#LGRW Daily: Red Wings close to finalizing roster as training camp ends

DETROIT -- It seems like just yesterday that the Detroit Red Wings started sharpening their skates, taping their sticks and preparing to begin 2021 training camp.

But now, 12 days later, training camp has ended and the Wings' brass is finalizing its roster for the season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes this Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.
While the final opening night roster wasn't announced on Monday, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said the lineup is taking shape, with a few decisions left on who will play in certain situations, but Blashill stressed that the roster will be fluid.
"We're closing in on a roster and who we think is going to start with our team," Blashill said Monday afternoon. "This is kind of a decision day, but it's totally flexible. Guys that are on your roster on opening day doesn't mean they're going to stay on your roster the whole time and vice versa. Guys that aren't certainly have an opportunity to be called up at some point."
As the Red Wings get closer to their 23-man roster and four-to-six-man taxi squad, several players were placed on waivers Monday, including forwards Riley Barber, Kyle Criscuolo, Evgeny Svechnikov and Dominic Turgeon, along with defensemen Joe Hicketts, Brian Lashoff and Dylan McIlrath and goalies Kevin Boyle and Calvin Pickard.
But Blashill emphasized that Monday's moves aren't the end of the line for these players in Detroit, stressing that mental toughness is key when facing adversity.
"One of the most important factors to individual success is mental toughness," the Wings' coach said. "I say that all the time to any group I ever talk to. If you want to talk about individual success, to me, it's two factors. Inner drive, meaning that extraordinary work ethic, and mental toughness, meaning the perseverance that it takes.
"When you get knocked down, you get back up, and not only do you get back up, but you get back up with your confidence intact. And if a player is sent down or does not make our team, and they can't get by that, they won't make it. And that's just the hard, cold reality of trying to get to the very top of the pyramid, of anything in life, especially in the NHL and pro sports. Part of being able to make it is handling those situations. You've got to be able to persevere through it."

As training camp wrapped up Monday afternoon, Blashill said there were pros and cons to this year's format--with two full weeks to prepare as a group, but with no preseason games--and said he's confident his team is prepared to face NHL competition on Thursday.
"The pros are you get more practice time relative to the amount of time that you have," he said. "The cons are you don't get the exhibition games.
"At the end of this, I think we tried to be as effective as we could be given the parameters we were given. I hope that we were really effective in implementing what is important to us, in implementing our systems, in implementing the way we want to play. Hopefully we can go out on Thursday and play without thinking--and by that, I mean not thinking what they're supposed to do, but reacting properly because we've trained them right."
Blashill, who is entering his sixth season at the helm of the Red Wings, said the biggest aspect of improvement he's focused on is team defense. He said it takes everyone--forwards, defensemen and goalies--to help translate defense into offense, and translate offense into winning.
"I would say that we need to, without a shadow of a doubt, be better in our team defense," Blashill said. "I hope that not only the players we added on the blue line, but also the type of players we added up front--the guys that are fairly complete players, that are respectful of what it takes to win--ultimately, would give us a chance to be a more sound team defensively, which then means you probably have the puck more and you're a better team offensively."
With several key veteran additions, through free agency and trades, the Red Wings look to be improved in every aspect of the game, and Blashill said he's excited about his club's mindset heading into Thursday's season opener.
"I like our hunger," he said. "We're a group that had an extraordinarily long layoff. I think sometimes you gain perspective in those situations. I certainly think we're a hungry group, a group that wants to keep getting better, a group that doesn't like what's happened here and wants to get this organization to better days."
The Red Wings host the Hurricanes this Thursday at 7:30 p.m., with the TV broadcast on FOX Sports Detroit and radio broadcast on 97.1 The Ticket. The Wings wrap up their first series of the season against the Hurricanes at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, January 16 at 7 p.m.