Of Red Wings-related note from an “off day” Monday which devolved into a 10-hour nap for me:
DetroitRedWings.com: Jonathan Mills filed a recap of the Red & White Game:
Along with Sunday’s Red & White Game, Tanguay said Training Camp provided the group with a great opportunity to lay the groundwork for the 2025-26 season.
“I thought that playing every day raised their competitive juices a little bit,” Tanguay said. “For the most part, it was a very competitive camp. We’ve asked guys to give us their best. Show us why you need to be in the NHL. Leave a calling card, and some guys have. Some of the guys, we’ll see in the exhibition here, how it plays out. But I think for the most part, the first four days have been very successful.”
For example, Emmitt Finnie is a player who is making a positive impression this fall, as Sunday marked the second straight day that the seventh-round pick (No. 201 overall) in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft skated on a line with Larkin and Lucas Raymond.
“He probably, more than some of the guys, he’s brought his best aspect forward,” Tanguay said about the 20-year-old forward prospect. “He’s a good skater and puck retriever. He showed it [at the 2025 NHL Prospect Games] and [at Training Camp] and again [on Sunday]. We put him on a good line, and he showed he was able to retrieve pucks and drive the pace with his speed and size. He gave Larks and Razor some touches.”
With the Red Wings ready to begin an eight-game preseason slate on Tuesday night, it’s important that every player keeps building their game as Opening Night (Oct. 9) gets closer on the calendar.
“This is [head coach Todd McLellan’s] team now, so he’s set his priorities and the tone for Training Camp,” Tanguay said. “It’s been good to have our whole staff together for most of the summer and for the preparation but also, seeing our guys. There are some real expectations for us and for our group to grow. We’ve said a lot of things over the course of the last few years and now, the expectation is that you must put those words into action. It’s still very early. We haven’t played any other teams yet, but guys have been enthusiastic, and we’ve liked the response that we’ve gotten so far.”
MLive: Ansar Khan discussed Sebastian Cossa’s need to step up ahead of a pivotal 2025-2026 campaign:
“Cossa’s coming into a really, really important career year for himself and at this point he’s a guy, whether that’s going to be in Grand Rapids, where he really takes the net and is driven to lead that team, or he may spend time with us,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said over the weekend during training camp in Traverse City. “We’ll figure that out as the season goes on. But this is a big year for him and a big year for him in our organization and we have a lot of confidence in him. Our coaching staff’s been following his progress. Trent Yawney (Red Wings assistant coach) and I both watched the playoff games and he’s been up and practicing with us last year, so there’s a lot of early familiarity and I think he’s going to be a hell of a player. We just got to give him more time to develop.”
Cossa feels the urgency.
“It’s a big year, but obviously nothing really changes for me,” Cossa said. “Had a really good summer and put in a lot of work. So just trying to stay consistent throughout the year.”
Cossa, in his second full season in Grand Rapids, went 21-15-5 with a 2.45 goals against average and .911 save percentage. The Griffins were swept in three games by Texas in the first round of the playoffs, when Cossa lost both of his starts (4.51 GAA, .868 save percentage).
“I thought I was rock solid the first half of the year up until December,” he said. “And then a couple injuries in GR a couple injuries in Detroit, a couple call-ups, you miss couple guys and we got into a bit of a slump as a whole team. I wasn’t playing great as well and I think that kind of just rode into the end of the season and into playoffs.”
He’s talked to mental coaches and is constantly making technical adjustments.
“It’s such a position of small details,” he said. “You have your base for your technique you’re consistently working under. … Even just glove placement, if it’s an inch out, more open, an inch farther away from your body. There’s a lot of small details that go into it, whether it be your glove, your stick positioning, your chest angle. We’re making constant changes.”
Detroit News: Ted Kulfan posted a slate of training camp-related observations:
▶ Live scrimmaging: Rarely have the Wings, if ever, skated straight into competitive scrimmages like they did Thursday to open camp. McLellan’s reasoning was fair and true: What better way to prepare for the slew of games than get right into a physical, hard hockey environment? Many of the bad habits from summer hockey, with so little contact, already have been erased.
“There’s no stopping, and there’s not really that motion,” assistant coach Alex Tanguay said of summer hockey scrimmaging. “Once you get into the games and in tight spaces, you get your ‘feels’ back. It’s important for our players to get their ‘feels’ back, get their legs back and to get bumped a few times to know what it feels like again. Playing every day raised their competitive juices a little bit.”
▶ J.T. Compher/Andrew Copp: The two veteran forwards take a lot of fans’ frustration on social media, given their big contracts and results that probably haven’t matched those investments from the Wings. McLellan said Saturday the two veterans are crucial to the Wings’ success.
“(They) could be different difference-makers this year,” McLellan said.
When the two veterans are involved and not holding back, McLellan said, they are the type of players the Wings want and need.
“They were a little reserved, holding back, kind of (skating) second to different scenarios, and then when they got after it and they went after it, they were way better,” McLellan said.
Copp, possibly, could get a chance playing with Larkin and Lucas Raymond. Copp was beginning to play some of his best hockey last season before a season-ending shoulder injury. Compher’s versatility gives McLellan’s options.
Detroit Hockey Now: Bob Duff discussed whether the Red Wings’ power play can keep up its scintillating pace set during the 2024-2025 season:
“I don’t see why we’re not going to be successful (on the power play),” Tanguay said. “We’re going to get our guys organized here in the next little bit.”
Alex DeBrincat (13), Dylan Larkin (13), and Kane (12) all hit double digits in power-play goals. Lucas Raymond collected 37 points on the power play, while Moritz Seider contributed 24 points. To this group, they’re adding net-front presence James van Riemsdyk, author of 94 power-play goals during his NHL career.
“You know there’s talent,” Tanguay said. “Patrick Kane has been successful over the years on the power play.”
Now it’s about putting in the work, smoothing out the rough edges, and ramping up the performance level to where they are once again an elite unit.
“We have to be prepared,” Tanguay said. “There’ll be some work that needs to be done before we get there.”
Kevin Allen profiled Amadeus Lombardi, whose strong half-season performance for the Grand Rapids Griffins has vaulted him into “prospect” status:
Amadeus Lombardi was a Red Wings fourth round pick in 2022, but since last season he’s been playing like a first-round talent. Coming off registering 40 points in 44 AHL games for the Grand Rapids Griffins last season, Lombardi registered five points in the two games of Detroit’s prospect series against the Dallas Stars last week. Sunday, he followed that up by setting up Elmer Soderblom for two goals and then scoring the game-winning shootout goal at the Red & White games.
“He’s a real prospect,” Red Wings assistant coach Alex Tanguay said, “by what he’s done here (in training camp) and what he’s done at Grand Rapids. His speed is a real asset. He’s got tools that are NHL.”
Because of his offensive gifts, he has to be in the mix competing for one of the final roster spots on the Red Wings. In his first season in Grand Rapids, he held his own playing in the bottom two lines. He’s a smaller forward who played at 170 pounds last season. After a summer of working out, he’s close to 185.
“Last year I figured out the offensive side of things. I felt more confident, especially when I came back from an injury,” Lombardi said. “I did have the ability to take over games, help my team that way. Now it’s about reeling it back in, playing responsible, earning the coach’s trust, like I said, being played in all situations, growing that other side of my game. I think I can help the team with that. Definitely I want to take that next step defensively and in all, touching the defensive side.”
Allen also took note of Elmer Soderblom’s performance during the Red & White Game:
The 6-foot-8 Swede scored twice in the White team’s 3-2 win against the Dylan Larkin-led Red team in front of a high-energy capacity crowd of 10,834. Amadeus Lombardi set up both goals as he continues to impress with his play.
“It felt really good to play some games last year and really show what I could do,” Soderblom said. “So coming in this year feels a little bit more like know what I should do and. Yeah, exactly. Know, kind of know my role and know what I can bring to the team. So I’m just trying to bring my game and do the things I do good and just make an impact that way.”
Soderblom, 24, generated four goals and 11 points in 26 games for Detroit last season after his call-up from Grand Rapids. Even though Soderblom is not an overly physical player, his size and bulk can be a load for defenses to handle. He can give the Raymond-Larkin tandem a new look.
The Hockey News: Amongst the Hockey News’s Jake Tye’s “Training camp thoughts“:
Bottom-Six Line Solidifying
The projected lines for the Red Wings this upcoming season saw Michael Rasmussen slated on the fourth line alongside Mason Appleton with Andrew Copp at center. This line could turn out to be true as the unit played together during training camp with many team insiders noting the line had a similar feel to one in recent memory where former Detroit winger Christian Fischer was in Appleton’s role, under former head coach Derek Lalonde.
The new projected lines have this unit moving up to the third line while expected top line winger James van Riemsdyk saw his lineup placement drop to the fourth line, where he’ll be playing alongside J.T. Compher and Jonatan Berggren. There’s still room for changes like if a Nate Danielson or another top end prospect pushes for a roster spot but as of today this bottom-six forward group for the Red Wings could be more impactful than in years past.
Longer Looks for Tralmaks, Lombardi
The 6-foot-4 Lativian winger in Eduards Tralmaks took over while van Riemsdyk, who was out for the first day of camp to take care of a personal family matter, and got to see minutes with NHLers in Compher and Berggren. Hard to say what it will lead to but Tralmaks had 51 points in 48 games last season in Czechia and could be a name to look out for in the pre-season.
We recently talked about Amadeus Lombardi and how he impressed during last week’s Prospect Showcase with the Dallas Stars, totaling a goal and four assists through two games. The 2022 fourth round pick continued his success into camp, where he dished for two assists and scored in an exhibition shootout during the Red and White game. If he can continue his hot streak into the pre-season, he could contend for a bottom six role with the Red Wings.
Michael Whitaker also wrote about Sebastian Cossa:
For Cossa, his development has hit a few snags in recent months, notably when he was pulled from the Calder Cup Playoffs by the Grand Rapids Griffins this spring during what was ultimately a three-game series loss.
Cossa’s numbers down the stretch of the season also weren’t the best, which he knows that he must reverse heading into his fourth season of professional hockey.
“I didn’t have the best second half last year, I wasn’t happy with the playoff performance,” Cossa said during Red Wings Training Camp. “There’s a bit of a chip on the shoulder when it comes to that. I want to prove I can play at a really high level in the AHL and hopefully get (an NHL opportunity).
“I was rock solid the first half of the year up until to around December, then a couple of injuries in Grand Rapids and Detroit, and you miss a couple of guys and we got into a bit of a slump, the whole team. I wasn’t playing great. It’s unfortunate.”
Cossa is going to have the chance to get more experience at the NHL level, albeit in preseason play, over the next eight games the Red Wings are scheduled for before the beginning of the regular season on Oct. 9.
Whitaker also suggests that J.T. Compher needs to bolster his offensive contributions…
“We’ve kind of beat this drum an awful lot where he’s a complete player, 200 foot,” McLellan said of Compher. “We can recognize his offense because it’s recorded every day. You pull out the sheet and you see 15 goals or whatever for assists. But there isn’t any type of stat pack that comes out for defensive kills or plays around the net that he just happens to break up. And he’s very good at that as well. So we recognize it all the time.”
Compher is being paid over $5 million per season, too high a number for him not to be making a difference in Detroit’s offense. While he does play a defensively responsible game as a forward, the Red Wings are going to need more from him in terms of production.
There’s also the possibility that he could find himself in danger of being moved down even further in the lineup if a young player like Nate Danielson or Carter Mazur impresses enough during pre-season play.
It also wouldn’t be surprising to see Compher begin the new season centering either the third or fourth forward line.
For the Red Wings to have a realistic shot at returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Compher will need to look more like the player who performed well in his first season in Detroit.
The Athletic: Shayna Goldman suggests that Red Wings goaltender John Gibson is a fantasy hockey “wild card” starter:
John Gibson, Detroit Red Wings
Gibson is finally out of limbo and has a chance to show he still has the chops to be a No. 1. This will be an interesting test for him. Did his game trend down due to an impossible workload in Anaheim, or is he just well past his prime? Expect him to rise to the occasion in Detroit, after picking up the pace last year behind the Ducks. Gibson earned a GSAx of 11.7 in 29 games last year, while earning a .911 save percentage. The problem? He got injured. He isn’t joining a defensive stalwart, so there are some real question marks. Consider Gibson a No.2 option worth drafting late, not a true No. 1 until he proves otherwise.
Instagram: And the Red Wings were busy on Saturday night in Grand Rapids, per Quinn XCII:
