Month: September 2023

Impressions from the first day of the Red Wings’ 2023 Training Camp

The Detroit Red Wings opened training camp in Traverse City, Michigan on Thursday, and Centre ICE Arena was nearly packed to the gills with excited Red Wings fans as the “big club” finally hit the ice for a set of three practices.

Team Lindsay, which consisted mainly of camp try-outs, Grand Rapids Griffins and Toledo Walleye-bound players, skated for an hour, after a 15-minute video session which started bright and early at 7:55 AM, and they worked with Grand Rapids Griffins coaches Dan Watson, Brian Lashoff, Stephane Julien, Roope Koistinen, and Toledo Walleye coach Pat Mikesch;

Teams Delvecchio and Howe, which consisted of more NHL players, skated for two one-hour sessions, with each preceded by 15-minute video presentations, and they were guided by the Red Wings’ full coaching staff.

The vast majority of today’s drills were relatively simple in nature: all three teams focused on dump-in retrievals, outlet passing, neutral zone play, and end-to-end rushes, with the two “NHL” teams spending their second hours both engaging in more complicated retrieval drills and utilizing line changes to add wrinkles to their puck possession play. They also ended their practices with “small area games,” in which the players skated in 2-on-2 and 3-on-2 situations.

Coach Lalonde was particularly emphatic in terms of pushing the pace over the course of the second hour of Team Howe’s practice, and the general emphasis was on keeping pace high and establishing possession with both speed, purpose, and urgency.

Continue reading Impressions from the first day of the Red Wings’ 2023 Training Camp

Stockton’s notebook: depth!

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton filed a training camp notebook this evening, and what I took most notably from his article was this passage about the Red Wings’ level of roster depth:

All of Lalonde, Seider, and Larkin noted that improved depth brought about by the team’s off-season business is cause for excitement.

Larkin described this year’s group as “the best team on paper that I’ve been on in a few years,” while Lalonde said that “added depth” was his biggest source of excitement entering the season.

Focusing on the team’s defense corps, Seider said that new additions like Jeff Petry and Justin Holl “will definitely support our back line, they will have an impact on our game…they look strong, they look mature, and I’m really excited to get some reps in with them.  I think we bonded pretty well up here already, so I’m really looking forward to the rest of the week.”

At his pre-camp availability, Steve Yzerman noted that between the new acquisitions and the team’s off-season acquisitions along its blossoming prospects, “there is competition at all levels, not only to be on the roster but for ice time and spots on special teams and what not.”

In practice, that sort of intra-squad friendly competition has already begun to manifest.  As Larkin explained, seeing other players, especially the new arrivals, perform at a high level provides fuel to lift your own peformance:

“It’s natural to see Daniel Sprong go down the wing today, and he snipes one over the glove, and then, our line is like ‘hey, let’s go do that.’ I think that way. It’s just natural competition, and it pushes you, and it’s what you want on a team and in an organization.”

Continued

Record-Eagle: Excitement abounds as first day of training camp gets underway

The Traverse City Record-Eagle’s James Cook posted a notebook article from the first day of the Red Wings’ 2023 training camp:

“Players and coaches are no different than fans,” [coach Derek] Lalonde said. “You add some pieces, it gets guys excited. There’s energy going into camp with what we added in the offseason. Everyone was anxious to get to work today, and it showed.”

Lalonde noted that the opener was much more up-tempo than a year ago in his first training camp as head coach.

“Last year, on day one, we felt like we were starting on the 1-yard line,” Lalonde said. “Just now, with familiarity and comfort level, I feel like we’re starting on the 50.”

Detroit also added veteran defenders Justin Holl, Shayne Gostisbehere and Jeff Petry, the son of former Detroit Tigers pitcher and World Series winner Dan Petry.

“They look strong, they look mature, and I’m excited to go out and get some reps with them,” [Moritz] Seider said. “I think we’ve bonded pretty well already up here, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the week.”

Continued

A trio of Red Wings Tweets of note

The Red Wings Mic’ed up Alex DeBrincat…

Illustrated a couple of shifts in the life of Daniel Sprong…

And showed Jake Walman getting his sticks ready for action: