But then Talbot went and got hurt during the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks. That story will still likely run tomorrow here at Shap Shots, but it felt a bit disingenuous to publish that one with some injury uncertainty in the air for the goaltender (after the game Detroit coach Derek Lalonde had no real update other than the fact the goalie tweaked something in the lower body.)

Talbot left the game and the Red Wings eventually lost in a season that’s felt a bit like Murphy’s Law for the franchise. Everything that can go wrong eventually will go wrong seems to be a theme, especially when it comes to Red Wings penalty kill, which statistically is the worst in NHL history at this moment.

On Sunday the Red Wings allowed two power play goals in quick succession to start the second period, one a 5-on-3 and one at 5-on-4, which effectively zapped away the momentum.

Before we get into the extended impact, I wanted to take a quick look at why opponents kill Detroit on the penalty kill.

When opponents score against Detroit on the power play, they typically do so off retrievals in the slot. It’s why the Red Wings goals against on the penalty kill, coming into today, looked like this according to InStat.

It’s not that the Red Wings are getting burned on picturesque setups or one-timers, although those do happen some times, it’s that other teams are simply winning the battle in the middle of the Red Wings penalty-killing box and from that chaos they capitalize.

Lalonde heavily preaches structure and playing smart defensively, and the Red Wings structure on the penalty kill actually isn’t horrible, it’s just that they are terrible as a group at moving bodies and making the net-front presence for the other team move. The Red Wings are also so focused on fronting shot on the penalty kill that they effectively concede the are right in front of their goalie to the opponent.

For a quick example, here are some recent goals against where Detroit effectively gives up the net front on the penalty kill.

As I alluded to earlier, that penalty killing inefficiency isn’t just burning Detroit on the scoreboard, it’s trickling over to the 5-on-5 play both before and a call is made against the Red Wings.

This part is admittedly more anecdotal than analytical, but watching the Red Wings you can see how much they’ve become scared of what happens when a man enters the box. Recently it feels like a foregone conclusion any penalty will result in a goal, and it’s hard for players to be completely immune to that emotional toll.

It’s also added to the overall passiveness in Detroit at even strength, something Lalonde slightly admitted to on Sunday, where a fear of taking penalties has led to less risk and aggression at times at even strength.

This happens in multiple forms, in my view, and it tends to have more of an impact in areas the Red Wings are already struggling, like puck retrievals where the Red Wings are already far from a poster child when it comes to getting the puck back.

It’s something I thought about a bit watching Detroit and Vancouver on Sunday, particularly watching Michael Rasmussen’s play. Rasmussen is a different animal on the power play, he wins battles and retrieves pucks well, like he did on his own power play goal.

But at even strength, while it’s gotten better recently, Rasmussen is a less intense puck hunter, and despite his size, loses some battles and retrievals. Maybe I’m reading too far into it, but if players are overly concerned about taking penalties that likely seeps into the mindset.

Again most of this is anecdotal, but it’s a theory I could help but think about watching Detroit play on Sunday. When everyone in the building, from the fans to the media and players, feel like any penalty is just a goal waiting to happen it’s impossible for it not to impact everything else.

It was chaotic and sloppy hockey. Sure it was fun, but neither team probably felt particularly proud of how they played this game.

For Detroit, it’s a needed win after having lost three straight. The Red Wings are teetering on the edge of potential coaching change discussions.

It’s not there yet, but anyone can look at the situation and realize that Derek Lalonde is in the final year of his contract, and fair or not, the lame duck coach is often the guy to take a fall for a team under performing when internally “playoffs” were an expectation.

Lalonde is an old goalie himself, he played the position up until the NCAA Division III level, so it’s fitting that goaltending has effectively kept the Red Wings in the tightly-packed playoff hunt.

On Saturday, Cam Talbot was the hero, making 31 saves, including two point-blank stops in the first minute of the game. That’s the save Detroit needed, especially when you consider how much early goals against unraveled Detroit in a loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.

I’m not sure Talbot’s statistical performance is sustainable, he’s got a .923 save percentage thus far this season, but his demeanor fits with what Detroit needs right now. Talbot is 37, he’s playing for his eighth NHL team and fourth in four seasons, and he’s painfully self-aware of his place in the NHL.

During the 2021-22 season, when Talbot reached his first NHL All-Star Game, he told me that he was trying to relish that moment because it was likely the only one he’d ever reach (he was also an All-Star last season with the Los Angeles Kings). He went through the disappointment of the Kings picking Darcy Kuemper over him, signed the two-year deal in Detroit over offers from other teams (including Dallas, which offered him more money on a one-year deal), and has embraced the fact he’s likely going to finish his career as a Red Wing.

When you’re at peace with that, and having a rare sense of stability for the family, the chaos of an NHL game starts to feel less chaotic.

Through both design and necessity, the Red Wings defense is young. Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson are the top pair and will be for years. Albert Johansson is now a regular. Many of the veteran defense Steve Yzerman signed to calm things have done the exact opposite.

With that combination in front of them, Red Wings goalies have to be mentally rock solid. Talbot’s found it through NHL consistency, Alex Lyon has reached this point through happy-go-lucky realization that he was never really supposed to have an NHL career as undrafted, and undersized, goalie out of Yale.

I’m not sure there’s enough for Detroit to actually be a playoff contender, the roster construction and offensive plan seem flawed to me. But there’s at least been the early calming forces in net that have given the Red Wings some time to figure it out.

The Red Wings have five wins this, in each of those games they’ve been out-shot and out-possessed. With league average goaltending, the Red Wings would be in San Jose Sharks territory and would already have potentially changed their coach.

The lesson from Saturday for Detroit isn’t that this is the way to reach the playoffs, overall it’s not a winning formula. But it is evidence that sometimes, deserved or not, you get the more chances to fix those problems later than sooner because of the guy in net.

After playing for three teams in three seasons, Cam Talbot thought he had a final NHL home in Southern California with the Los Angeles Kings.

And why would he think otherwise?

After playing 54 games for Los Angeles and posting a .913 save percentage, Talbot seemed like part of the solution in goal for the Kings.

But then on June 19, in a surprising deal, the Kings traded Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Washington Capitals for Darcy Kuemper. There was no more room in the crease for Talbot, who in early July had to inform his 8-year-old twins, Landon and Sloane, that they’d be moving for a third straight offseason.

“It was really tough, really really tough actually,” Talbot said. “My son kind of kept it a bit closer, hidden I think, but my daughter at one point was crying on the floor. We loved it there, she was making friends, and now we have to move again.”

So for the 37-year-old Talbot, his next NHL contract, maybe his last, was always going to be about stability. So that he could tell his kids that in the summer of 2025 they wouldn’t have to move again.

That’s why he signed a two-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings with an annual contract value of $2.5 million.

“I had other offers with more more money, especially with bonus structure (for a 35-plus deal), but for me, the two-year deal, that stability after the past couple years, that was more valuable than anything,” Talbot said. “That’'ll take me until I’m 39, then who knows from there. But I can at least have some normalcy here for the family.”

Talbot’s kids, who’s initials are written on his goalie stick, have been able to get involved in youth sports — hockey and gymnastics — and his wife has a larger support group of friends and extended family in Detroit.

For Talbot, his job is stopping pucks for the Red Wings, but he’s reached the phase of life where he’s putting his family first, particular his kids, Landon and Sloane.

One seat to the Talbot’s left in the Red Wings locker room, Ville Husso is at a different crossroads both in life and in hockey.

After joining the Red Wings before the 2022-23 season, and still being paid to be a No. 1 goalie at $4.75 million, injuries and inconsistency have plagued Husso, now 29, the past 18 months.

He missed most of the 2023-24 season with injury, a carryover from the 2022-23 season where Detroit likely pushed him too hard down the stretch for a team that was doomed to miss the playoffs.

The Red Wings, based on their actions, looked at Husso as a potentially failed experiment. They weren’t sure if he’d ever be healthy enough, that’s why they signed Talbot, and in training camp Husso had to prove he was healthy enough to be an NHL option once again.

It could have been a long year for Husso, a really long one, but it also flew by at the same time because of the arrival of his daughter, Emmi, who was born last November.

“That sort of puts things into perspective, all of life, doesn’t it?” Husso said. “She’s more mobile and moving and growing, when you focus on not missing a day of that, that tends to make you smile a bit more.”

Husso said it also brings some new pressures, he’s seen how cruel the NHL goalie carousel can be. We all can see future depth charts — the Red Wings have high hopes for both Sebastian Cossa and Trey Augustine — so for Husso re-establishing himself as an NHL goalie this season is potentially a matter of some long-term stability for his young family.

It’s why watching Red Wings opening night against the Pittsburgh Penguins made you feel for Husso. He’d battled back. He shook off past injuries. In training camp and preseason he earned the opening-night start. It was supposed to be a triumphant return, filled with “HOOOS” from the Red Wings crowd, until Husso struggled tracking the puck and was eventually pulled in the second period for Talbot in a 6-3 loss.

A year of work, winning back the confidence of his teammates, and now Husso already has to start over after Game 1.

To Husso’s left in the locker room, the final member of the Red Wings goalie trio, Alex Lyon watched opening night from the press box.

Lyon by usage was the Red Wings starter last season, playing 44 games and helping solidify the season while Husso was dealing with injury, and severely outplaying James Reimer.

For a career NHL/AHL tweener, that season was proof he was ready to be a full-time NHL goalie. But for the second straight season, on opening night, he was back to No. 3 on the depth chart.

While Detroit signing Talbot was more of a reflection of Husso’s past injury history, Lyon, who is making just $900,000 against the salary cap, understands this is a business and goalies making triple and six-times as much tend to get more opportunities until they lose them.

Talbot and Husso are NHL goalies based on their contract and salary, Lyon is the guy who has to prove each season he’s more than a quality AHL goalie in NHL clothes.

It’s all why the Red Wings goalie situation this season is so fascinating.

At the end of the day, the cruel reality in the goalie world is that there is only one net, one crease, and as friendly as Talbot, Husso, and Lyon are with each other, only one can play at a time.

And for now, all three seem to be OK with that. All three have plans to compete, to try to win the No. 1 job and more starts, but they each have a healthy respect for the goalies sitting next to them.

Talbot signed up for this setup, Husso knew Red Wings management would question his health and performance, and Lyon has been use to people questioning him his entire career.

“You get it, you really do,” Lyon said. “You kind of have to be ready, understand how this all works, and that if you don’t seize the chance, you can be sitting for a while without a game.”

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde has spoken about how he has trust in all three goalies, how there isn’t much of a gap between the three. He’s also talked about how he’s going to play the hot hand and do his best to win each night.

And for Lalonde, a prior goalie himself, he has to do that to potentially save his job this season. The Red Wings coach, now in year 3, has heard the whispers about his job status about the mounting pressure to get into the postseason. Lalonde, unprompted, brought up how short-lived NHL coaching careers are, how he’s somehow already the sixth-most tenured coach in the league.

The NHL coaching carousel is cruel, it’s about the only thing more cruel than the goalie carousel that his three netminders have tried to navigate in recent years.

It’s not just about who is net or how the puck is stopped, but rather the success or failure of this three-goalie battle and friendship will likely have lasting impacts on four careers and four different families.

For Simon Edvinsson the focus has shifted from trying to make the team to trying to an earn a role with the Detroit Red Wings.

And that’s an important distinction.

The past two seasons Edvinsson has made NHL cameos (nine games in 2022-23, 16 in 2023-24), but ultimately finished the season in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

During those stints Edvinsson was arguably one of the Red Wings better defenders, he looked like an NHLer, but until you officially “earn” NHL status, you rarely get a chance to keep a role at the top level.

“First you have to make a name, you have to prove that, and then you can try to get a role,” Edvinsson said.

Edvinsson said it’s a shift in mentality. In the past he had to treat every shift like he was trying to prove he belonged on the NHL roster, it’s not a very calming feeling and any mistake felt amplified. Now he said gets to attack each practice with confidence that he’s got a job, and just can prove his game will lead to larger roles and opportunities.

He can make the game easier, he can be calm off the ice, ideally matching his demeanor on it.

“I feel like in general my game is just smooth now,” Edvinsson said. “Calm with the puck, my breakout passes. I think that’s my strength, is that my skating and my breakout passes. That’s also become my best addition, I can be smooth now from the defensive to the offensive zone.”

From a Red Wings perspective, it’s easy to look at Edvinsson and hope he’s a potential future Victor Hedman.

Like the newly-minted Tampa Bay Lightning captain, Edvinsson is a 6-foot-6 behemoth that skates well and controls the game. Both happen to wear No. 77, and Edvinsson put on about 15 pounds of weight this summer — a mix of training and eating avocado toast everyday, he says — so he more closely fits Hedman’s profile physically.

Hedman could also be a bit of a blue print when it comes to career arc.

Hedman’s first four NHL seasons were about figuring out the defensive side of the game, becoming more well-rounded, before he became an offensive force in his fifth NHL season, eventually becoming a fixture on a dynamic Tampa Bay power play.

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde is a former Tampa Bay assistant, he spent time around Hedman. He’s seen the comparisons between Edvinsson and Hedman, he also understands what the Red Wings defender will have to do to deliver on them.

“Not wasting shots, his shot has improved greatly, I think that’s very important for him offensively,” Lalonde said. “I still think it’s a simple offense game. Very comfortable with him on the rush, because he can skate and he’s got some instincts … but being simple and creating on the offensive blue line, it’s so hard to create offense in today’s game five-on-five, I think a little bit has to be done in the half-court game, if you will.”

In the long-term Lalonde sees Edvinsson as a power play fixture, but that’s not going to be rushed this season. Moritz Seider and Erik Gustafsson are effectively locked into those spots this season. There are those in the organization who see Gustafsson as a stop-gap before Edvinsson eventually takes his spot running the top of a power play.

Edvinsson himself is very calm and composed talking about all of this, he’s also done some work in the offseason to add offensive elements on his own after working out closely with new Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin.

Dahlin isn’t small, but he is shrimpish at 6-foot-3 compared to the 6-foot-6 Edvinsson. One of the things about Dahlin’s game, that stand out to Edvinsson, is how well he combines small player skills with a slightly bigger body.

“Yeah, there are small things (Dahlin) does that I think I can translate and add to my game,” Edvinsson said. “We talked about that, he was good about that, and it’s part of a long-term thing for me. How do I learn and add that to my role?”

Again, that’s what it’s all about for Edvinsson. It’s no longer about being a Red Wing, it’s about carving out a role that sets him up for a better short and long-term future.

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Team White won 6-1, but at an event like this the rules are made up and the points don’t matter.

I watched the scrimmage via the Red Wings stream — I had to be down in the Detroit area this weekend to help coach my daughter’s hockey practice on Saturday — but here are my observations.

• The Red Wings are trying to re-connect some of the chemistry that Erik Gustafsson had with Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat during their time in Chicago. Kane in particular has raved bout Gustafsson’s ability to walk the blue line. The trio also played together during the 4-on-4 session of the scrimmage.

• Sheldon Dries really impressed. Now Dries is always going to stand out to me because I covered him as an AHL-contracted player during the 2017-18 season with the Texas Stars. Dries has pieced together a nice NHL career after his one-year AHL deal and scored twice in the scrimmage. He’ll start the year with Grand Rapids in the AHL, but could be in the call-up conversation and has a past history with Derek Lalonde.

• Patrick Kane has some good pop in training camp, his first camp since his final season with Chicago. He looks like he should be more than a point-per-game player, which is something I wouldn’t have predicted 12 months ago when he was going through a surgery that could have been career-ending.

• Tyler Motte and Christian Fischer were quite good at what they are supposed to be, frustratingly-effective penalty killers that annoy others. Both also scored in the game, which won’t be a common occurrence this season.

• I personally thought Joe Veleno was really good in all three zones. He’s someone who took a bit of a leap last season and should score a bit more this season in my opinion.

• All of the goalies acquitted themselves well enough. These scrimmages are tough to judge goalies on, but none of the trio of Ville Husso, Cam Talbot, or Alex Lyon did anything to change how you would view the goaltending plan for this season.

• On that same note, Sebastian Cossa was quite good. He’s taken some nice strides, I was admittedly harsh on him earlier in his career, partially reading too much into when he was drafted, but when you look at his overall body of work and growth in the AHL, there is something to like in the long term.

With that Red Wings training camp moves to Detroit this week. I’ll be covering that move in person, so join us here and we’ll have some fun.

That deal leaves Detroit with roughly $8.75 million in cap space to get a deal done with Moritz Seider, who is also a pending restricted free agent.

Right now, September 17, this is what the Red Wings projected lineup looks like with a massive Seider-sized hole on the top pairing.

For a quick explainer of how we got here, Steve Yzerman said on Tuesday that once Seider is signed he plans to carry eight defenseman, including Albert Johansson into the start of the season.

He was also wishy-washy on the goalie topic, effectively trying to throw that question down the line and pointing to the fact that Ville Husso’s injury history leaves a question that has to be answered.

But if we assume Husso is healthy, admittedly a big if, and Yzerman is going to hold true to his word on eight defenders, that doesn’t leave room for a young forward to make the NHL opening night roster.

There are 23 NHL roster spots, last time I checked 12+8+3 still equals 23.

So I asked Yzerman about that during his pre-training camp media Zoom on Tuesday.

“Well, you know last year the plan wasn’t to carry three goaltenders. We did for a while. We ended up with an injury in goal,” Yzerman said. “But potentially you know, we have a 23-man roster as you point out, we can make it work with three goaltenders. You know the plan right now is to start with eight defenseman, and we’ll see how we do. If we’re healthy we you can always go 11 and 7 short-term. But basically we’ll figure it out, if any of these young kids makes us a better team and is going to play a regular role, not just a bit-part role, we’ll figure something out. When I say that, there’s lots of different options to, if everybody’s healthy, to get a player on your roster.”

In Yzerman’s defense, he’s been creative enough in the past and hasn’t been shy about making moves that can seem questionable to dump salary and roster spots. He’s done this both during the regular season and in the offseason, including the move to dump Jake Walman and sweeten the deal to the San Jose Sharks before the draft.

He’s also not been shy about waiving players and sending them to the AHL, a bit more aggressively than some other GMs.

If you wanna read the tea leaves, or between the lines, one of the biggest questions for me on this roster is how long until Justin Holl is moved to open up a roster spot for a young forward?

Holl only played 38 games last season and only played three after Jan. 31, essentially living in the press box as a healthy scratch. Holl makes $3.4 million against the cap, and still has another year remaining. In a perfect world the Red Wings would find a way to move him out to open up cap space for the 2025-26 season.

Right now Holl has limited value and isn’t a great trade candidate. According to some people I’ve spoken to around the NHL any trade for Holl would require a pretty large sweetener from the Red Wings to make it work.

In the short-term, Detroit could waive Holl and punt the issue down the road, especially since cap space is expected to open up next summer when Husso’ deal expires and Jeff Petry will also likely be off the books.

For a Carter Mazur, Nate Danielson, Marco Kasper, or an Elmer Soderblom to make the NHL roster, they’re going to need another shoe to drop in some fashion. Maybe it’s simple, maybe an injury, maybe it’s something bigger.

Either way Detroit will be a candidate to make an early-season roster move, because while Yzerman said 11-7 is doable in the short-term, it’s not great long-term business.

While meeting with media members on Sunday in Traverse City, the Detroit Red Wings director of player development mused about where top prospects Nate Danielson will play this season.

“I have inner thoughts that I don’t want to say out loud,” Cleary said. “But not a lot would surprise me.”

Reading between the lines on that statement, my conversations with others at Traverse City, and watching Danielson play myself, it feels like a decent bet the 19-year-old is actually part of the NHL plans this season.

A member of the Dallas Stars brass, who closely watched the games, told me Danielson was the best player in the Traverse City prospect games and that the first-round pick, “looked NHL ready to me.”

It makes sense, in the long-term the Red Wings need Danielson to become the No. 2 center that unlocks their lineup. Why not start that process this season?

If we assume Lucas Raymond is signed before the season starts, which I think will happen, the Red Wings will essentially have one NHL forward spot open in camp, which could go to someone from the mix of Carter Mazur, Marco Kasper, Amadeus Lombardi, and Danielson.

With Danielson the edge will come in the details. Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde wants to build a team identity of players that are smart in their routes, and work to build defense into offense on the forecheck. Danielson did that and more against Stars prospects and in the WHL, now it’s just a question of whether he’s ready to do it in NHL preseason.

With that in mind, here are some other notes/observations I had on Red Wings prospects from the two-game series vs. Dallas.

Jakub Rychlovsky — Rychlovsky led the Czech league in goals before signing with Detroit as a free agent. I really liked how he read off others, he finds pockets of space to create shots. He also has more of a physical impact than I expected.

Michael Brandsegg-Nygård — Brandsegg-Nygård tweaked his groin in the first game and watched the second one from the scout’s perch, talking to a couple scouts in Swedish. Brandsegg-Nygård was dynamic with Danielson and Rychlovsky when he played, and he really maximized space for others. I like the way he moves before his shot to change the angle on the goalie.

Amadeus Lombardi — Lombardi was the only Red Wings with a full year of AHL experience entering this event and he looked the part. Lombardi controlled the play, cut to the middle frequently, and changed the point of attack for his line mates.

Alexandre Doucet — Doucet scored three goals, he’s got a nice shot. I also felt he was decent on the cycle and found space that Lombardi created. He’s got a finisher’s mentality.

Emmitt Finnie — Finnie centered his own line in Game 1 and then was elevated to the first line with Brandsegg-Nygård injured. I like how he creates for others, he does a nice job taking the middle of the ice and then reading off the gaps after that.

Shai Buium — Buium had to do all the heavy lifting on defense with Detroit icing a lineup that featured five free agent invitees. He also left Game 2 early after blocking a shot with his right foot. Buium had a slow start, but I liked how he started to impact the game more and be more assertive after the first period of Game 1.

Carter Gylander — The goalie started both games, splitting the second with Landon Miller. He’s a bit scrambly and I’m super sold on his tracking, but he’s big and athletic and with the right goalie coach could carve out at least a nice AHL career.