Red Wings Game Day Notebook 10.12.23 & Where to Watch

At long last, there is no more need for preamble and projection.  There is instead regular season hockey: Detroit Red Wings opening night is upon us.

This evening, the Red Wings will take on the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark, the puck dropping at 7:30.  Here's a quick review of the latest developments around the team to get you ready for puck drop.

Detroit is hardly easing its way into the '23-24 campaign by opening up in New Jersey and then entertaining the Tampa Bay Lightning in the home opener two nights later.  

Lalonde embraced that test on Wednesday afternoon, saying "I love the fact that we're playing a Stanley Cup contender, a team that's really on the rise."  He added that it would be "a good challenge for us."

"They're skilled, but they definitely play an on top of you-type game," said Jeff Petry of New Jersey.  "I think that's what gives them success is they have the skill up front to score goals, but they're a hard working team, so we have to be sure of the puck management in and out of our zone."

Christian Fischer painted a similar picture of the challenge, saying that the Devils "were one of the hardest words to play against" a year ago and that he expects them to be even more formidable this year.

"Obviously, it's the first game off the year, you're not gonna win the Cup right here, but it feels good, especially on the road, if you could come out, have a good first game and kind of get some mojo going," he continued.

Fischer said that it's not just the Devils speed and skill that impress but also the simple fact that "they're just non-stop...just wave after wave after wave.  I think they have a lot of depth on that team.  They have [Jack] Hughes and Hischier, a lot of high-end talent up front, but I think all four lines play heavy, they'll play hard, and there's always plays coming.  You can't sit back against them because the more room that they have, those guys can make a lot of plays, so we have to play them really tight."

Between last year's trade deadline acquisition Timo Meier, this summer's pick up Tyler Toffoli, and a robust stable of homegrown talent including the likes of Hughes, Hiscier, Dawson Mercer, Alexander Holtz, and Hughes' brother Luke, New Jersey promises to be one of the league's deepest teams in 2023-24.  They will, without doubt, be one of the league's most potent attacking teams, and, as both Petry and Fischer noted, they don't make life easy on their opponents.

It won't be an easy on ramp to the fresh season for the Red Wings, and that's exciting.

Special Teams Personnel

On Tuesday, the Red Wings dedicated the bulk of their practice to special teams and situational hockey, which offered some insight into what to expect this evening. Here's a look at the personnel groupings the team showed:

Perron

DeBrincat Larkin Gostisbehere

Seider

Fabbri

Sprong Compher Raymond

Petry

Copp-Compher

Larkin-Rasmussen

Veleno-Fischer

(All D except Gostisbehere practiced on the PK)

Copp, Walman, Holl

Compher, Maatta, Seider

Larkin, Chiarot, Holl

Larkin, Copp, Compher, Chiarot, Maatta

PP 1 + Raymond

-What stands out most to me is that Klim Kostin was the one skater who didn't practice with either special team. Shayne Gostisbehere was the only defenseman who didn't kill penalties, but he played on the first power play. Meanwhile, Olli Maatta and Justin Holl weren't on either PP unit, but both featured prominently short-handed.

Derek Lalonde has repeatedly mentioned his willingness to use 11 forwards and seven defenseman, particularly on the road to make the team harder to match up with. This evening's game in New Jersey would seem just such a spot—visiting a potent offensive team that can also claim an elite shutdown center in Nico Hischier. Lalonde can get players like Dylan Larkin or Alex DeBrincat a handful of extra shifts away from Hischier by throwing them out with a two-man fourth line.

When you put all that together, my suspicion is that Detroit will go 11 and seven tonight, with Kostin the odd-man out.

-Some Red Wing fans might perceive a player like Christian Fischer (or on the back end, Justin Holl) as little more than an impediment to prospects like Jonatan Berggren and Simon Edvinsson, but both were brought in to play specialty roles that those two youngsters were unlikely to step into.  Lalonde said as much in pointing out that Berggren isn't competing with Fischer for a roster spot after Detroit announced its 23-man roster (which soon became a 22-man roster after Zach Aston-Reese was sent down to Grand Rapids).

The Red Wings brought in Fischer, Holl, and even J.T. Compher in no small part for the potential to offer immediate personnel upgrades on the PK.  Detroit took a major step forward on the penalty kill in year one of Lalonde's tenure, but they remained roughly middle of the NHL pack.  

Here it is also worth referring back to Lalonde's axiom that a hockey team can endure a poor power play for stretches, but a woeful penalty kill is insurmountable if you want to win.  Progress in the standings will have to correspond to progress on the PK.

In Fischer's estimation, Detroit has the talent in place to continue that climb.  "I look at our line-up, you look at Compher, you look at Copp, you look at Larkin, Ras, Joey, you look at the D and then obviously our two goalies, I think we have all the personnel that you need," said the Chicagoan winger who has made a career out of his acumen down a man.  "You look at a PK unit, we could have six forwards and six D that PK.  Obviously, time will tell during the season on how it's going to roll out and who will play and how much, but I think we have all the tools to be a really, really good unit."

New Jersey and Tampa are all-encompassing tests for this Red Wing team, but both pose a particular threat with the man advantage.  As Fischer puts it, "going up against New Jersey and Tampa right after, that's a pretty good power play coming at ya both games, so a good test."

To Fischer, an advantage of the Red Wings' veteran roster is their particular experience manning the PK. "The best players it's not the big plays that they're having, some miraculous interception," Fischer explains.  "It's a lot of staying in the right lane, puck recoveries along the wall, keeping your stick in the lane.  There's a lot of exits; there's little middle bump plays to clear the zone.  There's a lot of things that go into the PK that to the average guy isn't too sexy or doesn't look good, but...just to have your stick inside to outside, it makes such a big difference to how you kill."

Fischer points out that these are lessons you have to learn through experience and adds "if you don't do it, you'll get eaten up pretty quickly.  You get scored on a couple of times on the PK, that's usually the end of that."

The most disheartening piece of news to come out around the NHL this week was that the league's decision to disallow specialty warm-up jerseys (profoundly disappointing in its own right) will also include a ban on the pride tape that numerous players have used in warm-ups as an extension of their support for the LGBTQ+ community.

The decision stems from the refusal of seven players across the league to refuse to wear specialty Pride jerseys in warm-ups last season.  A willingness to allow a small number of players derail a much needed means of reaching out with support to a community that has long been under-represented and subject to myriad forms of abuse within the sport is more than disappointing.  

That not even the tape (which was entirely opt-in for players) will be allowed makes it impossible not to lump in the NHL's new policy with other "Don't Say Gay" legislation sweeping the country in a wave of state-enforced homophobia.  These measures are beyond anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric; it is an attempt at erasure.

Derek Lalonde said of the announcement, "That's a league decision.  That's out of my hands and above my pay scale...but I'm an all-inclusive guy.  I've always been, probably a lot of credit to my family, my upbringing.  So I fully support the league mandates, but I'm a person that believes in all inclusion, always have and always will."  

Here, it's worth clarifying that in writing it may look as though Lalonde was endorsing the decision, where in reality, he seemed to mean he will respect the mandate as league policy despite his personal disagreement. (You can watch the full press conference here to interpret that context yourself with the conversation about Pride tape beginning at about the 9:06 mark of the video.)

When asked for his message to Red Wing fans who are members of the community, Lalonde followed up by saying "That's probably not my spot to say, because some of these come down to the individual at times.  I can't speak for the Red Wings, I don't want to speak for the Red Wings.  I can speak for myself, and I've always been and always will be a very proud, all-inclusive person."

Lalonde's response—separating out his own personal support for the community from accepting a league-mandated policy—reflects the way in which the collectivism and conformity of hockey culture seem to be holding the league back when it comes to social progress.

I take Lalonde at his word when he professes his support for the LGBTQ+ community, and I recognize that, while he does hold power as a head coach, he is not necessarily at liberty to unilaterally speak in direct defiance of a newly established league policy.  However, a willingness to abide what is unequivocally a step backward for the sport with respect to inclusion is disappointing nonetheless.

Within the context of Lalonde's team (and perhaps explaining his remark about individual cases), it must be noted that back-up goaltender James Reimer was among the players who refused to wear a Pride jersey a year ago, citing his religious beliefs.

Christian Fischer, for his part, was clear in his objections to the league's decision, telling The Hockey News yesterday that he had learned of the news the day prior and that "I don't think that was the right call."

"I think that we should be able as players to wear whatever we want to wear," Fischer continued.  "In the end, we have every right to do what we want to do—put on whatever tape. Whether we pay a fine or not, that's up to the NHL to figure out, but I think as players we should be able to support many causes."

There have already been rumblings around the league that players like Minnesota Wild defenseman Jon Merrill will use the tape anyway, defying the league to take on the PR nightmare that would be fining players for their support of the LGBTQ+ community within the sport.  

Fischer sees that as as an inevitable resolution, saying, "I think players are going to decide what they go out for warm ups in, and I don't think anybody can really stop that."

Tonight's game will be broadcast exclusively via streaming in the U.S., with ESPN+ and Hulu showing the game.  Mike Monaco will serve at the play-by-play man with Kevin Weekes as his color analyst and Emily Kaplan between the benches as the broadcast's reporter.