Why the Red Wings won’t be playing in the Hockeyville USA preseason game

By @MichaelCaples –

This October, two NHL teams will come to Lakeview Arena to play a preseason game in celebration of Marquette’s victory in Kraft Hockeyville USA 2016.

Neither of those two teams are the Detroit Red Wings, however.

When the puck drops on Oct. 4, it will be the Carolina Hurricanes and the Buffalo Sabres squaring off in front of what will surely be a crowded Lakeview Arena.

MORE: Marquette’s Lakeview Arena wins Kraft Hockeyville USA 2016

It was assumed that the hometown team would participate in the preseason game, after a rink in Pennsylvania had the opportunity to host the Pittsburgh Penguins for the inaugural Kraft Hockeyville USA in 2015.

According to the NHL, the Red Wings are unavailable for the game due to a scheduling conflict.

“The Red Wings have already scheduled the maximum number of preseason games permissible under our CBA,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement provided to MiHockey after we inquired about the matter. “The team had no ability to play an additional game.”

MiHockey was also provided with the following statement from Kraft Heinz on the same subject:

“Kraft Heinz worked in close partnership with the NHL to find two great teams with ties to Michigan whose schedules aligned with the Kraft Hockeyville USA 2016 program. The game will feature 15 of the best hockey talents in the U.S., including five players that participated in the Michigan-based U.S. National Team Development Program.”

Buffalo’s Jack Eichel and Hudson Fasching and Carolina’s Nathan Gerbe (Oxford, Mich., native), Justin Faulk and Noah Hanifin all skated with the NTDP during the program’s Ann Arbor days.

Along with Gerbe, there are two other Michigan natives currently on the two rosters for the Hockeyville teams – Carolina’s James Wisniewski (Canton) and Buffalo’s David Legwand (Grosse Pointe Woods).