DeBrincat debuts in the Winged Wheel, Moritz Seider sets a tone, and the impact of year two of the Lalonde era: Notes and observations from day one of Red Wings training camp

2023 Detroit Red Wing training camp opened this morning from Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City.

The team sub-divided into three groups: Team Lindsay (composed of developmental players who will likely suit up for AHL Grand Rapids or ECHL Toledo when the season begins), Team Delvecchio (featuring captain Dylan Larkin and shiny new toy Alex DeBrincat), and Team Howe (like Team Delvecchio, featuring a mix of established pros and prospects including Jeff Petry and William Wallinder).  Each group ran through a gauntlet of on- and off-ice training sessions.  

During on-ice sessions, the day's focus lay on systems.  Players ran through drills on retrievals and breakouts, transitions, and defensive zone coverage, while also playing some small area games.

Two players were not available for the day's work.  Carter Mazur continues to recover from his lower body injury, incurred in last week's prospects tournament, and Ben Chiarot was not at camp while he attends to family situation, per Derek Lalonde.  Lalonde said there is no fixed timeline for Chiarot's return to camp.

Those absences aside, Lalonde expressed pleasure with the team's effort, intensity, and preparation on day one.  "I think guys did their work this summer," he said.  "I really liked the pace of practice today."  

He added that coaches and players are a lot like fans when it comes to excitement about new acquisitions.  Lalonde said that the arrival of players like DeBrincat, J.T. Compher, and Daniel Sprong provide the entire group with "a little energy going into camp."  He added, "I think everyone was anxious to get to work today, and I think it showed."

DeBrincat Debuts in the Winged Wheel

On the first day of camp, reading too much into the team's lines and defense pairs is a fool's errand.  It's early, and the point of camp and the preseason (and arguably even the early stages of the regular season) is to experiment until a team arrives on an alignment it feels makes sense.

Still, it was impossible to ignore that Derek Lalonde started Detroit's season with DeBrincat on the top line beside Larkin and Lucas Raymond. 

"I don't know if we're married to it," said Lalonde after practice.  "We'll see a lot of different combinations.  It's the first look of camp: Three very talented players, and we wanted to get them together for day one, and they did some very good things."

For his part, Larkin expressed enthusiasm at skating on a line with DeBrincat and Raymond, calling the possibility "really exciting."  "We can all skate and think," said Larkin, "so I think it'd be a fun line to play on."

That Larkin and DeBrincat began the season together is no major surprise.  After all, Steve Yzerman framed this offseason around providing further support to Larkin, as the foundation of the team's core for years to come.  Thus, seeing the off-season's biggest and splashiest acquisition join Larkin on the top line makes sense.

What is perhaps more striking is that Raymond joined the American duo.  Raymond is no stranger to top six minutes, but it's something of a surprise to see Lalonde load up a top line with arguably his team's three most dynamic offensive forwards all together, rather than place a more workmanlike third wheel to forecheck and win battles beside Larkin and DeBrincat.

Of course, it's only day one, and there's plenty of time for that to change.  However, both Larkin and Lalonde spoke to Raymond's strong start to camp.  Lalonde complimented the young Swede's performance, while Larkin noted that Raymond's "first three steps" and "explosive power" stood out during pre-camp skates back in Detroit and were again on display this afternoon.

The Comfort of Familiarity: Year Two of the Lalonde Era

At his post-practice availability, Lalonde offered a football metaphor to help explain the difference between his first training camp as bench boss a year ago and this one.  He said a year ago, the Red Wings' drive began from their own one yard line, whereas this season, Detroit can start on the fifty.

On the first day of camp, the second-year head coach saw a team that was "probably more comfortable with our structure, with our systems," and that comfort fed an outstanding opening practice.

Still, there are plenty of fresh faces to fold into the mix, and Lalonde noted that such work is always "a process," but that with an extra emphasis on systems to start camp, he already believes this group is ahead of the curve relative to last year's.

When it comes to integrating the players like DeBrincat who weren't around a year ago, Larkin explained that, for players, new vocabulary is often trickier than the new systems themselves.  "Hockey players at this level have played every system," he contended.  "Once you get the language down, it becomes familiar."

Seider Sets a Tone

While he expressed pleasure at the collective effort of his team on the first day of camp, Derek Lalonde went out of his way to laud Moritz Seider's performance as establishing a lead for his teammates to follow.

"His approach to practice today, how physical he was, I thought set a standard and a tempo to practice today," Lalonde said of the young German defenseman.

Seider, for his part, stressed that his effort was nothing out of the ordinary, preferring to praise the collective rather than taking credit:  "We just want to make good impressions, we want to lead by example, and I think it was a great practice by everyone.  We had a really good first day.  The boys were dialed in, we got really good touches, we went over a lot of systems but everybody was focused, was sharp.  I think it was a really successful first day."

Friendly Competition

All of Lalonde, Seider, and Larkin noted that improved depth brought about by the team's off-season business is cause for excitement.

Larkin described this year's group as "the best team on paper that I've been on in a few years," while Lalonde said that "added depth" was his biggest source of excitement entering the season.

Focusing on the team's defense corps, Seider said that new additions like Jeff Petry and Justin Holl "will definitely support our back line, they will have an impact on our game...they look strong, they look mature, and I'm really excited to get some reps in with them.  I think we bonded pretty well up here already, so I'm really looking forward to the rest of the week."

At his pre-camp availability, Steve Yzerman noted that between the new acquisitions and the team's off-season acquisitions along its blossoming prospects, "there is competition at all levels, not only to be on the roster but for ice time and spots on special teams and what not."

In practice, that sort of intra-squad friendly competition has already begun to manifest.  As Larkin explained, seeing other players, especially the new arrivals, perform at a high level provides fuel to lift your own peformance:

"It's natural to see Daniel Sprong go down the wing today, and he snipes one over the glove, and then, our line is like 'hey, let's go do that.' I think that way. It's just natural competition, and it pushes you, and it's what you want on a team and in an organization."

The Playoffs

Of course, the question that hovers over camp is whether all the new acquisitions can finally lift Detroit back to the postseason for the first time since 2016.  When asked whether he considers it important to keep the playoffs at the front of the team's mind throughout the season or whether he would prefer to focus on daily work and allow the standings to take care of themselves, Larkin explained that the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

"Newsy [Lalonde] brought that up—the process is what's important," said Larkin.  "For the players, it's a long season, and you can kind of get caught in two, three-week stretches where you're just on the road traveling and you get near-sighted.  A guy like David Perron, who's always talking [chuckle], he does talk about the playoffs, and he keeps the conversation going.  'Hey boys, we win this one, we're right there,' and I think that's very important.  It's nice when the guys are bouncing that off each other—what's the main goal here?"