from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Consider in the Wings’ final game before the pandemic essentially ended the NHL regular season, when the Wings played Carolina.

The Wings’ defense, that evening, consisted of Alex Biega, Trevor Daley, Madison Bowey, Jonathan Ericsson, Filip Hronek and Gustav Lindstrom....

In the first week of training camp, of this shortened NHL season, it appears general manager Steve Yzerman has made the defense position more competitive and trustworthy.

It has helped that Danny DeKeyser has returned from a herniated disc, healthy, after only playing eight games last season.

DeKeyser is a top-four caliber defenseman the Wings greatly missed.

But the trade acquisition of Marc Staal, and unrestricted free agent signings of Troy Stetcher and Jon Merrill have strengthened the defense, adding to holdovers Filip Hronek and Patrik Nemeth.

Then, there are Alex Biega, Gustav Lindstrom, Dennis Cholowski, and Christian Djoos, who was claimed off waivers Saturday, further adding to the Wings’ depth.

“We get a chance to prove whether we’re stronger, and until you prove it on a night-to- night basis, we’ll see,” said Blashill, of whether the defensive unit is stronger. “Ultimately we added a number of guys. We have a lot of players who I would say are good players.”

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