Red Wings Game Day Notebook 9.30.23

After falling to Washington Thursday evening, the Detroit Red Wings will play back-to-back games this weekend.  Tonight, it will be a rematch with the Capitals at home in Detroit, and tomorrow, the Red Wings will host the Blackhawks.

Here's a look at the state of the Red Wings heading into the weekend's action.

Lines

Derek Lalonde and his staff did some minor shuffling with respect to Detroit's two game groups against the Penguins and Capitals this past week, but at the top of this evening's line-up will be the familiar line of Dylan Larkin between Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat.

Lalonde observed that "A little more time they've spent together, you can see a little more comfort in their game." He added that he wanted to see the trio look a bit more cohesive in the defensive end of the rink, citing a defensive breakdown that led to the Penguins' first goal on Tuesday night.

The second-year head coach also stressed that experimentation with line combinations will continue into the regular season, noting that success sometimes comes from arrangements the staff didn't foresee thriving.

As an example, Lalonde referred back to his days in Tampa Bay: "Before our two Stanley Cup runs, we were playing around with lines forever, and then we kinda settled on Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman, and Barclay Goodrow by default, and it may have been why we won the Stanley Cup."

So what is it that suggests to a coaching staff that a line should stick together?  Per Lalonde, "It's when they find an identity, whether it's an offensive identity, whether it's defensive, or they drive play."

Behind that top unit, another line of note for the Red Wings is the third trio, uniting youngsters Elmer Soderblom and Jonatan Berggren, between Marco Kasper.

After this morning's skate, Soderblom spoke to the differences between playing with NHL veterans and his fellow up-and-comers.  "The vets probably have more routine, stuff like that, but playing with two skilled young guys is also very good.  A lot of energy.  A lot of speed.  So I think it's a good line."

Could Detroit Carry Eight Defensemen?

One other item of interest from Lalonde's morning availability was an off-handed remark about the Red Wings potentially carrying eight defenseman on their NHL roster to start the season.

Ben Chiarot returned to practice this morning (and is expected to make his preseason debut Tuesday night), which leaves the Wings with seven proven NHL blue liners: Chiarot, Moritz Seider, Jake Walman, Shayne Gostisbehere, Olli Maatta, Jeff Petry, and Justin Holl.  If Detroit were to carry an eighth defenseman, that would seem to open the door for Simon Edvinsson (who has had a strong preseason) to make the NHL roster out of camp.

Yesterday, Lalonde mentioned Detroit might roll with 11 forwards and seven D (as opposed to the more customary 12 and six) at points this season, saying "I think 11 can be hard to play against when you're on the road...All it does is usually adds two or three more minutes to your top guys."

If Lalonde and the Red Wings brass do opt to carry eight defensemen, it would seem unlikely that they keep Edvinsson at the NHL level if he isn't going to regularly feature in games.  Even with seven defensemen in the line-up, that would mean a veteran as a healthy scratch, which could be a benefit for keeping players fresh on the back end.

Regardless, the odds of Edvinsson making the Red Wings roster out of the gate would seem to be climbing.

Andrew Copp Talks Identity: "It feels like we're miles ahead of where we were at this time last year"

Speaking to the press for the first time this training camp, Andrew Copp mentioned an increased sense of comfort on an individual and team-wide basis.  

Last August, Copp underwent core surgery, which made for an awkward start to his first season in Detroit.  This year, after a healthy summer and a year of familiarity with his new teammates and coaching staff, training camp proved much smoother, and the veteran forward sees a similar dynamic from the entire team.

"It feels like we're miles ahead of where we were at this time last year," Copp said yesterday after practice.  "Even the drills, you go to the board, he starts explaining it...you don't need to ask questions after and slow down the practice, and that just makes camp so much more seamless, so much less thinking and trying to comprehend exactly what the point of the drill is."

Copp believes that Detroit has a clear idea of what it wants to do, and "It's playing fast, and it's being really hard to play against."  

He went on to offer clarification as to what that looks like, saying "I wouldn't say hard to play against in terms of big hits and really, really heavy, but I think it's gonna be really quick.  It's gonna be on the puck.  It's gonna be not giving teams a lot of time and space."

Copp added that he expects the Red Wings' improved depth on defense will have a cascading impact on the team's overall success.  He believes the new faces on the back-end will make Detroit a more efficient defensive outfit, quicker in killing plays in its own end and moving the puck up ice.  That improvement would then afford the Red Wings forwards more opportunity and energy to attack.

Every hockey team will pay lip service to being "hard to play against," but I think it's worth dwelling on Copp's comment because of the way he embraces a more modern understanding of what that looks like.  Detroit isn't looking to recreate the Broad Street Bullies; instead, the Red Wings believe that a high-paced, high pressure system can help them punch above their weight class in a crowded Atlantic Division.

We've already seen the Red Wings laying the foundation of an "us agains the world" mentality entering the season, and Copp's comments offer a different perspective on that same picture.  In the slog that is the NHL's 82-game regular season, playing with the kind of intensity Copp described here can help an up-and-coming team catch more seasoned contenders off the pace.