Author: George Malik

EliteProspects’ Sean Shapiro discusses the reasons why the Red Wings keep sending Marco Kasper down to the AHL on his Shap Shots blog this evening:

For starters, Kasper has not been driving back-and-forth to Grand Rapids. His AHL send-downs, “paper transactions” have been strategically done on days the Red Wings don’t have a game or practice so the Red Wings can save some cash and capital.

With Kasper’s two-way deal he makes $866,666 in salary this season when he’s in the NHL. NHL players are paid per day and with 186 days of “work” in the regular season, Kasper effectively makes just around $4659.49 per day on the NHL roster. In the AHL his salary is $82,500, meaning Kasper makes roughly $443.54 per day on those days he’s been papered down.

From a team perspective, it’s a bit of a cold and calculated way of saving every possible penny of cap space and cash. For Kasper, it’s a bit of a raw deal and something he really can’t do much about in the first year of his entry-level contract.

It’s also common practice in the NHL, with teams doing everything possible to finagle the numbers. Remember, cap space is king.

Shapiro continues…

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin spoke with the NHL Network regarding the Four Nations Face-Off this evening. I can’t embed the 9-minute interview, but you can watch it at this link.

FloHockey.tv’s Chris Peters weighs in on various players who have been loaned to their respective NHL teams’ AHL affiliates for the Four Nations Face-Off break, and Peters reports that Marco Kasper has been sent to the Grand Rapids Griffins:

Marco Kasper, C, Grand Rapids Griffins (DET)

Kasper has made a positive impact for the Detroit Red Wings as a rookie this year. He was called up after just two AHL games at the start of the season and never came back until now. He has played 50 games with Detroit and registered 20 points including nine goals while playing regularly in the middle six for the Red Wings and getting a few games of top-six minutes as well. 

With the international break, Kasper was sent back to Grand Rapids. This may end up being only a paper move for the Wings to save cap space. Kasper has proven physically ready for the challenge, playing smart and effective hockey while also finding the scoresheet regularly enough to be a valuable secondary scoring source.

If he plays at all, this will be the last glimpse of him in the AHL. Grand Rapids has five games during the 4 Nations break.

Continued

This is rather important given that the NHL’s Four Nations Face-Off bounces around from network to network:

How to watch Dylan Larkin & Lucas Raymond at #4Nations this week ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/bWB2Gksgbl

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 11, 2025

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton took note of the positions in which Red Wings forwards Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond find themselves occupying ahead of the start of the Four Nations Face-Off, as reported by The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Monday:

Per Michael Russo of The Athletic, Larkin spent Team USA’s first practice in a fourth line role next to Brock Nelson and Vincent Trocheck. Meanwhile, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Raymond skated [on Sweden’s] third line slot next to Jesper Bratt and Joel Eriksson Ek.

Red Wings fans likely believe both of those players merit higher placement in the lineup, though of course this sort of slotting (of NHL stars in complementary roles) is inevitable in the context of a best-on-best tournament. It is also no more than the first practice, so there is certainly time for either player to ascend in the lineup once the games begin.

And MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article in which he noted Larkin and Raymond’s takes on their respective opportunities to play for their nation’s representative teams:

The Hockey News’s Mike Augello suggests that the Detroit Red Wings need what everybody else thinks they need to add by the 2025 trade deadline on March 7th at 3 PM–a top-six forward and a “depth defenseman” (who might want to be a right-shooting defender):

Detroit Red Wings

Main Need: Top-Six Forward

The Wings’ 2.86 goals-for per game rank them 19th in the NHL. Their main issue is scoring depth since four players – Lucas Raymond, Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane – account for more than half of their 157 goals. Free agent signing Vladimir Tarasenko hasn’t provided enough secondary scoring, which is why his name has popped up in trade rumors. 

GM Steve Yzerman may have to give up a future asset to boost their production instead of hoping Tarasenko can turn it around and youngsters Jonatan Berggren and Marco Jasper can break out.

Secondary Need: Defensive Depth

Detroit’s goalies have done enough to win games under McLellan. Cam Talbot is 10-3-0 with a 2.91 goals-against average since Dec. 26, while Alex Lyon is 5-1-1 with a 2.18 GAA in that span. But the Red Wings’ blueline could use some bolstering for a potential playoff run. 

The Wings have an excellent top-pairing defender in Moritz Seider, a solid youngster in Simon Edvinsson and veterans in Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry. But bottom-pairing options, such as Erik Gustafsson and Justin Holl, are not dependable.

Continued; In all honesty, Gustafsson and Holl have gotten a lot better under coach McLellan. I have few complaints about their play of late. A reinforcement would help, but again, I’m not of the mind that the Red Wings should expend draft picks or prospects for someone who is not a part of the long-term solution.

Rentals are not needed at this point.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman answered several reader questions in a mailbag feature. Among them:

Approximately 12 months apart, this team has been part of two different playoff chases. Last year, they obviously came up short. What changes in the past 12 months are most likely to yield a different outcome? — Cody B.

The biggest difference would be health — if they can keep it. Last year’s team obviously had its flaws, but one of the biggest reasons the Red Wings missed the playoffs was how flat they were when Dylan Larkin was injured last March, going 2-6 with multiple losses to Arizona and a bad one in Buffalo. Win just one more of those games, and they’d have been in.

So, keeping Larkin healthy would go a long way this time around.

But beyond that, there are other differences, too. This year’s team has shown it doesn’t need to play as much of a run-and-gun style to win, as evidenced by giving up two or fewer goals in six straight wins from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2. But when Detroit does need offense, it still has the power play to find it.

And perhaps most importantly, the Red Wings won’t be as reliant on one goaltender, as they were last season on Alex Lyon. They probably overworked Lyon — as they had previously with Ville Husso and Alex Nedeljkovic — and it showed as the season wore on. But with Lyon and the steady, reliable Cam Talbot, Detroit can more easily alternate and keep both goalies fresh.

Add in Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson each leveling up and the contributions of some young players who weren’t here last year (such as Marco Kasper and Albert Johansson), and there’s at least a path to a better outcome this time around.

Continued (paywall)

Out of 6 teams that happen to be competing for one of the Eastern Conference’s Wild Card spots, The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman suggests that the Red Wings are sit 4th in terms of their prospects of making the playoffs:

Detroit Red Wings

Record: 28-22-5, 61 points

Playoff odds: 25 percent

The case for: The Red Wings have been on a tear since the coaching change, with a 15-5-1 record and 0.738 points percentage.

The most notable improvements have come at five-on-five. The Red Wings are creating more offense, which should provide more substance to go along with their hot power play. And the team has tightened up on defense. There has been more emphasis on proactively stopping the rush and denying opponents entry so the team doesn’t get pinned back in their own zone as often. The team is allowing fewer shots and scoring chances back, and their goaltenders have benefited. A usage tweak has also contributed to that — the Red Wings’ best defenseman, Moritz Seider, isn’t getting buried in some of the toughest minutes in the league since the coaching change.

Since Todd McLellan took over, Seider isn’t the only cornerstone to trend up. Dylan Larkin has been revitalized; he has an average Game Score of 1.70 after middling at 0.77 under Derek Lalonde. Lucas Raymond has also jumped from an average of 1.00 to 1.48.

The case against: Management waited too long to make a change.

As impressive as the Red Wings’ turnaround is, why didn’t management act sooner? The signs were there — the five-on-five offense disappointed, the defense was flawed and the penalty kill was a disaster.

At the time of Lalonde and associate coach Bob Boughner’s dismissal, the Red Wings sat second to last in the Eastern Conference with a 13-17-4 record and lowly 0.441 point percentage. The roster may have flaws, but Detroit shouldn’t have fallen that far down the standings. And it could prove costly down the stretch. The Red Wings have the most challenging schedule strength ahead, so missing out on some of those ‘easier’ points from the early goings of the season may come back to bite them.

Continued (paywall); shit happens, The Red Wings tried to make the Lalonde marriage work as long as they could, and if that costs them, that costs them.

The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports that Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin practiced at the right wing position on Team USA’s fourth line on Monday, and as such, Larkin was asked about accepting a lesser role:

Not everyone can be a top-six forward or be on the No. 1 power play. Heck, not everyone can play.

That was obvious Monday when the United States unveiled a fourth line that included Larkin. Chris Kreider, who scored 127 goals from 2021 to 2024 for the New York Rangers, looked slated to open the tournament as a healthy scratch.

“I’m just honored to be here and really happy,” Larkin said. “I’m one of the guys that will do anything to help the team and try and win. I’m probably going to be playing down the lineup, where I’m not used to that. But it’s something that I accept doing anything for the team.”

[Team USA coach Mike] Sullivan said this is the biggest challenge.

“The reality is when you look at these teams, they’re all dream teams, so to speak,” Sullivan said. “Most of them are used to being on the first power plays of their respective NHL teams, or they’re used to being the go-to guys in all the key situations. And the reality is when you put 20-something of them in the same dressing room, not everybody can be that guy.

“And so that’s going to be an important element is just a certain selflessness, a certain level of humility and self-sacrifice for the group. And I think that goes a long way to build the chemistry and the team atmosphere that we’re looking for.”

Continued (paywall)

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Red Wings forwards Lucas Raymond and Dylan Larkin regarding the fact that Raymond and Larkin will be battling against each other at the Four Nations Face-Off, with Raymond representing Team Sweden and Larkin representing Team USA:

Larkin and Raymond will meet next Monday when the U.S. faces Sweden. Raymond called it “weird” playing against a teammate. Both said it’ll be fun.

“We talked about it a little bit,” Raymond said. “Obviously, we’re very good friends off the ice, so first time playing against each other will be a little special. We’ve joked around a little bit, but yeah, it’s going to be fun.

“You go from hanging out every day, playing with each other to all of a sudden playing against each other in a big stage like that where it’s a lot of emotions involved, a high compete level. I don’t know what I’ll do if I see him in the corner next to me, but it’ll be a good time.”

…

“Obviously, he’s having a heck of a year,” Larkin said of Raymond. “He means so much to our team. Proceed with caution with him. We want to win and you want to play well, but he’s my buddy and you look out for him and smile. But again, that being in Boston, that’ll be another great atmosphere. I am excited to have a home game in Boston. It’s usually one of the toughest buildings to play on the road. It’ll be nice to have those fans on our side.”

Red Wings coach Todd McLellan is a little worried about the wear and tear that Raymond and Larkin will experience while the rest of the team is resting during the Four Nations break:

“The intensity and the stress of that tournament is going to travel with them everywhere they go and then they’re going to come back and step right back into the season again,” McLellan said. “They miss out on their bodies feeling better and all that type of stuff. But we’ll find days for those two somewhere along the way to try to get them what they need.”