Month: August 2025

Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s best hockey friend is Anaheim Ducks defender Stian Solberg.

This morning, Norway’s TV VG posted a 55-second clip of the pair giggling their way through a set of 5 questions as the pair prepare for their first full North American seasons back home in Norway.

I can at least tell you that Solberg makes fun of MBN for having a bad temper, and I know this isn’t “hard news,” but it’s one of those August 1st clips that makes you smile when you see how tight the bond is between the pair–but how hard they make fun of each other, too

The Hockey News’s Jake Tye reprinted an article from January’s Hockey News “People of Power and Influence” special, as written by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff.

Duff profiles Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, as well as CEO of Ilitch Sports + Entertainment Ryan Gustafsson, and there’s a character sketch of GM Steve Yzerman and the atmosphere of Little Caesars Arena, too.

Here’s what Duff has to say about Chris Ilitch:

Ownership – Chris Ilitch 

If Chris Ilitch can replicate with the Red Wings what he just did with his Detroit Tigers and get them back to the playoffs, the fan base’s opinion of him will certainly change. Currently, Ilitch is seen as a penny pincher by the Red Wings faithful. His parents, Mike and Marian Ilitch, on the other hand, owned well-earned reputations for spending whatever it took to put the team on track for the Stanley Cup.

To be fair to the Wings’ current president and CEO, his parents’ spending wasn’t constrained by a salary cap. They could allow their GMs free rein in order to keep winning, which is part of the reason the Red Wings made 25 successive playoff appearances between 1990-91 and 2015-16.

It’s also fair to say that when Chris Ilitch ascended to the throne as the man in charge of the Red Wings, he was arriving to a cupboard bereft of prospects.

Continue reading Talking about the Wings’ ownership

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a “split article” on Thursday, discussing Carter Bear’s recovery from a torn Achilles tendon and Carter Mazur’s recovery from a dislocated elbow:

Coaches undoubtedly are pleased Mazur is healthy. The word is that Mazur has added a significant amount of muscle. He has more than his fair share of injuries early in his pro career. Added strength could help. The Red Wings were hoping Mazur, 23, was ready to be of the big club’s mix late last season.  However, his NHL debut lasted one shift before he suffered an injury that put him out the rest of the season.

Detroit management reminds high on his potential.

Mazur is a gritty scorer with 28 goals in 86 AHL games. There’s hope he could compete for a role in top six, although he may have to make the roster as a bottom six player and work his way up.

Both DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills and the Free Press’s Helene St. James have posted articles on Mazur recently, with Mills interviewing Mazur as he attempts to make the Red Wings’ roster as a 23-year-old.

Former Red Wing Igor Larionov is going to be coaching the KHL’s flagship franchise in big-market team SKA St. Petersburg, but Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that Larionov is going to dive into the hockey podcasting sea as well:

“Bookmaker PARI and its ambassador Igor Larionov are launching a podcast about hockey,” the site reported. “Russian sports stars will visit the ‘Professor.’ PARI with Larionov is an unprecedented project in the world of hockey. This is the first time in history that an active coach is launching his own media project.

For his part, Larionov seems genuinely excited to participate in such a project.

“Many people know me as a person who has been connected to hockey all my life,” Larionov said. “And now I want to talk to you in a long, honest, lively format. Within the framework of this conversation, you can remember a lot, comprehend, and perhaps even say something that has never been said before.

“The essence of the podcast is to convey to the generation of young players, to those who love and watch the game, how success is achieved. How the first steps are taken, how young talents move on, how they achieve great progress. It’s time to talk about hockey for real.”

Larionov’s new podcast debuted on July 30. His first guest was Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kirill Marchenko.

Red Wings forward Patrick Kane is going to take part in a “Patrick Kane Day” back in Chicago on Friday, August 8th, and today he posted a reminder thereof:

Appreciate you guys. See you both 8/8! https://t.co/sUqMoFxa4J

— Patrick Kane (@88PKane) July 31, 2025

Kane shared memories from his Chicago days on an ESPN podcast (with “Carmen and Jurko”) last month, he was on Barstool Chicago as well, and the event is going to be very Blackhawks-centric.

The Red Wings have drafted a significant number of prospects over the course of the NHL Draft’s 2nd round over the past couple of seasons, and MLive’s Ansar Khan notes that the Wings’ record has been hit-or-miss, with the exceptions of Dmitri Buchelnikov, Dylan James and Max Plante:

The Detroit Red Wings have loaded up on second-round picks since Steve Yzerman became general manager and Kris Draper the director of amateur scouting, with 14 selections in seven drafts.

Only defenseman Albert Johansson, the lowest of those picks at No. 60 in 2019, has reached the NHL thus far.

Three others – defensemen Antti Tuomisto (No. 35 in 2019), William Wallinder (No. 32 in 2020) and Shai Buium (No. 36 in 2021) are with the Grand Rapids Griffins, hoping to soon reach the NHL.

Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine (No. 41 in 2023) is one of the organization’s top prospects.

Defenseman Brady Cleveland (No. 42 in 2023) is headed into his third collegiate season with his third different school (Minnesota-Duluth). Eddie Genborg, a physical two-way forward selected this year (No. 44), will be playing for Timra in the Swedish Hockey League.

Defenseman Andrew Gibson (No. 42 in 2023) was traded to Nashville for prospect Jesse Kiiskinen and a second-round pick needed to move Jake Walman to San Jose.

Robert Mastrosimone (No. 54 in 2019), Theodor Niederbach (No. 51 in 2020) and Cross Hanas (No. 55 in 2020) didn’t pan out and are no longer in the organization.

Continued with profiles of Buchelnikov, James and Plante; the draft is a hit-or-miss business, and I’m not overly concerned that the Wings’ 2nd round picks have been more “miss” than hit.

Ideally, you want to draft 3 or 4 NHL players per 7 picks, and that’s not easy to do for anyone.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills caught up with Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren on Thursday, discussing Berggren’s desire to build upon a solid 2024-2025 season via hard summer training back home in Sweden:

“Last year was a good year for me,” Berggren recently told DetroitRedWings.com. “I feel like I got more opportunity after Todd [McLellan] became head coach, and I think I played better. This one-year deal is a prove-it-deal for me. I want to show what I can do.”

The 24-year-old forward skated in an NHL-career high 75 games last season, recording 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points. Berggren said spending the full campaign with the Red Wings boosted his confidence and helped him stay even keel through the highs and the lows.

“It felt like I was part of the team,” Berggren said. “It’s hard when you’re going up and down between the AHL and NHL, so I got that confidence being there for a full year and I’m going to build off that.”

Since being taken by Detroit in the second round (No. 33 overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Berggren has added more and more to his game. In total, the Uppsala, Sweden, native has notched 58 points (29 goals, 29 assists) in 154 games with the Red Wings since 2022-23. A lot of the progress he’s made, Berggren said, is the result of all the hard work he’s put in behind the scenes.

“Especially last summer, I feel like that was really good and then at Training Camp, everything felt good,” Berggren said. “I took another step last year, but I feel like I’m starting at a higher level this year maybe than where I was two years ago. I want to do the same thing this summer because I feel like that’s going to give me a good result this year.”

Continued; Berggren’s got nowhere to go but up in terms of his level of performance, and I’m glad that he’s setting himself up to succeed before a pivotal season.

My apologies for the lack of posts over the last 20 or so hours.

I’m dealing with a very bad summer cold and it’s gotten worse, not better, over the course of the next couple of days, and I’ve slept for the last day or so because I’m feeling just terrible.

I’ll try to catch up as able today and/or tomorrow. Sometimes these things happen.