The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a pregame notebook discussing the Red Wings’ defensemen’s battle for playing time as Detroit prepares to carry 7 defensemen to start the 2023-2024 season:
“It’s great, the more competition the better,” said [Ben] Chiarot, who could be in the battle to stay in the lineup. “Personally, it pushes me to be the best every night. You have to be playing at the top of your game or you can expect to lose minutes or might not be in the lineup, whatever it might be. It drives better performance having that type of competition and we have it throughout our lineup, not just on defense.”
With rosters needing to be set by Monday afternoon, coach Derek Lalonde said the Wings are likely to keep seven defensemen, meaning Edvinsson’s odds of making the NHL on opening night are slim. But other than the top pairing of Seider and Walman, which was so effective last season, who’ll play with whom on the other two pairings and who’ll be sitting out games remains to be ironed out.
In Lalonde’s estimation, none of the defensemen lost ground in the way they played. All showed they deserve to be in the lineup.
“We were comfortable going into camp feeling we have seven NHL defensemen, a luxury we haven’t had for a very long time,” Lalonde said. “Nobody separated themselves in a negative way. All seven (defensemen) had a very good camp and showed to their strengths. There’s been zero separation of the seven (defensemen). That’s a really good sign for us. It’s hard to get defensive depth. It’ll still be a work in progress (to Thursday’s start of the regular season).”
