The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted an article in which he discusses a pair of training camp roster battles–for the 5th and 6th spots on defense and the 12th playing forward’s spot, respectively:

Third defense pair

The contenders: Jordan Oesterle, Gustav Lindstrom, Robert Hagg, Simon Edvinsson

The dark horse: Albert Johansson

The breakdown: This one would appear the most straightforward at first blush.

Assuming Detroit’s projected top four holds serve during camp, there’s a whole pairing here up for grabs — and some classic archetypes vying to be on it.

Oesterle and Lidstrom are the returners from last season. Hagg is the free agent signing on a team that wants to improve defensively. Edvinsson is the top prospect hoping to break in at just 19 years old. Tale as old as time.

The situation may be complicated by Hagg exiting the Red and White scrimmage after he was hit by a puck, but we’re leaving him in this conversation until we know more.

You more or less know what you’re getting in Oesterle and Lindstrom, and Red Wings can go into the season with them as their third pair. At the same time, Hagg was brought in because Detroit wants to improve its team defense, and he can indeed help accomplish that.

Continued (paywall)

The Hockey News posted a 5-minute video preview in which they discuss their expectations for the Detroit Red Wings’ 2022-2023 season:

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a final-day-of-training-camp notebook, and

New coach Derek Lalonde was pleased with what was accomplished over the four days of scrimmaging and drills in practice in Traverse City. Now, it’s onto some games, more evaluating, and maintaining and improving what was established in this camp.

“Structure, and keep building on our process,” Lalonde said of what his hopes are for the preseason. “Obviously take a step every day hopefully with our structure. Some of it is new for the guys, but certainly establishing some compete, attitude, work on all those things and again, we feel fortunate to have eight (preseason) games this year to start fine-tuning some things.”

Lalonde was planning to give players a certain amount of games, but that plan is already changing by the day. Injuries to forwards Tyler Bertuzzi, Andrew Copp (recovering from summer core surgery), Joe Veleno and Oskar Sundqvist, and defenseman Robert Hagg − all are essentially day to day − have thrown the lineups into flux, but also give other players opportunities for ice time.

“It’s a little frustrating to see (several forwards) out of our top nine out of camp to start, but it gives opportunity for other guys for some different looks, so that’s a positive in some ways,” Lalonde said.

There are roster spots to be won during this exhibition season, but Lalonde isn’t getting into how many positions might be available.

“(General manager) Steve (Yzerman) and I have talked a few times, we’ve talked about being patient with this, not go too deep about it,” Lalonde said. “I can’t give you any looks or numbers going forward. We’ll take the full eight games and let it play out and go from there.”

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Per the University of Michigan‘s Kristy McNeil:

University of Michigan interim ice hockey head coach Brandon Naurato is pleased to announce the hiring of Jeff Salajko as goaltender coach and Anthony Ciatti as director of analytics to the Michigan ice hockey program.

Salajko spent the last six seasons as the Detroit Red Wings’ goaltending coach. He was promoted to that position after a three-year stint with their American Hockey League affiliate Grand Rapids from 2013-16. He is not a stranger to the college coaching ranks, as he served as an assistant coach at Ohio State from 2008-11. A native of Kitchener, Ontario, Salajko was selected in the 10th round and 236th overall in the 1993 NHL Draft by the San Jose Sharks. He played eight seasons of professional hockey, seeing action with 11 different teams in four leagues.

“Jeff has been at the highest levels of the game,” Naurato said. “He’s worked with the best and is well respected. We’re happy to have him work with our goalies and take them to another level. Jeff is a great communicator and student of the game. It’s a luxury to add someone of his caliber to the coaching staff.”

Ciatti has four years of experience in junior hockey as both a data tracker and analytics lead. He spent two years as coordinator of analytics with Green Bay of the United State Hockey League and two with the Ontario Hockey League’s Mississauga Steelheads. A native of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, Ciatti graduated from U-M Dearborn with a degree in computer engineering. In addition to technical program management, Ciatti has worked in product innovation and has 11 US patents.

“Anthony is one of the most driven analytic people, who can help steer and guide a program, and has shown that with his time spent within two different leagues,” Naurato said. “Through Anthony, we will put ourselves in a position to show clear objectives of where we are at, and how we are progressing. He’s forward thinking and brings things that don’t exist in college hockey.”

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a mid-day article in which he discusses the impact that Red Wings free agent signing David Perron will have upon the team:

“He self-admitted he’s had to evolve within his career on approach, work ethic, habits,” [Red Wings coach Derek] Lalonde said. “It’s an unbelievable example of where he is now that he expects practice to be at a high pace. He wants guys to work throughout the entire practice. He’s going to bring some energy to practice.”

The Red Wings hope that translates to games as they seek to take a significant step with several new additions, including Perron, a 34-year-old winger who has played 973 games over 15 seasons, mostly in St. Louis.

The Red Wings signed Perron to a two-year, $9.5 million free-agent deal because of his offensively ability. He tallied 27 goals – including a career-high 11 on the power play – and 30 assists in 67 games last season with the Blues. He will provide secondary scoring, possibly on a with Andrew Copp and Jakub Vrana.

“For me at the stage of my career I’m at I want to be a difference-maker on the ice,” Perron said. “Also, leadership-wise, being an extension of the coaching staff, preaching the right stuff in the room.”

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Here’s coach Derek Lalonde’s final training camp presser, all 13:19 of it:

Per the Red Wings, while they were practicing:

Down to 60.

📰 » https://t.co/LKYSeUAPNs pic.twitter.com/akSEl3xl5k— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 26, 2022

Per the Wings’ PR department:

The Detroit Red Wings today assigned forwards Amadeus Lombardi and Pasquale Zito, defenseman Oscar Plandowski and goaltender Jan Bednar to their respective major junior clubs and released forwards Julien Anctil, Marcus Limpar-Lantz, Mitchell Martin and Jacob Mathieu and goaltender Andrew Oke from their amateur tryouts.

The Red Wings currently have 60 players on their training camp roster: 34 forwards, 20 defensemen and six goaltenders. Detroit will continue practices in Traverse City, Mich., on Monday, Sept. 26 prior to beginning an eight-game preseason schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at Pittsburgh.

Here are the breakdowns of teams for today’s practices:

Rogle BK’s YouTube channel posted a Swedish-language video in which Red Wings prospect and Rogle defenseman William Wallinder is profiled after scoring 2 goals over the course of Rogle’s first SHL games (as is forward Linus Sjodin):

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a set of training camp observations this morning, and among them are the following:

Big Kid: Dominik Kubalik, like [Ben] Chiarot a newcomer who has looked really good in camp, smiled when asked about 6-foot-8 prospect Elmer Soderblom.

“He’s huge,” Kubalik said. “When I saw him the first time, he’s a big kid. And he skates pretty well, he’s got a good shot, good hands. It’s exciting to watch him. I like him so far.”

It’s one thing to see Soderblom from the stands, another to see him at ice level. He towers over even taller players like 6-6 Michael Rasmussen and Sebastian Cossa. Soderblom, 21, dates to Steve Yzerman’s first draft as general manager of the Wings, selected in the sixth round, at No. 159. As much as rebuilding teams need their top picks to thrive, they need to hit on some of their later-round picks, too. Soderblom will get lots of looks in exhibition season, and his odds of earning a job are tied to whether he can help their power play with his big, net-front presence.

Sharp shooters: The emphasis in camp has been on being good defensively as a team, but it helps put opponents on their heels when they have to be wary of offensive threats like Vrana and Kubalik. The Wings know Vrana only needs one shot to change a game, but Kubalik looks like another guy who can finally give the Wings the scoring depth they’ve lacked for years. The 27-year-old scored 30 goals with Chicago in 2019-20, but has been in the mid-teens the past two seasons. He’s fast, hard on the forecheck and has a shooter’s mentality. He should fit in well with the top nine and power play group.

Continued