The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects kicked off the 2026 prospect tournament with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Dallas Stars’ prospects, rallying from a 3-1 deficit to force overtime and an 8-round shootout in which Kienan Draper was the only scorer.
Jesse Kiiskinen, Noah Dower Nilsson and Theo Rochette scored the regulation time goals for Detroit, and Trey Augustine stopped 26 shots and 8 shootout shooters en route to the win.
MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke to Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson about the game.
Watson’s running the prospects’ bench for Detroit, which will play games against Pittsburgh on Sunday (7 PM EDT) and Columbus on Tuesday (2 PM EDT; both streamed on DetroitRedWings.com).
Watson told Khan that Draper, who’s signed to an AHL contract with the Griffins, stepped up in a big way:
“It was fun to see the guys go and great for Kienan,” Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson said. “He called his shot. He told us, ‘I’ve got the next one, guys. And he delivered. So good for him.”
Goals by Noah Dower Nilsson (5:27 remaining) and Theo Rochette (1:14 to play) in the final six minutes of regulation enabled the Red Wings to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Augustine stopped all eight Stars shooters in the shootout after making 26-of-29 saves in regulation and overtime. The former Michigan State standout and Red Wings top goaltending prospect will start his pro career in earnest this season with the Griffins.
Jesse Kiiskinen also scored for the Red Wings, who face Columbus Sunday (7 p.m.) and wrap up the tournament Tuesday vs. Pittsburgh (2 p.m.). The games are being livestreamed on detroitredwings.com.
Kiiskinen will be entering his first full season in North America after joining Grand Rapids late last season following three years in the top Finnish league.
Rochette will make his North American debut with the Griffins this season after playing the Swiss league the past three years.
“He’s got some skill, he’s got some speed,” Watson said. “He’s very talkative on the bench. I think he’s going to be good up the middle for us, I’ll see a little bit more of him, but my first impressions are positive ones.”
The Red Wings didn’t make the stat sheets available publicly, but the Hockey News’s Michael Whitaker reports that Carter Bear stood out on the scoresheet…
The matchup, held at BELFOR Training Center inside of Little Caesars Arena, featured a standout performance from 2025 first round (13th overall pick) Carter Bear, who led the way with a whopping 10 shots on goal.
Bear, who also picked up an assist, was one of multiple Red Wings forwards stopped by Stars goaltender Arno Tiefensee in the lengthy shootout after neither club scored in overtime.
The only player to find the back of the net in the shootout was forward Kienan Draper, Detroit’s seventh round (187th overall) pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and the son of four-time Stanley Cup winner Kris Draper.
Goaltender Trey Augustine (2023 2nd round, 41st overall pick) finished with 26 saves on the 29 shots that he faced; he’ll be competing for the starting position with the American Hockey League affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins this season.
Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen offered the following observations…
Takeaways
Former Notre Dame player [Sutter] Muzzatti, son of former NHL goalie Jason Muzzatti, shows some promise. He is a 6-foot-6 forward who kills penalties and offers a net-front presence on the power play. The Michigan native has offensive instincts. . . Detroit’s top line at the start of the game was Nate Danielson centering Bear and Kiiskinen . . .The Dallas go-ahead goal in the second period was scored by Charlie Paquette, who played for the Red Wings as a free invitee three years ago in this tournament.
Key Moment
With Augustine pulled, Detroit off-season free-agent addition Theo Rochette sent the game to overtime with a goal with 1:14 remaining in regulation. Danielson and Anton Johansson assisted. He was a 20-goal scorer in the Swiss League last season
Key Stat
The Red Wings out-shot Dallas 17-4 in the first period, but the Stars out-shot them 25-23 the rest of the game
Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discussed the fact that Nate Danielson did not stand out in this particular game–for good reason…
It isn’t often that you see a guy with 28 NHL games on his resume playing in a rookie tournament, but for Detroit Red Wings prospect Nate Danielson, it’s more about the games he didn’t play.
A hip injury shut him down for most of the second half of last season. Game action of any kind is vital as he seeks to get back up to speed so he can make a run at an NHL job this fall.
“He needs this,” stressed Dan Watson. The Grand Rapids Griffins coach is running the Detroit bench during the Red Wings’ NHL Rookie Tournament.
The event started Saturday at the Belfor Training Center. Detroit rallied from a 3-1 third-period deficit to beat the Dallas Stars rookies 4-3 in a shootout.
“Some of these guys that have been around for a couple of years, they don’t want to play in these tournaments for different reasons, but he needs this,” Watson said. “It’s been seven months, I think, since his last competitive game, and we want to give him the best chance heading into camp. And so I think this is a great warm-up for him. A great opportunity to compete against other people other than just, you know, like summer hockey skates. So I think this is big for him, and I thought he looked good tonight.”
Danielson himself spoke with Duff about his inability to score at the NHL level thus far, given that he’s produced all of 2 goals and 5 assists over the course of 28 NHL games…
“I’d say probably the base thing is just like the execution, probably the pacing,” Danielson said of the challenges of his first NHL experience. “And then, I feel like up there, if you make a mistake, it’s going to get capitalized on.”
…
“I don’t know if there’s one specific thing that I’m missing,’ Danielson said. “I feel like just kind of a bunch of things.I mean, just get better: be a better skater, get stronger, get bigger, get faster. I think having that experience will help me next time I go.”
And, as he covers both the Red Wings and Stars, the multi-talented EliteProspects’ Sean Shapiro offered 20 points of observation from his “Shap Shots” Substack blog. Among them:
7. This was my first live viewing of Theo Rochette, who the Red Wings signed as a free agent this summer after three seasons in Switzerland, including a 43-point campaign this past season for Lausanne.
Rochette kind of fits what I’d heard about him before, he’s a smart connector that understands spacing extremely well. He’s a really good passer and understands when and when not to take a risk.
…
9. Nate Danielson wasn’t noticeable enough for me as a player that has NHL experience.
10. Carter Bear was one oft Detroit’s best forwards, and stat-wise, there’s probably a bit more for him if not for the Stars goaltender.
Bear kind of set the tone early for zone entries, attacking down the wing and mixing a good collection of passes and keeps that opened up the defense. He also frequently got to the net, creating some havoc, and eventually getting rewarded for it Detroit’s first goal, which was poked him by Jesse Kiiskinen on a rebound.
He’s ready for pro hockey, I’m excited to watch him more this season.
Multimedia: The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a 1:44 post-game interview with Trey Augustine, but the clip isn’t embeddable…
And the Red Wings posted a partial highlight clip from the game in YouTube format:
Fun way to end it‼️ pic.twitter.com/bBjgDhQplj
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 13, 2026
