A year ago, Jonathan Bernier started his season with the team that had been the NHL’s worst in 2016-17 and ended up in the Stanley Cup playoffs. So while he knows the popular opinion of where the Detroit Red Wings will finish in the standing this season, please excuse him if he leans toward optimism.
“Obviously, everyone thinks we’re going to finish dead last or close to there,” Bernier told Mlive.com. “I think we’re better than that, we’re a better team than people think and it’s up to us to show up every day and work hard in practice and in games and have that same mentality every day."
Last season, Bernier was with the Colorado Avalanche.
“I signed with Colorado because I thought they actually had a good team on paper, so it’s up us in this room to make sure we have a good start and to prove everyone wrong,” Bernier said.
Bernier will make his first start as a Wing Sunday in Los Angeles against the Kings, his first NHL, and that’s no coincidence.
“We were going to play him one of the two games (on this road trip), so we just figured this was the best one,” Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “Certainly for a guy who was drafted by LA and had a good amount of time here, I’m sure he’s, I don’t want to say extra motivated, but I’m sure it’s fun to go against a former team.”
The Wings have sought to use the Colorado turnaround as a rallying cry, as proof that not much separates the haves from the have nots in the NHL, and other hockey people with even tenuous ties to the team are also out there doing a sell job on what this team might be able to accomplish.
“I’m hoping this year is a big year for the Wings,” said Wisconsin coach Tony Granato, formerly an assistant on Blashill’s staff. “I think the young skill that they have and the plan that they have in place is exciting. Obviously, things have to go their way but it could be a big year for them.
“I think last year there was teams - you look at Winnipeg, you look at Vegas, you look at some other franchises - and you can kind of see that the Wings might have some of that in them. Hopefully it will be a year for them like that.”
Old Face, New Place
While they get scouting reports on just about everything, Wings defenseman Trevor Daley had to admit he didn’t know what to expect from Ilya Kovalchuk. The two-time 50-goal scorer is back in the NHL with the Kings after five seasons in the KHL.
“I couldn’t tell you,” Daley said. “I don’t know what to expect, it’s been so long. I have no idea. I haven’t even go to see him play yet.
“From when I did play against him he was in the East, so I don’t think I’ve played against him much.
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