Red Wings chop roster by 13 prior to start of pre-season

With the Red Wings set to begin their pre-season on Tuesday against the Boston Bruins, the team has axed 13 players from their training camp roster. Of course, none of these are surprises, as players with no prayer of cracking Detroit’s veteran-heavy lineup were sent back to their junior squads and a handful of bodies were released from amateur tryouts.

Per the Red Wings’ official website… The Detroit Red Wings today assigned forwards Zach Gallant, Brady Gilmour and Lane Zablocki and defensemen Cole Fraser, Jordan Sambrook and Reilly Webb to their respective major junior teams. Additionally, the Red Wings released forwards Oliver Castleman, Isaac Johnson, Sean Josling and Luke Kutkevicius, defensemen Marcus Crawford and Evan Fiala and goaltender Corbin Boes from their amateur tryouts. The Red Wings currently have 61 players on their preseason roster: 34 forwards, 20 defensemen and seven goaltenders.

We’re still a few pre-season games away from any interesting decisions in regards to the Wings’ roster. Also, a lot of how the roster is constructed will come down to whether or not Ken Holland pulls the trigger on a deal before the beginning of the season. As we know, the Wings are in a serious cap bind and still haven’t signed Andreas Athanasiou.