Kraken (2-2-0) at Red Wings (1-2-0) | 4 p.m.

One: Take the wins where you can – This looms as a very difficult road trip early on for the Kraken, facing teams that have been in the playoffs or right on the cusp in recent seasons. Thing is, they actually have decent road records against some of the teams they’ll face, including 3-1-1 in Florida and 2-2-1 here in Detroit. It’s the other places they’ve struggled, going 2-3-0 in Tampa Bay and Philadelphia and 1-4-0 in Washington.

So, they need to take the wins where they can find them. On paper, the Red Wings and Flyers rank among the less heralded teams they’ll face out of this opposing quintet, though recent years have seen the Kraken put up less than inspiring performances at Little Caesar’s Arena. They haven’t won here in three years since Jordan Eberle’s late overtime winner in an October 2023 game. They’ve never won here in regulation. 

They lost last year’s game in Detroit 4-2 after only managing 11 shots the final two periods combined. The prior year, they lost 6-2 here after trailing 4-0 in the first eight minutes. They need to stay more competitive throughout this one. 

That means generating more offense than they did against the Golden Knights on Tuesday night at home, when they didn’t score until the final period. Their forecheck and zone entries seemed disconnected.

Eberle has tied a franchise record with points in his first four games. He’s a guy they’ll be looking to for some offensive bounceback, along with team points leader Jared McCann. 

Win or lose here, the Kraken need to come out and go down swinging. They need the speed of Bobby McMann and Mackie Samoskevich to help set the tone against a Detroit squad that relies on only a handful of players for offense and can have trouble scoring. The Kraken can’t afford any more passivity early or in middle stretches. They need to come out aggressively, get some goals and not allow Detroit to make them chase the game. Points will be tough to come by on this trip and they must reach out and take some when they can.

Two: Stabilize the back end – Ryan Lindgren going on injured reserve for four-to-six weeks with an upper body injury is an early test for the defensive core and penalty kill unit. Lindgren is one of those steady, underrated guys you don’t really think you’ll miss until you actually do. The Golden Knights scored a power play goal just seconds after the initial faceoff in the Kraken end largely because an assignment was missed that Lindgren would have ordinarily had if still on the ice.

The Kraken have alternated Cale Fleury, Josh Mahura and Ville Ottavainen in and out of the sixth defenseman role and will stick with some combo of two of the three on the bottom pairing for now. 

Three: Know your foe – The Red Wings won their first game of the season on their third try, defeating Ottawa on Tuesday night. Dylan Larkin scored in his first game for Detroit since infamously asking to be traded back in June. That demand became public a month before general manager Steve Yzerman abruptly stepped down in July and transferred to a senior adviser role under team CEO Chris Illitch. Yzerman had spent seven seasons with the Red Wings engaging in a rebuild that had yet to yield any playoff appearances. 

Larkin, signed through 2030-31, was eventually stripped of his captaincy, then reported to training camp injured. Fans booed him during ceremonial introductions ahead of the team’s home opener in which he did not play. They booed him again every time he touched the puck on his opening shift Tuesday, but eventually cheered when he scored in the game’s 13^th minute. Interesting times.

Meanwhile, former player Shawn Horcoff is now interim GM while the team seeks a permanent replacement for Yzerman. That’s led to the franchise being perceived as caught in the middle of whether to blow up the rebuild and start over or try to contend now with the players they have.

Standout Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who wants a long-term deal, returned home to Sweden after talks broke down between the restricted free agent and interim GM Horcoff. Edvinsson is now skating and training with his former Swedish Hockey League team while the Red Wings explore possibly trading him. 

Amid that backdrop, the team still has to play games. They finished 41-31-10 last season, good for 92 points but still missing a playoff spot that had seemed all-but-certain through much of the campaign. 

Their core is still led by Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. They also brought in veteran additions such as Viktor Arvidsson and onetime Seattle Thunderbirds junior star Keegan Kolesar. The question is whether that’s enough to get them over the hump amid everything else the organization is dealing with.

Projected Lineup (not official):
McCann - Beniers - Samoskevich
McMann - Stephenson - Eberle
Kakko - Catton - Wright
Meyers - Gaudreau - Winterton

Dunn - Larsson
Evans - Montour
Mahura - Fleury

Daccord