Of Red Wings-related note from Sunday’s practice:
- MLive’s Ansar Khan’s practice notebook includes this about the potential debut of James van Riemsdyk, who skated on a line with Michael Rasmussen and Mason Appleton during Sunday’s practice:
“He’s played a lot of years on a lot of good teams, so he’s got that stability of being that experience factor,” McLellan said. “He’s a big man with good hands, power play in and around the net. He’s been one of the better ones in the National League over the number of years that he’s played. Really good down in those areas, and I think he’s crafty. He’s got a little wisdom to his game. He uses what he’s got and works his way around the rink and gets the best out of it.”
Van Riemsdyk has practiced with the team for nearly two weeks after missing training camp and the preseason due to a family reason.
“Definitely excited,” van Riemsdyk said. “This is what I love to do, so to get out there and whenever that is, get a chance to join the guys and get in the live action. I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be a lot of fun.”
He feels he has a good handle on systems and how the team plays.
“Obviously, there’s different chemistry within some of that sometimes playing with different guys. Need some reps in a game to develop that sort of thing,” he said. “But I think I’ve got a good handle on kind of how we’re trying to play and the things we’re trying to do and execute out there.”
2. The Hockey News’s Michael Whitaker noted that van Riemsdyk also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, so he’s feeling a little bit nostalgic about making his Red Wings debut against one of his former teams:
“Every time I get a chance to play in that building, it’s very nostalgic for me,” he said of potentially making his Red Wings debut at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. “I really enjoyed my time there, and it’s just a great city and great fanbase, a great building to play in. Any time you get to go in there, it’s always fun. You circle it on the calendar and get excited for it.”
“This is what I love to do. To go out there, and whenever that is, to join the guys and get into live action, I’m really looking forward to it,” van Riemsdyk continued. “We’ll see when that is.”
He practiced playing on a line with Mason Appleton and Michael Rasmussen during Sunday’s skate at the BELFOR Training Center inside of Little Caesars Arena. While van Riemsdyk himself didn’t confirm if he was given the green light for Monday afternoon, head coach Todd McLellan hinted at the strong possibility.
“Good chance,” McLellan answered on van Riemsdyk’s status for Monday.
3. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan pointed out that the Red Wings’ top power play unit is still humming along early into the 2025-2026 campaign…
The Red Wings had one of the best power plays in the NHL last season, ranking fourth. The chemistry and precision of the unit, particularly the first grouping with Patrick Kane, Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, has carried over and been maintained.
The Wings have scored a power-play goal in each of the first two games and have continued to look dangerous.
“We had a good year last year on the power play, but we want to take steps there as well,” Raymond said. “When you play a full year together, you learn about each other. You learn each other’s tendencies and at the same time, other teams also do. For us it’s about finding new ways to score, being creative. We’re not going to score every power play but as long as we get momentum for the team and put ourselves in a good spot, it’s successful.”
And this snippet is intriguing…
How close was Saturday’s game to going the other way for the Wings? The Leafs nearly scored on a deflected shot on one end, which would given Toronto a 3-0 lead, but the puck stayed out. Shortly later, Marco Kasper‘s goal injected new life into the Wings and began a three-goal Wings outburst.
“That would have certainly been deflating,” said McLellan of Toronto’s near goal. “Could we overcome it? I’m not sure. Marco’s goal turned the tide for us.”
Kane set up Kasper near the slot, but in Kane’s mind, the work of Andrew Copp, J.T. Compher and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard the previous shift exhausted the Leafs.
“They have a good shift, get off the ice and put us in a good position to get out there fresh against some of their tired guys,” Kane said. “We make a turnover, and that was a great catch and release there by Kasp to find us our first goal. It was a great shot.”
4. From Toronto, the Hockey News’s Nick Barden reports that Steven Lorentz will miss Monday’s game due to this hit by Ben Chiarot, facilitating the debut of Easton Cowan…
another angle of the Chiarot hit on Lorentz pic.twitter.com/np9AwwfC8B
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) October 12, 2025
5. And if you’re interested, here are Matthew Knies, Easton Cowan and coach Craig Berube speaking with the media:
