Talking about his time with the Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings coach Todd McLellan was remembering a player who simply refused to go away.

Then, it was Alex Laferrriere. Now, it may be Emmitt Finnie.

“Alex Laferriere, we had him in Los Angeles,” McLellan said. “It was kind of the same thing.

“He just kept coming every day, and we just kept on going. Pretty soon, it was Christmas, and he was still there.

“Now, I’m not saying Emmitt is that player, but that’s how it happens sometimes for some. And you know, he’s on the right track.”

The Red Wings opened the NHL preseason on Tuesday with a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, and Finnie’s fingerprints were all over the outcome.

On a night when the team suited up five first-round draft picks, it was the club’s 2023 seventh-round choice who stole the show.

What a slick little pass from Emmitt Finnie to Carter Mazur! pic.twitter.com/IErr5a1Fti

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 23, 2025

Finnie dished a no-look, between-the-legs pass to Carter Mazur on a power play to open the scoring. With the game deadlocked at 2-2 in the third period, Finnie began the sequence that led to the winning goal by stripping the puck from Blackhawks star Connor Bedard, the first player chosen in that 2023 draft.

“I didn’t really realize that at the time,” Finnie said. “I saw the puck bobble, and I just tried to go get it.”

He finished the play by banking the puck into the net off of Chicago defenseman Sam Rinzel.

Finnie for the lead! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/TinjwHo571

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 24, 2025

“I think my speed and my pace have been working for me,” Finnie said. “I’ve been trying to be tenacious on pucks.”

Finnie Keeps Making Statements To the Red Wings

This fall is McLellan’s first true opportunity to eyeball in person what Finnie can deliver. The coach is suitably impressed by the package Finnie brings to the ice.

“He always sounded like a type of player a coach would appreciate, a worker,” McLellan said, “I see that in him. But there’s more there. There’s the playmaker, there’s the skating part.

“Coaches can fall in love with workers, but they have to get something. They have to produce, too. Emmitt’s a worker. He’s a tenacious player. He’s a good skater, but he gets things done. Something happens when he’s out there. And so far so good.

“If he just keeps doing these things and doing these things, the days will keep ticking on, and we’ll eventually have to make decisions.”