Month: June 2025

The Red Wings released their summer development camp roster this afternoon, and this evening, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan took note of the comments made by Wings assistant GM and director of amateur scouting Kris Draper as to why Detroit’s bringing in 31 players to the BELFOR Training Center at Little Caesars Arena for the next four days:

“The sports science department, to trainers, medical staff, nutritionists, it’s a crash course in as much information as we can give these guys,” Draper said. “That’s what we’re doing. We want them to understand the importance of training. It’s something that we put a big emphasis on for a lot of us that played and are still in the organization. That was something that meant a lot to all of us when we played, so we want to let them know the importance of training properly and training at the right time.

“Know what to eat, know when to eat is also very important. Then even on top of that, with the sleep. It’s probably something that a lot of these young players take for granted.

“There’s so much we want to offer them. There’s so much information out there and we think we do a real good job in educating all these young players and give them something to be able to take home over the summer, whether it’s training or nutrition.

“We want to give them as much information as possible.”

Continued

From the NHL:

John Gibson's ready to shut the door for the @DetroitRedWings! 🚪 pic.twitter.com/UGL1r5UuKf

— NHL (@NHL) June 29, 2025

The Detroit Red Wings have released their 2025 Summer Development Camp roster:

RED WINGS RELEASE 2025 DEVELOPMENT CAMP ROSTER 

  … Twenty-Five Recent Draft Picks on Roster, Including Seven from 2025 Draft …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today announced the roster for their 2025 Development Camp, which will be held at the BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena starting Monday, June 30 to Thursday, July 3. The camp roster currently consists of 16 forwards, nine defensemen and six goaltenders.

Seven of eight players the Red Wings selected at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft on June 27-28 at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater in Los Angeles will be in attendance for Development Camp: forwards Carter Bear, Eddie Genborg, Grayden Robertson-Palmer, Brent Solomon and Michal Svrcek, defenseman Will Murphy, and goaltender Michal Pradel. Additionally, seven of the team’s selections from the 2024 NHL Entry Draft are slated to attend, along with seven players from the 2023 Draft and four from 2022.

The Red Wings’ first-round pick from the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, Carter Bear (13th overall), will attend Development Camp along with 2025 second-round pick Eddie Genborg (44th overall). Bear played the 2024-25 season with the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips and ranked among the team leaders with 40 goals (1st), 42 assists (4th), 82 points (1st), a plus-33 rating (7th), 77 penalty minutes (2nd), 14 power play goals (1st), 27 power play points (T1st), two shorthanded goals (T2nd), nine game-winning goals (1st) and 185 shots (4th) in 56 games. The 6-foot, 179-pound forward earned a place on the WHL’s Western Conference Second All-Star Team. Genborg spent part of the 2024-25 season with Linköping HC’s under-20 squad in Sweden’s top junior league, recording 34 points (19-15-34), a plus-18 rating and 26 penalty minutes in 28 regular-season games, in addition to three points (1-2-3) and four penalty minutes in three postseason contests. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound forward also made his professional debut with Linköping HC in the Swedish Hockey League during the 2024-25 campaign, netting two goals and four penalty minutes in 28 games while playing in Sweden’s highest professional league.

Detroit’s first-round selection from the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (15th overall), is expected to return to Development Camp. Brandsegg-Nygård began the 2024-25 campaign with Skellefteå AIK, recording 11 points (5-6-11) and 51 penalty minutes in 42 SHL games. His 11 points were the ninth-most among under-20 skaters in Sweden’s top professional league. The 6-foot-1, 206-pound forward also collected six points (4-2-6) and 12 penalty minutes in 11 postseason contests, helping Skellefteå AIK reach the SHL Semifinals. Brandsegg-Nygård finished the 2024-25 season with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, skating in two regular-season games before picking up three points (2-1-3) in three Calder Cup Playoff games. On the international stage, Brandsegg-Nygård added four assists and 29 penalty minutes in five games with Norway at the 2025 IIHF World Championship.

Other prospects slated to attend include Max Plante (47th overall in 2024), who recorded 28 points (9-19-28), a plus-five rating and 16 penalty minutes in 23 games as a freshman at the University of Minnesota-Duluth (NCHC); Trey Augustine (41st overall in 2023), a South Lyon, Mich., native who posted a 19-7-4 record during his sophomore season at Michigan State University (B10) and won his second-consecutive gold medal with Team USA at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship; Jesse Kiiskinen, who was acquired by the Red Wings in a trade with the Nashville Predators on June 25, 2024 and logged 44 points (14-30-44) in 46 games with HPK (Liiga) in 2024-25; and Michal Postava, who signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Red Wings on June 10 after backstopping HC Kometa Brno to a Czech Extraliga title in 2025.

A complete development camp roster can be found below.

2025 DEVELOPMENT CAMP SCHEDULE

The 2025 Development Camp will be split into two teams – Team Howe and Team Lindsay – and will feature daily on-ice instruction and skill development from a team of coaches, led by the Red Wings player development staff. Attendees will also take part in NHL-level off-ice workouts and attend presentations designed to help players transition to professional hockey, while experiencing the state-of-the-art player amenities offered at Little Caesars Arena and receiving feedback from Red Wings coaches and management.

4-ON-4 GAME TO BE STREAMED AT DETROITREDWINGS.COM

The four-on-four game between Team Howe and Team Lindsay will be streamed live on DetroitRedWings.com and on the Red Wings Facebook and YouTube channels on Thursday, July 3 starting at 10:00 a.m. The streams will feature exclusive interviews with Red Wings prospects and select members of the Red Wings front office staff – hosted by Red Wings radio play-by-play announcer Ken Kal and Griffins play-by-play announcer Bob Kaser. For in-depth coverage of Development Camp, visit www.DetroitRedWings.com/Prospects.

It all starts tomorrow! #DRWDC

📰 » https://t.co/JNAXDkR7cJ pic.twitter.com/N7ItwBT0Yy

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 29, 2025

The Red Wings have yet to re-sign Patrick Kane, but both GM Steve Yzerman and Kane himself have suggested that it won’t be too difficult for the respective parties to come to an agreement. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff duly noted the following:

“Well, I still expect us to get a deal done with Patrick,” Yzerman said. “It’s a busy time for everyone. I’ve had some discussions with both Patrick and Pat Brisson, his agent. And once you get around the draft, the agents have a lot of other things they’re doing as well. So I’m hopeful that we can get something done soon. And that’s my intention, so we’ll see if we can’t get that done shortly.”

What is making it all a bit surprising that the two aren’t in agreement on a new contract is that both sides seem entirely amenable to making it happen. The last time he was speaking publicly on the matter, Kane was suggesting he also was leaning toward remaining with the Red Wings for a third season.

“I mean, I think definitely take some time to think, but overall I’ve really enjoyed my time here and I think it’s been a great place for me to continue my career and play,” Kane said at the time. “And there’s a lot of great things about the organization that have helped me, not only with my injury, but to find a good role within the team and play. So I think there’s definitely some mutual interest in coming back and continuing on here. So, we’ll see what happens.”

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman stated that he’s considering adding a third NHL goaltender to the team’s mix of players…

“It is something we will consider,” Yzerman said. “John’s cap hit ($6.4 million) is bigger than Petr Mrazek’s ($4.75 million). So that changes our cap a little bit.”

The advantage of three goalies is the third goalie serves as an insurance policy against injury. Plus,  a coach has another option if one of goalies endures a slump. The negative of carrying three goalies is that there are only two nets in practice. That means one goalie is standing around.

Also, even in a three goalie system, there’s usually a top two.  It’s challenging for the third man to stay sharp.

It seemed to be advantageous to the Red Wings last season with Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon and Ville Husso.

“Determining whether we carry a third — or can carry a third for that matter, will be determined by what, if anything we do over the course of the offseason,” Yzerman said.

Continued; as Allen notes, Yzerman said that he’s going to circle back and speak with Alex Lyon’s agent before the beginning of free agency on Tuesday at 12 PM.

Update: Here’s more from MLive’s Ansar Khan:

Continue reading Wings still considering utilizing 3 goaltenders

Over the course of a subscriber-only article, MLive’s Ansar Khan posts profiles of the Red Wings’ 2025 NHL Draft prospects, and he also notes the following:

“We don’t necessarily draft by position,” general manager Steve Yzerman said. “This stage of where we’re at, you’re still trying to get the best prospect.”

Every team is optimistic about every draft. Time will tell.

“We’re excited about Carter (Bear), a player that will fit in very well for us, a left shot, left winger,” Yzerman said. “We’re able to get a couple of defensemen, several forwards. Eddie Genborg, big, strong, powerful, good skater, hard worker, could be a really good checker for us. We added another goaltender, big goaltender. We’ll see if he can develop over time.

“Our scouts feel good about it, and we are able to address some needs as far as depth in the prospect pool. We’ll try to do our best and be patient and develop them and help them along the way to become professional players and hopefully play for the Red Wings.”

Kris Draper, assistant GM and director of amateur scouting, added: “Down the road with the great development staff that we have with Dan Cleary and Niklas Kronwall, they’re going to work hard and challenge these young prospects and give them every resource they can to become prospects and potentially players for the Detroit Red Wings.”

Continued (paywall); the Wings’ new prospects are in the fold, and now, as Draper suggests, the long and challenging road toward NHL employment begins, starting tomorrow at the Summer Development Camp.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted a 2nd-day-of-the-draft wrap-up which discusses the Red Wings’ 2025 NHL Draft haul, noting GM Steve Yzerman’s draft philosophy…

“We don’t necessarily draft by position,” Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman said via Zoom on Saturday afternoon. “We always try, at this stage of where we’re at, to get the best prospect and we put them in that order…We’re happy with what we were able to accomplish here in the Draft. We like all the kids that we got. We’re excited about Carter [Bear] in the first round, that type of player who will fit in very well for us – a left winger. He’ll be good.

“The remainder of the group here were all good prospects. We were able to get a couple of defensemen, several forwards… We add another goaltender…We’ll see if he can develop over time as well. Again, our scouts feel good about it. We were able to address some needs as far as depth in the prospect pool. We’ll try to do our best and be patient, develop them, help them along the way to become professional players and hopefully play for the Red Wings.”

As well as this regarding the Petr Mrazek-for-John Gibson trade…

Continue reading Yzerman, Draper discuss draft philosophy, the Gibson trade and the Summer Development Camp

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas discuss the Red Wings’ trade with Anaheim for goaltender John Gibson at the 23-minute mark of the latest 32 Thoughts podcast.

Friedman states that he believes that the Red Wings were able to afford the deal in terms of compensation because the Ducks would not take money back in a trade, and he never thought that the Red Wings or anyone else would consummate a trade for Gibson, but the Wings are depending on Gibson’s health holding up this season for Detroit.

Mostly, he discusses Pat Verbeek’s free agency options as the Ducks have accrued significant salary cap space, the team’s drafting of Roger McQueen, and Friedman states that the Gibson deal may have been held up because Petr Mrazek either lost his phone or dropped it in water.

Ahead of free agency, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen examines the Red Wings’ cap situation:

After the Gibson deal, the Red Wings have $19.1 million in cap space. That doesn’t include William Lagesson’s $775,000. We project he will start with Grand Rapids and be a player who comes up when the Red Wings have injuries. The Red Wings still have RFAs Albert Johansson, Jonatan Berggren and Elmer Soderblom still to sign. Patrick Kane also hasn’t yet agreed to a contract, although Yzerman said he still believes it is going to get done.

PuckPedia suggests that, with Lagesson on the roster, and last year’s bonus overages, the Red Wings have $18.41 million in cap space, and I’d be shocked if Berggren, Johansson and/or Soderblom cost more than $1.25 million individually.

The Red Wings’ 2025 draft class has been graded by several draft experts over the course of the last 12 hours, and this morning, ESPN’s Rachel Doerrie discusses the draft classes of the NHL’s 32 teams.

She approves of Detroit’s 8-player haul, with the John Gibson trade boosting the Wings into “A” territory:

Detroit Red Wings
Grade: A-

There’s a lot to like about what the Red Wings did this weekend, and they likely nabbed at least two long-term NHL players in Carter Bear and Eddie Genborg. Bear was good value in the teens, and brings a projectable two-way game with high-end playmaking skills. As an added bonus, he’s got some of the coveted hard skill teams were looking for because he plays in the dirty areas, wins puck battles and creates space for his teammates. He’s two or three years away, but should be a quality top-six forward when he’s ready.

I liked the Genborg selection as a good middle-six player that thrives with skill. He’ll be a good complementary piece when he’s ready.

Once the top tier of goalies were gone, I really liked the swing on Michal Pradel. The Red Wings aren’t short on goaltending prospects, and he’s another guy who has a chance to be an NHL goaltender. Count me as a fan of the Michal Svrcek pick in the fourth round because of his upside as a speedster with competitive bite. Add in the John Gibson trade — which gives the Red Wings immediate help — and they had a pretty good weekend.

Continued;

Bear also scored 40 goals over the course of last season; Genborg is a scrappy bugger, and while Pradel’s selection was a bit of a surprise, I like the pick of Svrcek as well, and the Wings’ two high school graduates, Brent Solomon and Grayden Robinson-Palmer, are intriguing. Add in Russian puck-moving defenseman Nikita Tyurin and bruising D Will Murphy, and the Wings have a very balanced class of player picks.