Hej du!
This concludes what I remember of the Swedish “lessons” I took in college, messing around with a friend’s Rosetta Stone. Actually, that’s not true. I’ll always remember “det är två poliser,” which, when pronounced by the Rosetta Stone robot, sounded almost exactly like its meaning in English: “there are two policemen.”
The Red Wings are back in action for the first time since Saturday, having flown directly after that game to Sweden for this year’s Global Series. They’ll take on the Ottawa Senators at Avicii Arena in Stockholm. If you’re not up on your Swedish branding, you may not know that the Red Wings have played here before, losing twice to the St. Louis Blues to kick off the 2009-10 season when it was known as the Ericsson Globe Arena.
For those of us who are freaked out by how fast time moves these days and feel like that was just a few years ago, that means that the Swedish DJ Avicii was completely unknown then, and became such a massive figure that the building is now named in honor of him following his death in 2018. Certainly a tragedy as he was so young, but also touching that such an iconic building can continue his legacy.
Eight Swedes were in Detroit’s lineup for those games in 2009, and even though the Swedish legacy has lived on, only Lucas Raymond will be playing in front of his countrymen today — though I’m sure the five Swedes in Grand Rapids are a bit disappointed that the Red Wings chose not to call up any extra bodies for this event. Perhaps Joe Veleno and Moritz Seider get to enjoy a kick of Swedish nostalgia this week after each playing in the SHL in 2020-21.
Awaiting the Red Wings for the first of two in the Scandinavian set are the Senators. The build-up to the first meeting this season was quite something, and Ottawa really dominated the opening minutes of the game, only to see the Red Wings pull away to take a decisive 5-2 victory.
Not much has happened in the three-and-a-half weeks since… just that Ottawa saw unsigned RFA Shane Pinto suspended 41 games for gambling (which left a bad taste in my mouth given it was reportedly not hockey, and the NHL is in deep with sportsbook advertising), forfeited a future first-round pick as punishment for secretly being the reason that a Vegas-Anaheim trade involving Evgeni Dadonov in 2021-22 fell apart, fired Pierre Dorion immediately once that dropped, and had captain Brady Tkachuk lash out at fans who were calling for D.J. Smith’s job. Honestly, as Canadian markets have gone this year… par for the course.
How to Watch
Time: 2:00 p.m. EST at Avicii Arena
TV/Radio: Bally Sports Detroit and NHL Network / 97.1 The Ticket
Red Wings Lines (projected)
The Red Wings have some media in Stockholm, but it’s a bit difficult to track down the latest and greatest information due to the time difference (European fans currently playing the world’s smallest violins). What we know from updates earlier this week is that Ville Husso flew to Sweden and pulled an Abe Simpson to be back with his wife for the birth of his daughter:
Great stuff, and all the best to the Hussos. Other than that, Jake Walman reportedly left Wednesday’s practice early but skated today, per Max Bultman, and Austin Czarnik did not make the trip after an unpenalized trip into the boards last Thursday against Montreal. Justin Holl is the odd man out, but the rest of the combos are assumed from Detroit’s last game:
Alex DeBrincat – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond
Andrew Copp – J.T. Compher – David Perron
Robby Fabbri – Joe Veleno – Daniel Sprong
Klim Kostin – Michael Rasmussen – Christian Fischer
Jake Walman – Moritz Seider
Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry
Olli Maatta – Shayne Gostisbehere
James Reimer
Alex Lyon
Senators Lines (projected)
The big news this morning comes behind the bench, as Red Wings legend Daniel Alfredsson will serve as an assistant coach for Ottawa this week. The Senators are currently down Thomas Chabot, Ridly Greig and Mark Kastelic, and anticipated lines are based on their last game:
Brady Tkachuk – Josh Norris – Vladimir Tarasenko
Mathieu Joseph – Tim Stutzle – Claude Giroux
Dominik Kubalik – Roby Jarventie – Drake Batherson
Matthew Highmore – Rourke Chartier – Parker Kelly
Jake Sanderson – Artem Zub
Jakob Chychrun – Jacob Bernard-Docker
Erik Brannstrom – Travis Hamonic
Joonas Korpisalo
Anton Forsberg
Keys to the Game
1. Revenge Factor. Ottawa was off to a hot start prior to the teams’ first meeting this year, and less than a month later find themselves at the bottom of the Atlantic Division. The race is always tight this early in a season, but there was certainly bad blood that night and a lot of building frustration within the Senators since then. There’s an extra layer of pomp and circumstance for this game and it’s unclear if either team will get home-ice advantage (or is it?), but the Sens should be plenty motivated for this one.
2. Where’s the focus? This is a league event, meaning there are extra media asks, appearance requests and ticket demands, in addition to being an environment that most players on the roster have not been in before. The bright side is that both teams are in the same boat, so it shouldn’t tip the scales either way. You can also hope that traveling early to adjust to the time difference also leads to some team building that can carry beyond this trip.
3. James and the Giant Net. With Husso back stateside, this is a big opportunity for James Reimer. The veteran netminder has only seen five games for Detroit this season, but his numbers have been good so far. Many fans are eager to see Alex Lyon (planning to write more about him ahead of Friday’s game against Toronto), but Reimer could end up seeing a back-to-back depending on his workload in this one. Detroit seems pretty locked in on riding Husso, but Reimer could earn some trust this week.
