With the Detroit Red Wings wrapping up the home portion of their 2022-23 regular season that will once again see them finish on the outside looking in of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, fans in attendance tonight at Little Caesars Arena will get one more glimpse of rookie defenseman Simon Edvinsson.
Head coach Derek Lalonde confirmed following this morning’s skate that the Swedish blue liner will be skating in his final game of the year tonight against the Dallas Stars. In doing so, he’ll have appeared in nine games as so to avoid shaving a year off his three year entry level contract.
Edvinsson has shown flashes in the eight games that he’s appeared in since being called up to the big club of having all of the tools the team envisioned when they drafted him with the 6th overall selection in 2021; he’s averaged 16:49 of ice time while having tallied two goals.
“I think huge, vastly beneficial learning experience,” Lalonde said. “Even a game like (Saturday) — even off those first couple games when he had some urgency to his game and he played really well — sometimes it’s easier to teach off some mistakes, situational stuff that found him the other day against a really good team and him playing in a top-four role (in a 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh). I think the whole experience, one more game to go, very valuable for him.”
Per Lalonde, Edvinsson will likely return to the American Hockey League affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins following tonight’s game.