#LGRW Daily: Red Wings adjusting on the fly to new life in the NHL

DETROIT - With a 56-game schedule, no fans in many home arenas, only seven opponents throughout the campaign and two-game series against each team, the 2021 NHL season will be unlike any other in modern history.

And the Detroit Red Wings are adjusting to all the wrinkles of the new format on the fly.
The Red Wings took the ice for day four of training camp on Monday in preparation of their first team scrimmage set for Tuesday morning, and with no exhibition games this season, coach Jeff Blashill said he expects Tuesday's scrimmage to be more intense than any preseason scrimmage in his tenure.
"These scrimmages will be nothing like normal scrimmages in training camp. This is going to real--as real as it gets without playing against another team," Blashill said. "I think (our guys) understand what's at stake. I think the intensity will be high. I think our guys understand that we have to use these scrimmages as springboards to get ready for the season--they're the only thing we have, we don't have exhibitions--and also to figure out who's going to be in what spots."
After Tuesday, the Red Wings will have two more scrimmages--this Friday and Sunday--before the season begins with the first game of a two-game homestand against the Carolina Hurricanes on January 14.
Blashill said he'll have to adjust his coaching style this season to prepare for back-to-back games against each opponent, as matchups become more of a chess game, similar to what he experienced as a college coach at Western Michigan University in 2010-11.

"It becomes a little less about pure pre-scouts and more about adjustments. That will be similar to the playoffs, it's similar to the American League and honestly, really similar to college," Blashill said. "It's been awhile since I coached college, but that's exactly what it is, you go at each other lots back to back, you're trying to make adjustments for that second game. It'll definitely be different, maybe a little bit more of a chess game."
New Red Wings defenseman Troy Stecher also has college hockey experience, having played at the University of North Dakota for three seasons, and Stecher agreed that the new schedule format will be similar to the collegiate level.
"Every weekend in college, you played a team on Friday and Saturday at your home venue or their home venue," Stecher said. "I think we can kind of bring that style into our locker room, where if you lose one game, it's not the end of the world. You just got to find a way to rebound the next game. You never want to get swept in a series.
"It's going to be a sprint. We've got to come out of the gate strong. It's going to be exciting. I think it's going to be good for the game of hockey in general."
Fellow Red Wings newcomer Vladislav Namestnikov didn't play hockey in college, but he did play in the NHL bubble with no fans last season as a member of the Colorado Avalanche, and the forward said while it'll be disappointing to not have the Hockeytown faithful in attendance at Little Caesars Arena to start the season, it's just another new wrinkle of NHL life that everyone has to get used to.

"It's definitely not what we want, but I played in the bubble, so it's kind of similar to that," Namestnikov said. "We've got to play as they tell us to, so we're just excited to get back to work. It's definitely a weird feeling with no fans, but it's what the world has become right now. We have to make the best of it."
Second-year Wings forward Robby Fabbri agreed that playing in near-empty arenas will be an adjustment, but said his teammates have several other things to focus on to ensure they compete at the highest level.
"That will be something to get used to in the first few games," Fabbri said. "It's going to be a lot, but when you get a chance to play every second night, and you get things rolling into a groove, as long as you're taking care of yourself and taking care of your body, then you're putting yourself in a good position to come out every other night. So for myself, it's doing things at the rink and the things at home to prepare."
Although he's still one of the newer players in the dressing room, Fabbri knows all about the Red Wings' struggles the past few years, so the center stressed how imperative it is to get off to a good start, especially with the compacted 56-game schedule.
"It's a totally different year," he said. "You can get off to a hot start, or a slow start, and it's tough to dig yourself out of it. Coming out fast and hard, and taking advantage of the rest that we had and the preparation time that we had, to be prepared for game one against Carolina, is where it's going to start. It's going to be huge for us to come out strong and fast."