The Athletic’s Max Bultman engages in a thought experiment this morning, pondering what the Red Wings’ lineup might look for the 2026-2027 season:
Detroit is coming off a season in which its two top prospects, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, debuted and starred right away. Another, Simon Edvinsson, has a real shot to make the NHL next season. And this summer, the Red Wings’ aggressiveness in free agency set them up to be much more competitive in 2022-23.
But the big-picture priority of the franchise remains the same. The Red Wings’ rebuild has always been geared toward making them a Stanley Cup contender in the long-term, and while the team’s moves and progress in the farm system mean that future is drawing closer, the state of the rebuild is still best viewed from 10,000 feet above.
So, today, we’ll renew our annual attempt to do just that by projecting Detroit’s lineup four years out.
And, as always, that means some ground rules. First, I projected only players currently in the Red Wings organization. That means prospects are in the fold, but no projecting of future free agent signings or trades. Second, I kept the entire core intact for this projection — including some who can become free agents before 2026, or even traded in anticipation of that. Certainly, a trade or departure of one of Detroit’s older top-six pieces would shake up this projection considerably, but trying to predict who (and for what) would introduce too many moving parts.
For those reasons, we’ll get this out of the way now: No, this is not what the 2026-27 Red Wings are actually going to look like. There will be new top draft picks entering the picture, current players who are traded or un-signed, and new free agents joining the fold.
Instead, the point of this exercise is to highlight what’s on the way for Detroit, and what questions remain as Steve Yzerman works toward the future.
Continued (paywall)
