Red Wings Tap Husso as Opening Night Starter

Tomorrow night at Little Caesars Arena, when the Red Wings drop the puck on the 2024-25 season against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, it will be Ville Husso in the crease as the opening night starting goaltender.

Coach Derek Lalonde has been adamant throughout the pre-season that all three of his goaltenders (Husso, last season's de jure starter Alex Lyon, and free agent signee Cam Talbot) entered training camp with a "blank slate" and chance to earn the starter's net.  It was Husso for whom that tabula rasa was most necessary, coming off a 2023-24 season in which he was largely either ineffective or injured.  He played just 19 games and managed only an .892 save percentage.  An injury sustained in Edmonton in February wound up ending his season, despite Husso attempting to get back to full health until the final moments of the year.

However, if the pre-season is any indicator, that poor form is in the past for Husso.  In his two 60-minute outings of the pre-season, Husso made 43 saves on 44 shots in Pittsburgh and 30 saves on 33 shots in Toronto.  In both match-ups, the Red Wings team in front of him dressed more AHLers than the opposition, particularly in Toronto, which served as the Maple Leafs' dress rehearsal.

When asked what distinguished Husso, Lalonde pointed to his pre-season performance.  "His play," the coach replied when asked what was behind the decision.  "I think he was very sharp his last two performances, his win in Pittsburgh and his performance in Toronto.  Those are both very hard tests.  There's a lot of volume."  Lalonde also noted that he is "confident in all three goalies" and "was comfortable starting any one of those three."

Lalonde also noted that he expects all three to play in relatively short order, saying "We would like for all three to try to assert themselves.  Right now...we have a positive problem that all three performed well and [we're] comfortable with all three.  We were hoping that one would step or two.  In fact, all three did.  Now, we have kind of a reset here and judge it on performance now."

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