Systems and structure are emphasized a lot during the preseason, and the Red Wings spent a good chunk of Tuesday’s morning skate prioritizing the penalty kill.
“It flat-out has to get better,” McLellan said about Detroit’s penalty kill. “If it doesn’t get better, we’re not accomplishing any of our goals. Can it get better? Absolutely yes, it can get better. We must coach it better, get guys to understand it better and then we must react better. But there are other elements to it that have to improve. Some of it is confidence. You can’t go out there wondering if you’re going to get scored on. You have to go out there believing that you can start a penalty-killing streak.”
Andrew Copp has embraced a big role on Detroit’s penalty kill since joining his hometown NHL club ahead of the 2022-23 campaign. The 31-year-old forward said he believes playing more instinctively will go a long way in determining that unit’s success this season.
“We were a little indecisive in the previous structure and weren’t necessarily playing on our toes,” Copp said. “Then as we changed structure, we maybe even went more that way just because we were so concentrated on, ‘I need to be here, and I need to be here.’ We didn’t play the game a little bit and pressure as much as we really needed to. So, teams got extra possessions and more with the puck…Knowing the structure innately, right from camp, will be a huge help.”
Detroit’s Training Camp roster currently consists of 28 forwards, 17 defensemen and six goalies. There are several new faces in that mix, including Mason Appleton, who signed a two-year free-agent deal with the club in the offseason.
Appleton will bring a little bit of everything to the team, Copp said.
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