PREVIEW: Red Wings head to Chicago for exhibition contest on Tuesday

CHICAGO – The Detroit Red Wings will close out the final back-to-back set of their 2025-26 exhibition schedule when they square off against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Tuesday night.

The Original Six clubs will drop the puck at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT, with streaming available on DetroitRedWings.com and the Red Wings Mobile App.

“Right now, it’s just trying to build our game,” Jacob Bernard-Docker said. “The first two exhibition games went well and last couple maybe not as good. Tonight, just try to get back on track. That’s kind of all we can focus on right now. Obviously, the regular season is coming up fast, but I think we just have to prepare one day at a time and take it from there.”

In their most recent game on Monday, a third-period goal by Dominik Shine gave the Red Wings late life but it ultimately wasn’t enough in a 2-1 setback to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Little Caesars Arena.

“We can’t become a mechanical team,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “We can’t think about what’s going to happen. We should be a good skating team, and we should skate. I don’t think that was the case [on Monday].”

With nine days until Opening Night at Little Caesars Arena, which will see Detroit take on the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 9, McLellan said the team’s roster for the start of its Centennial season is coming into focus.

“It’s happening,” McLellan said. “We’re talking with management. When we thought there were maybe five or six guys competing for a forward spot, then it gets cut to four or five. Now it gets cut to three or four. Sometimes injuries, I think a guy like Danny (Nate Danielson), in my opinion, would have had an outstanding opportunity to make the team. He probably doesn’t want to hear me saying that, yet I think he does. We need to get him healthy because I think he could play here. That changes things all of a sudden because somebody gets another lifeline, but they need to take advantage of it.”

There’s a handful of intriguing roster competitions that have emerged this preseason, including on the back end.

“We feel that the four [defensemen] will sort themselves out up top,” McLellan said. “How we play them, we’ll see as time goes on. But that five, six, seven, even eight-hole -- if we’re going to keep seven or eight, we’ll have to figure all that out – that’s, for me, very competitive right now. There’s a group of players that are going to play in Chicago tonight. For some, this could be their last opportunity. Others may extend it a little bit further. But the group that’s going there, for the most part, is getting another opportunity to play.”

Bernard-Docker, who signed a one-year free-agent contract with Detroit this offseason, is one of several blueliners challenging for an NHL roster spot. The 25-year-old split the 2024-25 campaign between the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres, recording eight points (two goals, six assists) and a plus-5 rating in 40 games.

“I’m not going to be a super flashy guy every night,” Bernard-Docker said. “I think just knowing what you’re going to get out of me – being hard to play against, not fun to play against and sticking to fundamentals.”

Having only played in the Atlantic Division during his time in the NHL, Bernard-Docker has seen a lot of the Red Wings over the years. Now, he’s motivated to “carve out a role” with Detroit.

“A lot of speed,” Bernard-Docker said about his experience going against Detroit. “A very competitive group. You look at guys like Razor and Larks, who have been here a while. They’re hungry, you can tell. It’s really cool to see for me. I just want to try to help in any way that I can and crack the roster."