Hockey is back. Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the Detroit Red Wings face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in the first of four Red Wings preseason games. This is the first season under the new format, which cuts each team from six preseason games down to four. Instead of the usual 82-game regular season, the NHL is shifting to an 84-game regular season, with the two additional games being divisional games for each team.
Columbus has also had a not-so-great offseason. Kirill Marchenko deflected every question about an extension at camp after his agent said he does not intend to re-sign, and Adam Fantilli still hasn’t extended with the team. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts Podcast that the two sides are not any closer, and Fantilli has not reported to camp. Neither Marchenko nor Fantilli is on the Blue Jackets lineup for tonight, which mixes prospects with veterans like Conor Garland, Mathieu Olivier, Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro. Detroit’s lineup looks much the same. Tonight’s game is important to both teams and should be exciting to watch even if it’s only a preseason game.
A Shorter Red Wings Preseason Means Less Time to Evaluate
Fewer preseason games are good for fans because we get to meaningful hockey sooner, but they’re not great for coaches. Normally, a coach has enough preseason games to evaluate his team, swapping young players in and out of the lineup and testing their development. In parallel to this, they can see where new players, like Viktor Arvidsson and Keegan Kolesar for Detroit, mesh with their new team at NHL speed. The squeeze is tighter than the raw game count suggests: under the same agreement, players with at least 100 games of NHL experience are capped at two exhibition appearances. Now, with the shortened preseason, the team has less time to make important season decisions.
New Kids on the Block
Nate Danielson, Carter Mazur, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard played a handful of games last season in a Winged Wheel sweater, but all three eventually found themselves in Grand Rapids. A new season means a new opportunity for these young talents to break into the NHL again, and they sure made the most of it during training camp. Coach Todd McLellan had this to say after the last day of training camp.
“We have a line right now with Danny [Nate Danielson], Maze [Carter Mazur], and [Michael] Brandsegg-Nygard that is a bit of a kid line that hopefully can provide a lot of energy and a lot to the game and to the team.”
Todd McLellan, via Bob Duff, Detroit Hockey Now
Danielson, among the three, has probably the best chance to make the final cut. According to Coach McLellan, Danielson would have made the final cut after last season’s training camp. This, of course, didn’t come to fruition due to a wrist injury. Duff reported that Danielson and Brandsegg-Nygard are both slated to play the back-to-back against Columbus tonight and Pittsburgh on Tuesday, so the evaluation starts immediately.
Nervous Start
As everyone knows, this offseason has been a nightmare for Red Wings fans. Dylan Larkin requested a trade and is currently recovering from an upper-body injury suffered in off-ice training, with no timeline for his return. Our GM search still hasn’t produced a permanent hire, and interim general manager Shawn Horcoff is running hockey operations, with full authority on any Larkin decision. With the shortened training camp and preseason, along with the woes from this offseason, there is a lot of additional pressure and eyes on the team. Our current scenario doesn’t instill a lot of confidence in the team among fans.
This preseason allows the team to silence the naysayers and prove they can excel under pressure, which has been a weak point for the team for some time. While short, this preseason has to be the most productive preseason Detroit has had in a decade. They cannot drop this opportunity to develop and strengthen as a team. Like old-school hockey, the team needs to rip out the loose teeth that were left this offseason and get back on the ice.
Preview and Prediction
Preseason lines are always difficult to predict due to the nature of how coaches move players around, but we have an idea based on the lines from this morning’s pre-game skate reported by Max Bultman of The Athletic.
It is the first preseason game, so I wouldn’t look too much into these lines. The exception would be the Danielson-centered line. This is a line that excelled at camp and was specifically called out by the coach at the end of training camp. Other players to watch for this game are going to be Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Carter Bear. ASP was selected 17th overall in the first round by Detroit in 2023, and Bear was selected 13th overall in 2025. ASP had a decent rookie season with Detroit, with 21 points in 68 games played last season.
Carter Bear had 77 points in 53 games played in the regular season and 22 points in 18 games played in the postseason with the Everett Silvertips. The Silvertips went on to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions for the first time in franchise history, winning the final series 4-1 over Prince Albert. It will be very interesting to see how Bear handles the game at a higher speed and if his scoring translates to the NHL.
Where to Watch
Tonight’s game starts at 7 p.m. ET and is streamed free on DetroitRedWings.com for fans inside the Red Wings’ television territory, which covers the state of Michigan plus Lucas County, Ohio. The radio call is on WWJ Newsradio 950 AM. Starting Sept. 24 against Buffalo, games move to Detroit SportsNet, which streams through the MLB App.
