Red Wings coach sees Global Series Sweden as chance to spark season

STOCKHOLM -- Derek Lalonde knows how important a trip to Stockholm can be for an NHL team. In fact, all the Detroit Red Wings coach has to do is look at his 2020 Stanley Cup ring with the Tampa Bay Lightning to be reminded.

That ring, which Lalonde earned as an assistant coach under Jon Cooper, features enough diamonds and blue sapphire to form two Stanley Cups and two Lightning logos. But flip up one of those Cups on the ring and there you will find the word "STOCKHOLM."

"I thought it was really neat," Lalonde said Sunday from Stockholm. "(Lightning owner) Mr. (Jeff) Vinik and his wife designed it and literally, it's the Stanley Cup on the rim and if you pop it up the word Stockholm is underneath. It was just significant to our season."

Lalonde was talking about the ring after his Red Wings arrived and then practiced at Hovet in Stockholm in preparation for the 2023 NHL Global Series Sweden presented by Fastenal.

Detroit was the only team of the four playing this weekend to arrive in Sweden on Sunday. They will face the Ottawa Senators at Avicii Arena on Thursday (2 p.m. ET; RDS, TSN5, NHLN, BSDET) and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday (2 p.m. ET).

And though this is an opportunity for the Red Wings, Maple Leafs, Senators, Minnesota Wild and the NHL to shine on the international stage, Lalonde knows it can mean much more.

"This is a very important, emotional city for me," Lalonde said. "It's literally on my Stanley Cup ring, the word Stockholm."

The reason it's there is because all involved with the Lightning felt their trip to the city turned their season around.

The Lightning were coming off a 2018-19 season that saw them win the Presidents' Trophy as the top team in the NHL (62-16-4), only to get swept in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

With perhaps the effects of that sweep still on their minds, the Lightning came to the 2019 NHL Global Series in Stockholm at 6-5-2 on Nov. 7 and certainly not playing like a Stanley Cup hopeful. 

"We came here, we were flirting around .500," Lalonde said. "Pat Maroon self-appointed himself the social chair, he did some of his best work ever. And it was just an opportunity to get away from our routine back in North America over here and we really felt the guys just having some time together bonded, and I think we took off from there."

The Lightning swept the two-game series from the Buffalo Sabres and finished the COVID-19-shortened season 43-21-6. When the season resumed in the bubble in August, the Lightning won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2004, paving the way for back-to-back championships.

"We come here coming off that season in which we had won the Presidents' Trophy, got swept in the first round and that we're kind of treading at .500 hockey," Lalonde said. "We were not happy with the way we were playing. And it was good for the group to get away from that, get together and four months later, we're Stanley Cup champions. So it's again Stockholm, has always been pretty important. It was a neat experience for me."

Now Lalonde, in his second season as Red Wings coach, is hoping a trip to Sweden can have the same impact. The Red Wings (8-5-2) haven't made the playoffs since 2015-16 and are tied with the Maple Leafs for second in the Atlantic Division.

"I was fortunate enough to come here came to Tampa a few years back," Lalonde said. "It was extremely well-run, an unbelievable experience, and I'm looking forward to it now."