The Detroit Red Wings have found their starting goaltender for the time being in Alex Lyon. Lyon has a record of 12-6-1 in 19 games played for the Red Wings in the 2023-24 season. Lyon only made it into the Red Wings lineup after Ville Husso injured his hip against the Anaheim Ducks. Lyon recorded the first shutout of his young career as the Red Wings beat the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 3-0. Lyon never got the chance to prove himself in Philadelphia, playing in only 22 games over four seasons.
Husso seemed to be in a positive frame of mind after his conditioning stint in Grand Rapids, saying, “It was nice to get a game back in action. Little butterflies before the game, just haven’t played for five weeks. Good start. I’ve always played well there. It was easy to jump in.” The fact that the Red Wings have Lyon as their starting goalie means that they can ease Husso back into the lineup. Husso said that he was worn out towards the end of the 2022-23 NHL season, in which he played 56 games.
The Helsinki, Finland native posted a shutout in a conditioning start for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League against the Belleville Senators, in which he made 25 saves. Drafted originally by the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Husso could not find playing time with the Blues and was signed by the Red Wings to a three-year, $14.25 million contract after being acquired at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft for a third-round draft pick.
Husso will have to wait to get back into the Red Wings’ lineup though. The all-star break will allow Husso to have more time to continue the comeback from the lower-body injury. Patrick Kane is close to returning to the Red Wings’ lineup as well, according to head coach Derek Lalonde. Kane has been out of the lineup since suffering a lower-body injury on January 14th. The positive thing about this injury, if there can be such a thing, is that it was not related to the hip that saw Kane have hip resurfacing surgery on June 1st.
The NHL all-star game will be in Toronto, Ontario, on February 3rd. Alex DeBrincat will represent the Red Wings at the all-star game and will play alongside such players as Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby. In his first season with the Red Wings, DeBrincat has scored 18 goals and added 25 assists in 49 games played for the Red Wings. The Farmington Hills, Michigan native has proven that he made the right choice in wanting to play for his “hometown” team.
Lyon has proven in the month of January that he should be the number one goalie for the Red Wings at this time. Husso needs to find the form that saw the team acquire him from the Blues in 2022. NHL teams cannot rely on one goalie to play 82 games during the regular season and then lead a team on a playoff run. The last time the Red Wings made the Stanley Cup playoffs was in 2016, when the team lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.
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