Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Coach Lalonde On The Playoffs And Jonatan Berggren

11/21/2022 at 6:35pm EST

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

The Detroit Red Wings might wake up on Thanksgiving in postseason position.

Nobody is printing playoff tickets with more than three-quarters of the season remaining. But for years NHL people have used Turkey Day as a gauge for determining if their team is postseason material.

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde isn’t one of them, even with his team occupying the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference after returning from a 2-1-1 trip.

“I did with a couple of my Tampa teams because I knew how talented they were, and that was probably real,” Lalonde said. “Not with this team. We’ve got a long ways to go. We’re there right now with sheer will and commitment. It’s a huge credit to our guys, but those underlying numbers, there’s some truth to them, too. We’re willing our way to where we are right now. How sustainable is that? We’ll find out from this group.”

continued

from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

Walman is making a case to play regularly in Detroit’s third pairing and Berggren has demonstrated he can make things happen offensively. Undoubtedly, he’s trying to make a case to remain in Detroit

“I think flashes of skill, which are great, but I think there’s times… adding a skilled guy to your lineup shows up in many different ways,” Lalonde said. “Sometimes it shows up with a play out of the D-zone. Or a skilled play in the neutral zone that keeps the play moving north. It’s not necessarily that world-class skill play ends up in the back of the net. I think some of that skill helps our lineup. It’s a little different being in the bottom six. We’ve given him looks in the top six when warranted and it’s helped our lineup but it’s just a different look in our bottom six, a little skill that’s helped us.”

more

If you missed Lalonde after today's practice, you can watch him here.

Chet

Sure has looked to me like Berg has earned a spot, but you have role questions ie he shouldnt play 8 mins/game with plugs, and you may want to slide his deal assuming thats possible. 

Paul

MurrayChadwick

Berg is making a case, but unless he puts in a Raymond eske month, I don't think he can stick on this team if and when Vrana and Fabri return, there's no PP time for him, and his minutes likely reduce further.

OTC

Whether Berggren stays or goes back to GR in the coming weeks, it's been a blast to see how calmly he's played at the NHL level. He doesn't seem to rush things, and he usually makes smart moves/passes. He'll be in the NHl for a long time once the overall roster situation gets resolved.

ChetOTC

Agree. This looks like a business / crowded roster situation. He belongs up. 

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Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.

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