The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an expansive notebook article which discusses Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s remarks today regarding the Red Wings’ 23-man roster, the state of the team’s goaltending, and more.
Here’s what coach Lalonde had to say about the Wings’ three-goaltender rotation…
“We’re going with three, and three in a positive way,” Lalonde said. “By that, I mean you saw all three guys had very good camps. Good to excellent sometimes. All three had good camps and I’d be confident in playing any of the three.”
Lalonde did not disclose who the Wings’ starter will be against Pittsburgh.
“We’ll decide that, but again, that’s a good problem in that we came into camp with a blank slate and hoping someone could show us he could help us on night one,” Lalonde said. “The positive is all three have done so in camp.”
Having gone through the three-goalie situation once, the Wings have a better feel on how to divide the workload in practice and games this season.
“(It was) complicated last year because it was new, and finding the proper reps and giving guys what they need (in reps) and keeping guys sharp was a challenge,” Lalonde said. “We learned and have some experience from it. We’ve learned how to manage the games and managing practice so we’re a little better equipped with it this year.”
Continued (paywall); I have figured that the Wings will be working with a three-goaltender rotation for the first 10-15 games, but it’s entirely possible that the Wings will stick with all three goaltenders for the entirety of the regular season. We’ll see.
Update: Here’s a bit more from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:
As it turned out, everyone is a winner in Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s “blank slate” goaltending competition.
“We’re going with three and three in a positive way,” Lalonde said. “All three guys had very good camps. Anywhere from good to some excellent at times. We’ll start with three and it’s not a real clear picture. All three had good camps and we’d be confident in playing any one of the three.”
In other words, he’s not ready to name a starting goalie for the Red Wings’ home opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.
“A good problem,” Lalonde said. “We came into this talking about a blank slate. We came in hoping someone could show us they could help us win on night one and the positive is all three did.”
Ville Husso was probably the most impressive goalie, throwing up a 43-save effort against to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road, and then putting up a 30-save effort Saturday in a 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs Saturday in Toronto. But Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon also had their moments in the preseason.
Reprise Three Goalies
This is the second consecutive season the Red Wings are carrying three goalies, and are open to using all of them. Last season, Husso, Lyon and James Reimer all had time as the interim starter.
“I wouldn’t say it was complicated last year,” Lalonde said. “it was new, in finding proper reps in giving guys what they need and keeping guys sharp was a challenge. I think we learned and have some experience from it. Last year was a little different in that Alex probably came into camp as a little bit of a distant No. 3 and carried our team during a stretch there.
Husso’s preseason was probably the most important occurrence because he was coming off an injury that prevented him from playing a full game after December.
“He had a little extra load and that was by design and he handled it very well,” Lalonde said. “There were some question marks with Ville, physically coming into the preseason and within his three games he answered those questions.”
