Wings player Ville Husso is healthy and wants to get back on his feet after an injury-plagued season
Traverse City — Goalkeeper Ville Husso looks healthy and full of energy and is ready to erase the disappointment of last season from his memory.
Husso was injured on December 18 against Anaheim and returned on February 13 in Edmonton, but he lasted less than nine minutes before suffering another unspecified injury.
It was a season to forget, especially after he had played so well the season before and had seemingly established himself as a top-notch NHL goalie.
“After Christmas, when you don’t play much, zero games, it’s hard for an athlete to just sit and watch,” Husso said. “You just want to be out there and play and enjoy playing. This summer was a little bit of a reset, I had some time off and I’m excited to be back.”
Husso mentioned several times in conversations with reporters that he was “feeling really good” and was ready for the friendlies.
“It’s always hard not to play, and especially last year after the second injury. You want to go out, but then you’re not ready,” Husso said. “But it was a really good summer and I’ve been feeling really good for a long time now.”
Coach Derek Lalonde has indicated that all three goalies on the Wings’ roster – Husso, Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot – will carry a fair share of the workload during the eight friendlies, which will be especially important for Husso.
“He’s going to need repetition, and he’s going to need it live. We’ll get a chance to do that in training, in the Red and White’s training game on Sunday and in these friendlies,” Lalonde said. “That’s something we’re conscious of as a group when we use the goalkeepers that we rotate.”
Husso was a regular at the Wings’ training sessions before the training camp and impressed his teammates.
“He’s looked good since he’s been on the ice this summer, he’s healthy again,” said forward Alex DeBrincat. “It’s hard to score against him in practice again, he’s always fighting, and those are the goalies that are probably the most fun to practice with.”
There’s a good chance the Wings will keep three goalies, as they did last season. The extra goalie takes up an extra position on the roster and it’s difficult to keep three NHL goalies healthy. But Husso feels the Wings have adapted well to the three-man approach.
“You get a lot of shots and action right away (in training camp),” Husso said. “We went through that last year when we were all healthy, and you just have to put in extra work after practice and stay as fit as you can. Whatever you need, you have to do for yourself after practice.”
“It’s a good competition for all of us, we encourage each other. The most important thing is to help the team win games. So you have to live day by day and not think about it too much.”
Training game between red and white
The Wings will conclude the training camp portion of the preseason with the Reds and Whites’ internal team training game on Sunday.
Lalonde will be paying attention to certain details from his seat at the Centre Ice Arena.
“There’s probably going to be a lot more structure and concepts than maybe line combinations and chemistry,” Lalonde said of what he expects his squad to take out of the practice game. “It’s going to look similar to last year. We’re going to play five-on-five and four-on-four. We’re going to have a whole period of special teams, then we’re going to get into our four-on-four and three-on-three strategies, which is important. It helps us with our process of getting everything in place.
“Structure, probably a lot more concepts, and the lines will be fluid.”
Training camp has changed throughout professional and collegiate sports as athletes now stay in shape year-round, but Lalonde believes training camp is still important.
“Our management teams allude to that, they’ve played in this league for a long time and watched the development. It’s a very different time, training camp was to get the guys in shape,” Lalonde said. “I don’t think that’s the case here. But it’s just about implementing your process, getting in the right way and having an understanding.”
“I’ve been excited about the three days of camp so far. Structure-wise, even with our special teams, there’s a little bit of continuity with the same coaching staff and a lot of the core team coming back. You can see it looking a little cleaner and it feels like there’s a lot less teaching going on so far, which is always a positive for a coach.”
The veterans push
The Wings’ roster seems to be basically set, but don’t tell that to young forwards Marco Kasper, Carter Mazur and Nate Danielson.
The players recently selected in the draft are pushing for a spot on the roster this preseason – and Lalonde is happy about that.
“We want a push,” Lalonde said. “I want the guys to be respectful to the veterans, but fight for their spot. That’s the reality of growth. We want that push from them.”
All three strikers have shown impressive performances at times during the first three days of training camp, whether in drills or in live training games.
If an experienced forward gets injured in the next two weeks, it increases the likelihood that one of the three young players will make the opening night roster. The Wings aren’t going to promote a young player to the NHL unless he plays a significant role.
Seider update
Lalonde expects defenseman Moritz Seider, who agreed to a new contract on Thursday, to be in Detroit on Tuesday and ready to practice after the Wings return from Traverse City (Monday is a day off).
Seider will have missed all four days of training in Traverse City, forcing him to do a bit of catching up.
“You saw the intensity of the first three days and that’s valuable,” said Lalonde. “You get a little more work. He’ll have some catching up to do, but I’m sure we’ll have eager assistant coaches who will love the task.”
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