{"id":573516,"date":"2026-05-13T01:27:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T01:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/573516\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T01:27:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T01:27:26","slug":"red-wings-review-berard-docker-earns-confidence-at-blue-line-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/573516\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Wings Review: Berard-Docker Earns Confidence At Blue Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Red Wings Review: Berard-Docker Earns Confidence At Blue Line<\/a> appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NHL:<\/p>\n

Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn ImagesTimothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Age: 25 (turns 26 in June)<\/p>\n

Contract status: Signed through 2027-28, $1,600,000 per season<\/p>\n

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Last season\u2019s contribution: one goal, four assists in 63 games<\/p>\n

Grade:\u00a0B<\/p>\n

Past<\/p>\n

Bernard-Docker split the 2024-25 season with Ottawa<\/a> and Buffalo and wasn\u2019t tendered by the Sabres, which led to his signing with Detroit as a free agent last July. His only goal last season came against the Sabres during the Red Wings\u2019 push for a playoff spot. He showed enough during the regular season to earn a two-year contract extension in late March that nearly doubled his salary.<\/p>\n

A former first round pick by the Senators, Bernard-Docker fit in with Albert Johansson<\/a> on the third defensive pair in Detroit.<\/p>\n

\u201cDock had a tough start,\u201d coach Todd McLellan said. \u201cPart of that start is his doing and the other half of it is us trying to figure out a way to get confident in him. When we went to a steady rotation, he felt like he wasn\u2019t going to be in and out, and he really settled in. Dock\u2019s biggest asset is just his simplicity. He\u2019s physically strong. He might not be 6\u20196\u201d, but whatever he has is strong. He wins a lot of, both him and Albert in that pair, a lot of tight battles often against bigger players. So, he\u2019s been good for us. Good penalty killer, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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McLellan added that he feels the duo of Bernard-Docker and Johansson complement each other well.<\/p>\n

\u201cDock is heavy and strong, and Albert\u2019s got good mobility, good escape skills when he\u2019s under pressure and some good vision up ice,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cSo, between the two of them, they play well together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Present<\/p>\n

Bernard-Docker has a cannon of a shot, but hasn\u2019t been a big part of the Red Wings offense, with just five points last year. He graded out even in plus-minus at 0 for the season.<\/p>\n

Future<\/p>\n

His 63 games last season were the second-most of his career, and the Red Wings are counting on hims to continue to develop, as evidenced by the two-year contract extension.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor me, it\u2019s just trying to play solid and the best version of my game that I can be every game,\u201d said Bernard-Docker. \u201cJust solid defensively, moving pucks, being hard to play against. Those are kind of my core values as a player, so I just try to bring that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He will be Detroit\u2019s top eight, but he will have to battle for playing time, probably with William Wallinder<\/a>, but maybe with Anton Johansson and\/or Axel Sandin Pellikka<\/p>\n

The post Red Wings Review: Berard-Docker Earns Confidence At Blue Line<\/a> appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post Red Wings Review: Berard-Docker Earns Confidence At Blue Line appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now. Timothy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5101],"tags":[5175,60616,36018,599,25148,93,5137,5,11082,4,72,3358,5138,41377,15637,1930,13247],"class_list":["post-573516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-red-wings","tag-albert-johansson","tag-bernard-docker","tag-blue-line","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-hockey","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-detroitredwings","tag-hockey","tag-jacob-bernard-docker","tag-nhl","tag-ottawa","tag-red-wings","tag-redwings","tag-the-red-wings","tag-timothy-t-ludwig-imagn","tag-todd-mclellan","tag-william-wallinder"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116564672306954003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}