Just a quick note about the fact that the Red Wings are going to make their roster cuts a little later than most teams.
As all of you know by now, the Grand Rapids Griffins and Toledo Walleye tend to split off as AHL and ECHL teams begin training camps this week, but the Red Wings are playing 3 road games over the course of 3 nights this week (Tuesday @ Chicago, Wednesday @ Pittsburgh and Thursday @ Toronto), so while the Wings might start waiving players this week…
They’re going to need “two teams'” worth of players until at least Thursday, so I can’t imagine any significant numbers of roster cuts before then.
That’s a good thing for players like Alex Lyon (who could be plucked off the waiver wire), try-outs Artem Anisimov and Michael Hutchinson, and a bunch of younger players who have merited long looks in the exhibition season (see: Nate Danielson and William Wallinder, among others).
Eventually, Griffins coach Dan Watson and Walleye coach Pat Mikesch will get their players before Grand Rapids opens its regular season on October 13th and 14th at home vs. the Colorado Eagles, and Toledo plays its exhibition games vs. the Kalamazoo K-Wings on the 13th and 14th of this month as well.
But right now, the Red Wings need as many bodies as possible, so yes, we’ll see some waiver wire dumps over the course of the week, but we won’t see many reassignments until Thursday or Friday.
I do believe that the NHL requires its teams to be 23-man roster compliant by 5 PM next Monday, so the team will have to make its Lyon-or-Reimer and does-Danielson-get-a-9-game-try-out decisions by next Monday.
