Mini catch-up post of doom

Aunt Annie and I have been battling a flu bug for the last two weeks, and it persists, so Wednesday’s “maintenance day” ended up yielding a full day-and-a-half’s worth of missed time.

As such, here’s a round-up of the articles I missed during my absence:

MLive: On Wednesday, MLive’s Ansar Khan reported that the Red Wings tinkered with their power play units, hoping to bring some life into the stagnant power play;

Khan also discussed the Red Wings’ rough opening 5-game schedule with coach Lalonde, and he noted that Erik Gustafsson was well aware of the fact that he hasn’t played up to par as of yet;

Free Press: Helene St. James spoke with Patrick Kane and Lalonde regarding the power play, and she spoke with Erik Gustafsson and Lalonde about #56’s play thus far;

St. James also posted videos of Kane and Lalonde and Gustafsson speaking with her:

Detroit News: Ted Kulfan discussed the Wings’ power play struggles, and yesterday, Kulfan talked about the brutal October schedule;

The Detroit News’s Tony Paul reports that Bally Sports networks are going to be purchased by FanDuel Sports;

Detroit Hockey Now: Bob Duff discussed Axel Sandin Pellikka chasing a Swedish scoring record;

Duff also discussed Moritz Seider’s hard-hitting style of play;

Duff noted that the Red Wings recalled Justin Holl from Grand Rapids on Wednesday;

Kevin Allen addressed the Red Wings’ in-flux power play;

Duff discussed Simon Edvinsson’s quest for perfect play;

And Allen discussed Erik Gustafsson’s return to the lineup;

The Hockey News: Sam Stockton discussed the Bally Sports rebrand;

Connor Eargood addressed the Red Wings’ mediocre faceoff record;

Stockton filed a Red Wings-Rangers game-day notebook;

Adam Proteau named the Red Wings as one of five teams standing out “in a bad way“:

DetroitRedWings.com: Jonathan Mills discussed the Red Wings’ power play machinations on Wednesday;

And Mills posted a Red Wings-Rangers preview on Thursday;

Moritz Seider and Derek Lalonde spoke with the media on Wednesday, too:

Toledo Blade: Ahead of the kick-off of the ECHL’s regular season, the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe posted a Toledo Walleye season preview;

Monroe offered 10 Walleye storylines to watch this upcoming season;

And David Briggs discussed Jalen Smereck’s decision to join the Walleye despite having a racist taunt directed at Smereck last season;

Grand Rapids Griffins: The Griffins filed a game-day notebook ahead of tonight’s game vs. Manitoba;

ESPN: Greg Wyshynski ranked the NHL’s goaltending tandems, and the Red Wings come in 27th:

26. Detroit Red Wings

Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon

The goalie competition in Red Wings training camp was slightly more intense than “Squid Game,” with several netminders vying for two jobs. In the end, it was Talbot and Lyon who secured the spots, with Ville Husso, in the last year of a three-year contract, sent through waivers to the AHL. Lyon played 44 games with a .904 save percentage last season for the Wings.

Talbot was given a two-year free agent contract after what appeared to be a strong comeback season with the Los Angeles Kings — or so his .913 save percentage would indicate. A glance under the hood showed he had a minus-5.7 goals saved above expected for the Kings.

“Talbot’s going to be interesting there,” one goalie analyst said. “L.A. just makes a lot of guys look better than they actually are.”

Rachel Doerrie also ranked every team’s prospect pool:

4. Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings have collected some top talent in recent drafts, giving them the fourth-most-valuable prospect pool.

Simon Edvinsson and Axel Sandin-Pelikka are both projected to be impactful top-four defenders in the next two years. William Willander and Shai Buium are two other candidates who could be depth defenders at the NHL level.

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Nate Danielson should become middle-six players, with Marco Kasper making the leap to the NHL lineup.

Both Sebastian Cossa and Trey Augustine are solid options in goal and provide the Red Wings with depth at the position.

Five of the players in the Red Wings pool are projected to be impactful NHL players, and three more are projected to be serviceable NHL depth. There is a lot to like about Detroit’s future with the level of prospects they have at each position.

NHL.com: Dan Rosen spoke with Patrick Kane at length regarding his health and desire to win in Detroit;

NHL.com confirmed that Riley Sheahan has retired;

Patrick Williams gave praise to Nate Danielson as one of the AHL’s young stars to watch;

The Athletic: Corey Pronman has re-drafted the 2020, 2021 and 2022 drafts;

Daily Faceoff: Johnny Lazarus spoke with Patrick Kane regarding his drive to succeed;

The Hockey News: Jason Chen filed a set of power rankings.

Bleacher Report: There’s this “hot take” from Sara Civian:

Detroit Red Wings: Talbot Is the Guy in Goal, but Wings Need More

I like what I’m seeing from Cam Talbot so far*

*I wrote this sentence before Thursday’s game against the Rangers and I’m enjoying it with caution.

Meanwhile, Alex Lyon and Ville Husso were competing for a waiver assignment that the latter won after allowing four goals on 14 shots in his debut.

Even if Talbot is the guy in net for the Red Wings, I need Lyon to get it together and create a stronger overall tandem before I’m too confident in the team this season.

Maybe the Red Wings can go out and get one really good guy instead of seven sporadic players stacked up in a trench suit.