Todd McLellan didn't mind the Detroit Red Wings' final exhibition performance, even as it was packed with turnovers and lacked urgency until the last period.
The Wings finished 2-1-1, their only outright loss coming in the last outing, in which they and their opponent had lineups almost entirely filled with the players who will be on their opening night rosters.
"We played against a real NHL team, and I didn't mind our game," McLellan said after the 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, Sept. 26. ""We were a little bit sloppy with the puck. Passing from A to B was sometimes A to B's feet, or two feet in front of them. It cost us a couple goals. But other than that, I didn't think we were under siege. I thought we had some scoring
opportunities that if it ends up on our stick just a second earlier or at a different angle, then we have a chance to finish. So I didn't mind tonight's game. It should set us up for a good week of practice, and away we go."
The Wings open the 2026-27 season on Friday, Oct. 2 (6:30 p.m., TNT/TruTV) at Little Caesars Arena, against the New York Rangers.
What's next
A day off Sunday, at least for players. The coaching staff and management will work on paring the roster to 23 ahead of the 5 p.m. Monday deadline. Among the factors that will decide that roster: Whether defenseman Simon Edvinsson has a new contract before then. If not, he's not on the roster. There's also Dylan Larkin – he missed part of camp and all four exhibition games nursing an upper-body injury, and could start on injured reserve, in which case he doesn't count against the 23-man limit. Jacob Bernard-Docker is also injured.
And don't forget, the roster that's submitted on Monday can change on Tuesday.
"There could be paper moves," McLellan said. "There could be moves made for waiver reasons. There could be something in the hop or somewhere else where you have to buy time. We don't play until Friday. We've got to go for four days before we play, and there could be some movement and stuff in there. Like any year, you guys will all dig into it because that's what you do, and you do a real good job of it, but it might not be what it turns out to be when it's all said and done."
Young defensemen made their case
The Wings are expected to carry 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. On the back end, Moritz Seider, Ben Chiarot, Justin Faulk and Albert Johansson have spots locked up, and add Edvinsson to the list when he's signed. So that leaves three spots. Anton Johansson, a 6-foot-4 right-shot defender who led the team with five points in four preseason games, has outplayed Axel Sandin-Pellikka (also a right-handed shot) over the past week, but Sandin-Pellikka did score seven goals among 21 points in 68 appearances last season. With Seider and Faulk on right-side defense, there's only one more who will play, and the Wings aren 't going to keep a young guy unless he's a regular in the lineup.
There's also William Wallinder. He's no longer waiver-exempt, but his stock fell this week; he didn't play the last two games. Maybe they risk putting him on waivers, though a smooth-skating 24-year-old 6-foot-5 defenseman is likely to attract attention.
There's also a new Red Wing in the mix, claimed off waivers Saturday.
Who is the new guy?
Andreas Englund, 30, has appeared in 200 NHL games, with 20 points and 190 penalty minutes, including 24 fights. He figures to be an occasional fill-in on the last defensive pairing.
"He's an outstanding human being," said McLellan, who coached Englund while with the Los Angeles Kings. "He will fit our room really well. He's fit, he works hard at his game. He has played in the system that we're trying to put in, and he's physical and he's tough and he shepherds the group. We like all those attributes that he'll bring. When he's in the lineup, he'll give you everything he has. When he's not in the lineup, he'll give you everything he can from the outside."
The spots up front
Among the forwards, Alex DeBrincat, Andrew Copp, Lucas Raymond, Marco Kasper, Emmitt Finnie, Viktor Arvidsson, Michael Rasmussen, J.T. Compher, Keegan Kolesar and Mason Appleton have spots locked up. That's 10. Larkin will make 11. McLellan has spoken highly of Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (two goals) and Nate Danielson (one assist), who both played all four games. But again, it only makes sense to keep either if he is going to play. Both are waiver-exempt.
Carter Mazur didn't really make enough of a case to be on the roster, and is likely to land on waivers.
A good camp vs. a great camp
Only so much can be read into preseason games, especially the first three, because the lineups were so disparate in NHL/prospect/minor league lineups. But the Wings maximized the opportunity for the prospects that kept earning appearances, and even if some start the season with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL, they'll leave having made favorable impressions – the kind that leads to being first on the list of who to call when needed.
"We want all those young players to be confident," McLellan said. "But you can see tonight, now Anton, the game changed a little bit. There are some bigger, faster, more experienced or intelligent players. They know angles better. They know when to jump and when to strip. So he'll have to get used to that. We've talked enough about him. But there's others that have had good camps.
"Sometimes you can have a good camp and it's just not enough because two guys next to you had great camps. And it can be quite discouraging if you're that guy. I think back to when I played, and that's a really bad thing for a coach ever to say, but I remember having that camp. And I was bitter because I thought I had a really good camp. But now that I look back on it, that other guy over there had a great camp, like a really good camp. And if I was picking the team, I would have picked it the way the management team did back then, too. I didn't like it because I thought I played as well as I could. Maybe we'll have some of those guys in that situation."
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com.
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For openers: Rangers
Matchup: Red Wings (41-31-10, 92 points in 2025-26) vs. NY Rangers (34-39-9, 77 points in 2025-26); regular-season opener.
Faceoff: 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
TV/radio: TNT, truTV; WXYT-FM (97.1).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What we learned from Detroit Red Wings preseason, final roster moves
