Duff discusses the Red Wings’ reinforced roster

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses whether this year’s Red Wings team is better-prepared for a successful playoff push, arguing that Detroit’s “bottom six” forwards are better-prepared to check, check and check some more…

Andrew Copp, Michael Rasmussen and Christian Fischer established their credentials as a top-notch shutdown checking unit. A fourth line that could very well be comprised of Joe Veleno, Tyler Motte and Jonatan Berggren will still be capable of producing offense. But in grinders like Motte, Veleno and Fischer, there are players in that bottom six group who will also be meting out physical punishment on a consistent basis.

“We talked about maybe this lineup slotting a little more natural than our teams have looked in the past going into the season,” [coach Derek] Lalonde said.

And Duff suggests that the size and strength which the Red Wings now possess on the blueline–and in goal–should help the team:

The top four of Moritz Seider, Ben Chiarot, Edvinsson and Jeff Petry are at least six-foot-three. Each weighs over 200 pounds.

In goal, at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, newcomer Cam Talbot looks more like today’s NHL netminder. He’s also a workhorse, twice starting 67 or more games in an NHL season. An NHL All-Star last season, Talbot would start 52 times for the Los Angeles Kings.

“Again, we’re trying to take some steps from where we were last year,” Lalonde said. “It’s just guys understanding the roles, understanding their identity. I think that is successful to any team that’s trying to win hockey games. Again, it’ll be work in progress in the preseason, but I think we’re all excited to see it.”

Continued; I’m not certain whether the Red Wings are going to make a playoff push this season, but I do agree that the Wings are better-slotted in terms of their forward lineup to have a scoring “top six” and a checking “bottom six.”

As far as the defensive corps is concerned, it feels like a work in progress to me, but I do believe that Talbot should improve the team’s goaltending on an overall basis.

We’ll see how things shake out, as coach Lalonde suggests, over the course of the preseason and the first 10 games of a very busy 20-day stretch in October.

I’m crossing my fingers.