The Red Wings’ morning skate ahead of tonight’s game between Detroit and the Minnesota Wild (8 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/FanDuel SportsNet North/FanDuel SportsNet Wisconsin/97.1 FM) was incredibly busy.

The Wild found out that Joel Eriksson Ek will be sidelined for “weeks,” with Jakub Laukko rotating back into the lineup, and Detroit lost Andrew Copp for at least 4-6 months due to pectoral tendon surgery.

Lineup-wise, the Wings will bring in Christian Fischer and start Cam Talbot opposite Filip Gustavsson, per the Free Press’s Helene St. James, but we didn’t get that much news about either team’s lineup from the morning skates.

The Free Press’s St. James posted a 4:34 video of coach Todd McLellan and forward Patrick Kane speaking after the morning skate…

And the Wings posted a 6:50 clip of Simon Edvinsson and coach McLellan speaking with the media:

Take this podcast for what you will, per Daily Faceoff’s Tyler Kuehl:

All of a sudden, the Detroit Red Wings have the potential to be players at the NHL Trade Deadline.

On Monday, the team traded goaltender Ville Husso to the Anaheim Ducks for future considerations. That took Husso’s $4.75 million AAV off the books. On top of that, the team announced that forward Andrew Copp is out for the remainder of the season, which relieves the team of his $5.63 million cap hit for the rest of the year.

That means the Red Wings are heading into March with plenty of cash to spend, if they so choose, to bolster their lineup as they push to end their near-nine-year playoff drought.

On Tuesday’s edition of Dailly Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed what Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman is eligible to do prior to the deadline.

Continued; the Hronek line is hilarious. Here’s the video below:

The Detroit Red Wings face off against the Minnesota Wild this evening at the Xcel Energy Center tonight (8 PM EST on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/FanDuel SportsNet North/FanDuel SportsNet Wisconsin/97.1 FM), hoping to earn a series split after dropping last Saturday’s 4-3 OT decision to the Wild.

Even before the Wild took to the ice for their morning skate, they received bad news:

BAD #mnwild NEWS: Center Joel Eriksson Ek was injured in practice yesterday and has been placed on injured reserve. Must miss at least 7 days (next 4 games), but I hear he's going to be out a lot longer. Jakub Lauko will likely be activated off IR and replace him on roster

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 25, 2025

Russo reports that the Wild’s IR list includes Kirill Kaprizov as well, and that Ryan Hartman is suspended for the next 8 games, complicating the Wild’s playoff push:

The Wild have 25 games left this season. They currently sit in third place in the Central Division — four points behind the Dallas Stars and four points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche with two games in hand on the Avs. They are 10 points in front of ninth-place Calgary, which has played one fewer game than Minnesota.

The Wild’s social media team is trying to stir up shit…

Continue reading Red Wings-Wild morning skate Tweets: Eriksson Ek out for Minnesota; Copp to miss 4-6 months; Talbot vs. Gustavsson, Fischer in for DET

FYI:

With #LGRW having $3M of projected cap space & $14M of deadline space, Copp going to LTIR is not an option to gain more cap space unless they first added $14M of annual cap hit.

LTIR allows a team to exceed the cap, since they are well below the cap, Copp to LTIR would not… https://t.co/DYxWbqGeUK

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) February 25, 2025

This is not ideal:

An update on Andrew Copp. pic.twitter.com/FZ5mZ2WlhP

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 25, 2025

Here’s the press release:

ANDREW COPP UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL SURGERY

  … Ann Arbor Native to Miss the Remainder of the 2024-25 Season …

DETROIT – Detroit Red Wings forward Andrew Copp underwent successful surgery today to repair his left pectoral tendon.  He will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season with an expected recovery time of 4-6 months.

Copp, 30, was signed by Detroit as a free agent on July 13, 2022.   The 6-foot-1, 203-pound center has skated in 217 games with the Red Wings over the last three seasons, notching 32 goals and adding 66 assists for 98 points.  He has 23 points (10-13-23) in 56 games played this season. 

Copp was injured during the second period of Saturday’s game against Minnesota.  Prior to the injury, he registered his 300th career NHL point with an assist on Alex DeBrincat’s first-period tally against the Wild.  Saturday was also Copp’s 700th career NHL game.  He has appeared in 467 games with the Winnipeg Jets, 16 with the New York Rangers, and 217 with the Red Wings.

NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika spoke with both Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets players about their outdoor hockey experiences, as well as what they expect to happen this upcoming Saturday at the Stadium Series:

The Red Wings will visit the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium on Saturday (6 p.m. ET; ESPN, TVAS-D, FX-CA).

More than 80,000 fans are expected at the Horseshoe, which means the attendance won’t approach the record but should rank among the top three or four in NHL history.

“It’s cool to have the bragging rights,” Compher said. “But that’s quite a lot of people to play hockey in front of.

J.T. Compher and Dylan Larkin were younger when the NHL’s Winter Classic was held at the Big House in Ann Arbor…

“It was cold, but it was really cool,” Compher said. “You could see the divide at the 50-yard line of the red and the blue. It was super fun to go watch. It was a fun day.”

Larkin called it “awesome.”

“It was just a great day, beautiful, the Big House with the snow,” Larkin said “It was picturesque. I’ll remember that. It was a cold day, but just a great setting for hockey with that jersey matchup and the Winter Classic logo. It was great.”

And Larkin is looking forward to this Saturday’s game:

“It’s going to be a great event,” Larkin said. “I’ve never been to the Horseshoe, and especially with what happened this year with Michigan and the whole thing after the game … That was interesting. And credit to Ohio State winning the national championship. Their fans are excited. The last two national champions, it’s pretty cool. It’s a cool story.”

Continued

Not surprisingly, given the NHL’s student-friendly ticketing policies for Ohio State University students, the Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger reports that we’ll see mostly…blue…at Ohio Stadium this Saturday:

Historically, there have been times when Nationwide Arena has transformed into an opponent’s home away from home. That shouldn’t be the case Saturday at Ohio Stadium, where the Blue Jackets will face the Detroit Red Wings in the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series matchup. Despite the Red Wings’ large following as one of the NHL’s “Original Six” franchises, the expectation is the vast majority of 90,000-plus fans will be pulling for the guys with a cannon-crested jersey.

“I think it’s going to be, and I don’t know this for a fact, but 95% Blue Jackets fans,” Blue Jackets president of hockey operations/general manager Don Waddell said. “I know we’ve kind of dominated the (ticket) market, which is good.

“There’ll be some Detroit fans, of course. They’ve got great, loyal fans up there. The difference is this is our first outdoor game for the Blue Jackets, where the Red Wings have played in (four) already. They’ve done this before in other venues, but I still think with the rivalry we have with Detroit that we’ll get a number of fans from … that city up North.”

Speaking of “TCUN,” Waddell is originally from the Detroit area and played collegiately at Northern Michigan University. It’s been a long time since he’s lived there, though, and his allegiance is to Columbus now — since leaving the Carolina Hurricanes to take over as the Blue Jackets’ top hockey executive last spring. Waddell has learned a lot about his new team’s makeup, traditions and history, which doesn’t include the type of long-term success that begets national exposure.

This outdoor game is the only scheduled national television appearance for the Blue Jackets this season, so they’re only guaranteed one shot to make a branding impact outside of Ohio. They’re not going to waste the opportunity.

The Blue Jackets, who lost star Johnny Gaudreau to an offseason tragedy Aug. 29 before losing some key players in October to injuries, weren’t expected to contend for a playoff spot. Instead, they’ve overcome long odds to put themselves in the thick of a playoff race in the Eastern Conference. Arguably, they are the league’s biggest “feel good” story this season. 

Continued with discussion of the playoff importance of the home-and-home series between Columbus and Detroit on Thursday and Saturday…

And Nathan Hart’s note about parking for Saturday’s game is scary:

Continue reading Blue Jackets expect a home-ice crowd advantage at Ohio Stadium

The Minnesota Wild’s website and the Detroit Red Wings website’s Jonathan Mills posted additional game previews of tonight’s game between the Wild and Red Wings (8 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/FanDuel SportsNet Minnesota/FanDuel SportsNet Wisconsin).

I posted a game preview overnight, and the Wild’s preview is very statistic-y, so we’ll go with Mills’ game preview, which notes that the Red Wings are hungry for a series split after Saturday’s 4-3 OT loss:

“They play a fast game,” Erik Gustafsson said about the Wild. “They have some speed up front, so we got to be ready from the puck drop. I think we were [on Saturday], but we were good for 40 minutes. Now, we got to play for 60.”

In both games of its back-to-back set this past weekend, including Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota and Sunday’s 5-4 OT victory over the Anaheim Ducks, Detroit surrendered two-goal leads late in the third period.

According to Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan, there are several strategies when approaching how to defend late-game, 6-on-5 situations compared to a standard 5-on-4 penalty kill.

“They’re coming right out,” McLellan said about 6-on-5 scenarios. “You have no time, no space. You have to understand there’s a difference there. Positionally, there’s a few different things. They can usually outnumber you near the net, or at or around the net, and then from a structure perspective. From our end, there’s a few things that we should do differently. We met about them again [on Monday]. We’ll try and be much better in those situations.”

…

The Wild, who haven’t played since Saturday, remain in third place in the Western Conference’s Central Division. Winners in six of its past eight games, Minnesota also enters Tuesday with a 13-12-1 record on home ice this season.

“You put [Kirill] Kaprizov and a couple of their other injured players back into their lineup, that’s a real solid, contending team,” McLellan said. “They check well and don’t give you very much. I think they’re very well-coached and organized. They can be physical and skilled, but they’re really good in the offensive zone – of spreading things out and then attacking the net.”

Continued with injury updates…

Per the NHL:

National Hockey League Reveals Rendering and Entertainment Plans Celebrating Game Day Traditions for 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series in Columbus

The Ohio State University Athletic Band and Spirit Team to Entertain Fans at the “NHL Stadium Series Pep Rally” inside St. John Arena and at the Blue Jackets Outdoor Hockey Debut in The ‘Shoe

NEW YORK (Feb. 25, 2025) – A grand celebration of the Columbus Blue Jackets^® and The Ohio State University Buckeyes will be reflected in the field design and entertainment for the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series™, the first outdoor game for the Columbus Blue Jackets as they face off against the Detroit Red Wings^® at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Saturday, March 1, the National Hockey League (NHL) announced today. The game will be broadcast live at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN in the U.S. and on FX-CA, SN+ and TVAS Direct in Canada.

The theme celebrating game day traditions of the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Ohio State Buckeyes Athletics is visible throughout the field design rendering released today by the NHL. The NHL rink decking design, inspired by the University’s iconic Athletic Spirit Mark, features the Blue Jackets bold colors of Union blue, white and Goal red. The Cannon, a key element of Blue Jackets home games, will be fired each time Columbus scores a goal. (Render Credit: NHL, Elevate, Populous)

Continue reading Press release: NHL releases rendering of Stadium Series field

The NHL suspended Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras for 3 games for his hit on Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen this past Sunday. Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen wonders whether the suspension will satisfy the Red Wings team:

What bothers Detroit more is that the officials missed the Zegras act in real time. No penalty was called. Detroit, with the NHL’s hottest power play, didn’t get another chance with the man advantage. Officials just didn’t see the play.

Some social media posts wondered whether officials are ever disciplined for missed calls. (Referees are rated throughout the season and those ratings impact playoff assignments)

Officially, Zegras was suspended for interference, meaning it was delivered on a player who was not in possession of the puck. Rasmussen was hit after he had made a pass off the boards.

The league’s Department of Player Safety ruled the Zegras hit was made “outside the window when a check can be legally finished.”

Under the rules, players can finish a check started when the player had the puck. “This is not such a play,” the DOPS video explained.

Continued; given that Zegras was never suspended before, I think that the Wings got the maximum penalty for his illegal hit.