After going the entire offseason without a significant addition to their forward group through a trade or free agency, the Detroit Red Wings still appear to be quite happy with their top-nine forwards. Since being hired right after Christmas last season, head coach Todd McLellan has tinkered with the team’s lines and seems to be settling into a few patterns that are consistently successful.
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Detroit’s defensive group is in an interesting point of transition, but we’ll stick with the forward group for today. While there’s still an obvious hole at left wing on the team’s top line, after training camp and the first four preseason games, it appears that every other spot in Detroit’s top-nine has been filled.
Detroit’s First Line
??? – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond
Detroit desperately needs a top-six capable left winger who can keep up to the speed (both physical and mental) of Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond, preferably someone who digs out pucks and can muck it up around the net. Marco Kasper was a great fit in that role early last season, playing over 270 minutes at 5v5 on the first line. The Red Wings drove play and created chances at an excellent rate with that line leading the way. However, once it became clear that Kasper was capable of driving his own line, it made the most sense to make him the team’s second-line center, spreading out the talent.
So who could fit in next to Detroit’s two best forwards? Elmer Söderblom got a chance in training camp as well as during last season, and it simply hasn’t worked out with his hockey sense being a touch too far behind those line mates. Emmitt Finnie is a hot name right now. Detroit’s seventh round pick in the 2023 Draft has burst onto the scene this Fall, earning a ton of hype from Red Wings fans with his determination and ability to work through scrums and come out with the puck. While he’s not the typical first-line type, Detroit doesn’t have many great options right now so Finnie’s hot preseason could translate to at least a few games in the lineup to start the year.
James van Riemsdyk (JVR) is another option that was acquired in this year’s free agency, but I don’t think he would match the first line’s pace all that well at this point in his career. He does have top-six experience though and should be capable of finishing the plays the other members of that line would create. Carter Mazur is another player who could earn a stretch at the top of Detroit’s lineup if the experimentation process continues.
Nate Danielson is another name to watch here. He has mainly played at center in the preseason, and while I expect him to be a center in the NHL long-term, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him break into the NHL as a winger much like Detroit did with Kasper just last season. Danielson has the pace to keep up with Detroit’s top line, and he has the skill and shot to capitalize on chances of his own.
Detroit’s Second Line
Alex DeBrincat – Marco Kasper – Patrick Kane
After a successful run together last season, McLellan is keeping this line together to start the year. There’s obviously the pre-existing chemistry between Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane from their days together in Chicago, but Kasper’s puck-hound play style was really what drove this line. DeBrincat and Kane played a ton of minutes together last season, but in the roughly 500 minutes they played without Kasper, they were outshot 236-232 (49.57%) and out-chanced by a small margin. That’s an okay number, but Detroit needed their second line to truly create offense so the team didn’t rely so heavily on the first line (stats via. Natural Stat Trick).
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In comes Kasper. In nearly 200 minutes together as a trio, the Kasper-centered second line outshot opponents 123-89 (58%), and outmatched their opponents handily in just about every advanced metric available. Kasper revitalized the second line, making it a legitimate threat. They played their first preseason game together on Saturday against Buffalo and looked just as impressive, scoring Detroit’s only two goals in the game. I don’t expect this line will be broken up any time soon.
Detroit’s New Third Line
Michael Rasmussen – Andrew Copp – Mason Appleton
This is a newer line, owing to the fact that Mason Appleton is playing his first games in a Red Wings jersey after signing here over the offseason. While it’s certainly early to say, after camp and now two preseason games where we’ve seen this trio together, it looks like McLellan is a big fan of the physical and defensive presence they provide. In roughly 12 minutes of ice time at 5v5 (huge sample size, I know), they’ve outshot and out-chanced their opponents by a remarkable margin.
They’ve had lots of shifts in the offensive zone and created some nice plays around the net. While this isn’t a line that projects to create a ton of offense, if they can be a physical line that makes life tough on Detroit’s opponents, then they will have done their job.
Who Fills out the Fourth Line?
With the second and third lines being close to set in stone, and two of the first line spots absolutely set, that leaves at least seven players fighting for the final four forward spots. Finnie, Mazur, Söderblom, Danielson, JT Compher, van Riemsdyk, and Jonatan Berggren are all hoping to make the lineup come opening night, and at least three of them will be on the outside looking in.
At this point I think Detroit would be happy to start Danielson off in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins where he could be the centerpoint of their offense and play a ton of minutes at all strengths. If he breaks down the door and forces his way into the lineup then they won’t be upset either. He has three points through three preseason games and has looked really solid to me so anything is possible.
Söderblom hasn’t impressed me much so far, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back in Grand Rapids for most of this season. While his play hasn’t drawn a ton of attention, it’s still surprising to see Compher in this conversation, but I expect his experience will at least earn him a spot on the team’s fourth line. There are three outcomes for JVR that feel about as likely, first being he lands on the wing of the top line, second being a fourth line role, and third being a prime viewing seat in the press box.
Emmitt Finnie and Carter Mazur are both still waiver exempt which means they’re more likely to be sent down to the AHL than someone like Berggren who could theoretically be snagged on the waiver wire (though we’ve seen higher profile players than him slip through in recent years).
Finally Some Consistent Lines
All this to say, it’s going to be fascinating to see how Detroit fills out the margins of their lineup with just a few more preseason games and practices to provide data. Will they commit to the youth movement and keep Danielson and Finnie around? Do they commit to experience and send the youngsters off to the Griffins where they will get a ton of ice time? I don’t think either option is necessarily wrong but I’m interested in how management handles this.
The stability that comes with a consistent lineup is very valuable. Having a second line that you can lean on to score if they top players aren’t quite clicking, or a third line that can play a physical checking game if needed gives the team a ton of dimensions that Red Wings fans haven’t seen in far too long.