The Red Wings will play their annual Red vs. White Game at 12 PM EDT on Sunday (to be streamed on DetroitRedWings.com), and the Traverse City Record-Eagle’s Brendan Quealy asked coach Derek Lalonde about what he expects to see over the course of the game:
“Structure,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said when asked what he wants to see out of Sunday’s action. “We’ll probably be fluid with the lines and look pretty similar to last year.”
Instead of just a regular three periods of scrimmage hockey, the Red Wings will use the Red & White Game to implement strategies and work on the nuts and bolts of what their approach will be this coming season.
“We’ll play some 5-on-5 hockey. It’ll be a lot of our concepts and structure,” Lalonde said. “We’ll get a period of special teams, and then we’ll also address our 4-on-4 and our 3-on-3, which is important. It helps us along in our process to introduce everything.”
Despite the recent changes to the Red & White Game, Lalonde said the goal of training camp remains the same.
“It’s just implementing your process and trying to get everything in properly while getting them to understand it,” he said. “I really have liked the three days of camp so far, from our structure to our special teams.”
Coming back after a successful 2023-24 campaign that showed great growth and ended with a high-stakes race for a spot in the playoffs, Lalonde feels the Red Wings are in a better spot now than last year’s training camp.
“Just a little continuity with the same coaching staff and a lot of the core coming back. It maybe looks a little cleaner and certainly feels like a lot less teaching so far, which is always a positive,” he said. “We’re trying to take some steps from where we were last year. Guys understanding their roles, understanding their identity is successful to any team trying to win a hockey game. It’ll be a work in progress in the preseason, but we’re all excited to see it.”
Continued with comments from Tyler Motte about joining his hometown team…
