2019 Prospects Tournament Jersey Number Notes

With the Red Wings having released their roster for the 2019 Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, we have a chance to take a look at how the jersey numbers assigned have changed since the team’s development camp in June.

The short answer: Not much.

The Red Wings are bringing many of the same players who were at development camp to Traverse City and most of them are keeping the numbers they had last time around.  That said, there are some changes of note.

Two players will skate with the Red Wings in Traverse City who weren’t at development camp.  Goalies Sean Romeo and Anthony Popovich, both free-agent try-outs, have been assigned the Red Wings’ standard “random goalie prospect numbers,” with Romeo getting #68 and Popovich getting #80.  Try-out Drew DeRidder had been assigned #68 while Keith Petruzelli wore #80.

Given Detroit’s history assigning numbers, these changes are virtually meaningless.

Three players returning from June have new numbers.

Thomas Casey, who wore #50 at development camp, switches to #79, which had been assigned to try-out Samuel Bucek.  No one is assigned #50 for the prospects tournament.

Similarly, Marc-Olivier Duquette switches from #26 to #87, with #26 not assigned.  Charles-Edouard D’Astous, who’d worn #87 at development camp, drops to #86, which was worn by Seth Barton in June.

This could indicate that players wearing #26 and #50 will be in the Red Wings’ main camp.  Those numbers weren’t included when the team announced new numbers for players next season, which would suggest that anyone wearing them in camp would either be a try-out or otherwise not expected to make the Detroit roster.

With that in mind, I’m going to make a couple guesses.

Thomas Vanek remains unsigned and has a good relationship with the Red Wings’ organization, though it was under Ken Holland rather than Steve Yzerman.  As such, the open #26 could be Vanek on a try-out, reclaiming the number he wore last year.

Similarly, #50 could be defenseman Dan Girardi, who usually wears the #5 that is retired in Detroit.  Girardi, coming off of two seasons in Tampa Bay with Yzerman as his GM, might be of interest to Detroit if they were moving one of their current veteran defensemen prior to the start of the season.  Without such a deal, adding Girardi would just contribute to the ever-present blueline logjam throughout the Wings organization.

Of course, it’s “just” the Prospects Tournament, and the players changing are all try-outs, so these number changes could mean nothing.

The full roster is as follows:

Forwards

Num.	Name
11	Filip Zadina
42	Mathieu Bizier
79	Thomas Casey
67	Taro Hirose
56	Ryan Kuffner
75	Troy Loggins
76	Jarid Lukosevicius
78	Gregor MacLeod
62	Cody Morgan
46	Chase Pearson
89	Owen Robinson
48	Givani Smith
85	Elmer Soderblom
90	Joe Veleno
88	Chad Yetman

Defensemen

Num.	Name
97	Gustav Berglund
86	Charle-Edouard D’Astous
87	Marc-Olivier Duquette
98	Owen Lalonde
28	Gustav Lindstrom
63	Alec McCrea
94	Alec Regula
53	Moritz Seider

Goalies

Num.	Name
36	Kaden Fulcher
38	Filip Larsson
80	Anthony Popovich
68	Sean Romeo