Month: July 2025

Pure speculation: discussing Max Pacioretty’s ‘fit’ in Detroit as a free agent or pro try-out

Free agent forward Max Pacioretty has bounced in and out of the lineups of the Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes, Washington Capitals and then the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, but the 36-year-old forward still has some wheels, a lot of pluck, and depth scoring ability.

Given the dearth of available scorers remaining on the unrestricted free agent marketplace, the Hockey News’s Michael Augello speculates as to whether Pacioretty could land a job (or perhaps at least a Pro Try-Out) with seven teams, including the Canadiens, Oilers, one of the New York-area teams, Toronto, or yes, Detroit…

And there’s a bit of a “fit” for him in Detroit:

Detroit Red Wings

Pacioretty makes his off-season home in Michigan and played his college hockey with the Wolverines. His family remained there while he played in Toronto, and being away from them was a big factor in his hinting towards retirement immediately after the season. It is likely that in a perfect world, he would want to sign with the Wings, who are desperate to snap a long playoff drought, but there are no strong indicators that GM Steve Yzerman has interest. 

Continued; as Augello suggests, there’s no real urgency for the Red Wings to sign another middle-to-bottom-6 forward with James van Riemsdyk in tow…

But Pacioretty earned just south of $875,000 with Toronto last season, and his University of Michigan and Michigan-based ties have linked him to Detroit in the unofficial rumor mill for the better part of half-a-decade now.

If you don’t know by now, I hate talking about hypothetical trades or free agent signings in late July for the sake of clicks or chasing stories…

But I see a potential “fit” here, at least in the PTO (Pro Try-Out) or league-minimum salary + bonuses sense of the “fit” term.

The Max Pacioretty that skates in the NHL now is not anything like the 30-goal-scorer who captained the Montreal Canadiens back in the late-2010’s, but he’s still a plucky peripheral scorer and play-maker with some grit and poise, and he would not be the worst depth player to inquire as to his status as training camp nears in mid-September.

Instagram post of note: Marco Kasper scored a ‘Michigan goal’ in the Sunshine Hockey League

As reported recently, Red Wings forward Marco Kasper was taking part in the Sunshine Hockey League back home in Klagenfurt, Austria.

While Kasper’s “Lendhafen Seelöwen” lost the championship game against the Slovenian “HC Krocha,” the Instagram account of the Sunshine Hockey League posted a “Michigan goal” from Kasper in the championship game:

There’s also a paywalled article in Klagenfurt’s Kleine Zeitung in which Martin Quendler-Trabesinger reports that the Sunshine Hockey League’s success means that a “bigger, better” league will come next season.

Update: From Twitter…

Red Wings prospect Carter Bear ‘invited but unable to participate’ in the World Junior Summer Showcase

Red Wings prospects Max Plante, John Whipple (Team USA) and Eddie Genborg (Sweden) are taking part in the World Summer Showcase in Minneapolis, Minnesota between today and August 2nd, with a team from Finland and two teams from Canada taking part…

And after Hockey Canada announced its participants in the WJSS today, the WHL’s website’s Tyler Rocca reported that Red Wings 2025 1st round draft pick Carter Bear was invited to the tournament, but is unable to participate due to his recovery from a torn Achilles tendon.

You can attend the tournament at the University of Minnesota’s Ridder Arena, or watch it on USAHockey.tv on a pay-per-view basis (you have to buy a “monthly plan” as well to watch the games).

It’s pretty expensive, however, so I’m guessing that you and I will be relying on bootlegged highlight clips to see what happens for the Red Wings’ three participants.

Five Red Wings make the Free Press’s cut for Detroit’s ‘All-21st Century Team’

The Detroit Free Press has been examining the first 25 years of the 21st century in Detroit sports recently, discussing the all-star teams for the Tigers, Lions (offense and defense), Pistons, Michigan State University’s basketball and football teams (offense and defense), the University of Michigan’s basketball and football teams (offense and defense), and yet, the Detroit Red Wings’ “All-21st Century Team” as well.

Today, the Free Press’s Christian Romo was tasked with naming the “All-21st Century Team” for each and every one of Detroit’s four big sports teams (and the Michigan State and Michigan varsity basketball and football teams), and here are the Red Wings on his list:

First, Darren McCarty earned an honorable mention…

Darren McCarty (Red Wings, 1993-2004, 2007-09)

A four-time Stanley Cup winner and longtime enforcer for the Red Wings, McCarty is probably best known for his role during Fight Night at the Joe on March 26, 1997, where he forced Colorado Avalanche winger Claude Lemieux to “turtle” on the ice during a fight. (He also scored the Stanley Cup winning goal in Game 4 of the Finals that season.) But that’s so last century.

Nowadays, McCarty may be better known for his celebrity status around Detroit, with his involvement in the local wrestling scene and television commercials maintaining his popularity in the city.

Jimmy Howard and Dylan Larkin just made the cut…

Continue reading Five Red Wings make the Free Press’s cut for Detroit’s ‘All-21st Century Team’

HSJ in the morning: Checking in with Michael Brandsegg-Nygard

The Free Press’s Helene St. James checks in on the progress made by Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard this morning, discussing MBN’s 2024-2025 season…

“I’ve improved a lot in my skating – that’s one thing I focused a lot on in the last year, after I got drafted,” Brandsegg-Nygård said. “I’m young; I can develop everything. I just try to do everything at once.”

Everything all at once can overwhelm even those in the best of shape, but credit Brandsegg-Nygård for his enthusiasm. It’s shared by the Wings, who last year took the unusual step of bringing the forward to training camp in September, even though he already was embedded with his SHL team, Skellefteå. Because he already was 6 feet 1 and 207 pounds, Brandsegg-Nygård was able to hold his own physically against men.

Once the preseason was over, Brandsegg-Nygård was returned to his Swedish club. He posted five goals and six assists in 42 games, with another four goals and two assists in 11 playoff games.

“It was a tough season,” Brandsegg-Nygård said. “I wasn’t too happy about it. I’m not used to not getting as much points as you really want to make. But the team didn’t have a great season either, so pretty tough to have like you feel like you lose every game and you don’t help them enough. Just learn from it and get stronger in your mind.”

And his North American debut:

As soon as Skellefteå’s season ended, the Wings brought Brandsegg-Nygård to Grand Rapids so that he could experience AHL hockey.

“I thought as the games went along, he got better and better,” director of player development Dan Cleary said. “He’s got a good frame to him and he’s got a good mindset. He’s a very competitive player. He’s is really a super fun guy to be around. He’s always smiling.”

With the Griffins bowing out in three games and the series over by May 9, that freed up Brandsegg-Nygård to play at the World Championship, where he posted four assists in five games.

Continued; MBN is definitely going to have to adjust to the narrower North American ice surface (85 feet wide instead of 100 feet wide) and the faster pace of play in the AHL, but Brandsegg-Nygard’s shoot-first mentality should serve him well as he begins his North American apprenticeship in earnest.

Allen: Red Wings’ single-game tickets go on sale on Friday, August 8th

According to Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen, the Red Wings’ single-game tickets will go on sale on Friday, August 8th:

On August 8 (10 a.m) Detroit Red Wings single-game tickets can be purchased at DetroitRedWings.com/Tickets. Fans may register for the priority presale list for the opportunity to purchase tickets before the general public by visiting the 2025-26 Priority Presale page.

Former Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios to be inducted into Michigan Sports Hall of Fame’s class of 2025

As reported by MLive’s Ansar Khan, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen, the Free Press’s Christian Romo and the Associated Press, former Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios was named to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame’s induction class of 2025 this evening.

Chelios will be joined by Detroit Pistons star Rasheed Wallace, boxer Claressa Shields, Michigan State University basketball star Jason Richardson, Michigan State University football coach Mark Dantonio, Detroit Tigers GM David Dombrowski and Detroit Free Press baseball writer John Lowe.

Today’s press release states that Chelios and company will be inducted at the MotorCity Casino on December 19th, and they describe Chelios as follows:

Chris Chelios

A Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman who played a decade for the Detroit Red Wings, Chris Chelios helped lead the team to two of its Stanley Cup Championships. Named one of the NHL’s 100 all-time greatest players, Chelios played all of his seasons in Detroit after the age of 37, leading the league in plus/minus in the championship season of 2001-2002.


It’s also worth noting that late Detroit sports superfan Andy Isaac, a.k.a. @Worldofisaac on Twitter, will be inducted posthumously as a winner of the “Courage Award.”

Kulfan attempts to predict the Red Wings’ likely AHL recalls

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan attempts to discern which players who will begin this season with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins might end up playing important injury replacement roles on the Red Wings’ roster.

Among Kulfan’s picks are the following players:

▶ Carter Mazur, left wing, 2021 third-round selection: The Jackson native made the NHL in March, but in his first game dislocated an elbow and missed the rest of his hockey season.

Mazur, 23, would seem to have a legitimate shot at grabbing what looks like one available forward spot on the roster. But the Wings, understandably, usually don’t like to put young players in a spot where they don’t regularly play. Better to play regularly, and get plenty of playing time, at the AHL level.

Mazur has gotten stronger physically this summer, something that was important. Injuries have set Mazur (6-foot, 170 pounds) back; otherwise he possibly would have been in the NHL already.

“He’s a great kid and a good player,” said Dan Cleary, the Wings director of player development. “He’s had some tough luck with injuries during his pro career which has been unfortunate. I tell him it stinks, but you have to start over and dig in and rehab and keep going. He was in such a good place last year and had put in tremendous work. He’s put good weight on his frame and been able to keep it, and he’s going to need it. For him, it’s just he has had some bad luck. I’m hoping he can get past the bad luck, and I know he does too, and I believe he will.”

▶ Nate Danielson, center, 2023 first-round selection: The Wings’ first-round pick in 2023, Danielson had 12 goals and 39 points in his first pro season in Grand Rapids. Danielson, 20, is a sound two-way center who impressed on the defensive side of the rink and overcame a slow start offensively in the AHL. Danielson (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) can make the NHL if he impresses in training camp and can win a regular spot in the lineup.

“It’s just learning to do it, particularly as a centerman, to do a lot of the little things with and without the puck, that really make you effective maybe at the pro level,” said Yzerman said of Danielson.  “When you’re a good skater and junior or any lower league, you can kind of skate your way through everything, and you need to do more than that. It’s been a good year for him. He’s worked hard. Early in the season, he suffered a pretty significant injury, a facial injury, and to his credit, I don’t know that he missed the game. He put the face mask on and away he went, which is very encouraging for us.”

Continued; Kulfan also lists Axel Sandin Pellikka, Sebastian Cossa, Michal Postava, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, William Wallinder and Amadeus Lombardi as possible call-ups.

Tweet of note: PuckPedia prepares us for NCAA free agency

PuckPedia posted a Tweet which lists the NCAA-playing graduates whose NHL-drafting teams’ rights expire on August 15th, making the players unrestricted free agents.

The list includes 22-year-old outgoing Michigan State University captain and 2021 Detroit draft pick Red Savage, who may be holding out to try and land an NHL contract. My gut feeling is that the Red Wings are trying to sign the hard-working grinding forward to an AHL deal, and he may expect more, contractually speaking.

The PuckPedia list mostly includes some solid depth players this summer, but it would not surprise me if an NHL contract or three were doled out to these players. Isaac Howard being traded to Edmonton kind of took the air out of the NCAA free agency balloon.

Roughly translated: Marco Kasper takes part in a charity golf tournament with EC-KAC in Klagenfurt, Austria

The Kleine Zeitung’s Martin Quendler-Trabesinger reports that Red Wings forward Marco Kasper and members of EC-KAC Klagenfurt of the ICE Hockey League took part in a charity golf tournament on Friday.

The Austrian German translation is a little garbled, and Quendler-Trabesinger focuses on naming everybody who participated in and sponsored the golf tournament, so the real “goodie” here consists of the pictures of Kasper and company on the course, which you’ll have to click here to see, and there’s a 3:08 embedded video chronicling the tournament. It’s in Austrian German, however, so it’s a little hard for me to translate.

Anyway, here’s a rough translation of the article:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Marco Kasper takes part in a charity golf tournament with EC-KAC in Klagenfurt, Austria