The 2026 NHL Draft takes place tonight and tomorrow in Buffalo, New York.
The 1st round will air on ESPN in the U.S. and Sportsnet in Canada, and the 2nd through 7th rounds begin at 11 AM EDT on Saturday, airing on the NHL Network and Sportsnet.
The Red Wings 7 draft picks, as of this morning, are the 47th, 79th, 108th, 143rd, 175th, 196th and 207th overall draft picks.
This morning, the Free Press’s Christian Romo and Helene St. James weigh in on what we might occur over the course of the next 50-something hours…
The latest on the Dylan Larkin situation
It’s going on three weeks since someone leaked that Wings captain Dylan Larkin requested a trade to a contender. As the Free Press was first to report, Larkin’s initial destinations focused on the Panthers (no state tax), the Minnesota Wild and the Vegas Golden Knights. That doesn’t mean other teams couldn’t get involved, even with Larkin having a no-trade clause, or that it ends up being a multi-faceted trade.
The Wings need something along the lines of Larkin in return: A top-line center in his prime with a history of scoring. The fact Larkin is under contract for five more seasons, at a reasonable $8.7 million salary cap hit, makes him all the more attractive to teams. Pretty much all teams are always looking to upgrade at the center spot. It’s also why Yzerman may ultimately play hardball and hang on to Larkin. However awkward that might be come camp and games, at the end of the day, Yzerman is running a business.
At this point, I’m all but expecting a Larkin trade to include a 3rd team so that the Red Wings can flip future assets for present-day help.
I don’t see Florida trading Anton Lundell, I don’t see Minnesota moving Charlie Stramel and Danila Yurov, and I don’t see Vegas moving Pavel Dorofeyev (nor can I imagine the Dallas Stars offering Mavrik Bourque) in return for Larkin…
Might the Wings make a trade?
Free agency begins July 1, and the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals executed a trade this week that took top pending UFA forward Alex Tuch off the market. Player movement was, in fact, quite a trend in the days leading up to the draft: Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators to the Panthers, Jack Drury from the Colorado Avalanche to the Nashville Predators, Bowen Byram from the Sabres to the Chicago Blackhawks and Jordan Kyrou from the Blues to the Capitals, among other deals.
Teams are narrowing in on what rosters will look like for the 2026-27 season, and that could spur movement on the Larkin front. He’s a significant player to add, both as far as fitting in under the salary cap and a roster. So if the Wings make noise this weekend, it could very well be on this front.
Quite honestly, I see the Red Wings as busy with their own players this weekend. The team hopes to convince Patrick Kane to remain in Detroit; we know from yesterday that teams are calling about Alex DeBrincat, who becomes a free agent next summer; and then there is of course re-signing Simon Edvinsson, who’s a restricted free agent as of July 1st.
MLive’s Ansar Khan examines the Red Wings’ current prospect pool in order to emphasize that the team needs to add depth at center and left defense…
Wingers
Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (No. 15 in 2024): He wasn’t NHL-ready at the start of last season (one assist in 14 games with the Red Wings) but impressed in Grand Rapids with his heavy game and scoring ability (20 goals in 60 games, eight points in eight playoff games) and continued to flourish for Norway at the World Championship.
Carter Bear (No. 13 in 2025): Rebounded from season-ending Achilles surgery for a strong final junior season in Everett (36-41—77 in regular season; 7-15—22 in playoffs). Ready for first season with Griffins.
Max Plante (No. 47 in 2024): He is the first Red Wings prospect to win the Hobey Baker Award as the top collegiate player after tallying 25 goals and 27 assists in 42 games as a sophomore forward for Minnesota-Duluth. He will return for his junior season.
Eddie Genborg (No. 44 in 2025): At 6-2 and 198, he possesses a combination of scoring ability and physicality. He got a feel for North American hockey late in the season with a 12-game stint with the Griffins.
Carter Mazur (No. 70 in 2021): Staying healthy has been a challenge for this gritty forward who’s been productive the past two seasons in Grand Rapids (19-12—31 in 36 games). He had no points in eight games with Detroit.
Jesse Kiiskinen (No. 68 in 2023 by Nashville): Acquired along with a second-round pick for defense prospect Andrew Gibson, Kiiskinen was on loan to HPK in Finland this past season and tallied 17 goals and 28 points in 54 games. He played three games with the Griffins at the end of the season (one goal, one assist) but didn’t dress for the playoffs.
The Athletic’s draft guru, Corey Pronman, weighs in, as does Red Wings beat writer and fellow prospect soothsayer Max Bultman…
View from the beat
Perhaps you’ve heard about Dylan Larkin’s trade request. The Red Wings used a pair of top-10 picks on Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson, but it’s unclear whether either still has a path to being a top-line center, and both project as more middle-six types right now. Detroit doesn’t have its first-round pick after trading it for Justin Faulk. But could the Red Wings get back into the first round and hunt for a center? Finding one with as much upside as possible is the key. — Max Bultman
Pronman’s team needs
Detroit has an elite puck-mover in Axel Sandin Pellikka, who has the poise and shot to run a top power play. Michael Brandsegg-Nygård and 2025 first-rounder Carter Bear bring heavy, competitive play to the wings. With Dylan Larkin likely on the move this summer, it becomes the most pressing need long-term for this organization.
And Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen looks back at Steve Yzerman’s fleecing of Ken Holland way back in 2012, when the Red Wings traded their 19th overall pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning to reacquire Kyle Quincey. The Bolts would go on to draft Andrei Vasilevskiy with that pick:
With the 19th overall selection of the 2012 draft, the pick that he acquired from Detroit when he was GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Yzerman’s choice was Russian netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Since coming to Tampa Bay, Vasilevskiy has won two Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe Trophy, and two Vezina Trophies. The Russian puckstopper is a three-time NHL First All-Star Team selection and a five-time NHL All-Star Game participant.
When Vasilevskiy’s playing days are done, the Hockey Hall of Fame will be calling his name for enshrinement.
Ken Holland, Detroit GM at the time, moved his first-round pick in the 2012 draft as part of a three-team deal engineered on February 21, 2012. The transaction saw the Colorado Avalanche send Quincey to the Lightning for forward Steve Downie. Tampa Bay then would flip Quincey to the Red Wings for Sebastien Piche and Detroit’s 2012 first-round draft selection.
I suggested the following on the artist formerly known as Twitter last night…
Today is the 1st round of the NHL Draft, and then it's draft weekend.
— George Malik (@georgemalik) June 26, 2026
Monday and Tuesday, Summer Development Camps will begin…
And Canada Day = Free Agency.
Friendly reminder: about 10% of the rumored stuff actually happens, and there are always surprises.
Especially on…
I’m just not expecting as many fireworks this weekend as we witnessed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, though I could be wrong (it’s happened before!)…
And I can only suggest that my gut feeling is that the Dylan Larkin situation is going to move slowly, with the Red Wings having to accept “futures” for Larkin, and will flip some of those “futures” to a 3rd team in order to acquire immediate help at center.
I don’t see the Wings having to ask Larkin to report for training camp at LCA this September, but I think this is going to drag out until the big names of the trade rumor mill and free agency discussion find new homes.
Regrettably, we all know that the Red Wings won’t be quite as good if Larkin is the best player included in the trade, but I do believe that the team can still compete for a playoff spot if the stars align under Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond’s leadership–even in the “group of death” that is the Atlantic Division.
That being said, the Wings may have to make more trades and free agent signings to truly reacquire depth at the center position, and I think it may be a moving target going into the start of the 2026-2027 season.
As far as the Red Wings’ draft strategy is concerned, I’d suggest that you forget making favorite picks based upon various experts’ draft lists.
The Wings’ amateur scouts tend to stick to their player list, as obscure as some of the selections might be, and they tend not to pick the most popular players.
I would love to see the Wings pick Max Plante’s younger brother, incoming Minnesota-Duluth freshman Victor (Max is going to play on a line with both of his brothers, Victor and Zam, this upcoming season), or one of Carter Bear’s Finnish linemates with the Everett Silvertips in Matias Vahanen…
But both players stand at 5’10,” and I honestly believe that Detroit’s got to add two elements to the lineup in whoever they select: size and snarl. Detroit has no real power forwards outside of Brandsegg-Nygard, and there aren’t many mean and/or nasty players in the system. That’s what I see as the most pressing need going into tonight and tomorrow.
In any case, I hope you enjoy the rumors and intrigue heading into tonight and tomorrow, even if none of it actually happens.
