Morning Skate: Habs @ Red Wings, Preview & How to Watch
When: 7:00 p.m. East
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
TV: BSDET, TSN2, RDS
Radio: 97.1 FM The ticket // 1270 pm
Habs Blog: Keep an eye on the price
What a day! Can you feel that feeling in the air? That lightness that wants to lift your arms and shoulders? See how the world looks a little brighter, the trees more alive than in six autumns? It’s like your lungs are taking in a different kind of oxygen and there’s this energy in your chest that’s propelling you forward, but you have to sit (or stand) and watch that hockey game?
I think this feeling is hope? Maybe. It’s been so long I can barely remember how it feels, but I guess it is. I think I’m hopeful, really hopeful for the Red Wings’ first season in a long time. I’m not sure I’ve had this good a feeling about the Detroit Red Wings’ future since… 2012? I think that would be accurate. I hope you feel good too. I hope you have hope.
At the start of the 2022-2023 season, Detroit takes on the Montreal Canadiens in the LCA. It’s a time for change; In case you haven’t been following the summer, Detroit will add five new forwards (Andrew Copp, David Perron, Elmer Soderblom, Oskar Sundqvist and Dominik Kubalik), three new defensemen, all at left (Ben Chiarot, Olli Maata and Robert Hagg) and a new goalkeeper (Ville Husso). That’s extreme turnover, so we’ll see if the Red Wings are as rejuvenated as fans feel, or if it will take them some time to settle in with so many new faces. Unfortunately, Filip Zadina and Pius Suter are absent due to minor injuries they sustained last season.
There is also a changing of the guard in Montreal as they look to turn the tide after a tough season. Nick Suzuki is the new captain of the Habs and I respect that. I’ve always liked him. They also picked Kirby Dach from the Blackhawks in a draft-day trade. Jake Allen is the guy between the pipes now and Shea Weber no longer patrols the blue line and bangs heads through the boards (You’ll never survive this, Shea.) Things are definitely different in Montreal, and I’m sure that both the team and the fans feel it; They already have one game under their belt, a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
So get excited and enjoy the game tonight; it should be a good one for a variety of angles. Both teams are looking to start a new chapter and will be eager to prove their new selves in the league. Couple that with the fact that it’s the start of the season when half the good teams don’t yet know they’re good and half the bad teams don’t realize they’re bad and it’s going to be a wild night.
[Ed note on the Predictions]:
Points are awarded as follows:
- Correct winning team: 1 point
- Correct POTG: 3 points
- Correct score: 5 points
- All three correct: 15 points
- Predictions close on puck drop.