Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff penned a subscriber-only article which discusses whether Joe Veleno, Bobby Ryan, Lucas Raymond, Givani Smith or Carter Rowney should make the Red Wings’ roster:

Lucas Raymond

Keep Him: Raymond has delivered offense, displayed an ability to play with and without the puck and a hockey IQ wise beyond his 19 years. “He’s done a good job of offensively having some deception but also taking what’s given, and I think defensively he’s done a good job of making reads in a lot of different situations,” Blashill said.

Ship Him: As a teenager, Raymond still has much to learn. Will there be time for teaching moments during an NHL season compacted by an Olympic break? Blashill started the preason citing the need for Raymond to be a presence in every game. His start was great but Raymond’s last two games were nothing to write home about.

…

Givani Smith

Keep Him: At 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, Smith brings size and physical presence, two qualities the Red Wings are desperately needing. “He’s a big body,” Blashill said. “He’s tough, he’s physical. We don’t have lots of that.” As well, Smith must be risked on waivers to go to GR. He’s the type of player who just might get claimed.

Waive Him: Smith isn’t delivering his advertised goods. “Some of the physical toughness hasn’t shown yet,” Blashill said. “Can he be a little bit better? Yeah.”

Continued (paywall)

Saturday’s game between the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres (3 PM EDT start) will air on MSG B in the New York area, and the Red Wings will stream it on DetroitRedWings.com. Ken Kal and Paul Woods are supposed to do play-by-play on 97.1 the Ticket as well.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a notebook article this afternoon, and it discusses Red Wings prospect Joe Veleno’s near proximity to being an NHL-ready player:

Veleno, a 2018 first-round pick, had a tie-breaking goal and assist in Thursday’s 4-2 victory over Pittsburgh, and has had a good, if not excellent, camp. He also didn’t look out of place in a five-game trial with the Wings late last season. But the Wings don’t want Veleno to play scarce minutes and have a lesser role at the NHL level, if the alternative is to play big minutes in every situation in Grand Rapids and continue to learn and blossom.

The Wings also have a pool of players for the bottom-six forwards who are older and more experienced than Veleno, making a path to a roster spot difficult.

“He’s making his way to being close to being NHL-ready,” Blashill said. “There’s a lot of guys kind of in that mix and then it’s that next step that’s more important, (being) ready to help an NHL team be way better. That to me is what we’re looking for. How do you help the Detroit Red Wings be a way better team, not just how can you make our team? He’s worked his tail off for two years, he’s changed his body, bought into being good on the defensive side of the puck. So, it depends on where he potentially fits in. Is he better than other guys?”

Continued

This is kind of cute:

On our first day of school, we played our favorite game and had lots of fun. ? pic.twitter.com/73QEgBCOtR— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) October 8, 2021

We made new friends and saw some old ones we hadn’t seen for awhile. pic.twitter.com/CV2u90K4dE— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) October 8, 2021

We can’t wait to show you what we learned on November 6. ? pic.twitter.com/xWoj5xa6Ad— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) October 8, 2021

Per the Red Wings on Twitter:

The Detroit #RedWings today assigned center Chase Pearson and defensemen Brian Lashoff and Ryan Murphy to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins and released defenseman Adam Brubacher from his professional tryout.

Details: https://t.co/j2oAZzJkOa pic.twitter.com/nfVBObyU5J

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 8, 2021

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Detroit Red Wings on Friday assigned forward Chase Pearson, and defensemen Brian Lashoff and Ryan Murphy to the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The Griffins will hold their first practice in Grand Rapids on Monday at 10:30 a.m. at Griff’s IceHouse at Belknap Park, in preparation for Opening Night presented by Huntington Bank against Rockford next Friday, Oct. 15 at Van Andel Arena. Practices are closed to the public but open to registered media.

Of prospect-related note in Europe this afternoon:

In the Finnish Liiga, Eemil Viro finished even with 3 shots in 12:28 played as TPS Turku won 1-0 over KalPa;

Otto Kivenmaki scored a goal, finishing even with 5 shots in 16:53 played during the Lahti Pelicans’ 2-0 win over KooKoo:

#Liiga
– Kivenmäki 1+0, +/- 0, 5 SOG, 16:53 ice time in a 2-0 win
– Viro 0+0, +/- 0, 3 SOG, 12:28 ice time in a 1-0 win#LGRW pic.twitter.com/wRrsjRaaxf— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) October 8, 2021

In the Swedish J20 league, Liam Dower Nilsson had 2 assists in Frolunda HC’s 4-3 shootout loss to Sodertalje SK:

#SweU20
– Dower Nilsson 0+2, -1 in a 4-3 SO loss

Assists at 0:11 and 0:23 ?#LGRW https://t.co/0DEa6YGEv9— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) October 8, 2021

And in the Swedish Allsvenskan, Filip Larsson was the back-up in HV71 Jonkoping’s 7-2 win over BIK Karkskoga;

And Gustav Berglund finished even with 1 shot, Albin Grewe had an assist and finished even with 1 shot, and Mora IK won 4-3 in overtime over Jesper Eliasson and Almtuna IS. Eliasson stopped 22 of 26 shots for Almtuna.

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the ways in which the Red Wings’ roster is shaping up as the team’s final cuts ahead of the regular season:

“Ultimately, the message is generally the same from the general managers – we’re not going to have a young guy come in here and play eight minutes. It doesn’t make sense,” Blashill said. “There’s always a lot that go into those decisions. It’s never as simple as one guy is tad bit better. You got to worry about your depth, you got to worry about the development of everybody, you got to worry about what’s going to put your best team together for the opener against Tampa.

“It should be readily apparent to everybody out there from the impact they have on the game that they’re going to be able to help the hockey team to be a way better team. If you just see a flash here, or ‘he’s a good skater,’ that’s not good enough. The impact on the game is what matters most. Are they thriving or are they kind of surviving? Obviously, no decisions are as easy as that. There’s a gray area in between.”

Here is where forwards on the bubble stand:

Lucas Raymond: The fourth overall pick in 2020 excelled out of the gate with his offensive ability, making crafty seam passes on the power play, displaying a wicked wrist shot and collecting two points in each of his first three preseason games. He cooled off the past two games (no points).

This 19-year-old only makes the team if he is playing significant minutes, including the power play, in a top-six role. The club isn’t likely to keep him around just as a temporary injury replacement. When he makes the roster, they would want it to be permanent.

Chances are, he’ll start the season in Grand Rapids, logging a lot of ice time in all situations and continuing his development before being recalled at some point this season.

Continued

According to The Fourth Period’s Anthony DiMarco, the Red Wings are a team that simply does “not [have] many untouchables,” at least per The Athletic’s Max Bultman:

The top-six players that would likely garner the most interest on the trade front are captain Dylan Larkin and forward Tyler Bertuzzi, whom [TFP’s David] Pagnotta reported in the off-season was up for grabs.

Bertuzzi, 26, has two years remaining on his contract with an AAV of $4.75 million. Bertuzzi’s name has been at the heart of trade discussions, so a trade wouldn’t exactly be shocking. But due to Bertuzzi being one of the league’s few unvaccinated players at this point, moving Bertuzzi may be more difficult than before.

Larkin, 25, has two years remaining on his deal with an AAV of $6.1 million. A former Calder Trophy finalist and NHL’s fastest skater, Larkin has scored at a 60+ point pace over an 82 game period three times in his career. Should Larkin be made available there will be a laundry list of teams willing to acquire his services.

Aside from Bertuzzi and Larkin, forwards Robby Fabbri, Sam Gagner, Vladislav Namestnikov and Carter Rowney along with defensemen Danny Dekeyser, Nick Leddy, Marc Staal and Troy Stetcher are all pending-UFAs this season. Bultman said while not all of them will be traded – as you have to keep some veterans on your roster – the Wings will surely keep their ears open for any potential offers as the season plays out.

Continued; I don’t believe that Larkin will be moved, but it’s entirely possible that Bertuzzi will be moved by the end of this season.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Ethan Sears posted a wise article in which Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill discusses the fine line between prospects “surviving” at the NHL level and truly “thriving” among their NHL peers:

Blashill has made the point a number of times during camp that he wants players to grab spots, not merely be a little bit better than someone else. He explained that Thursday night as the difference between surviving and thriving.

“I would say there’s a lot of guys that can kind of play in the league and you kinda survive,” Blashill said. “And they go out shift by shift. Maybe they try to not let anything bad happen. They don’t really create a whole bunch of positives. They just kinda survive and I think that’s – although there’s guys that end up in those spots that shouldn’t be or are young players, it doesn’t make any sense to have them in a spot where they’re just surviving.”

For players like Veleno or Raymond, Blashill and Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman believe it’s better to let them blossom in Grand Rapids if they’ll spend their time in the NHL surviving as opposed to thriving.

“It should be readily apparent from everybody out there from the impact they have on the game that they’re gonna be able to help the hockey team be a way better team.,” Blashill said. “If you just see a flash here, like oh, he’s a good skater, well that’s not good enough. The impact on the game is what matters the most. Again, are they thriving or are they kinda surviving?”

Continued