The Detroit Red Wings arrive in Edmonton looking to steady themselves after a mixed Pacific road swing, and they’ll have to do it against one of the league’s sharpest offensive teams.
Monday’s matchup closes out Detroit’s road trip after the Wings picked up three of a possible six points, beating the Vancouver Canucks and then dropping a shootout decision to the Seattle Kraken. Edmonton, meanwhile, is trying to shake off a 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday while still carrying one of the NHL’s hottest starts at 8-2-1 through 11 games.
Connor McDavid remains the headliner, and his numbers are outrageous even by his standards: eight goals and 25 assists for 33 points in 11 games, good for an average of three points per night. The Oilers haven’t been asking him to do it alone, either. Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard have joined the early scoring surge, sitting among the league’s top five point producers with 23 and 21 points, respectively.
Detroit doesn’t match that kind of firepower, but there are a few Wings forwards giving the team something to build on. Alex DeBrincat and Emmitt Finnie have been central to that push, with the top-line pair combining for 10 goals across Detroit’s first 12 games.
The recent history also tilts Edmonton’s way. The Oilers have won six of the last nine meetings between the teams, and McDavid has piled up 30 points in 19 career games against the Red Wings, making him the obvious centerpiece of Detroit’s defensive focus.
The projected lineup for Detroit, subject to change, has DeBrincant with Finnie and Arvidsson, Brandsegg-Nygard centering Larkin and Raymond, Rasmussen between Copp and Compher, and Danielson with Kolesar. On the blue line, Chiarot and Seider are paired together, followed by Wallinder and Faulk, then Al.
Johansson and An. Johansson.
Englund is also listed, with Gibson in net.
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The tension is easy to see in the way the hypothetical trade market is being framed. Dylan Larkin would push the conversation toward established players who can help right away, while Simon Edvinsson points more toward a return that keeps the door open for the future, but Horcoffs temporary job makes it harder to know how aggressively the team can commit to either direction until a more permanent answer arrives. [Read more 🡒]