Red Wings Training Camp Day Three Notebook

Day three of Detroit Red Wings training camp brought the team's focus to special teams.

After the Walleye/Griffin-heavy Team Lindsay opened the day with another early morning skate, the Red Wings two NHL groups took the ice with an emphasis on both special teams units.

For each of the two veteran groups, two on-ice sessions sandwiched a brief video session in the vestibule.  In the first on-ice session, the focus lay on penalty killing; in the second, the power play.

Both power play and penalty kill sessions included distinct periods to emphasize in-zone work and breakouts and entries.  Both sessions featured a healthy sampling of live reps as well.

"You'll see many different [power play] looks" before camp is up, warned Derek Lalonde.  "It's a lot more options.  We had four power play units today all with some guys in some comfortable spots.  The added depth five-on-five has also added depth to our power play."

Lalonde described the state of the man advantage as "a work in progress, but these are really good problems to be working through," with the team of course preferring to have too many potent options as opposed to too few.

Tomorrow, Detroit will hold its annual Red-White scrimmage (streamed on the team's social media channels).  Lalonde said the plan is to begin with a period of five-on-five, then play a period of special teams, then close with a period of situational play (e.g. 3-on-3.

When asked what he'd like to see from his group tomorrow, Lalonde said, "Obviously, we'd love to see some of our D-zone [coverage] perform well tomorrow.  Neutral zone is always a work-in-progress.  Kind of just all of our structure, introducing it and teaching it.  We would like that to be ahead of schedule, but...it's our first step with some extra game action."

PP 1 Takes Shape

During the final session of the day, Red Wing fans got their first glimpse of Detroit's re-vamped top power play unit.  Once again, we should heed Lalonde's words that any combinations we see in the early days of camp are experimental.

Still, on day one of their special teams work, Lalonde deployed David Perron at the net-front, Dylan Larkin in the bumper spot, Alex DeBrincat on the left flank, Mortiz Seider at the point, and Shayne Gostisbehere on the right flank.

Lalonde noted that he wants to give Gostisbehere work at the point as well, and that he also intends to give Lucas Raymond some work on both flanks.

"Wanted to give Mo day one up top," Lalonde said.  "I just thought he really progressed with some of his simplicity and decision making and play on the power play.  We've been working on it for a while there, and I thought he has really progressed."

At this (early) stage, I'd expect that the two players fixed in their roles on this unit are Larkin and DeBrincat.  I wrote earlier in the summer about Lalonde's vision for the bumper player (providing ample puck support to open up space), and it's a familiar role for Larkin and one which he does well.  Meanwhile, DeBrincat's formidable right-handed shot makes him an obvious choice on the left flank of Lalonde's 1-3-1 formation to maximize the danger of his one-timer.

Given that laudatory assessment of Seider's power play growth, he may be on the verge of cementing the point spot for himself, but expect Gostisbehere (brought in large part for his power play acumen) to make a push for that role.

Meanwhile, Perron's spot on the top power play unit sounds all but assured; the question that remains is where will he play?  Lalonde noted that DeBrincat's arrival necessitates a new power play home for Perron but made clear that he continues to count on Perron with the man advantage.

"He's got too good of a stick, too good of a feel, and his power play habits are so good," Lalonde said of Perron.  "We'll play around with some different things, and, as everyone knows, he's extremely willing to get in those hard areas and take the goalie's eyes when he can."

To reiterate once more, this unit remains a work in progress, and Lalonde repeatedly stressed that he has "no problem with those guys rotating in and out."  Still, Saturday's practice saw the spine of Detroit's top power play begin to take shape.

Copp & Compher Chemistry

Once University of Michigan teammates, Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher played together this morning on both special teams units.  

Short-handed, they already appear to be Lalonde's go-to guys, and on the man advantage, they combined to occupy the bumper and net-front roles for Detroit.  In both capacities, the duo looked effective Saturday.

"Versatile is the word, why we acquired him," said Lalonde of Compher.  "Steve and his group did a really good job with filling some holes, but that was a target of ours from the get-go, a very planned out approach with why wanted him and our approach with him...We're really excited about him, very excited he wanted to be here...We trust him on the goal line, we trust him in the middle on the power play, on the half wall, and he's done it all at a good level, even recently with Colorado."

Lalonde also mentioned that he liked what he saw from the pair short-handed and has a mind toward those two being the Red Wings' short-handed starters when game action rolls around.

"I think that's something we may try to experiment with—those guys going out on the first pair [on the PK], Copp and Compher," Lalonde noted.  "Obviously a righty and a lefty to be able to handle both face-off dots.  I know that's a role they are excited about and want to contribute to the team."

Edvinsson and Tuomisto Impress

During their morning work, young defensemen Simon Edvinsson and Antti Tuomisto both impressed.  

The former is perhaps the closest Red Wing prospect to becoming an NHL regular, while Tuomisto is looking to make a strong impression in his return to North America, having won a National Championship with the University of Denver in 2022 before returning to TPS in the Finnish Liiga last season.

Edvinsson's calling card is his smooth offensive game, but it was during the PK sessions when both he and Tuomisto most commanded my attention. 

In particular, I loved the way both young blue liners fared in rush defense and killing plays as the Red Wings worked on defending entries.  Both benefit from their long reach, but they also showed strong habits in managing their gap and keeping plays under control.

Edvinsson also stood out via his anticipation and ability to kill plays early.  On more than one occasion, he flummoxed the opposing breakout before it had a chance to get momentum by stepping up and taking the puck away.  

It remains a long shot for either player to crack the Red Wings' opening night line-up.  That's the reality of the added depth that has come up in every press availability since camp started.  Still, it's nice to see some refinement from both of these players, and the habits they showed today will put them in line for NHL minutes sooner rather than later.

Husso Speaks

Ville Husso spoke to the media for the first time at camp, offering an insight into his headspace entering the season and his anticipated work load.

"I started good last year," Husso reflected.  "I think that's the one thing I want to take for this year as well.  And then, at the end, I think I wasn't at the level that I wanted to be and needed to be, and that's something I want to improve this year."

"At the end of the year, [I] had a little injury going, and we decided that I wanted to play more and test it out," Husso explained.  "I wish we would've [won] those games, but I think something for this year is playing 55 games or so would be the plan, and I need every night to give a chance for the team to win."

Lalonde was even more precise in laying out his expectations for Husso's workload, saying "We think highly of Ville. When I talked him being a number one, we're gonna give him a number one work load. In an ideal world, we'd love to get him anywhere between 56 and 58 starts."

To Husso, the preponderance of new faces, especially on the blue line, means there will be something of an acclimation period to open camp, the 28-year-old Fin believes that process is already well underway.

"[New] guys being in Detroit already for a couple weeks, you start to get to know them," Husso said.  "Spending time golfing off the ice as well, I feel like now I've started to learn more and more the new guys...Every year there are gonna be a couple new guys, and it's something as a goalie that you need to just go with it."

Whether in pre-camp skates back at Little Caesars Arena or in the early days of camp, Husso is impressed with what he's seen from this year's Red Wings:

"It's nice, even skating the last couple weeks in Detroit and then coming here, I feel like the pace took a little step and guys [are] battling hard, it's good to see.  We'll be excited to play some exhibition starting next week."