The pre-season schedule has officially wrapped up for the Detroit Red Wings, and only days separate them from the beginning of their centennial campaign in the NHL.
During the pre-season slate of games, the Red Wings played multiple first and second round draft selections who proved useful, among them Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, and Emmitt Finnie, all of whom made considerable impacts.
The Red Wings also returned multiple draft selections to the American Hockey League after it was decided by GM Steve Yzerman that they needed more experience with the Grand Rapids Griffins, including Sebastian Cossa, Carter Mazur, and William Wallinder.
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Head coach Todd McLellan tried multiple line combinations (with the exception of the Alex DeBrincat-Marco Kasper-Patrick Kane line, which remains intact) that saw players like Elmer Soderblom and even Finnie see time on the top forward unit with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond.
All NHL clubs must have their rosters submitted to the League by 5 p.m. ET on Monday, meaning that there are still a few names that won’t be hitting the ice on Thursday for the regular season opener.
“For our staff, we’ve discussed a lot of things,” McLellan said following Detroit’s 6-5 overtime win over the Maple Leafs in the pre-season finale on Saturday. “Steve and I and Shawn Horcoff and his group have worked really close together with what we’re thinking, why we like certain players and pairs or combinations of players. We’ll get a complete injury report tonight, have a day off tomorrow and then Monday’s a big day for us. We got to figure out where we start.”
Regardless of how the roster looks on Thursday, multiple young Red Wings players have shown that they can be impactful at the NHL level.
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