Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman discusses the importance of opening night with fans as part of his interview with Bally Sports Detroit:

The Detroit Red Wings will start Alex Nedeljkovic tonight against the Tampa Bay Lighting (7:30 PM on BSD/BS Sun/97.1 FM), and after today’s morning skate, Danny DeKeyser spoke with the media, as noted by WXYZ’s Jeanna Trotman:

Danny Dekeyser: it’s a huge honor (to be named an alternate captain.) It’s a team I grew up watching. I had a dream as a kid to play here. pic.twitter.com/TyELYMvmMm— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) October 14, 2021

Dekeyser said he agrees with a Jeff Blashill that there is more depth in the Wings’ defense this year than in years past. There’s a balanced mix of veteran guys, as well as younger players with potential. https://t.co/B8P0rVN9iX— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) October 14, 2021

Danny DeKeyser said this group of guys is just ready to play. A lot of new faces and they’ll will have find their chemistry, but they are ready to play for real. #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 14, 2021

Marc Staal said he hasn’t been here very long but he smiled and said “it feels like I’ve been here forever.” He’s honored to wear an “A” #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 14, 2021

The Red Wings also welcomed fans back today:

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. The Free Press’s staffers made their NHL predictions today:

Helene St. James:

Best-case scenario: The Red Wings enjoy good health and play competitively — and finally win the draft lottery. 

Worst-case scenario: Injuries decimate the lineup, leading to finishing near the bottom of the standings, and then getting pushed back in the lottery again.

Breakout player: Lucas Raymond is the early favorite after such a good camp, but Moritz Seider may ultimately have the most impact as he strengthens the back end, and with that, the entire team.

Goals leader: Robby Fabbri. I would have picked Tyler Bertuzzi, but he stands to miss 10% of the Wings’ games because his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine means he can’t play in Canada, as it stands now.

Will they make the playoffs? Hard to see the Wings squeezing out one of the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division, or beating out one of the Metropolitan’s Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders, New York Rangers or Pittsburgh Penguins for a wild-card spot. 

Continued;

2. DetroitRedWings.com’s Ethan Sears penned a Wings-Bolts preview of sorts:

Ahead of tonight’s game vs. the Detroit Red Wings (7:30 PM on BSD/BS Sun/97.1 FM), the Tampa Bay Lightning received bad news:

Zach Bogosian is out 4-6 weeks with a lower-body injury team announces. Seems Andrej Sustr might be with Tampa Bay for an extended period. #GoBolts

— Bryan Burns (@BBurnsNHL) October 14, 2021

We have recalled Andrej Sustr from the @SyracuseCrunch. https://t.co/e5G0ZeIZa6

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 14, 2021

Andrej Sustr said it’s a “dream come true” to be back in #NHL. Said it crossed his mind while playing in Beijing that he might never play at this level again. Got the call in Syracuse after practice yesterday pic.twitter.com/4rBWcTrsYA— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) October 14, 2021

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill appeared on the “Stoney & Janssen With Heather” show this morning, speaking for 15 minutes:

The Detroit Red Wings took to the ice at Little Caesars Arena ahead of tonight’s game vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning (7:30 PM on BSD/BS Sun/97.1 FM):

Morning work. #TBLvsDET #LGRW pic.twitter.com/x83Vnz4BiO

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 14, 2021

Alex Nedeljkovic is the first goalie off for the Red Wings— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) October 14, 2021

Nedeljkovic leaves the ice first this morning. @DetroitRedWings #LGRW— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 14, 2021

Happy Hockey Season everyone!! pic.twitter.com/1JeTGEsa6Z— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) October 14, 2021

The Athletic’s Max Bultman penned a superb article this morning which discusses the fact that the Red Wings’ youth movement may have finally arrived–at least in theory–with the team’s integration of Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond into a roster that is no longer speckled with veterans and players who never quite seem to pan out:

“These aren’t the first two names (Seider and Raymond) over the last six to eight to 10 years that people have been really excited about,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said Tuesday. “And some of those guys have come and done a good job, some of those guys have faltered and maybe don’t play in the NHL, and I don’t know that any of them have been elite, elite guys yet.”

He pointed to Dylan Larkin, Detroit’s 2014 first-round pick turned captain, as the one who has proven to be the best of that group of new young players in recent years, and Larkin is, indeed, an excellent player — a pillar for the team in more ways than one. But Blashill’s larger point is a fair one: Hype and hope are wonderful things, but much better is when it all becomes real.

I don’t think Blashill says any of this in a Grinch-y way. Arguably no one has more to gain from the Red Wings’ young players becoming great (and doing so quickly) than him: a man with a job title typically synonymous with turnover, coaching for a franchise that avoided this kind of losing for more than a generation before he arrived.

But during these losing seasons, Blashill has seen some things. It’s impossible to fault him for being a little cautious with any proclamations.

“We’re always excited about potential, and I get that — so am I,” Blashill said. “But potential has to become reality. And I think both Seider and Raymond have attributes to be real good hockey players and real good winners, which matters. Now, how good can they become? I don’t know that answer. And how quickly? I don’t know that answer. That’s for them to kind of decide with their play on a night-to-night basis.”

Continued (paywall)

According to Aftonbladet’s Jonathan Nilsson, Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren plugged “Grand Rapids” into his GPS and drove all the way…To Grand Rapids, Ohio. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

The AHL Swede’s blunder–drove to the wrong state

Jonatan Berggren: “Like in ‘Dumb and Dumber'”

Right city, wrong state.

Detroit forward Jonatan Berggren’s trip to the farm team was anything but straight.

“I guess there is only one Grand Rapids in the U.S.A., I thought,” said the 21-year-old.

NHL teams have trimmed down their rosters before the NHL premiere, which means that several Swedes are starting the season in the AHL.

New Detroit forward Jonatan Berggren, 21, who had a big breakthrough season with Skelleftea AIK last season, is one of them. But his trip to Grand Rapids’ farm team, located west of Detroit in the State of Michigan, was anything but straightforward.

Berggren says that he packed his rental car together with his girlfriend, Tilde, before they drove…south.

“She told me to enter the arena’s address in the GPS, but I couldn’t find it. We only entered ‘Grand Rapids’ so we could prepare for it when we arrived, I said.”

“It said Grand Rapids, Ohio, and I’ve never heard of it before. But I thought, well, there’s probably only one Grand Rapids in the U.S. It was also two hours from Detroit, and they told me that it would take about that long.”

The Free Press’s Helene St. James wrote two articles this morning, with the first previewing the Red Wings’ season to come…

The franchise’s past is still hard to avoid. Banners celebrating the Wings’ 11 Stanley Cup championships — the most for a U.S. franchise, and third in NHL history — hang over the practice facility, and pictures of the “hockey gods” that used to wear the Winged Wheel — Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Gordie Howe, to name three of the greatest — grace the locker room and hallways. The franchise has endured slumps before: When Mike and Marian Ilitch bought the club in 1982, the Wings had missed the playoffs 14 times in 16 years; when the Wings won the Cup in 1997, it ended a 42-year drought; when Yzerman hoisted the Cup for the first time, it had been 14 years since he was drafted.

The Wings’ average age is 26.86, seventh-youngest in the NHL. The arrival of players such as Seider and Raymond is good for the franchise’s future, but Yzerman knows it takes patience. The Wings had the greatest draft in NHL history in 1989 when they selected Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov and Vladimir Konstantinov, and it still took eight years before the team won the Cup.

What matters now is that the Wings improve from last season.

“It’s important that some of these young guys are moving in,” Yzerman said. “Does that translate into more wins than the previous year? I’m not sure. These young guys have to move in and kind of take over the role, but there’s generally a bit of a process to move younger players in.”

Continued (paywall); St. James also wrote an article regarding Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond stepping forward as contributors to the Wings’ cause:

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses Dylan Larkin’s desire to rebound from a difficult 2020-2021 season this morning:

“I’d love to have a bounce-back year,” Larkin said. “With that, I think it’s going to be great having Bert back. I want to continue to be better on the power play, better on the penalty kill, if there’s a role there, face-offs, just a better all-around game. Not trying to do too much … but really help this team win hockey games.”

Jeff Blashill, entering his seventh season as head coach, said he doesn’t judge Larkin’s performance by statistics.

“Certainly, production matters … but I don’t go on a night by night basis or in a 10-game segment and say, ‘Your points are low, so you’re not playing well,’ ” Blashill said. “I judge him on a lot more things than that, even things like scoring chances.

“I think when Dylan’s at his best he’s skating, No. 1. Everybody knows how much he’s on the ice because of how much he’s skating, he’s attacking the game, he’s winning puck battles with his body. He’s coming back and doing a good job defensively, able to play against anybody he faces, including the best players in the world. I would add one more element, that he along with a whole bunch of guys have to be better on the power play.”

Continued (with a bit of a Wings season preview)