The Detroit Red Wings came achingly close to ending their playoff drought last season.
They hope the experience of playing pressure-packed games will give them an extra boost as they open the new season on Thursday against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.
Detroit accumulated 91 points last season but lost a tiebreaker with the Washington Capitals for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth.
“Just getting those games down the stretch was valuable and extremely fun,” forward Lucas Raymond said.
After missing out on the postseason for the eighth consecutive year, the Red Wings didn’t make any blockbuster trades during the offseason, but they did add some veterans who will play key roles.
Detroit signed free agent forward Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract. Tarasenko was traded by Ottawa to Florida late last season, and he contributed nine points during the Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup.
Tarasenko, who scored 23 regular-season goals in 2023-24, likely will play on Detroit’s second line.
The Red Wings kept their most important free agent, Patrick Kane, on a one-year contract. Kane joined the Red Wings last season after recovering from hip surgery and supplied 20 goals and 27 assists in 50 games.
They also added 37-year-old goaltender Cam Talbot to compete with Alex Lyon and Ville Husso for the starting job. Training camp did little to sort out that issue.
“We’re really comfortable with playing any goalie on any given night,” head coach Derek Lalonde said. “We’ll get a feel after each game of how we’re going to do this.”
Detroit also is counting on two top prospects, Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson, to bolster the defense. The 6-foot-6 Edvinsson, the sixth overall pick of the 2021 draft, will give the backline more size and thump.
The first line will continue to be anchored by captain Dylan Larkin, who had a career-high 33 goals in 68 games last season. Raymond, who scored 18 of his 31 goals after the All-Star break, will join him on the top line. Moritz Seider, who like Raymond was signed to a long-term extension in the offseason, heads the defensive corps.
The Penguins were blown out 6-0 in their season and home opener by the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry was beaten six times on 41 shots.
“Obviously we didn’t have the start of the season that we would have liked,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s a hard one to evaluate. I thought the start of the game we played pretty well, the first 13 minutes or so.
“There was a two- or three-minute span in the first period where we gave up a couple of goals. We just didn’t seem to grab a hold of it from there. But it’s probably premature at this point to overreact.”
Evgeni Malkin heads to Detroit closing in on two major career milestones. The Pittsburgh forward began his 19th season with 498 career goals and 798 career assists. Malkin only had one shot on goal in 17:20 of ice time on Wednesday.
Pittsburgh took two of three from the Red Wings last season, with the winning team recording six goals each time. Superstar captain Sidney Crosby notched two goals and four assists in last season’s series.
–Field Level Media