Breaking down the Detroit Red Wings opening night roster for 2023-24

The Detroit Red Wings are finally ready for the 2023-24 season. The sticks are taped, the blades are sharpened, and the Red Wings are ready to go out and hit the ice. After a lengthy pre-season camp and a slate of games, the team has trimmed their roster.

The Detroit Red Wings announced their final 23-man roster as they get ready to head into battle on their 82-game slate this regular season. There were a couple of surprises and positional battles that shaped out to be an interesting fight.

But the Red Wings had to make some tough choices, and they opted to finalize their roster, send some players to the minors, and shift some back to juniors. For Detroit, this year’s roster is a step up from last year’s and is a good showing of the strides that Steve Yzerman has taken.

For Detroit, it’s been a long road and a rebuild that has been tasking on the fanbase, but the team hopes they can continue to cross over the top of the hill. Even if Steve Yzerman claims this is not the year the team will compete, the Red Wings are trying to prove they’ve made some serious strides.

Detroit Red Wings announce roster for opening night.

With all that in mind, let’s dive into each positional group and talk through some of the names who made the cut for the Red Wings opening night roster ahead of 2023-24. For those looking for the official roster, as announced, here’s the Red Wings document they released & the website release they paired with it.

Breaking down the Detroit Red Wings 2023-24 forward core

The document the Red Wings released lists Zach Aston-Reese on the roster, as the team signed him and then was assigned to Grand Rapids the day after the roster was announced. So, very technically, the Red Wings 23-man roster stands at 22 for now.

But, for the rest of the forwards, the players on the roster who made the cut were pretty true to the expectations. It’s not like any of the big-name players were magically going to be cut or holding out with contract negotiations/trade talks or whatnot. The Red Wings core is stronger, for obvious reasons, given Steve Yzerman’s moves this off-season.

There are five new faces on the team’s front end, with 12 total forwards on the roster. Alex DeBrincat headlines that a new group of forwards will look to bring more depth to the Red Wings organization.

In the final round of cuts, four different forwards were assigned to the minors or sent back to their respective junior teams. In the case of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft first-rounder Nate Danielson, he was sent back to his juniors squad. There was some thought he could make the NHL roster out of training camp, but he will head back to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

On top of that, there was some surprise when Jonatan Berggren and Elmer Söderblom were both re-assigned to Grand Rapids. There was some hope that Berggren would be kept around to build off of his 2022-23 performance, but he will start the year in Grand Rapids after being re-assigned to the minors due to his waiver-exempt status. Södeblom, who spent a chunk of the 2022-23 season with them after playing with Detroit early on, will also join him.

Cross Hanas was a longshot to make the team, but he went through the motions of training camp and the pre-season, hanging on until the end. But he will head back to Grand Rapids as well. The Red Wings also officially announced that Carter Mazur and Matt Luff will head to the Injured Reserve to kick off the 2023-24 season.

Breaking down the Detroit Red Wings 2023-24 goalie trio

There’s no shock here with the Detroit Red Wings roster heading into the 2023-24 season. Ville Husso is the team’s starter right now. He’ll be the 1A guy this season, and he’s looking to come out and prove that he can be a better netminder than last season.

Husso ran out of gas last season and ended up struggling before the close of the 2022-23 season. The durability was a question with Husso, but he has supposedly made some strides and is looking to come out in 2023-24 and be able to be the team’s best option and be consistent in the crease.

Beyond that, the Red Wings brought in two netminders during the summer as part of the off-season. Alex Lyon and James Reimer were brought in to help lockdown the team’s goaltending issues, and both of them broke camp with the team since the Red Wings are heading into the season carrying three goalies.

Alex Lyon is the youngster who made his name for himself in a brief stint last season with the Florida Panthers. He will likely serve as the team’s third option, with Reimer handling most of the backup duties.

Reimer is a veteran of the NHL and has served his time with many teams along the way. The Red Wings brought him in and expect him to serve as the 1B guy behind Husso, filling in as needed to be an important piece of the tandem.

Lyon’s sort of the spare player the team can rely on as needed. The Red Wings will rely on Husso a bunch early on, but they have two other netminders who will compete as well.