Press Release from the Wings:
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today assigned forwards Kyle Criscuolo, Taro Hirose and Givani Smith, and goaltender Jussi Olkinuora to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Detroit has also placed forward Robby Fabbri on injured reserve and designated defensemen Seth Barton, Mark Pysyk and Jake Walman as injured non-roster. Additionally, the Red Wings released defenseman Jeremie Biakabutuka from his amateur tryout.
The roster moves bring the Red Wings to a 23-man roster, consisting of 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders. The Red Wings will begin the 97th season in franchise history on Friday, Oct. 14 at 7:00 p.m. when they host the Montreal Canadiens at Little Caesars Arena.
I’m laying out the roster based on practice lines from today, but don’t take these as gospel
Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond
David Perron – Andrew Copp – Jakub Vrána
Elmer Söderblom – Michael Rasmussen – Oskar Sundqvist
Dominik Kubalik – Pius Suter – Adam Erne
Joe Veleno – Filip Zadina
Defense
Ben Chiarot – Moritz Seider
Olli Määttä – Filip Hronek
Robert Hägg – Gustav Lindström
Jordan Oesterle
Goalies
Ville Husso
Alex Nedeljkovic
Remember, this is practice lines for Monday the 10th. Part of this is that Filip Zadina was reported at one point by the Athletic’s Max Bultman as “hobbled” in practice. Also remember that for young players like Joe Veleno, coach Derek Lalonde has talked about opportunities to play being important to them. With Veleno and Söderblom being waiver-exempt, I wouldn’t anticipate that the players who could be on the Griffins’ top line will be sitting as extra forwards.
Ongoing injury situations to 2C Andrew Copp, who had offseason surgery and missed all of preseason as well as to Oskar Sundqvist (undisclosed injury), Tyler Bertuzzi (early “flare-up”) and Filip Zadina (“hobbled in practice”) will have a lot to say about the opening night comportment for the Wings.
On the defensive side, Hägg was injured early in camp, but the long-term injury here is to Jake Walman, who will find himself in a competition for a spot once he’s healthy enough. By that time, he could be competing with Simon Edvinsson or Albert Johansson on a blueline in need of another standout to bolster Moritz Seider’s sophomore campaign.
The goalie situation is as-expected. Ville Husso and Alex Nedeljkovic will tell us which one is the starter as the season goes on. With Detroit’s expectations being where they are, we have time to learn the hard way which of these guys is starter material.
Stay tuned for more changes; those are certainly coming.
