Month: August 2025

Lists in themselves are not a good thing or a bad thing–they’re arbitrary exercises in ranking “bests” and “worsts” of something, they’re attempts to make sense of the order in which to rank, rate or arrange, to make order out of chaos, if you will.

All of that being said, when NHL.com’s list of the top 10 forwards under 25 did not include Lucas Raymond, even the Red Wings were a bit annoyed by the exclusion; it was not a surprise when Raymond was named to next year’s likely top 20 wingers in the NHL, either.

Now that July has turned to August, the NHL is ranking its best wingers, centers, defensemen and goaltenders over the course of a series of special shows on the NHL Network, and it should come as no surprise to Red Wings fans that one Moritz Seider has also earned a “Maybe Next Year” from the NHL’s “Top 20 defensemen” list:

NHL Network will reveal its list of the top 20 defensemen in the League right now Wednesday when the second of a nine-part series debuts (NHLN, 6 p.m. ET).

While we wait for that much-discussed annual list, NHL.com asked a panel of its writers to identify players who could join the top 20 list next season.

And Moritz Seider? He gets an honorable mention, though it’s in the form of a heartfelt endorsement from Tracey Myers:

Continue reading Moritz Seider earns the same ‘maybe next year’ that Lucas Raymond did from NHL.com’s best positional players lists

I missed this one, and it’s not huge news, but it’s a nice compliment for a young Red Wing:

on Sunday, NHL.com’s “32 in 32” series posted a preview/check-in for the Detroit Red Wings, and on Monday, Pete Jensen named a player who might break out in the fantasy hockey realm:

Detroit Red Wings: Marco Kasper, F

Kasper had strong linemates in center Dylan Larkin and wing Lucas Raymond as a rookie last season and ranked tied for third among his class in even-strength goals (17). Kasper also provided strong category coverage of hits (156; second on Red Wings) and finished strong with a four-game point streak with five points (three goals, two assists) and 19 shots on goal in the span. At 21 years old, Kasper joins Raymond and defenseman Moritz Seider on NHL.com’s top 100 keeper rankings and could see expanded power-play usage (four power-play points last season) in the years ahead. Per NHL EDGE stats, Kasper also excelled in terms of 20-plus mph speed bursts (163; 88th percentile among forwards). — Pete Jensen

As far as I’m concerned, the 21-year-old Kasper is the Red Wings’ second-line center they’ve been searching for, period.

August isn’t just trade rumor season, part 2: It’s also the beginning of a full month’s worth of exhibition games and “friendly” tournaments for European teams from Russia to Finland, Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, et. al.

Most European teams have already had their “ice premiere,” in which the teams make their first public appearances before fans after practicing informally for a couple of weeks together, and then the month-plus of exhibition games and tournaments begin around the 10th-to-14th of the month.

Now it’s incredibly important to remember that we’re talking about a month-long preseason in August here, but it is good to hear GP.se’s Viktor Freden report that Noah Dower Nilsson had 3 assists in today’s exhibition game between NDN‘s Frolunda HC and HV71.

Frolunda won 5-0, and 20-year-old Dower Nilsson, a 6,’ 185-pound winger, posted those three “apples” on a line with former Red Wings draft pick Theodor Niederbach.

Here’s a short translation of the pertinent part of Freden’s article:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Noah Dower Nilsson registers 3 assists in preseason game

My English professors in college always told me to cite my sources, and so we’re citing a third source regarding the Edmonton Oilers’ long-term interest in Sebastian Cossa, from one Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal:

Have written in past about Oiler trade interest in ex Oil Kings G Sebastian Cossa. They wanted to draft him in 2021 but Red Wings got him at No 15. Locked into AHL role with Gibson and Talbot in Detroit this year. Wings also have high-end G prospect Augustine at Michigan State

— Jim Matheson (@jimmathesonnhl) August 12, 2025

So we’ve got a third source in addition to yesterday’s pair thereof, and three sources is usually the threshold for accuracy. I’d trust Matheson and Cam Robinson and Bob Stauffer, to be honest, so this rumor has legs in my book…

But interest is one thing, and making a deal happen with an organization that wants to see both Cossa and Trey Augustine in its goaltending system two years down the line is a very different matter.

I’m posting this with a big caveat here: It’s August 12th.

So Bleacher Report’s Frank Seravalli suggests that, should Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor not re-sign with his team, he might return home to Detroit as an unrestricted free agent next summer:

Kyle Connor moving out of Winnipeg? Not so fast, BUT Detroit would make a lot of sense @frank_seravalli pic.twitter.com/pvwsgsVaCy

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) August 12, 2025

Now I have literal tons of respect for Mr. Seravalli, who’s one of the most respected experts in hockey. And he’s right that the Red Wings could use a player like the 28-year-old Connor, obviously.

But Seravalli himself suggests that the Jets have every opportunity to re-sign their own player for the next 11 months before Detroit would get its chance to swing at Connor next July.

Yesterday was a particularly good day on the fundraising front. We’re about $300 of the way to that $617 set of bills.

As you know, things get tougher as fundraising continues, so I don’t want to hammer the fundraising drum, but that’s exactly what I have to do to keep the blog running.

I hope that you can lend a hand in some way, shape or form. I’m very happy to provide content and commentary for you, and I wish that I could do it for free, but that’s just not how things work.

Continue reading A fundraising odyssey

The Red Wings may very well be interested in Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Bryan Rust and/or Rickard Rakell to supplement the team’s goal-scoring, but the Wings’ front office is an airtight nuclear submarine, and it offers no hints as to what the management team might be examining.

There is presumed to be interest from Detroit, however, so Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz discusses the Wings as a possible landing spot for the latter forward, 33-year-old Rakell:

Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings have to do something else this offseason…don’t they?

They cannot possibly go into this season without any major moves beyond trading for John Gibson. They cannot possibly open the season with a roster that is largely unchanged from the one that hasn’t been good enough to snap their playoff drought.

They cannot go into the season with more than $12 million in unused salary-cap space.

None of that would be an acceptable offseason.

They have the need for more scoring up front, they have the salary-cap space to easily fit Rakell’s contract in, and they have young players who could be flipped and would fit into the Penguins’ long-term rebuild.

There has to be some urgency for Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings right now given how long the playoff drought has been and how little progress has been made in the standings under his watch.

The free-agent market was a bust for Detroit. Trades are going to have to be the path from here. Any of the Penguins’ potential trade chips would fit here.

Continued; Rakell, 32, stands at 6’1″ and 205 pounds, and he posted 35 goals and 35 assists last season. He’s making a $5 million cap-hit deal for the next 3 seasons, and I think that he’d be particularly difficult to pry from the Penguins given his status as an almost-point-per-game player with strong skating skills.

Would the Swede fit right into Detroit’s top six? Sure, but the question always remains: what’s he going to cost?

The Athletic’s Pittsburgh Penguins correspondent, Josh Yohe, is ranking the NHL’s 31 non-Pittsburgh travel destinations by their desirability, and he ranks Detroit 22nd overall, but not for the reasons you’d expect:

22. Detroit Red Wings

Positives

• Little Caesars Arena is the NHL’s best building.
• Easy drive, though the weather can get nasty in the winter.
• Detroit is on the upswing and a very underrated town.
• The Penguins play here on a Saturday afternoon, which makes for great convenience.

Negatives

• The rivalry isn’t what it once was.
• This isn’t a tropical trip.
• The Penguins are missing the annual car convention in Detroit by a week, which is bad timing.

The Wings host Pittsburgh in the back half of a home-and-home series on Saturday, January 3rd at 12 PM, so…

Continue reading Taking the compliments gracefully

Red Wings prospect defenseman Antti Tuomisto may stand at 6’5″ and 205 pounds, but the big defenseman is also already 24 years of age, so the Grand Rapids Griffins veteran doesn’t have a whole lot of developmental runway left.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen also notes that Tuomisto’s no longer waiver-exempt due to the combination of his age and the number of AHL games that he’s played…

One thing to keep in mind in assessing how the Detroit-Grand Rapids Carousel might operate: Antti Tuomisto is no longer waiver-exempt. Would another team claim him? Maybe. He’s got size, a shot, competes hard. The question about him is his skating.

I’m not going to worry about Tuomisto getting plucked off the waiver wire. Given the fact that he hasn’t played any NHL games yet, and given that his skating is still an issue, there are going to be more appealing defenders available on the waiver wire come the end of the exhibition season.

Unless Tuomisto takes several steps forward and almost makes the Wings’ roster, he’ll continue to be a “project prospect,” and that’s generally not the kind of player who finds himself plucked off waivers.

The next “goose chase” is on. Whether it’s wild or not depends upon your point of view.

The Hockey News’s Michael Whitaker reports that EliteProspects director of film scouting Cam Robinson, who is not one to manufacture trade rumors because it’s August or any other month, offered this on the latest “Sekeres and Price” show:

Appearing on The Sekeres & Price Show, League Insider Cam Robinson – Content Director and Director of Film Scouting for Elite Prospects – revealed that he’s been told the Oilers have reached out to Detroit about potentially acquiring [Sebastian] Cossa to present to their fans as their goaltender of the future.

“I’ve heard that they’re looking a little more long term, and their field of vision is a little wider here,” Robinson said of the Oilers. “I’ve been told they’ve contacted Detroit, I believe the first person they asked about was Trey Augustine and think it was just a non-starter. Steve Yzerman and company really love that kid, and they should.”

“But they have a 6’6″, 6’7″ former first rounder in Sebastian Cossa sitting there, who is slowly been progressing up the way, played a full season in the East Coast League,” Robinson continued. “They’re not soured on him by any means, but I think they’re hoping that he’d be quicker along the path, and the fact that they have Augustine there in the Red Wings system potentially allows him to be an expendable chip. 

Whitaker is skeptical of the trade scenario:

Continue reading We’re moving on from Mason McTavish-to-Detroit rumors to Sebastian Cossa-to-Edmonton rumors