Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen took note of Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s comments regarding Detroit’s opening-night roster:
The Red Wings have three goalies, one extra defenseman, but no extra forwards. Lalonde said there is no contemplation of calling up an extra forward and he’s even considering going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen on Thursday.
“Don’t need (13th forward) right now,” Lalonde said. “Obviously, knowing that the 13th could be an easy call up anywhere. With the seven NHL-caliber D, if we get that odd morning sickness, afternoon thing, or something happens in warmups, we have no problem with 7-11.”
Lalonde announced that Ville Husso will be the starting goalie. But he said he’s not quite sure how he will utilize the three goalies or who the No. 2 goalie is.
“Not yet,” Lalonde said. “The first challenge is practice, which I don’t think is an issue. We had some experience with it last year, even our goaltending coach Alex Westlund’s had some experience with it. You see the position, before and after ice is so valuable in their development, so I don’t think reps and development is gonna be an issue for those guys. Ville will be in on Thursday. We still envision Ville as our No. 1 guy, getting the majority of the workload. But we had three and I think all three are very capable. It’s gonna be a day-by-day, game-by-game situation with the goalies.”
Continued; David Perron also spoke with Allen regarding the Wings’ desire to get going:
“I just can’t wait for the first game to get the real feel,” Red Wings forward David Perron said. “To have wins, to have losses, to go through these moments where you know they’re important. We’ve had extremely good practices, good habits in camp but you can’t really get anything out of it much. You’re trying to, but it’s tough.”
