Edvinsson, Seider and Lalonde.

via the Detroit Free Press,

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Simon Edvinsson expressed his feelings after his first practice Friday with the Detroit Red Wings.

“I’m kind of nervous,” he said. “I was nervous when I was driving up here.”

What’s there to be nervous about? He’s only making his NHL debut Saturday against the reigning Stanley Cup champion, with his parents possibly attending and the game televised nationally back home in Sweden.

“I hope he will be nervous,” Moritz Seider said. “I think if he says other than that, he will be lying. We’re just here to pump his tires, get him confident. Hopefully, he’ll be the best version out there of himself.”...

“He’s probably what you saw in camp, where there’s some games he looked NHL-ready and there’s games where he has a long ways to go,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “It sounds like a little more consistent of late, which is natural for young players. I personally think it’s a lot harder for a young D. So, he’s progressing accordingly, and these opportunities are extremely valuable in his overall development.”...

“You have to be physical (in the AHL). It’s the same here (in the NHL),” Edvinsson said. “You need to have good first contact. Otherwise, they’re going to run over you and one mistake it ends up in the net.”

He added: “I feel like I wasn’t quite ready to start up here. I had a lot of things to improve. I feel like Grand Rapids has been a good place to improve that stuff.”

Seider said he noticed in training camp that Edvinsson is calm under pressure.

“He will have the puck on his tape a lot tomorrow,” Seider said. “We’re really excited to have him. I think he will bring a lot of offensive energy to our blueline and that’s definitely something we need.”

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