PREVIEW: Detroit hosts Buffalo as 2026-27 preseason schedule continues on Thursday

DETROIT -- Shifting to Little Caesars Arena for the remainder of their 2026-27 preseason schedule, the Detroit Red Wings will host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Axel Sandin-Pellikka said. “Being back in front of the fans, that’s the kind of thing you think about ever since we all went off for the summer. We’re super excited to get back out and see all the fans again.”

Puck drop between Detroit and Buffalo is set for 7 p.m. ET, with broadcast coverage on Detroit SportsNet and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

The Red Wings have already played twice this week, beginning with a 1-0 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Monday night before securing a 7-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night.

Through it all, head coach Todd McLellan has been pleased with how Detroit’s 2026 Training Camp is coming together so far.

“We’re getting some things accomplished,” McLellan said. “I told the players, ‘You’re getting a lot of information.’ For the players that are coming back, it’s a lot of just refreshing their memory of how we do things. There’s been some changes that we’ve had to work on a lot, but what we don’t want them to do is slow them down with structure, content, systems and all that type of stuff. They got to be ready to play, so we’re trying to balance that.”

One week into Training Camp, McLellan still advises against putting too much weight on how players are split into squads.

“I wouldn’t read too much into Group A and Group B,” McLellan said. “I told the players this at Training Camp: Last year, there were 10 different players who, if you want to label them the B Team, played on our club during the year.”

Sandin-Pellikka was one of those players, and the 21-year-old defenseman packed a lot into his first full campaign in North America in 2025-26 – making the Red Wings’ Opening-Night roster out of Training Camp, appearing in 68 NHL games and finishing the spring with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

With one goal and 19:30 of average ice time through two exhibition outings, Sandin-Pellikka said he’s doing everything he can to ramp up physically and mentally for the regular season.

“Like everyone else, I’ve been in the gym a lot just trying to get stronger,” Sandin-Pellikka said. “Just focusing on being harder in the defensive part, stuff like that. Other than that, just playing my game and doing my best out there.”

The former No. 17 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft felt he accomplished a lot this summer while training in his native Sweden.

"We trained with some guys over there, so they helped me a lot," Sandin-Pellikka said. "Mostly [focused on] being more explosive, those first three steps and just getting stronger overall, a stronger upper body."

McLellan said he’s liked what he’s seen from Sandin-Pellikka this fall, and thinks the young blueliner is showing precisely what the Red Wings have been looking for from him.

“He should be confident,” McLellan said. “He should feel good. We went through Axe’s progression and how we finished in Grand Rapids, and we said both him and (Michael Brandsegg-Nygård) should come back really confident. Come back here and feel good, way better than they did last year at this time. I thought that showed (on Tuesday night). Axe handled the puck well, made some real good plays, defended fairly well. So, he’s where he should be. He’s just got to keep pushing away and believing in himself, and he’ll take over.”