Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff’s middle-of-the-night column involves Red Wings forward prospect Carter Mazur, who has been sidelined with a “lower-body injury” since the Wings’ 2023 Prospect Tournament.
Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde not only confirmed that Mazur is still going to be sidelined for some time to come, but Lalonde also explained that the team’s coaches and management had hoped that the Jackson, MI-born Mazur might challenge for a roster spot:
“Carter was a player we envisioned getting five (preseason) games, pushing for a spot,” Lalonde said. “You need that push from the bottom. We hoped we’d be sitting here hopefully making a very hard decision on Carter. Obviously, the injury didn’t make that happen.”
Instead, look for Mazur to be given assignment to the AHL Griffins to gain game shape while also getting his game in order.
“Obviously, he’ll start in Grand Rapids now because of the time frame of it,” Lalonde said. “He’ll need those reps, workload and hopefully get back to game speed as quick as possible.”
Then it will be up to Mazur to carve himself out a path that eventually is leading to his recall to Detroit from Grand Rapids.
“We want those guys to push where they’re forcing our hand,” Lalonde said. “We’d love anyone that leaves here on the weekend or when we make those final cuts, we want them to make it very hard on us to keep us from not cutting them.”
Continued; it’s pretty obvious from Nate Danielson’s preseason play that the more hard decisions the Red Wings have to make, the better for Detroit’s depth.
I’m very curious to find out what happens to goaltender Alex Lyon given the Lightning’s need for a back-up goaltender via the waiver wire, as well as how the battles for the 5th and 6th defenseman’s spots and the 11th and 12th forward spots will shake out.
