Hi everybody and welcome to Episode 8 of Season 2 of Red Wings Rant hosted by the Brothers of Discussion and brought to you by the Hockey Podcast Network. Where tirades and impassioned pleas about your Detroit Red Wings, finally, have a home.

Today we're talking Red Wings Training Camp and how things are getting started lineup wise, who is playing great and who is going to need some time to catch up. We wrap up Sweden's performance in the World Juniors, Elmer Soderblom’s 2nd between the legs goal, Lucas Raymond gets on the board, and what this means for Prospect Timetables.

We also take a closer looks at Eemil Viro's success and how his defensive game has become one of the best things about the World Juniors for Red Wing fans.

We are also continuing our Rochester Mills 12 Days of Christmas sampling with the Salted Caramel Milkshake Stout, ‘Paul Woods’ returns to play Who is That Pokemon, and we play Be the GM.

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ON THIS DAY

In honor of our future Captain, Let’s look at Dylan Larkin’s OT winner from 2019 against Nashville Predators. It’s worth mentioning the assist came from Filip Hronek, but this goal was ALL D-Boss.

Red Wings Training Camp Underway

Danny Dekeyser back on the Ice

Danny Dekeyser is back on the ice, but he is prepared to be assessed fairly by the trainers and coaching staff. Despite his excitement to get back on the ice, he detailed his own tepid thoughts in regards to playing at a peak level of performance.

In my opinion, if Dekeyser doesn’t look ready, I’m fine with giving him some more time in practice. He hasn’t played competitive hockey in over a year and we aren’t necessarily looking for this season to turn into anything more than an opportunity to develop some younger talents.

On the flip side, Dekeyser isn’t going to make it any harder for us to win a Stanley Cup this year. So, if he plays from the outset, I won’t have a problem with that either. I would just expect less Time-On-Ice at the start of the season, while he works his way up.

Bobby Ryan, Jon Merrill, Troy Stetcher, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Marc Staal get Acclimated

Surrounded by Stanley Cup Banners, Winged Wheels, and meager expectations, the new Red Wing acquisitions got their first taste of wearing a Red Wing jersey.

It’s hard not to see the excitement, or hear it in their press conferences. This is a year where I’d like to think the likes of Bobby Ryan, Stetcher, Merrill, Namestnikov, and Staal would love to include in their resume. If things go bad for them, they were on a bad team. And if things go great, it’ll do wonders for their next contract.

Ultimately, when these signings and trades happened, we didn’t expect a Stanley Cup, and with those low expectations, in my opinion, comes one of the easiest seasons these players will ever have. You can only go up from here and any success is going to turn you into a fan favorite, instantly.

We do discuss the potential for line juggling (we don’t hate it as much as everyone else) once the season starts rolling for all of these players. Check out the rest of our episode to see where we think Namestnikov will end up within a month.

For the show’s discussion, we used the first day’s practice lineups:

Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha

Zadina-Fabbri-Ryan

Namestnikov-Filppula-Gagner*

Helm-Glendening-Erne

Dekeyser-Hronek

Nemeth-Stetcher-Staal-Merrill-Lindstrom

Power Play - Motes from Max Bultman of The Athletic:

Detroit spent some time working on the power play Friday, with a first unit composed of DeKeyser up top, Mantha and Larkin on the right and left flanks, Bertuzzi in the “bumper” spot in the slot, and Ryan at the net.

BE THE GM

World Juniors

• Sweden

  • Elmer Soderblom dazzles at 6’8”

  • Raymond, Niederbach, and Johansson support

• Finland

  • Emil Viro +6