From the Wings:
DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings today assigned forwards Riley Barber, Taro Hirose and Joe Veleno to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Additionally, Detroit designated center Kyle Criscuolo and defenseman Seth Barton as injured non-roster and placed left wing Jakub Vrana on injured reserve.
The Red Wings also released right wing Bobby Ryan from his professional tryout.
“We felt that Bobby had a good preseason for us, but due to roster limitations, we aren’t able to offer him a contract at this time,” said Red Wings executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman. “We will continue to evaluate whether there is an opportunity for Bobby in Detroit as the 2021-22 season begins.”
The moves bring the Red Wings to a 23-man roster, consisting of 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. The Red Wings will begin the 96th season in franchise history on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. when they host the back-to-back Stanley Cup-champion Tampa Bay Lightning at Little Caesars Arena.
Here’s the final roster for opening day (Argue which players go where as you will, the Wings didn’t release line combinations or defensive pairs and the blender will be turned on soon anyway).
Lucas Raymond – Dylan Larkin – Tyler Bertuzzi
Robby Fabbri – Pius Suter – Filip Zadina
Vladislav Namestnikov – Michael Rasmussen – Sam Gagner
Adam Erne – Mitchell Stephens – Givani Smith
Carter Rowney
Filip Hronek-Danny DeKeyser
Moritz Seider – Nick Leddy
Troy Stecher – Marc Staal
Jordan Oesterle – Gustav Lindstrom
Alex Nedeljkovic
Thomas Greiss
The biggest win here is that Lucas Raymond absolutely earned this spot out of camp. It remains to be seen whether the Wings intend to play him in more than 9 NHL games and by doing so burn a year of his entry-level contract rather than letting it slide, but I’d like to think they will.
Joe Veleno in my mind is the last cut. I think he’d do well with third line minutes, but if Blashill won’t play him there I don’t want him learning how to be a fourth liner in the NHL. Injuries are already starting and he should be up again soon too.
As always, this roster can still change before the Wings even play their first game on Thursday.
