Author: George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

Mills discusses the Red Wings’ comfort level

As DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills notes, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde suggested that the comfort level for both himself, his coaching staff and the Wings’ players were all higher today, as the Wings’ second training camp under coach “Newsy” began:

“I think guys did their work this summer,” said Lalonde, who is overseeing his second camp with Detroit. “I really liked the pace and tempo of practice today. Players are no different than coaches and fans. You add some pieces, it gets guys excited. There’s a little energy going into camp with what we added in the offseason. I think everyone was anxious to get to work today.”

The Red Wings’ dressing room added an influx of new faces this offseason, so for Lalonde, one of his main focuses before the 2023-24 season begins is building team chemistry. Fortunately, Lalonde said he already notices an added level of comfortability between the players.

“They’ve already done some work on the inclusion part of things,” Lalonde said. “They’ve done some team things off the ice, even back in Detroit. A lot of these new faces felt a lot more comfortable in Day 1. I think it helped for a positive start in camp.”

For Lalonde and his coaching staff, the five-day camp and eight-game preseason schedule are opportunities to experiment with different line combinations. On Thursday, there was plenty of intrigue around the top-line trio of Alex DeBrincat, captain Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond.

Lalonde said while he is not “married to” that combination of forwards, their potential is exciting.

“This is the first look of camp,” Lalonde said. “Obviously, three very talented players. We wanted to get them together for Day 1 and they did some very good things, especially on some entries and rush things.”

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Bultman on DeBrincat’s ‘debut’

The Athletic’s Max Bultman focuses on Alex DeBrincat’s Red Wings debut in his training camp notebook:

Ever since the DeBrincat trade broke, the question of how Detroit would deploy him and Raymond has been a source of fascination. Would they try to split the two up to spread out the skill across their lineup? Could they play together, loading up the offensive ability around Larkin?

Head coach Derek Lalonde, for what it’s worth, made clear Thursday’s line combinations were just a first look — “I don’t know if we’re married to it, we’ll see a lot of different combinations,” he said — but the high-powered trio did make an impression right out of the gate.

“They did some very good things, especially on some entries and some rush things,” Lalonde said. “They all three play very fast.”

On one rush drill, Raymond worked the puck to DeBrincat down low, who then found Raymond coming downhill on the back side for a pretty goal that gave a glimpse into what the three could look like together. In reality, much of the day was spent installing coverages and systems, but there were enough rush looks to generate some excitement.

Larkin has of course played plenty with Raymond over the last two years, but DeBrincat would be the most accomplished pure scorer he’s played with since Henrik Zetterberg retired. And the idea of playing with both at the same time this season certainly intrigues Detroit’s captain.

“It would be pretty cool, a couple righties so I’d be looking at a lot of one-time options, and they book like to shoot the puck, and I like to shoot it as well,” Larkin said. “But we can all skate and think, so I think it would be a fun line to play on.”

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Allen’s notebook: on Rasmussen, Fabbri and Edvinsson

Among Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen’s training camp notes is this regarding Red Wings forwards Michael Rasmussen and Robby Fabbri, as well as defenseman Simon Edvinsson:

Michael Rasmussen and Robby Fabbri are recovered from their injuries. “It’s obviously been a hard journey for both Robby and Michael. I think they’ve done a lot of work to be where they are right now. It’s looking great. They’re looking sharp and speedy, they’re looking explosive.”

Nothing has been settled, but the Red Wings seem to be planning to use Rasmussen on the wing. He looked more dangerous offensively when they tried him there.

“We still trust him at center,” Lalonde said. “Obviously with the addition of (JT) Compher, and hopefully Joe Veleno takes another step, we might see Ras on the wing. Completely different player on the wing last year. In the underlying numbers, he drove some offense. When he’s on the wing, he seems a lot more productive and can drive some lines a little bit. Versatile player… I think being on the wing frees him up a little more to maybe establish a forecheck, to play a little more north-south game, which I thought suited him.”

All eyes are on Simon Edvinsson, coming off shoulder surgery. Last season, he played nine games with the Red Wings. He didn’t look out of place.

“He was good, maybe a little rusty there,” Lalonde said. “It’s tough not being able to get those reps. It does look like he did some work staying in shape. Sometimes some of his skill just shows up, to be that big and have hands like that. He scored a nice goal in practice today and did some nice things in tight areas. It’s going to take him a little bit of time to get some of that rust off.”

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Impressions from the first day of the Red Wings’ 2023 Training Camp

The Detroit Red Wings opened training camp in Traverse City, Michigan on Thursday, and Centre ICE Arena was nearly packed to the gills with excited Red Wings fans as the “big club” finally hit the ice for a set of three practices.

Team Lindsay, which consisted mainly of camp try-outs, Grand Rapids Griffins and Toledo Walleye-bound players, skated for an hour, after a 15-minute video session which started bright and early at 7:55 AM, and they worked with Grand Rapids Griffins coaches Dan Watson, Brian Lashoff, Stephane Julien, Roope Koistinen, and Toledo Walleye coach Pat Mikesch;

Teams Delvecchio and Howe, which consisted of more NHL players, skated for two one-hour sessions, with each preceded by 15-minute video presentations, and they were guided by the Red Wings’ full coaching staff.

The vast majority of today’s drills were relatively simple in nature: all three teams focused on dump-in retrievals, outlet passing, neutral zone play, and end-to-end rushes, with the two “NHL” teams spending their second hours both engaging in more complicated retrieval drills and utilizing line changes to add wrinkles to their puck possession play. They also ended their practices with “small area games,” in which the players skated in 2-on-2 and 3-on-2 situations.

Coach Lalonde was particularly emphatic in terms of pushing the pace over the course of the second hour of Team Howe’s practice, and the general emphasis was on keeping pace high and establishing possession with both speed, purpose, and urgency.

Continue reading Impressions from the first day of the Red Wings’ 2023 Training Camp

Stockton’s notebook: depth!

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton filed a training camp notebook this evening, and what I took most notably from his article was this passage about the Red Wings’ level of roster depth:

All of Lalonde, Seider, and Larkin noted that improved depth brought about by the team’s off-season business is cause for excitement.

Larkin described this year’s group as “the best team on paper that I’ve been on in a few years,” while Lalonde said that “added depth” was his biggest source of excitement entering the season.

Focusing on the team’s defense corps, Seider said that new additions like Jeff Petry and Justin Holl “will definitely support our back line, they will have an impact on our game…they look strong, they look mature, and I’m really excited to get some reps in with them.  I think we bonded pretty well up here already, so I’m really looking forward to the rest of the week.”

At his pre-camp availability, Steve Yzerman noted that between the new acquisitions and the team’s off-season acquisitions along its blossoming prospects, “there is competition at all levels, not only to be on the roster but for ice time and spots on special teams and what not.”

In practice, that sort of intra-squad friendly competition has already begun to manifest.  As Larkin explained, seeing other players, especially the new arrivals, perform at a high level provides fuel to lift your own peformance:

“It’s natural to see Daniel Sprong go down the wing today, and he snipes one over the glove, and then, our line is like ‘hey, let’s go do that.’ I think that way. It’s just natural competition, and it pushes you, and it’s what you want on a team and in an organization.”

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