Of brief Red Wings-related note over the last 12 hours:
DetroitRedWings.com: Jonathan Mills posted an off-day notebook last night which focused on the Wings’ preparations for both tonight’s exhibition finale vs. Columbus and the regular season as a whole:
“We’ll play close to our lineup [on Saturday], but it won’t be our complete lineup,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “Some guys have already used up their two games, and then we’ll decide after that. We talked yesterday about the business part of it. We talked about the roster size and how we want to put it together. Those decisions will be made after the game tomorrow and Sunday so that we can submit on Monday, like all the other teams, what we’re going to start with.”
McLellan has indicated most of the club’s 23-man Opening-Night roster is largely set with a handful of spots still up for grabs, barring further injuries, and that became even more clear on Friday afternoon when the Red Wings announced they trimmed their preseason roster to 28 players.
“The veterans that are here and were here last year have a spot until somebody takes that spot,” McLellan said. “I’m sure there’s debate: Why keep that guy? Why keep this guy? For me, I’ve watched him — Appleton, for example — and I think he’s played the last two games exactly the way we want him to play, and that’s a real good thing for him and for us. If he, or anybody else, can’t do it, then we have to find it somewhere. If that’s from within, great. If not, we’ll have to go out and get it.”
MLive: MLive’s Edward Pevos posted an article about some of the new merchandise offerings at Little Caesars Arena for this upcoming season;
Detroit Hockey Now: Bob Duff wrote an article about Mason Appleton’s attempt to keep his job and improve upon a disappointing first season with the Red Wings:
While penciling in potential lineups when the Detroit Red Wings first arrived for training camp about 10 days ago, many were erasing Mason Appleton from the final picture.
The veteran forward certainly seemed vulnerable. Even he was shrewd enough to recognize that.
“I think I didn’t love parts of the back half of my year, and I think it kind of resembled our team’s game as well,” Appleton said. “So you go into a summer kind of pissed off, and the summer feels long. You dwell on it for a little bit, and then you turn the page, and you look at yourself in the mirror and what you got to do and how you got to be better for this team and for yourself. So that’s what I did. And, you know, I came to camp with a good jump and very motivated.”
Max Smith discussed one of Appleton’s competitors for playing time in Nate Danielson:
Training camp saw Danielson’s name take a back seat in the headlines to some of the Red Wings other highly touted prospects like defenseman Anton Johansson and winger Michael Brandsegg-Nygard as the two former SHL products have been lighting up the scoreboard.
However, aside from the Red Wings’ exhibition matchup against the Buffalo Sabres, Danielson has frequently been the center winning puck battles and facilitating the offense on Brandsegg-Nygard’s line.
Head coach Todd McLellan shook his lines up a little bit going into their third exhibition match. while debuting his projected top line of Andrew Copp, Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond. For Danielson, that meant taking over Viktor Arvidsson’s role on the top power play unit.
“For the majority of those guys, they’ve been able to play at least two, some have already played three games. That’s what we’ve tried to offer them, the best opportunity possible.” McLellan said.
Kevin Allen also offered the following in his “The Daily” column:
Meanwhile, interim GM Shawn Horcoff wants to be an aggressive manager, and that will be reflected in his final roster decisions. Rookie Anton Johansson could end up playing a prominent role on Detroit’s defense this season. Likewise, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard is in the Red Wings 2026-27 plans. The Red Wings are also looking hard at younger center Nate Danielson, plus defensemen Axel Sandin-Pellikka and William Wallinder.
The Athletic: The Athletic asked its beat writers to issue one “bold prediction” for all 32 NHL teams…
Detroit Red Wings
They will pick in the top five of the 2027 NHL Draft.
After a chaotic summer, so many unanswered questions are still hanging over the Red Wings. Chief among them: Who will score goals for this team? That question gets harder to answer the less Dylan Larkin plays (and especially if he’s traded). That could leave the Red Wings at the bottom of the Atlantic Division and picking in the top five of the draft for just the second time in this rebuild. — Max Bultman
Sports Illustrated: Jason Fink wondered aloud whether Michael Rasmussen has outlived his usefulness to the Red Wings:
How much untapped upside remains at this point? The Red Wings aren’t the same organization Rasmussen made his NHL debut with in 2018. They have missed the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons, Steve Yzerman has moved out of the GM position and into an advisory role, and the franchise is searching for its next hockey operations leader. That certainly creates uncertainty for players inherited by the next regime.
The Red Wings finally have younger players who need NHL opportunities, and roster spots have to come from somewhere. That’s not saying players like Danielson, Brandsegg-Nygard, Mazur and Bear are taking Rasmussen’s job, but at some point the Red Wings have to decide if they want to continue to stick it out or cut bait with Rasmussen.
What does Rasmussen have to bring to the table in order to prove his salt? More consistent offense for starters.
Rasmussen’s point total has decreased significantly the last two seasons. According to Michael Whitaker of The Hockey News, head coach Todd McLellan believes Rasmussen can play a huge role for the Red Wings in 2026-27. “He’s a big man and can hold on to pucks well, and he can play heavy along the boards,” McLellan said. “That’s what we’re asking everyone to do.”
Video: The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan joined Fox 2 Detroit to preview the Red Wings’ 2026-2027 campaign:
