#Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson said that Tuesday's Group A would likely be the team playing in tomorrow night's preseason opener. pic.twitter.com/YQOlDuG8vm
The Red Wings appear ready to run with a three-headed monster for the second year in a row – but with a slightly different trio. Lyon and Husso are back to challenge for starts, while Talbot enters the ring as a newcomer with the most NHL experience. Of the two returnees, Lyon established himself as the team’s top goaltender last year, going 21-18-5 with two shutouts and a .904 save percentage. Husso, meanwhile, took a step back, performance-wise, but also suffered multiple lower-body injuries. If Husso can stay healthy, he’s still a decent goaltender capable of good hockey.
But the Red Wings clearly weren’t fully confident in the crease and brought in Talbot over the summer. Talbot was one of the top goalies on the market, and his two-year deal suggests the Red Wings still believe in him late in his career. Talbot had his struggles with L.A., but he still participated in the All-Star Game in a year that saw him play 52 games despite being one of the oldest keepers in the league.
The Red Wings have about $198K in cap space to work with. An easy move would be sending one of the goalies down and hoping for the best – Lyon is paid the most at $4.75 million. But don’t be surprised if they keep all three around for added flexibility like they did a year ago.
On paper, Talbot should be Detroit’s No. 1 goalie. But at the very least, they’ve got three guys that have spent time as an NHL starter over the past few years. All they need is just one to take control.
And if none of that works… maybe they give Jack Campbell a chance again after playing some decent hockey in the AHL later in the 2023-24 season? He’ll be damn hungry to prove people wrong after getting bought out by the Edmonton Oilers last year.
Continued; the exhibition season and the first 10-15 games will solve the Red Wings’ 3-goaltender equation.
The Detroit Red Wings will begin an 8-games-in-12-nights exhibition season tomorrow when they face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Windy City, but today’s storyline is going to involve the return of Moritz Seider to the Red Wings’ fold:
#RedWings lines at practice: DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond Tarasenko-Compher-Kane Rasmussen-Copp-Fischer Veleno/Watson-Motte-Berggren Chiarot-Seider Edvinsson-Petry Maatta-Gustafsson Johansson-Holl Talbot/Husso/Lyon Rest of the players in camp practice after this session. pic.twitter.com/ItaQSAqH5K
The “morning group” is usually the one that heads out for exhibition games. During the exhibition season, the Red Wings travel to and from their road games on game day.
The Detroit Red Wings are officially whole again today with Moritz Seider expected to return to practice for the first time since signing a seven-year deal for $8.55 million per season.
“Mo’s such a good defender, great defenseman,” teammate Patrick Kane said. “He’s so important playing against top lines every night. Obviously, he’s got a lot of offensive weapons as well, can be dynamic on the power play, can produce offensively from the back end, which is huge.”
Bob Duff wrote Seider may start with Ben Chiarot as his defensive partner, but ultimately the Red Wings may want to see Seider with Simon Edvinsson. The Red Wings need to make sure Edvinsson is ready for top-pairing minutes.
“I still think our top four, even some of our D pairs, will be fluid,” Lalonde said. “Probably like to see Simon and Mo together a little bit.”
The game was played “early in the morning” by Western standards because it took place in Vladivostok, which is so far east in Russia that it’s northeast of North Korea and Japan.
I try very hard to share enough of subscriber-only articles to give you a sense of what’s going on without simply dumping the entire content thereof on the blog. It’s a delicate balance, because I want to reveal what’s “behind the curtain,” but I can’t share everything, because I don’t want to get sued.
Continued (paywall) with more analysis; yes, they criticize Seider’s capability to handle the difficult match-ups which he faces, and they wonder whether Dylan Larkin has “plateaued.”
As per usual for the Red Wings, the praise machine involves skating “uphill both ways,” especially when it comes to The Athletic’s relationship with Seider. It is what it is.
Take the critiques for what you will. Some will say they’re too harsh, some will say that they’re too lenient, and in either case, we’ll talk about them, which is more or less the point of the expansive article.
Tim Hortons is hosting Darren McCarty to kick off the new Red Wings hockey season!
Join Tim Hortons and Red Wings alumni Darren McCarty for the launch of the Red Wings Donut just in time for the start of hockey season! He’ll be chatting with guests and enjoying some donuts October 2 at its Rochester Hills location on 2258 Crooks Road. Stop by for your morning coffee and donuts and celebrate the kickoff of the Red Wings season!
During the 2018-19 season, that trio were linchpins on a potent Chicago Blackhawks power play that was clicking at 20.17%. Kane led the Blackhawks in scoring that season with 44 goals and 110 points. DeBrincat was third on the club with 41 goals and 76 points. Gustafsson would enjoy a career year. He wound up with 17 goals and 60 points.
On the power play, Kane was contributing nine goals and 30 points. DeBrincat would account for a team-high 13 power-play goals. Gustafsson put up 4-14-18 numbers when Chicago was enjoying the man advantage.
Two years ago, none of the three were Red Wings. Now that they all are, that chemistry they possess on the power play is already surfacing even during training camp drills.
“Gus does find a way of transporting the puck from the blue line and giving Patrick some time,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “He seems to find a way to bring it to the sweet spot. So there is some chemistry between those three.”
It’s one of the reasons why when defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was opting to take his power play expertise elsewhere in the summer, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman was setting his sights on acquiring UFA Gustafsson.
“He runs a great power play,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said.
Continued; the Red Wings are indeed hoping that Gustafsson can rekindle some chemistry with Kane and DeBrincat, and they’re hoping that he can establish some chemistry with the Red Wings’ other power play performers, too.