The Red Wings and the rest of the NHL have to adjust to playing in 4 exhibition games over the course of 1 week instead of 6-8 exhibition games played over the course of 2 weeks this season, thanks to tweaks in the NHL-NHLPA collective bargaining agreement.
Forward Andrew Copp told Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff that a 4-game exhibition season is ideal…
“Yeah, I mean, eight [preseason games] was egregious, to be honest,” Red Wings center Andrew Copp said. “I think four is kind of a sweet spot. You come in, you get to work right away. There’s no dilly-dallying around. There’s no extra stuff going on. We got to get right to the point.”
Detroit will play Tuesday at Pittsburgh. Then the Red Wings come home to face the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and Columbus again on Saturday. Six days later, the regular season opens at Little Caesars Arena against the New York Rangers.
“Obviously, these preseason games will be huge to kind of get your feet under you and get your timing down and then get right into it,” Copp said. “You just got to take advantage of the chances you get to bump and grind a little bit, find your timing. Preseason games, like I said, will be huge to kind of get the timing off the bench, the changes, your shift cadence a little bit, and then it’s go time.”
Coach Todd McLellan isn’t so certain:
Coaches get paid to overthink and worry about stuff, so naturally, any change to routine is going to raise eyebrows. Red Wings coach Todd McLellan wonders about the long-term impact of having just four preseason games to work out the kinks.
“I know we always used to talk about it that at about the 10-game mark, the league becomes the league,” McLellan said. “But that was when we played eight or nine exhibition games. So I haven’t even thought about that. Is it going to be the 10-game mark where the veterans all find their stride, and they’re really clicking? Or could it be later? Can it be earlier? I don’t know.”
