MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the Red Wings’ “three-headed goalie monster” this morning, addressing the probable competition between Ville Husso, Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot this upcoming season. Khan offers the following from coach Derek Lalonde regarding Husso:
[Red Wings GM Steve] Yzerman said last month he preferred not to carry three goalies again but probably has no alternative until Husso’s health is determined one way or another. Two separate lower-body injuries shelved him for all but half a period over the final four months.
Husso said after the season he’s healthy and ready for a full offseason of training. Lalonde confirmed this last week.
“The most important thing with Ville is being healthy, and he feels 100 percent, he feels healthy,” Lalonde said. “It’s too bad last year on the injuries because he had a really good offseason. He came in leaner; probably had his best summer he’s had off the ice. I think it’s something he can build on.
“The good thing about Ville is he’s also excited about the competition. Credit to our management group. With three goalies last year it’s very unique to the league. It’s certainly not ideal in some situations, when you talk about practice time, obviously game time. But it literally saved our season. I think we’re going to start with that same mentality this year.”
Continued (paywall); put bluntly, we’re not going to find out how the Wings’ goaltending stacks up until Husso, Lyon and Talbot battle it out in the preseason and the first ten to fifteen games of the regular season.
