Why Derek Lalonde thinks Detroit Red Wings are ‘slotted better’ going into 2024-25

From an excess on the back end to the bare necessities up front, Derek Lalonde is ready to parse the Detroit Red Wings.

He’ll have to wait about six weeks for training camp, when he can really start experimenting with line combinations and defense pairings, but even so, Lalonde was eager to give his opinion on the squad after numerous changes in the offseason.

“Of course I like it,” Lalonde said Wednesday. “We did a good job addressing some holes. It feels like guys may be slotted going into the year a little bit. I think we did a good job addressing some lost offense, which is very important.”

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Signing forward Vladimir Tarasenko, a former 40-goal scorer, is expected to ameliorate the departures of David Perron (17 goals) and Daniel Sprong (18 goals). Signing defenseman Erik Gustafsson should lessen the blow of losing Shayne Gostisbehere (team-leading 29 power play points).

Tarasenko joins a forward corps that also features Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, J.T. Compher, Patrick Kane, Andrew Copp, Michael Rasmussen, Joe Veleno and Christian Fischer, another newcomer in Tyler Motte and, once they’re signed, Lucas Raymond and Jonatan Berggren, making for an even dozen. Prospects Carter Mazur, Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson could all push for a role, too.

On the back end, besides Gustafsson there’s Ben Chiarot, Olli Määttä, Jeff Petry, Justin Holl, and Simon Edvinsson; Seider (who also needs a new contract) and Albert Johansson, who has yet to play in the NHL but is out of waiver exemptions.

Lalonde described his possible line combinations as “fluid, especially early in camp. But it just feels like guys are slotted a bit more proper, and it will make more of an ideal top-six, bottom-six situation. But that will be fluid as the season starts.”

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Last season ended with the Wings chasing a playoff spot all the way till Game 82 before succumbing by a tiebreaker. Their 91 points were 11 better than the previous season. That builds pressure to improve further in 2024-25.

“It’s just exciting,” Lalonde said. “All I’ve known here since I’ve come here is some progression. We’ve moved in the right direction from Year 1 to Year 2. And now we need to keep building. Expectations will change, which is all good. This is all part of the process. We just want a little bit more everybody.”

Cam Talbot joins Alex Lyon and Ville Husso on the goaltending depth chart, but it isn’t just those three who will be counted on to keep the puck out of the net. The Wings’ 3.35 goals-for average last season was ninth in the NHL — but their 3.33 goals-against average ranked 24th. As fun as it was to see, for example, DeBrincat score nine goals the first eight games, blowing a four-goal lead to lose to the league-worst San Jose Sharks in early December was anything but.

“We made strides last year and a lot of it was because we were able to find some goals,” Lalonde said. “But the numbers speak for themselves — we were a top-10 team in goals scored but we were a bottom-10 teams in goals against. So we’d love to improve that goals against. 

“The teams in the end, it all looks the same – they put a premium on keeping the puck out of the net. It will be a goal of ours, and we are going to need it from everybody. We want to score goals, we need those goals, but it’s very important that if you’re going to get there in the end and be where we want to be, we have to keep it out of the net.”

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

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