Gibson Plays at Home on the Road; Edvinsson Skates Again

Tonight’s Detroit Red Wings’ road game against the Pittsburgh Penguins is really a home game for their new goalie John Gibson.

He grew up in the Pittsburgh area, rooting for the Penguins. Starting his Red Wings career with half of a game against his hometown team seemed right to Gibson. He didn’t play in Detroit’s first two preseason games.

“Obviously Gibby wants to go play in Pittsburgh, so we honored that,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “It makes sense. So to Game three. That’s the complete reasoning. Nothing, no science or anything into it. Just that’s where we’re at.”

The Red Wings are 2-0 going into that game, and their plan is to use a younger lineup against the Penguins.

McLellan’s team is rather healthy in the preseason. It was announced that Simon Edvinsson had a lower-body injury that would sideline him until the season opened. But he skated with the Red Wings for the second consecutive day. His potential growth is critical to the Red Wings’ playoff aspirations.

“The good sign, I think, for all of us is that he was a little bit rusty,” McLellan said. “That means our group is ahead of him right now, and they should be. He’s been injured, but once he gets back and gets up and running, then we’ll be able to start to play pairs a little more common, if you will, and try and determine who our 6, 7, 8 defensemen are. There’s been a good push from some players underneath the regulars.”

Defenseman Shai Buium is another player out of the lineup. “Shai’s dealing with a little bit of an injury,” McLellan said.

James van Riemsdyk also is still not in training camp for personal reasons. There’s no timetable for his arrival.

The big injury news on Friday was the announcement that Sasha Barkov would be out most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season because of a knee injury. With Matthew Tkachuk already out, the Florida Panthers are facing a challenging season.

“I think everybody’s aware of it,” McLellan said. “Nobody’s happy about it. Like we want the best players to play. He’s such a … you’re talking about
Barkov. I’m sure he’s such a good player. He’s so good for our game, and I’d like our team to be challenged by him. But we’re aware of the injuries, and you know, we wish him well. Hopefully, he gets back.