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 defense core

It was an off-season of improvements and additions for the Detroit Red Wings, and they made sure to upgrade their defense core and the rest of the roster. With Moritz Seider coming into his own as he continues his young NHL career, the Red Wings beefed things up overall.

Jake Walman signed his extension last season and was a no-brainer to make the team’s roster after the 2022-23 season that he had. Similarly, Olli Määttä signed his extension last season and has done his very best to step up and fill a role with the team, earning himself a chance to prove himself again this season after he also earned an extension last season.

Ben Chiarot was very underwhelming in 2022-23, so he’s looking to come out and make some improvements to his game or at least provide valuable play when he is on the ice. Outside of the returners, the Red Wings have a few new faces.

The team is carrying seven defensemen on their roster into the 2023-24 season, and three of them are new faces. One of the new additions is someone who could be sneaky-good for the Red Wings organization. Veteran Shayne Gostisbehere is hoping that he can step up and be a beneficial addition moving forward. The Red Wings are hoping to add him into the second-pairing and possibly get him some special teams time.

On top of that, the Red Wings made a trade before training camp began, adding in a hometown-boy in Jeff Petry. The son of former Detroit Tigers, Dan Petry, will come into Detroit as a proven veteran with upside on both sides of the ice, looking to slot in and be a beneficial addition in the bottom pairing of the team’s defense core.

Lastly, the Red Wings grabbed another veteran in Justin Holl, who will likely serve as some depth in the team’s bottom two pairings. He could very well be someone who serves as a depth defender and someone who helps the team as the plug’n’play defender.

Some may be wondering, where is Simon Edvinsson? The Red Wings opted to put a pin in things with the young defender. He was sent back to the minors to join the Grand Rapids Griffins. Edvinsson will take some more time in the minors before he gets his chance to rejoin the Red Wings.