There aren’t many meaningful moments in an NHL preseason. But when they happen, they’re hard to miss. Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, Nate Danielson had his.
All through training camp, Danielson has shown well because of his hockey sense and maturity. He’s usually in a good defensive position. He plays hard. He wins some battles. But through his first two exhibition games, it hadn’t turned into much on the scoresheet — or even in the form of scoring chances.
That changed Tuesday night, with just under three minutes left against a relatively-full Pittsburgh Penguins lineup. The Penguins turned it over in the neutral zone, and another young Red Wings prospect — 2024 first-round pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygård — picked off an errant pass and immediately sprung Danielson on a breakaway. And in a tied game, Danielson beat Penguins starting goalie Tristan Jarry five-hole off a deke, which would eventually stand as the game-winning goal.
Now, a preseason goal only counts for so much. Danielson still, in all likelihood, looks headed for Grand Rapids to start the season — where he can play the kind of big-minute, offensive role that will help him down the line for the Red Wings.
But the goal still mattered because, for all of the impressive details in Danielson’s game, he will at some point be expected to produce offense. And while a breakaway goal in an exhibition won’t change any narratives about his potential to do so, it still was an example of the skill in his game that can at times be overlooked.
And while it was Danielson’s night on Tuesday, he’s really just one of a handful of young forwards who have made their marks on this preseason through five of Detroit’s eight exhibition games.
At the top of that list is Marco Kasper, who has arguably raised his stock (publicly, at least), as much as any Red Wing this preseason. He’s been consistently noticeable in all of his exhibition action, whether it’s been for his effectiveness on the penalty kill, making some skilled plays of his own or for his skating and puck-transporting ability.
Then there’s Carter Mazur, who coming off a successful playoff run in the AHL last Spring arrived at camp with some much-needed mass added onto his frame, and has spent the preseason showing his willingness to go to hard parts of the ice and challenge for pucks.
Add in Danielson, and the Red Wings have a nice collection of near-term prospects on their hands.
“Very impressed with all three of them,” head coach Derek Lalonde said. “They’ve kind of played into my optimistic vision of them. I like all three, I think I’ve stated that quite a bit over the last year, year and a half, and they’ve done nothing to disappoint.”
Of course, those three aren’t the only young forwards of note in camp, and it bears mentioning 21-year-old Amadeus Lombardi had the highlight of the night for Detroit Tuesday with a beautiful goal in the second period, getting to the middle of the ice and ripping a shot under the bar past Jarry. Brandsegg-Nygård’s quick assist to Danielson showed he too is more than a big body with a big shot on the wing.
But realistically, Mazur, Kasper and Danielson are the three pushing for potential NHL playing time at some point this year — whether in October or deeper in — and so their play naturally gets more spotlight.
They also, crucially, all share a slightly different flavor to much of the Red Wings’ current upper-lineup talent, which is highly skilled but can sometimes lack for two-way responsibility and physical edge. And that showed up Monday, in another exhibition game against Pittsburgh for which all three dressed.
“We were limited (in chances), we played a lot on the outside, and those three were noticeable at getting to the inside, winning some battles,” Lalonde said. “That’s why I think when you talk about the DNA of some of our forwards, I think they could grow that (and) help the entire team DNA. With how bland we might have been at times (Monday) night, you found those three showing up because they were winning battles, which is a good sign.”
And while the Red Wings’ lineup doesn’t look likely to accommodate any of the three on October 10 — though there is still time for that to change — it looks entirely possible Detroit could see at least one, if not multiple, play meaningful roles at some point this season.
On the power play
Lalonde mentioned a bland Monday night exhibition, which is an apt descriptor for a game that had the sizzle of a garden salad.
But there was one notable aspect for me, and that was the glimpse of Detroit’s prospective top power play unit, featuring Erik Gustafsson up top, Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane on the left and right flanks, Dylan Larkin in the bumper and Lucas Raymond down low.
It’s a highly skilled unit, comprised of Detroit’s four best offensive players and a seasoned power play quarterback in Gustafsson. And it converted a goal on one of its six opportunities, with Raymond finishing off a feed from Larkin for his second power-play goal of the preseason. But when Raymond and Lalonde talked about the power play and that 1-for-6 showing after the game, there was one particular word that came up from both of them that caught my ear.
“I think when we got the best chances from tonight is from retrievals,” Raymond said. “It’s not always the prettiest, but retrieve the puck well and a quick attack and I think that leads to a lot of good stuff.”
“The one power play we scored, we were able to retrieve the puck,” Lalonde said. “We probably had three loose puck retrievals and then we end up scoring, spending the full two minutes on the power play. The other one, just we lost some battles where we couldn’t keep the play alive. It ended up going 200 feet, just deflates your power play.”
Make no mistake: the amount of skill on the Red Wings top power play is a good thing. Kane is a truly world-class playmaker, DeBrincat and Larkin both have 40-goal potential as finishers and Raymond is becoming a do-it-all star in his own right. That’s a great collection of talent.
But go back to last year’s Red Wings’ power play, which finished top 10 in the league at 23.1 percent, and you’ll note one ingredient that is now missing. It’s David Perron, and his — you guessed it — retrievals.
Perron, of course, was renowned for his play down low. He’s one of the league’s best puck protectors. But he also managed to get to loose pucks quite well, creating some of those quick attacks Rayond referenced, and more broadly keeping possessions alive, pressure on, tired opposing legs on the ice.
The Red Wings have more pure talent on their top unit now than they did with Perron, but that is an element they’re still going to need to figure out in his absence. Raymond and Larkin both have the high compete levels to help chip away at that impact below the goal line, even with Raymond still on the small side, but realistically Detroit won’t be able to replace Perron 1-for-1. They’ll have to do it by committee.
And that might take time for this unit to adjust to, even when the season begins.
(Top photo of Nate Danielson celebrating his goal: Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
