Red Wings Trim Roster to 23

The Red Wings have their 23-man opening night roster. Here's everything you need to know from Detroit's final round of cuts

At 8 PM Sunday evening, the Detroit Red Wings announced their final round of cuts before opening night, trimming the roster to 23 by sending Jonatan Berggren, Simon Edvinsson, Cross Hanas, and Elmer Soderblom to Grand Rapids, returning Nate Danielson to the WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings, and designating the injured Matt Luff and Carter Mazur as injured non-roster players.

After those moves, Detroit will carry 13 forwards, seven defensemen, and three goaltenders as the regular season begins.

As teams across the NHL pare down their rosters to be compliant for opening night, the protection of goaltenders is always at a premium.  Particularly given the uncertainty in Tampa after the injury to Andrei Vasilevskiy, teams are bound to be cautious about the possibility of losing a netminder to the waiver wire by trying to sneak him down to the minors.

The Red Wings believe that their lack of organizational depth of NHL-ready goaltenders was exposed by injuries a year ago, and they don't intend to see that fate repeated.  Meanwhile, Derek Lalonde has consistently praised all three goaltenders throughout the preseason for their steady presences.

Combine those three factors, and it's no surprise to see neither Alex Lyon nor James Reimer sent to the Griffins, with both instead remaining in Detroit.  The consequence of that choice is of course that there are just 20 spots for skaters on the NHL roster.  

The more interesting question will come as the season progresses.  Once rivals solidify their own goaltending depth charts, will Detroit still keep both Reimer and Lyon around?  If so, will those two split back-up duties or will one (it would seem Reimer is slightly ahead for the time being) serve as the back-up and spell Ville Husso when needed while the other becomes a practice-only player?

Like keeping three goaltenders, Danielson heading back to the WHL is no serious surprise.  The Red Wings have plenty of depth up front, and, at 19, Danielson was always a long-shot to make the NHL roster.  That he was able to remain in camp as long as he did is a pleasant surprise and a reflection of his strong performance, but there was never much of a path to him remaining with the big club.

I'm going to leave Cross Hanas out here, because like Danielson, he isn't at a stage in his development arc where playing for the Red Wings in 2023-24 was seriously on the table.

However, I think it's worth dwelling on the specific circumstances surrounding each of Edvinsson, Berggren, and Soderblom heading back to the Griffins.

First, Edvinsson.  Before camp began, Steve Yzerman proclaimed that if any of Detroit's young prospects were ready for life at the NHL level, the Red Wings would find room for them.  "For our younger players, if you're ready to play, and you're ready to play a significant role, we'll figure it out. Nobody's crowded out," said the general manager.  

Edvinsson is the one Detroit prospect who might have a case to argue that he was in fact crowded out.  Despite an excellent camp from the young Swede, Lalonde said that none of the team's seven established NHL defensemen separated themselves in a negative way, so that's who the Red Wings kept around to start the season.

Still, for Edvinsson, the path back to the NHL looks quite accessible.  Lalonde has made repeated note of the fact that he likes using 11 forwards and seven D, especially on the road, and injuries are an inevitable part of an 82-game season.  There can be no doubt that Edvinsson will get an NHL opportunity this season; from there, it will be up to him to prove that he can't be sent back down.

Meanwhile Berggren and Soderblom aren't in exactly the same spot entering the regular season, but the roster spot that either might have been fighting for instead went to yesterday's signing, Zach Aston-Reese.

There are two ways to interpret this choice.  Either it is a pragmatic move to protect a player who could be claimed on waivers by sending down two players who cannot, or it represents a more serious stall to Berggren and Soderblom's hopes of earning meaningful NHL minutes in 2023-24.

For Berggren, I can't help but return to a quote from Lalonde earlier in the preseason: "The way we were built last year, he gave us something we didn't have, and he gave us an impact."  The two words that stand out are "last year," and the implication it's now impossible to ignore is that, with attacking acquisitions like Alex DeBrincat and Daniel Sprong and the return to health of Robby Fabbri, Lalonde no longer believes that Berggren brings something the Red Wings don't otherwise have.

I firmly believe Berggren is going to be a special player in the NHL one day soon.  He has offensive tools that can't be taught.  However, it's not necessarily an easy path to an uptick in minutes, especially since the Red Wings clearly believe they have better options in the bottom six.  Development doesn't have to be linear, but for the moment, it appears Berggren may be unlikely to top the 67 NHL games he played in a year ago.

Finally, with Soderblom, the circumstances are a bit different.   The 6-foot-8 forward has more to prove when it comes to the effectiveness of his tools at the NHL level, and I think there are also greater questions around what his role is.  

Berggren is a playmaker, a creator, a player who should play with other skilled players and can thrive on the power play.  Soderblom is a great stickhandler with a good shot, but his enormous frame inevitably invites ascribing to him a heavy, forechecking role that, at least for now, he doesn't appear entirely comfortable with.  He still has moments where he is over-dependent on his skill as a handler, and that leads to turnovers.  Meanwhile, he isn't quite as effective along the boards as you might hope for a player of his stature.

As such, I'm not certain about where his future lies at the NHL level.  Can he become a net-front specialist? That sounds promising, and the tools are there to make that happen, but players who occupy that role need to be able to win extra pucks for the line mates in ways Soderblom does not at the moment.  Is he destined for a career as a heavy, bottom six player?  It's possible, but that seems a waste of what is obviously a unique talent.

In Soderblom's case, I see clearer cause than with Berggren for some AHL minutes to fine-tune his role.  The question for both young forwards is when will an NHL opportunity come.