Toronto Maple Leafs correspondent David Alter has a “side job” of sorts as a critic of the NHL’s 32 teams’ media meals and press box offerings.

Awful Announcing asked Alter to rank all 32 teams’ food offerings, and Alter suggests that the media meal at Little Caesars Arena is the NHL’s best by a far margin:

1. Detroit Red Wings

If the Los Angeles Kings are No. 2, they are a distant No. 2, because nobody in the NHL comes close to delivering what the Detroit Red Wings’ hospitality staff serves to media and support staff at Little Caesars Arena. The fact that I have to pay $13 and still have this ranked at the absolute top speaks volumes about the quality and quantity of this meal.

You walk into the dining area, pay, and pick up your plate before quickly realizing you’re going to need a second one. You start with a salad bar featuring every option you could ask for. Then, you move to the soup of the day; I especially loved that they had a tomato bisque with grilled cheese as an option. From there, you hit the hot food station, where you can choose pork loin or meatloaf with gravy, alongside pesto penne pasta. That would suffice as a complete meal at most arenas.

But you keep going, and then they hit you with a live carving station. I indulged in the herb-crusted hanger steak. Are we done? Absolutely not. You can grab a Coney Island hot dog, or you can keep moving to where they have several different varieties of Little Caesars pizza toppings available (I counted six different options, including Detroit-style). Little Caesars chicken wings are available in copious amounts alongside French fries. It’s insanely good and insanely large.

Speaking of “outside noise,” I’ve tried to filter through some of the Dylan Larkin trade rumors and only give you the substantiated stuff this summer and early fall.

There was some hubbub in the Montreal media that Dylan Larkin should come to his senses and choose to join the Canadiens (not that the Canadiens should pitch for Larkin), there was some lamentful stuff from Philly about Larkin not including the Flyers on his trade list, and a lot of talk from Minnesota (a team that Larkin DOES have on his original trade list) that was just fluffy…

And I read that stuff so you don’t have to read it. This blog is about posting the newsworthy stuff and giving you a peek behind the paywall curtains, not posting every damn thing that’s said about the Red Wings (especially during the summer).

Talk for talk’s sake is just stuff, and I don’t like to post for the sake of page views or metrics or whatever–I post stuff that I genuinely find interesting, and hope that you find genuinely interesting.

Today, however, Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco wonders aloud whether the Philadelphia Flyers, who were very interested in now-Toronto Maple Leaf Kirill Marchenko, should pivot and see if Larkin is available, and we’re going to examine what Di Marco has to say:

FloHockey’s Chris Peters examines AHL graduates who should make a strong impact upon the NHL, and Peters includes Red Wings rookie (yes, he’s still technically a rookie) Michael Brandsegg-Nygard on his list:

Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, RW, Detroit Red Wings

You knew it probably wouldn’t take MBN long to acclimate to North America. While his early NHL stint wasn’t productive, his performance in the AHL was exemplary. He had 44 points in 60 games including 20 goals and showed the strong, physical two-way game that got him drafted in the first round.

It looks like he’ll stick with the Red Wings long-term, filling a need in the middle six where he can play an energetic style with some good secondary scoring.

Continued, with some praise for ex-Red Wing Sebastian Cossa as well…

And Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis suggests that Brandsegg-Nygard might have what it takes to at least earn an outside shot at winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie player:

This morning, The Athletic’s Max Bultman discussed the Red Wings players and coaching staff’s attempts to minimize “outside noise” regarding the uncertainty surrounding Dylan Larkin, Simon Edvinsson, interim GM Shawn Horcoff and the team as a whole…

And, this afternoon, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan revealed that the Red Wings might be listening to some of that “outside noise” in order to remain on the same page:

Questions about those developments met the Wings daily. As the regular season begins Friday, Oct. 2, against the New York Rangers, coach Todd McLellan feels the Wings have dealt with the issues as well as could be expected.

“So far, so good,” McLellan said. “We have some hurdles in front of us that we’re going to have to continue to cross and to deal with, but it’s probably appropriate that we’re (holding a daily media briefing) inside the locker room because the group in here has come to play hockey. They’ve focused on the things that they need to do to get themselves ready. The outside noise through the summer and everything else that’s gone on, they’ve done a good job focusing on what they can control, and that’s the hockey part of it.”

Moritz Seider offered this take on the Wings’ situation, potential distractions included…

“We have a real good team,” Seider said. “There were a lot of question marks going into the year but at the time, we didn’t have a (general) manager (but) he’s not going out there scoring goals or defending or winning games. We have everything in place to have a good team. Now with Shawn, we have the leader we need for the moment and there should be no excuses.”

And Seider suggested that the contractual dispute between Edvinsson’s camp and the Red Wings’ management is “just business” at work:

“It just takes time,” Seider said. “Everybody needs to be happy on his side of the contract. We all have Simon’s back, but we also know it’s a hard situation for everybody involved. It’ll be done eventually. We have big hopes.”

Amongst this early afternoon’s storylines:

1. The Red Wings are preparing for their opening weekend of the 2026-2027 season…

Opening weekend at home🏠

🎟️ » https://t.co/JEZEpKeLpq pic.twitter.com/L0DK9xVTHY

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 29, 2026

It’s important to take advantage of the home schedule early on. Getting off to a good start is key. 7 of the first 8 games are @LCArena_Detroit
Need to feed off that home cookin’
Last season Detroit only won 3 of their last 14 home games.

— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) September 29, 2026

Interesting that the NYR will have played 2 games before the Red Wings face them in their opener on Friday

— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) September 29, 2026

2. In the Dylan Larkin trade rumor department, take this from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, via Red Wings Prospects, for what you will:

By the time that the Detroit Red Wings host the New York Rangers on Friday (6:30 PM start on TNT/97.1 FM), the New York Rangers will have played 2 games (at Boston tonight, and vs. Tampa Bay on Thursday night), and will be playing in their 3rd game in 4 nights.

In theory, that gives the rested Red Wings an advantage, but MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that coach Todd McLellan isn’t thrilled with the concept, even though it gives the team both time to negotiate a contract with Simon Edvinsson and it gives Dylan Larkin more healing time from his upper-body injury:

“We don’t live in a perfect world because if we did, we’d like to start right with everybody else,” coach Todd McLellan said. “I think when you’re opening up at home, there’s always that unpredictability that goes into it, regardless of any types of circumstances. And the quicker you can get one under your belt, the better off you are.

“You understand the pace and the intensity of the regular season. After playing a few games, the Rangers will have that. But we also have practice time, and if we use it properly, maybe we can polish up some things that otherwise wouldn’t get addressed.”

Continued; the Red Wings play 14 times over the course of 31 October nights, so the schedule gets plenty busy in the middle of the month.

This is a very cool behind-the-scenes video of what the Red Wings’ equipment staff does:

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills spoke with Wings coach Todd McLellan about the fit-and-finish aspects of the Red Wings’ preparations for Friday’s home opener against the New York Rangers:

“It’s continuing to build and polish,” McLellan said. “I’ll take you back to the game we played (on Saturday night) against Columbus. We did like a lot of the things we did, but I thought our passing and receiving – quarterback, receiver, whatever you want to call it – was very erratic. A lot of pucks thrown in skates, pucks thrown two or three feet behind, the passing and the rhythm was off. We’ve got to get that quickly. We took today, and it was a workday for us. Wake the system up again after a long Camp and a day off. A lot of skating.”

Moritz Seider also said this about Detroit settling into a more regular practice routine now that training camp is over, and the roster has been cut down from 50+ players:

“You have eight D out there, and everyone can play on both sides in all situations,” Seider said. “Great (penalty) killers on there. Overall, I just feel it’s a very, very solid D-core. You don’t have to be afraid of putting anyone out there against the top line.”

With Detroit’s Training Camp and four-game preseason slate now complete, Seider said the energy and excitement within the group will keep building as Friday night approaches.

“Obviously, it’s great to have the locker room for yourself finally, and don’t have guys in and out all the time,” Seider said. “As much as you like seeing them, it’s nice to have a full team and kind of get down to the daily work. I thought today was a really good day. Lot of skating, a lot of good work out there. I think a step closer to Opening Night is a good day.”

From PWHL Detroit:

The talent isn't stopping with the roster!

We are excited to welcome Hockey Hall of Famer Danielle Goyette and Stanley Cup Champion Jimmy Howard to the Detroit coaching staff!

📰 Read more at https://t.co/SglOe5pws9 pic.twitter.com/1R042cDtNx

— PWHL Detroit (@pwhl__detroit) September 29, 2026

As pointed out by The Athletic’s James Mirtle, Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen has produced his annual list of the NHL’s most valuable franchises, and Badenhausen has the Wings ranked 13th in the NHL at $2.4 billion.