Impressions from the Red vs. White game at the Red Wings’ 2022 training camp

The Detroit Red Wings concluded the most formal portion of their training camp activities with a Red vs. White Game on Sunday. Played over the course of 2 25-minute, stop-time halves, spiced up with a pair of shootout sessions at the end of each regulation period, and shootouts for every penalty taken.

Ultimately, the Red Team defeated the White Team 4-2; Dylan Larkin opened the scoring for the White Team, Givani Smith scored on a penalty shot penalty (Simon Edvinsson high-sticked him), and that was the first half.

In the second half, forward Matt Luff scored the go-ahead goal for the White Team on a set of slick plays from Drew Worrad and Jonatan Berggren….

But Jakub Vrana responded with a game-tying goal for the Red Team on a one-timer 11:57 into the 2nd half, Cross Hanas jabbed home a rebound 43 seconds later to give the Red Team a 3-2 lead, and Givani Smith tucked home an empty-net goal with 2 seconds left in regulation time.

After the game, the Red Wings’ players took their annual picture with a majority of the volunteers who make the prospect tournament and main training camp happen:

Hockeytown North. ♥️

Thanks for having us, Traverse City! pic.twitter.com/IlFHslYIWl— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 25, 2022

Tomorrow, the Red Wings will practice and pack up to head back to Detroit and begin an 8-game exhibition season starting on Tuesday at Pittsburgh and continuing Wednesday vs. Chicago (on Bally Sports Detroit Extra).

If you haven’t seen the Red vs. White Game, the Red Wings’ stream, including intermission interviews, runs 1 hour and 45 minutes:

If you’ve missed Day 1, Day 2 or Day 3’s impressions from me, follow the links.

After the game, Dominik Kubalik and coach Derek Lalonde spoke with the media:

In terms of player evaluations, I’m of two minds here.

I didn’t get to see all 67 training camp participants–or the healthy ones, anyway–because some players were plain excused from the Non Red-White Players’ practice, and I don’t want to continually repeat myself regarding the players who’ve been skating starting at 7:30 in the morning on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, either.

I’m also disappointed to say that the stats crew who kept such a great job of things like shots, plus-minus and penalties taken during the prospect tournament did not attend Sunday’s game, so PointStreak’s breakdown only includes goals, assists, and shots faced by the goaltenders during the Red vs. White Game.

Long story short, the injured players–Red Wings forward Andrew Copp (abdominal surgery, about 2 weeks out), Kitchener Rangers prospect tournament invite Jake Uberti (???), defenseman Jake Walman (shoulder, likely to return in November), 2022 draft pick and defenseman Tnias Mathurin (???) and Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted goaltender John Lethemon (???) were the players who participated in the 8:35 AM skate.

They worked with skill development consultant Dwayne Blais and Griffins goaltending coach Brian Mahoney-Wilson for about an hour, with the skaters engaging in shooting and passing drills, and Lethemon very gingerly testing his butterfly abilities as he appears to be recovering from some sort of lower-body issue.

When the skaters asked him if he could “take shots” for them around 9 AM, he paused to speak with the trainers (Piet Van Zant and Griffins assistant athletic trainer Anthony Polazzo), they must have said, “No,” and Lethemon took his sticks and headed off the ice.

I was somewhat shocked to see that the Non Red-White Players practice was so sparsely attended.

Try-out forwards Ivan Ivan, Julien Anctil, Jacob Mathieu, Mitchell Martin and goaltender Andrew Oke, all of whom are probably on flights out of Traverse City this evening (don’t ask me how I know this, but I know it) worked with Red Wings draft picks Pasquale Zito and Amadeus Lombardi, Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted scrapper Cedric Lacroix, and Red Wings-contracted Grand Rapids Griffins goaltender Victor Brattstrom all participated in a practice which skill development consultant Blais, Griffins assistant coach Matt MacDonald and Toledo Walleye assistant coach Alden Hirschfeld ran for about an hour.

The emphasis was basically on a full set of shooting and passing drills, emphasizing puck possession and zone entries and regroups, but given that there were no defensemen, the coaching staff had to keep things relatively simple, and I thought the most interesting moment of the practice was when coach MacDonald literally told the players to, and I quote, “Pick your socks up!” toward the end of practice, while they were playing in a “small space” game of 2-on-2 short-rink hockey.

Where were a couple of try-outs (like Marcus Limpar-Lantz) and defensemen (like Seth Barton)? Either nursing injuries or “taking an optional” after a difficult three days’ worth of practicing particularly hard.

The second big irony of the Red vs. White Game involved the fact that Team Red and Team White had to skate in simultaneous 40-minute practices before their 50-minute game. And they weren’t given a moment’s worth of time off from coach Lalonde and his staff’s heavy emphasis on teaching as much as the players could possibly take in, if not more.

There were many situational drills which began with 5-on-5 offensive zone or defensive zone faceoffs, dump-and-chase situations where possession would change and 5-man groups would have to re-set in the neutral zone, controlled rushes and situations in which the players battled for possession of the puck as offensive and defensive units.

What really got confusing was that half of the Team Red practiced with the Team White, and vice versa, so there really was no player continuity until the actual Red vs. White Game itself. Coach Lalonde has continued to shuffle the decks of his training camp “teams'” rosters for all four days of training camp, and I must emphasize that I’ve never seen any coach do that before. Not even Babcock.

Speaking of mixed metaphors, I was also very surprised that coach Lalonde’s post-game comments regarding the game were so very “meh.” Coach Lalonde seemed marginally satisfied with the ways in which the Red Wings’ players had implemented his styles of play and processes thereof, but he felt that there were far too many turnovers in general, and I got a kind-of-sort-of answer when I asked him whether the team might still be in the process of transitioning mentally from playing their old system to incorporating coach Lalonde’s systems in a reflexive manner.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills did a strong job of recapping the game’s events…

The scoring began with 4:17 remaining in the first period when Dylan Larkin gathered the puck in the left faceoff circle and sent a backhanded shot past Alex Nedeljkovic to put Team White ahead, 1-0.

After Simon Edvinsson was called for high sticking less than two minutes later, Team Red tallied the equalizer when Givani Smith skated in on the penalty shot and beat Ville Husso.

Matt Luff put one past Jussi Olkinuora to give Team White a 2-1 advantage early in the second period, but Team Red jumped ahead, 3-2, when Jakub Vrana and Cross Hanas scored back-to-back goals on Sebastian Cossa.

Smith scored an empty-netter, his second goal of the scrimmage, with 1.7 seconds remaining.

Both periods ended with shootouts, featuring goals from Dominik Kubalik and Taro Hirose of Team Red in addition to Elmer Soderblom and Luff scoring for Team White.

And the Red Wings offered a clip of “sights and sounds” from the game:

I will readily say that the Red vs. White game was definitely sloppy. Both teams looked like they were shaking out the kinks from summer, never mind training camp, and that the Red Wings are very much so a team that’s incorporating about a third of a roster’s worth of new players. Add in the number of try-outs and turning-North-American-Pro European rookies, and the result was a mishmash of styles of play and perhaps not-surprisingly inconsistent play.

But there were no points on the line on Sunday, and nobody won or lost a job. That’s what the exhibition season is for, though the Red vs. White Game is always the first opportunity to make a good first impression.

In terms of my player assessments of the Red and White teams, here we go:

TEAM RED:

Forwards:

#11 Filip Zadina: Zadina had an assist on Jakub Vrana’s goal, and the 6,’ 190-pound forward was aggressive, adept and confident on Sunday. At 22, Zadina really is at a career crossroads, and he seems to be embracing the concept that he’s going to be able to re-set himself under coach Lalonde. He’s remains fast, deliberate in the ways in which he carries the puck up ice and toward the opposition net, he’s a superb passer and his shot is much more than just that one-timer from the bottom of the right faceoff circle. When he plays assertively and when he is willing to diversify his shot selection, he can still be a real difference-maker.

#15 Jakub Vrana: Then there are established, elite players, and that’s what Jakub Vrana is, defensive game as a work in progress included. The 26-year-old scored a gorgeous goal and generated a couple of scoring chances on the Red Team’s “top line” with Zadina and Michael Rasmussen, and the 6,’ 190-pound winger doesn’t get enough credit for being an elite skater as well as a multi-talented goal-scoring assassin. Vrana really motors up and down the ice, and if the Wings are able to get Vrana to “buy in” on putting as much effort into backchecking as he does toward scoring 25+ goals, he’ll become one hell of an all-round player.

#21 Austin Czarnik: The 29-year-old Czarnik skated on a line with Taro Hirose and Cross Hanas, and at 5’9″ and 170 pounds, he was speedy and useful, but didn’t necessarily dominate, either. Czarnik is good for a point per game at the AHL level and sound-responsible two-way play at the NHL level in a part-time role, and I felt that he was able to generate more offense than I thought he would on Sunday, in terms of passing, shooting and skating abilities. He registered the primary assist on Cross Hanas’ goal, and there’s no doubt that, at least at the AHL level, he’s going to produce points.

#25 Taro Hirose: Hirose is more of a question mark in my mind. He played well with Hanas and Czarnik, but at 5’10” and 162 pounds, until he quashes any doubts about his size and ability to battle for the puck against bigger, stronger players, the assist machine at the AHL level is going to be a 26-year-old who is, at best, a kind-of-sort-of NHL prospect. He really can dish the puck remarkably well, but his skating isn’t elite and his shot isn’t particularly hard, though it is accurate. Right now, he fits in best with the Grand Rapids Griffins’ complement of short but productive offensive forwards.

#27 Michael Rasmussen “A”: Big Michael Rasmussen looked like he’d found another gear on Sunday. The 23-year-old stands at 6’6″ and 211 pounds, and on Sunday, at least, he was dominant physically, he won faceoffs, he distributed the puck well to his teammates and he took hard, accurate shots on goal while playing a hard-charging, hard-working and consistent game. He was exciting to watch playing alongside skilled players, and while he seems to be destined for the Red Wings’ “checking line” to start the regular season, “Big Ras” looks like he’s going to challenge for a higher slotted spot, and work damn hard to earn that better spot.

#42 Kyle Criscuolo: The 30-year-old Criscuolo centered the line of Givani Smith and Dominik Kubalik, and he looked good. Not big at 5’9″ and 167 pounds, the Grand Rapids Griffins scorer plays fast hockey and skates very well, and while he’s never going to be a consistent scorer at the NHL level, the Red Wings have signed him to a two-way contract because the seasoned pro is useful in a pinch.

#48 Givani Smith: Rasmussen and Smith, arguably, gave “statement games” for the coaching staff to think about. Givani has a lot to lose as a 24-year-old scrapper who may or may not win out a pitched battle for a depth spot on the Wings’ roster with Joe Veleno, Adam Erne and a gaggle of European pros who are either coming over to North America or have played for a season in Grand Rapids…And on Sunday, Smith scored two goals, one on a penalty shot against Simon Edvinsson (who Smith nearly fought after being high-sticked) and one into an empty net, he played a as hard and heavily as his 6’2″ 214-pound frame would indicate that he plays, and Smith was consistently fast in his skating, he was hard on pucks and he won battles in the corners and along the boards. Now can he keep his temper and stick to his power forward’s game on a consistent basis? That’s the big, tough question to answer.

#50 Dominik Shine**: Shine skated on a line with Jason Spezia and Riley Piercey, and he wasn’t particularly visible, but the 29-year-old Michigander has been with the Red Wings and/or Grand Rapids Griffins’ organization for his entire pro career because the 5’11,” 176-pound forward works very hard and grinds out hard-working games. He’s fast and fleet of foot, he’s surprisingly effective physically, and he stays out of the way of the more skilled players.

#58 Riley Piercey*: The Red Wings gave the 20-year-old Piercey a long, long look in order to determine whether his 27-goal, 58-point season in the OHL with the Flint Firebirds was fact or friction, and it appears to be somewhere in between. Despite scoring four goals and then registering a big, tough fighting win in the prospect tournament, the 6’3,” 193-pound Piercey never seemed to quite get out of his own way in terms of attempting to balance what is a very physical game with that of a goal-scoring sniper’s game. He just looked nervous at times, for lack of a better term, and so he’ll head back to Flint and play his overage season looking for more confidence on a more consistent basis.

#74 Cross Hanas: Hanas scored a goal on Sunday, and he’s continued to display poise and the ability to generate time and space for his linemates over the course of the prospect tournament and training camp. Hanas isn’t as small as he used to be at 6’1″ and 180 pounds, and the 20-year-old is turning pro after a 60-assist, 86-point season for the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks while reminding us that he can in fact place pucks in the back of the net himself. He’s got a wide stance and good skating stride, he sees the ice particularly well, and he busts his tail working hard. He should continue to produce points at the professional level, and where that takes him is up to him.

#76 Tyler Spezia**: I’ve been very impressed with the 29-year-old Spezia. He’s a Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted forward, and he’s not big at 5’10” and 170 pounds, but he is particularly fast, he’s a strong puck carrier, and his overall skill level is surprising given that he’s a point-per-every-other-game guy at the AHL level and a point-per-game player at the ECHL level. He works very hard and he possesses very little fear.

#81 Dominik Kubalik: At 27 years of age, you hope that Kubalik will be the kind of reclamation project that the Wings have had success with in the past, and the former Chicago Blackhawks winger looked particularly sharp on Sunday, working with Criscuolo and Smith. Kubalik isn’t quite as sharp a skater as Jakub Vrana, nor is he quite as sharp a scorer, but the 6’2,” 190-pound beanpole is surprisingly speedy, he’s heavier on pucks than you would think of for a man of his lanky physique, and he’s a sniper. Perhaps playing on the third line, alongside former Blackhawks teammate Pius Suter, will be the right fit for him.

Defensemen:

#2 Olli Maatta “A”: The funny thing about 28-year-old Olli Maatta is that he’s generally a rock-solid stay-at-home defenseman these days, but there are still hints from time to time of the offensive game that got him drafted 22nd overall in 2012. Big and stocky at 6’2″ and 207 pounds, Maatta isn’t overly physical, but he’s hard to play against, possessing a smart stick in terms of dissecting opponents’ scoring chances, he gaps up well and he is pugnacious, though not particularly mean. He skates very well and his skating abilities, as well as his, “I used to be an offensive defenseman’s” mind afford him the ability to serve as the shut-down partner of very smart offensive players, and that’s why he worked with Filip Hronek on Sunday.

#17 Filip Hronek “A”: 24 going on 25 this November, Hronek, when playing with consistency and poise, can still be a superb two-way second-pair defenseman. He was just miscast as the Red Wings’ de-facto #1 defenseman, and too much playing time and too much responsibility wore him down. The right-shooting Hronek possesses a sharp stick in terms of knocking down opponent passes and blocking shots, he’s got an edge to him, he skates very well and his slap shot is hard and his passing skills are excellent. He just needs to not be such a heavy self-critic (much like Filip Zadina) and not let frustration get to him when things do not go his way.

#20 Albert Johansson: Johansson was quiet in Sunday’s game, skating alongside Wyatt Newpower, and that’s okay. Turning North American pro after winning an SHL championship with Farjestads BK, the 6,’ 184-pound defenseman isn’t particularly big, but he’s blessed with great three-way skating abilities (forward, backward and laterally), he’s got a smart poke-checking stick, he has an accurate shot, he passes well and knows when to lug the puck up ice himself, and his physicality is underrated, if not quite calibrated for North American hockey yet. There’s a lot of potential in Johansson.

#38 Robert Hagg: It was very disappointing to see the 27-year-old Hagg take a puck to the head off a hard shot from Simon Edvinsson. Hagg is the kind of smart shot-blocking defenseman that the Red Wings need in a depth role, and the 6’2,” 210-pound Swede plays a hard-charging, hard-hitting game. He wants to be a regular NHL player again, and if he’s healthy, he’ll compete for a spot on the Red Wings.

#41 Jared McIsaac: A sort of forgotten man, the 6’1,” 197-pound McIsaac plays a steady stay-at-home role, skating strongly and generally using his defensive instincts toward stopping opponents’ chances and solidly checking them off the puck. Having lost time to two shoulder surgeries, McIsaac is still a “young” prospect at 22 years of age, and he’s going to have a lot of competition for his spot in Grand Rapids this upcoming season. He played alongside Oscar Plandowski.

#47 Wyatt Newpower: The same is true for 24-year-old Wyatt Newpower, who is known as being a fierce and fearsome competitor at the AHL level. The 6’3,” 207-pound defenseman is big, heavy and tough, but there’s an offensive element to his game that is underrated. Newpower, McIsaac and Seth Barton in particular are all sort of in-betweeners who aren’t necessarily NHL prospects in a big way any more, but are still useful AHL players who are going to be battling the Wings’ European wave for jobs.

#77 Oscar Plandowski: The smooth-skating Plandowski worked alongside Jordan Oesterle, and that was a pretty good pairing. All of 19, the 6,’ 186-pound, right-shooting Plandowski is an absolutely elegant skater, and he possesses a fine shot, good passing and vision, and he can be effective physically, but he doesn’t often put those disparate talents together, thus my comments about a “lack of a toolbox.” So he’ll head back to the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders and continue to work on his game.

#82 Jordan Oesterle: For someone who was skating alongside Moritz Seider last season, Oesterle’s got it rough. He may not even have a job on the Red Wings this upcoming season, should the 30-year-old native of Dearborn Heights falter. He’s a strong skater, he’s got good overall tools in terms of his shooting and passing skills, he seals off opponents without being particularly physical and he’s just plain old effective, but he is not a #1 defenseman and he is probably better suited to a second or third-pair role. If he earns one, at least.

Goaltenders:

#39 Alex Nedeljkovic: Again, Nedeljkovic is 26, but he’s technically an NHL sophomore, as is his net-minding teammate in Ville Husso. Not big by today’s standards at 6′ and 208 pounds, Nedeljkovic brings a perfect blend of technical wizardry and the ability to know when to throw various body parts at the puck to try and stop it. He possesses both the toolbox and the tools to toss from it, but yes, he needs to be a little more consistent, and yes, he needs to figure out to stop one more shot. He was 9 for 10 on Sunday.

#45 Jussi Olkinuora: What a wild card. 31 years old, the 6’3,” 202-pound Olkinuora is all arms and legs, and he’s massively flexible as well, so while he’s “old school” in terms of his equipment choices–he still uses leg pads with leg straps, which almost nobody uses any more–Olkinuora is able to both play a sound butterfly style and flip and flop and flail at pucks when necessary. He’s coming back to North America for the second or third time after playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL last season, and he won the Olympic MVP for Finland while they earned Gold in Beijing. He only had to stop 2 of 3 second-half shots for the red team.

TEAM WHITE:

Forwards:

#22 Matt Luff: 25 years old, Luff is not necessarily a prospect any more, but the 6’3,” 212-pound power forward uses his size and strength and skating abilities to create scoring chances–he did score a goal on Sunday–and make pretty passing plays at the AHL level, and when he comes up to the NHL level, he brings a soundness with him. He skated with Drew Worrad and Jonatan Berggren (for a little while), with Kirill Tyutyayev as his winger for the vast majority of the game.

#23 Lucas Raymond: I thought that the 20-year-old got a little too cute in his first competitive game as a sophomore NHL’er after three days’ worth of a junkyard dog’s mentality in practice. I was disappointed that the 5’11,” 176-pound Raymond made too many cute plays and gave up too many scoring chances for my liking; most of the time, Raymond, who is not big and not fast but speedy, does a great job of going to the net and firing pucks at said net. Today he took indirect routes and looped back a lot, and that did not benefit him. That was while working with Jonatan Berggren and Dylan Larkin on top of it all!

#24 Pius Suter: Suter was somewhat quiet on Sunday. Skating between Adam Erne and David Perron, the chemistry looked “off,” and Suter spent a fair amount of time playing defensively when Perron, who isn’t familiar with the Red Wings’ system of play, and Erne, who is inconsistent in the application thereof, went and did their own thing. So the 5’11,” 179-pound Suter did his best to keep everybody on the same page, and that limited his superb passing abilities and kept his solid-enough skating on the defensive side of the puck.

#26 Pontus Andreasson: Small. Stout. Snipe-y. Andreasson worked on a line with Elmer Soderblom and Joel L’Esperance, often playing as the center, and I thought ath the 24-year-old looked a little preoccupied with his defensive duties. At 5’10” and 183 pounds, the plucky little Andreasson is a pure sniper who is best used as a winger, in my opinion, where he can get away from his dutiful defensive nature and start jabbing pucks toward the opposition net as he sneaks into dead areas.

#52 Jonatan Berggren: Berggren earned praise from the coach for his game on Sunday, and given that he skated with Larkin and Raymond–and kept up–the praise for the 22-year-old was understandable. No longer tiny at 5’11” and 197 stout pounds, Berggren skates well, he’s a heads-up passer and surprisingly accurate shooter, he takes very little shit from opponents and he posted 21 goals and 43 assists for 64 points in 70 games this past season. He’s probably AHL bound, but not without a fight.

#57 David Perron “A”: There were times on Sunday that the 34-year-old Perron made me remember exactly why the Wings signed him, and times on Sunday when the 6’1,” 196-pound forward reminded me that he’s a new player on a new team that’s learning a whole new system of play. Perron made a few too many unsolicited drop passes to nobody for my liking, and he made a few too many early line changes for my liking as well. When Perron and his teammates are dialed in, he’s a 20+ goal-scorer and 50-point-producer with an edge. On Sunday, he was getting his bearings.

#62 Drew Worrad**: Worrad was solid, which I expected. The 25-year-old graduate of Western Michigan University is a Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted forward who’s going to have to maximize his 6’1,” 186-pound frame as a grinder with loads of leadership abilities at the AHL level, and he appears ready to do just that. He keeps up with the bigger, faster and more talented players around him, too.

#67 Joel L’Esperance**: There were two players on Team White that were on their own pages on Sunday, and Joel L’Esperance was one of them. He’s a big fella at 6’2″ and 210 pounds, and the 27-year-old native of Brighton, MI posts about 25 goals and about 50 points at the AHL level, but he looked to be drifting off to find scoring chances on his own while skating with Soderblom and Andreasson. He’s going to figure out his place on a more consistent and constant line, and things will get sorted out.

#71 Dylan Larkin “C”: Larkin looked like himself on Sunday, scoring the game’s first goal and helming the top line sans Tyler Bertuzzi while playing with a bit of a target on his back. I didn’t think that his opponents gave him much time, space or respect at times, but that’s part of the gig for the 26-year-old captain of the Red Wings, and the 6’1,” 198-pound Larkin had no problems streaking in and scoring, nor did he have much trouble attempting to implement the systems that coach Lalonde and his staff have imparted to the team. Larkin is an elite skater with an excellent shot, superb passing skills and great vision in addition to a “motor” of personal drive that would be enviable on anyone.

#73 Adam Erne: I thought that the Erne we witnessed on Sunday was the Erne that we’ve seen a lot over the years–an inconsistent power forward. At 27, and with stiff competition for his job, the 6’1,” 212-pound Erne can play a very strong and sometimes “heavy” game with his teammates, he can be hard on his opponents, and when he works at it, he scores goals and chips in assists. When he’s inconsistent, he’s useful at times and a detriment at others. He’s going to have to do his best to earn a spot on the Wings’ roster all over again this year.

#79 Kirill Tyutyayev**: I think we saw both sides of Kirill Tyutyayev on Sunday–the side of the 22-year-old, AHL-contracted professional sophomore that scintillates and dazzles with dekes and dangles galore, and the side that fizzles and throws away fantastic scoring chances because he seems to not have the dedication to finish them. 5’9″ and 178 pounds, Tyutyayev isn’t big, but he’s got a very wide skating stance and jukes and dekes galore, so he’s maneuverable and essentially able to work his way around or through any physical challenges that come his way. His stickhandling skills are elite, but he’s got to bear down and work on finishing them, and we don’t see that enough.

#85 Elmer Soderblom: There’s definitely going to be a process for Big Elmer to master in terms of translating the big-ice plays that he could make with Frolunda in the SHL to the kinds of simpler, more spare and generally net-directed stuff that he needs to work on to become an NHL player, but with the skating, coordination, puck-handling abilities, reach and wingspan that the 6’8,” 246-pound Soderblom possesses, it’s hard to imagine that the hard-working 21-year-old isn’t going to be an NHL forward sometime in the near future. My only questions are “when,” and exactly how productive he’s going to be.

Defensemen:

#3 Simon Edvinsson: I was surprised that coach Lalonde was so very hard on Simon Edvinsson today. At all of 19, the immensely-offensively-talented and smooth-skating, almost gliding Edvinsson definitely has to work on his defense, and the 6 ‘6,” 209-pound turning-North-American-pro defenseman certainly needs to commit himself to playing a simpler, more efficient and more assertive game, but I didn’t feel that he was the biggest culprit in the Red Wings’ status as a roadside bakery selling apple turnovers on Sunday. Maybe the coach wanted to take Edvinsson down a peg, given that the kid is so supremely self-confident, and maybe he was just wisely pointing out that Edvinsson deferred to Gustav Lindstrom so much that he was generating scoring chances for the opposing team. I’m not certain. I know that Edvinsson needs some finishing school, but whether that takes place in the NHL or AHL is up to him–and the coaches.

#8 Ben Chiarot “A”: Chiarot skated alongside Moritz Seider on Sunday, but we’re still not supposed to read too much into that. At 31 years of age, the 6’3,” 232-pound Chiarot is surprisingly mobile given his size, he can pass and shoot and generally keep up with his teammates, but he’s one snarly, surly dude, both on and off the ice, and Chiarot continued to play borderline dirty even against his own teammates on Sunday. That’s what the Red Wings need.

#28 Gustav Lindstrom: As the “relief valve” for Edvinsson, I thought that the 23-year-old Lindstrom acquitted himself very well on Sunday. Still growing into his 6’2,” 186-pound frame, the mobile right-shooting defenseman is sometimes one of those defenders who is best not seen and not heard, but there’s nothing wrong with having a shut-down guy or two on the team, and on the right side, the Wings only have one real shut-down guy, and that’s Lindstrom. He skates well, he’s more than adequate in terms of keeping up offensively and he once saw the ice quite well as a blossoming offensive star, but he’s embraced a more two-way role to succeed at the NHL level, and there’s no doubt that his job’s on the line this year.

#44 Donovan Sebrango: An up-and-comer, the 20-year-old Sebrango plays like a savvy veteran, and he may have played with a future Grand Rapids Griffins defensive partner in Steven Kampfer on Sunday. 6’1″ and 197 pounds, Sebrango is a spare, steady defensive defender with an excellent stick, great mobility and a willingness to play as a physical defenseman with bravado and a bit of flair, as well as the versatility to play with more offensively-inclined partners. At the NHL level, he’s going to get paid to keep pucks out of his net.

#51 Eemil Viro: A mature defenseman at 20, Viro has been paired with try-out Jeremie Biakabutuka for a good chunk of the prospect tournament and now training camp, and that’s a testament to the Wings’ belief that Viro can get players with less experience out of trouble. He made the Liiga final with TPS Turku this past season, and the 6’1,” 177-pound Viro is wiry, but he makes up for his lack of size by skating superbly well, tracking the puck and the puck carrier with his hips, and using his short stick to break up passes, shots and scoring chances against. He can turn and burn going the other way and generate passes, shots and scoring chances on his own, too, but he’s going to land somewhere in the middle between an offensive and defensive defenseman, as necessity dictates.

#53 Moritz Seider: Seider had a couple of hiccups on Sunday, but, for the most part, the 6’4,” 204-pound Seider did a fantastic job of being his confident, assertive self. All of 21 years old, Seider skates excellently well forward, backward and laterally, he’s got an amazing stick in terms of his poke-checking and puck-blocking abilities, he’s got a wickedly hard shot, he’s a pinpoint passer and he thinks the game a couple of steps ahead. He’s still got some strength to add to fill out his body, and he could be even more consistent than he is now, and if he does those things, he’ll be a superstar.

#54 Steven Kampfer: Kampfer turned 34 on Saturday, and the 5’11,” 198-pound defenseman is coming off an offensively blossoming season with the Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL, but he chose to come back to Michigan to play for his hometown and home state organization. Kampfer is useful, he’s got veteran savvy and then some and he plays as a smart two-way defender with poise.

#63 Jeremie Biakabutuka*: Like Riley Piercey, the Red Wings gave Biakabutuka a long look as a free agent invite, but I have a feeling that he’s on a plane back to the Charlottetown Islanders this evening. The 20-year-old defenseman stands at 6’4″ and 201 pounds, and he is just really beginning to find himself as an “overager” in the QMJHL. He’s got very good skating skills, he tracks the puck well and dissects and/or negates scoring chances against–at least when he’s assertive–and when he’s assertive, he moves the puck well and can head-man the rush. The problem is that he tends to defer to his older and more experienced teammates, and that can cause scoring chances against, so he’s got to learn to take the initiative himself.

Goaltenders:

#33 Sebastian Cossa: Cossa stopped 11 of 13 second-half shots against, and while he surrendered goals 43 seconds apart, I didn’t feel that he had much of a chance to stop either one. Cossa has matured into a bigger, smarter and more patient goaltender at all of 19 years of age, and the 6’6,” 229-pound goalie and WHL Champion with the Edmonton Oil Kings this past season does not want to go back to Edmonton, so the Red Wings gave him a long look in the prospect tournament and main camp, and he’ll get in a few exhibition games as well as he tries to unseat Victor Brattstrom for an AHL spot or John Lethemon for an ECHL spot. He’s still victimized from time to time when he gets away from playing a more patient style, but when he’s on the top of his crease, anticipating and then reacting to shots, and staying on his feet until shooters make their moves, he can be downright dominant. We’ll see where he ends up this season, and where he goes from there.

#35 Ville Husso: Husso stopped 8 of 9 first-half shots, and I felt that the 27-year-old got a little floppy and flail-y on the one shot that beat him. When Husso is at his technical best, the athletic and flexible netminder does a fine job of, ironically enough, playing a Nedeljkovic-like game, knowing when to play principled, steady hockey, and when to toss body parts at the puck and see whether he can stop it. At 6’3″ and 200 pounds, Husso has the wingspan to play either game, and sometimes he employs both tactics at the same time. Overall, he’s had a strong training camp, and, as the coach likes to say, the more “reps” he gets in with the team, as they adapt to a new playing style, he’ll adapt behind them.

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

That’s it for the heaviest part of the training camp schedule.

The Red Wings split into “Red” and “White” teams tomorrow, and the “Red” team (who knows what its lineup will be) goes from 9:30 AM until 11, the “White” team goes from 11 AM until 12:30–with the dreaded Skating Test to wrap up both practices–and then the team will pack up and head back to Little Caesars Arena, where they’ll have a morning skate ahead of Tuesday’s road game vs. Pittsburgh and Wednesday’s home exhibition opener against Chicago (on Bally Sports Detroit Extra).

As you know by now, I’m doing this for both fun and money, and the money part comes from you. I’ve received some remarkably generous donations on Friday, so I only have about $400 to make to pay off my hotel bill, and about $400 after that to get home, so I have to ask.

If you’re are willing or able to lend a fundraising assist, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums” (an old nickname).