime passing and shooting skills during the first day of training camp than he did during the prospect tournament or the World Junior Championship. That’s my only real question about Edvinsson: does he care enough to play defense?

#17 Filip Hronek: 24 going on 25, Hronek very well may be in a Pius Suter situation–better-suited to be that solid #3 defenseman than forced to carry a #1 or #2 defenseman’s load. 6′ and 190 pounds, the Czech with superb skating, passing and shooting skills, and an edge to him at that, still needs to find consistency in terms of his application of his offensive gifts and defensive assets, but he’s surrounded by a better supporting cast now.

#28 Gustav Lindstrom: Lindstrom is in a battle for his spot in the lineup. Now 23 going on 24 this October, the 6’2,” 186-pound Lindstrom has put on some weight and some strength, but he’s going to really excel being an Olli Maatta-style shut-down defender, and he certainly skates well enough to be that player, but he’s got a lot of competition.

#38 Robert Hagg: Hagg is one of those competitors. A 27-year-old free agent signing, The 6’2,” 210-pound Hagg is spare, simple and heavily physical, and he seems to have a mean streak to his simple, efficient game. He was fun to watch for the first time.

#41 Jared McIsaac: A bit of a forgotten man at all of 22 years of age, the 6’1,” 197-pound McIsaac plays a Donovan Sebrango-like game, with perhaps a little bit more snarl. He’s also a simple, efficient defender with an edge, and he’s going to be competing for his job at both the AHL and NHL levels.

#51 Eemil Viro: Looking toward the future, Eemil Viro and Albert Johansson are very similar “small” defensemen with bright futures as puck-movers. Viro, 6′ and 177 pounds, is skinny and wiry, but he uses leverage to his advantage, he’s got a short stick that is an excellent poke checker and puck stealer, and he’s a superb passer, he has a hard shot and his hips wiggle and wriggle as he squares up to the puck and toward his opponent.

#54 Steven Kampfer: The Red Wings brought the 33-year-old native of Ann Arbor, MI home from Kazan, Russia, where he played for the Ak Bars last season. 5’11” and 198 pounds, he wants to generate offense and he gets down low and hits people hard. He’s probably Griffins-bound as a supplement to Lashoff’s leadership.

Goaltenders:

#34 Victor Brattstrom: I’m not sure what exactly the Red Wings have in 25-year-old Victor Brattstrom, and I have yet to determine whether the Red Wings know what the 6’5,” 182-pound Swede brings to the table, either. Gigantic and sometimes unflappable, but sometimes flop-and-flail-y, Brattstrom was taught to play a sort of Jonas Gustavsson-style blocking goaltender’s game, and he’s worked to get way from booting every puck he sees 40 feet away, but it’s hard to overcome a reflexive game. If he can be better in the Griffins’ crease this season, he’s still young enough to be a sort of long-shot prospect.

#35 Ville Husso: Husso is sort of the long-term prospect who made it, at least to Detroit. The Red Wings signed the 6’3,” 200-pound goaltender to a generous contract this past summer while affording the Helsinki native the opportunity to sneak out of Jordan Binnington’s shadow, believing that the super-flexible goaltender will challenge Alex Nedeljkovic for crease supremacy in Detroit. I love Husso’s fundamentals and overall poise, but he needs to be a bit more consistent. He knows as much.

Injured Reserve:

#18 Andrew Copp: The Red Wings brought in the 28-year-old Copp, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, in to be the team’s second-line center behind Dylan Larkin, and the Ann Arbor native is motivated to do just that. 6’1″ and 199 pounds, Copp, when he’s at his best, is a 40-to-50-point guy and a bit of a late-bloomer who provides speed, passing and scoring in a tidy package, and while he blossomed offensively with the New York Rangers, his best days came as a Winnipeg Jet. Hopefully the Wings can plug him in with Vrana and Perron and have a great second line.

#43 Mark Pysyk: Out until the New Year with an Achilles injury, the 6’1,” 205-pound Pysyk is 30, but he’s one of those stay-at-home type of defensemen that tend to become invaluable as the regular season grinds on, so perhaps it’s appropriate that he’ll be back when the regular season has become a grind.

*= Training camp invite, **= Grand Rapids Griffins contract

As you know by now, I’m doing this for both fun and money, and the money part comes from you. I’ve got $500 to make to just pay off my hotel bill, and a few hundred after that to get home, so:

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