Okay, I’ve posted a “Tweetcap” of today’s Red & White Game, as well as the post-game comments video. As we round 7 PM, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and the Hockey News’s Michael Whitaker have posted recaps with good quotes from Dylan Larkin, Elmer Soderblom, Emmitt Finnie and assistant coach Alex Tanguay.
All four seem to agree that the team’s playing intense, fast hockey right now, but after four days of intrasquad scrimmages, captain Larkin told Kulfan that there’s a fatigue factor developing–and it’s not physical fatigue that we’re talking about:
“Unbelievable atmosphere,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “I’m not surprised knowing the hockey fans here in Grand Rapids and the people that drove from all over the west side of the state to come watch. It was real special.”
The pace was faster than in Traverse City for the three days of camp — and frankly, the pace was impressive there, too. Larkin felt the tempo and intensity of Sunday’s scrimmage and felt it was more like an actual game. But it’s time to face someone in a different uniform, which the Wings will Tuesday when they host Chicago.
“We’re tired of playing each other,” Larkin said. “We’ve been going at each other for four days now, somewhat the same teams and lineups, and we’re ready. You saw it kind of got physical there (Sunday) and that’s good for our group to do that. I’d like to hit someone else now and play with Patrick (Kane), Marco (Kasper) and Alex (DeBrincat) and not against them.”
We talked about Finnie overnight, and after scoring a goal in the scrimmage, he’s feeling pretty good about himself–and the coaches have taken notice of #58’s play:
“He probably, more than some of the guys, he’s brought his best aspect forward,” assistant coach Alex Tanguay said. “He’s a good skater and puck retriever and he showed it in the games in Dallas (prospect games), and camp (in Traverse City) and again (Sunday). We put him on a good line and he showed he was able to retrieve pucks and drive the pace with his speed and size for a line. He gave Larks and Razor some touches.”
Finnie, a 2023 seventh-round draft pick (201st overall), has been pleased with the start of his camp.
“I had a good offseason and I wanted to come back to camp and show that I could play with speed and I’m ready for pro hockey,” Finnie said. “Those guys (Larkin, Raymond) are great players. They make it easier to play with them.”
And two-goal-scorer Elmer Soderblom is happy with the results of the past four days’ worth of on-ice action:
“It feels like I’ve been ramping it up a bit,” Soderblom said of training camp. “It’s important to get some scrimmages in and get some games going. It helped a lot of guys to get into (good) habits. Personally, it’s getting better and better. It was intense.”
Larkin gave a shout-out to the prospects and young players on the team, as he told the Hockey News’s Michael Whitaker…
As they did in the Red & White game, young Red Wings prospects like Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård will be getting plenty of playing time.
“A lot of them looked really good,” Larkin said of Detroit’s young prospects. “You see speed, you see skill. I think they all have very good attributes, whether it’s a shot or skating or a brain. But they all seem eager to want to learn and they’ve really been impressive with their work ethic on and off the ice.”
Tuesday’s game at Little Caesars Arena, which will be the first unofficial game of former Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill behind the bench of the Blackhawks in the same role, is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET.
And he gave a major shout-out to Hockeytown West, which packed Van Andel Arena with over 10,800 fans:
“Unbelievable atmosphere,” Larkin said. “I’m not surprised, knowing the hockey fans here in Grand Rapids. I’m sure there are people who drove from all over the west side of the state to come and watch and cheer us on, and show us some support today. That was really special, and it’s something I’ll always remember.”
