Tonight is the final preseason bout for the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings will face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7:00 p.m., rounding out the last of the truncated preseason games before puck drop on October 2.
Yesterday, the Red Wings practiced with what looks like the opening night lineup, per Max Bultman of The Athletic:
Red Wings are practicing with 20 skaters today:
Forwards (13): DeBrincat, Copp, Raymond, Larkin, Finnie, Kasper, Arvidsson, Danielson, MBN, Appleton, Compher, Rasmussen, Kolesar
Defense (7): Seider, Edvinsson, Faulk, Albert, ASP, Anton, Chiarot
Not sure where JBD is
One important piece of clarity Bultman adds offers more clarity on the defensive battle that's happened over the last few days. "It would be surprising if the Red Wings kept both of [Axel Sandin-Pellikka] and [Anton Johansson] unless both will have consistent roles," Bultman says, "when either could go play huge minutes in GR. But interesting as Detroit prepares for final preseason game tomorrow."
Of all the problems the Red Wings have faced this offseason, prospects taking the next step has been a relatively "good" problem. This means that the youth movement might already be in full swing -- or that it's on the cusp of taking shape.
The Red Wings' preseason roster sits at 28 with its most recent cuts. They'll need to release, waive or reassign five more players in order to make the roster compliant.
The biggest implications of this opening night roster
It should go without saying that Andrew Copp is the bona fide first line center with Dylan Larkin out. Through training camp, practice and the preseason, the Red Wings appear to be deploying a top-heavy first line of Alex DeBrincat, Andrew Copp and Lucas Raymond. Stacking the team's top wingers on the same line helps to even out the imbalance from Copp, but it does leave questions about the rest of the roster's makeup.
The second line of Emmitt Finnie, Marco Kasper and Viktor Arvidsson hope to answer that question. Kasper has been placed in what could be the best case scenario for any Red Wings forward on the roster. The team will surely rely on his ability to bounce back after a tough sophomore slump. Finnie, who celebrated an exciting 30 point freshman campaign, has spent the offseason bulking up and fine tuning his game. He'll play opposite newcomer Viktor Arvidsson, who will be relied upon to help make up for Patrick Kane's departure.
Bottom-six is full of questions
The bottom-six got a bit of a facelift this offseason. It looks like Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Nate Danielson will make the roster, joining newcomer Keegan Kolesar as the freshest faces on the team. One question that still remains unanswered, however, is the fate of the bottom-six wing position -- specifically, the battle between Carter Mazur and Mason Appleton.
Both players are waiver eligible. Mazur is younger and more physical. Appleton is a known commodity with a year left on his contract. Sooner or later, something has to give. If the Red Wings choose to keep an extra forward, they'll need to make sacrifices on defensive depth. If the team chooses to keep eight defensemen, there may be an odd man out on the forward front.
Goaltending is an easy lock
It should go without saying that John Gibson and Daniil Tarasov are the de facto starting netminders moving forward. Whether or not they decide to run three goaltenders deep is a bigger question. As of right now, Carter Gylander is still on the roster. Barring any additional cuts, he may very well remain as a backup the Red Wings periodically cycle through when Gibson gets tired.
Still, it's clear that the Gibson-Tarasov tandem is the path moving forward for Detroit.
Defense is the biggest puzzle of all
The first four to five defensemen on this roster are easy to predict: Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson (whenever he's signed), Justin Faulk, Albert Johansson and Ben Chiarot make up five of the six spots thus far. Where things get complicated is with that last spot. The battle between Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Anton Johansson, William Wallinder and Jacob Bernard-Docker is very much still underway.
Bernard-Docker is currently day-to-day with an injury, leaving Wallinder, Johansson and Sandin-Pellikka to fight over that final spot. Johansson currently leads all preseason scorers in points, with five assists across three games. Sandin-Pellikka, on the other hand, has a goal in two out of three games and looks more than ready to take on the NHL.
Both would immediately upgrade the roster. But the question is, do the Red Wings have room for both of them?
Then we come to the elephant in the room: William Wallinder. Wallinder has done his best to stand out from the crowd this preseason. He's had some great shots and solid shifts. Unfortunately, he just hasn't done enough to truly stand out like Johansson and Sandin-Pellikka have. If waived, there's little doubt another team would take a chance on him. The 24-year-old may not have any experience at the NHL level, but he can still serve as a depth defender on a roster.
All eyes point to tonight's game, where we'll have a much better idea of what this team has in store.
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