Three Takeaways from the Red Wings’ 3-2, Preseason Finale Loss to the Maple Leafs

At long last, the preseason is over.

The Detroit Red Wings played their eighth and final preseason game Saturday night in Toronto, wrapping up a stretch of six games in six days with a 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs.

Put this in context: Toronto used this game as a dress rehearsal for a mostly NHL lineup, meanwhile Detroit’s best offering in this game was its third line. Still, this game gave a good, final look into where some areas of the Red Wings organization are at heading into the season. Here are three takeaways as the preseason wraps up.

Oct 1, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Detroit Red Wings center Nate Danielson (right) celebrates with defenseman Albert Johansson (20) after scoring a goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period at PPG Paints Arena. Detroit won 2-1.

Mandatory Credit&colon; Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Against More Physical Leafs, Nate Danielson Shows Need for Size

The Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t known for their prowess in the game’s physical areas, but they overwhelmed a few of the younger Red Wings in Saturday’s game. Among them was an unexpected face: Nate Danielson, the 20-year-old center whose training camp and preseason showed a lot of NHL-ready traits.

Even if he’s not small by any means at 6-foot-2 and 187 pounds, Danielson’s game isn’t built on his ability to box out and body opponents — he more so outthinks them and pounces on mistakes. But against the Maple Leafs, Danielson’s room to add some extra weight showed up at a few points.

The most notable example came a little over halfway through the first period, when Leafs forward Steven Lorentz outmuscled and hustled Danielson on a defensive zone board battle. Lorentz hit Danielson in a bid to steal the puck, but Danielson managed to move it deeper in the zone in the hope that defenseman Eemil Viro might collect it. Instead, Viro ate a Ryan Reaves body check, the puck wound up toward the Red Wings net, and Lorentz — who drove to the net after hitting Danielson — cashed in for the 1-1 goal. That’s a routine play in the NHL, and Danielson has to have the size to prevent it from turning into a goal. Danielson had a similar play in the second period when Matthew Knies muscled him in the corner, too, which led to a sequence where Detroit defenseman William Wallinder took a penalty trying to stop him.

If Danielson were a little bigger, he might have withstood Lorentz’s checking, or at the very least been able to recover enough to mark his man. Especially as a player who projects to stick at center, being able to hold his own in the physical battles will be important for Danielson.

This topic of physical size was discussed earlier in the preseason, back on Sept. 26, with center Andrew Copp sharing his perspective on the way young prospects have to add size to their game to translate to the NHL. On that front, Copp said, “There’s some guys that it does not matter, and there’s some guys where it matters a lot. It’s kind of how you use a little bit. There’s those really super strong, wiry 180 (pound) guys, and then there’s those 210 (pound) guys that are kind of easy to push around. So it’s all about how you move with it, how you can handle contact, all that.”

Copp’s perspective was that in Danielson’s case in particular, the difference between 180 pounds or 195 might not make a huge difference for Danielson in the physical areas, though it might aid him in injury prevention. But Saturday night’s game against the Maple Leafs showed the way that Danielson’s lack of comparative size can be exploited.

Playing in his first season of professional hockey — likely starting in Grand Rapids — will help Danielson learn how to win those physical battles. So will adding on a little more weight. This isn’t out of the ordinary for Danielson to face this challenge, as it takes time for prospects’ size to catch up to their skill. However, it’s something to look out for as he inches closer and closer to the NHL.

Oct 1, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Detroit Red Wings right wing Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (28) looks on at the face-off circle against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period at PPG Paints Arena.<p>Mandatory Credit&colon; Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images </p> — Oct 1, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Detroit Red Wings right wing Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (28) looks on at the face-off circle against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period at PPG Paints Arena.

Mandatory Credit&colon; Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Where Should Michael Brandsegg-Nygard Go Next?

For Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, the Red Wings 2024 first round pick’s first NHL training camp wasn’t a dominant display of his talent. It was, however, both a useful lesson of what it takes to make it in the NHL and an important barometer for where he is at heading into his draft-plus-one season.

Now comes the important question: Should Brandsegg-Nygard head back to Sweden to play with Skelleftea, or should he stick around North America to play for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins?

Opinions will vary, but both options present their own benefits. In Skelleftea, Brandsegg-Nygard can work on polishing his skills while playing much more comfortable competition. In Grand Rapids, he can develop these skills with teammates and opponents much closer to NHL readiness, potentially bringing him closer to NHL readiness at this time next year.

Saturday’s game offered some interesting data points after a mostly quiet preseason for Brandsegg-Nygard. He was leaned on heavily for his shot, including one power play when he took five shot attempts (two missed the net, one hit a post and two were saved by Toronto netminder Joseph Woll. This increase in data showed some areas that Brandsegg-Nygard needs to work on, namely in the way he leans on his shot.

The most clear example of this was his very first sequence of that power play sequence. Brought out on a 5-on-3 advantage, Brandsegg-Nygard received the puck at the point a few seconds into his shift, with the Maple Leafs largely in their structure ahead of him. Immediately, he had three obvious options: He could pass back to Albert Johansson on the other side of the point, resetting play for another look; He could pass to Jonatan Berggren, unmarked at the goal line, in the same spot where he nearly scored once in the game already; Or, Brandsegg-Nygard could just shoot the puck himself, banking on a tip, rebound or other chaos to create a scoring chance. He chose door three, coasting deeper into the zone, laying an 82 mile-per-hour shot right into goaltender Joseph Woll.

The play isn’t necessarily a bad one, but it revealed a problem in Brandsegg-Nygard’s game: when in doubt, he tends to rely on that shot instead of getting really creative, and that makes him a little one-dimensional against an NHL defense that is prepared for his level of shot.

This mental side of the game is where playing in the AHL could help Brandsegg-Nygard, where coaches can develop his decision-making process through film and reps against better defenders. While the SHL is a good league, putting him in a place where he is comfortable allows him to lean on habits, like shooting the puck when in doubt, that won’t translate so well to the NHL.

This is just one minor consideration in Brandsegg-Nygard’s complicated decision of where to play. But out of this game against the Maple Leafs, it was something I was left thinking about.

Outmatched by NHL Leafs, Depth-Driven Wings Struggle to Create Offense

Just 26 seconds into the second period, Detroit defenseman Brogan Rafferty fired a wrist shot toward Joseph Woll. It would be the Red Wings’ only shot on goal of the period, sparking a drought that lasted roughly 28 in-game minutes.

It’s preseason, and the bottom-six/AHL complement of Red Wings wasn’t exactly a great matchup for a Toronto roster furnished with all its star power, but this was far from an inspiring outcome.

Detroit was routinely outplayed in this preseason game, allowing a 17-1 shot margin from Rafferty’s shot until the drought-snapper midway through the third period. These struggles to get shots off even continued when Detroit had clear advantages. On two of their five power plays, the Red Wings recorded zero shots. Even with an empty net, Detroit

Players were hemmed in their own zone often, struggling to break out of the zone and transition cleanly through the neutral zone. This made for a number of long shifts — 12 extra long shifts, as tracked by Natural Stat Trick — throughout the game that trapped players on the ice. And as tired legs found little rest when constantly weathering a deluge, the Red Wings really struggled to find their offensive footing against this onslaught.

It cannot be repeated enough that this is preseason. So many roster players played for Toronto, against a Detroit group of everyone else that didn’t play in Friday’s dress rehearsal. But there were also enough NHL roster players involved, including Andrew Copp, Joe Veleno, Michael Rasmussen, Christian Fischer and Jonatan Berggren in the forward corps, to make such a lopsided difference concerning. Getting outplayed is one thing. Getting outplayed so badly that you can’t get a shot on net for more than a period is another.

Detroit has a lot to work on heading into the regular season, just like all 31 other NHL teams. But as far as inspiring performances go, this finale was not among them.