Author: George Malik

Per the Toledo Walleye:

Toledo Walleye to host Great Lakes Showcase featuring future NHL talent

TOLEDO, OH – The Toledo Walleye are proud to announce the Great Lakes Showcase, a special two-game American Hockey League exhibition weekend coming to the Huntington Center in downtown Toledo on Saturday, September 26, 2026, and Sunday, September 27, 2026.

The Great Lakes Showcase will feature the Grand Rapids Griffins, primary affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings, taking on the Cleveland Monsters, primary affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets, in a unique weekend showcase at the Huntington Center.

Game Schedule

Saturday, September 26 | Time TBD
Sunday, September 27 | Time TBD

The two-game series will give hockey fans a rare opportunity to watch tomorrow’s NHL stars compete today. As the top development league for the NHL, the American Hockey League serves as the final step for many players on their journey to hockey’s biggest stage.

This is more than a hockey series. It's a celebration of the Great Lakes hockey tradition and a tremendous opportunity for Toledo sports fans," said the Toledo Walleye. "The Grand Rapids Griffins and Cleveland Monsters, representing two of hockey's most passionate NHL organizations, have chosen Toledo as the home for this special showcase. We are honored to welcome these teams, their fans, and some of the most talented young players in the game to the Glass City.

The Great Lakes Showcase represents a unique moment for the region. With connections to the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets organizations, the event will bring together hockey fans from across Ohio and Michigan while reinforcing Toledo’s reputation as one of the premier hockey communities in North America.

For long-time hockey fans, the showcase offers an opportunity to see elite prospects before they reach the NHL. For families, casual fans, and first-time attendees, it provides a chance to experience high-level hockey in an exciting and welcoming atmosphere. Building memorable experiences and creating community connections are central to the event’s vision.

The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari examines the Red Wings’ prospect pool this afternoon:

Strengths

The Wings have always valued finding players with higher floors, even if that means their upside is limited at times.

Missing the playoffs for 10 seasons has left them with an impressive group of prospects in terms of depth.

Detroit has multiple players at every position who should be at least challenging for NHL jobs in the near future. They have built a deep prospect pool from center to goaltender and everything in between.

Weaknesses

Despite having all of that depth, the Red Wings lack true difference-making star power.

Hurlbert has some potential if he hits his ceiling, but picking him this year was the first time Detroit leaned into skill over a safe floor in the first round in quite some time.

Bear and Brandsegg-Nygard could be top-of-the-lineup skaters if they are complementary players on that line, but are they true stars? And Sandin Pellikka is a skilled puck-mover, but he’s likely to be just short of being an elite defenseman in the NHL.

Hidden Gem: Michal Svrcek, RW

Although he struggled in the pro game last season, Svrcek was still quite an impressive scorer at the junior level in Sweden.

This season, Svrcek will be across the river from the Wings, playing for the OHL‘s Windsor Spitfires. He’ll play North American hockey for a very strong OHL team while staying close enough to the Wings for any support.

Svrcek is a highly intelligent forward who plays the game with gusto. Despite his size, he’s a worker who is all over the ice. He should be a treat to watch in junior.

Continued at extended length…

Red Wings prospects Trey Augustine and Carter Bear are taking part in the NHLPA Rookie Showcase in Chicago this week, and they’re answering questions from the media and engaging in a sort of media training as the PA encourages the players to serve as ambassadors for the game.

This morning, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan asked the NHLPA’s 20+ participants to answer “burning questions,” and here are Augustine and Bear’s answers:

If someone is watching you for the first time this season, what do you hope they say after the game?

Trey Augustine (Detroit Red Wings, No. 41 pick in 2023): I hope they would say that he’s in control.

Carter Bear (Detroit Red Wings, No. 13 pick in 2025): You can tell he has passion for what he wants to do out there and the career he wants to have.

What’s something that your oldest buddies and teammates always chirp you about?

Bear: They always chirp me about my voice. They just say I’m always faking it, like how deep it is.

Team USA lost 3-2 to Finland at the World Junior Summer Showcase on Thursday, but Red Wings Prospects on Twitter reports (through video) that Victor Plante registered another assist in the process:

Victor Plante(2nd round’26) assist🍎. Good battle win. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/3hmNaWX4da

— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) July 31, 2026

Detroit Hockey Now’s Max Smith wonders which player will have to step up to replace one Dylan Larkin, presuming that Larkin is traded by the team:

The most obvious answer to the question of replacing your top center is to go with the next guy down the depth chart. However, one of the Red Wings main needs going into the offseason was a true no. 2 center to help drive offense in the Red Wings top six.

Andrew Copp, who has been in the position for the past three years, hasn’t proven to be an effective goal-scorer. His career high in points was set last year with 43. When compared to Larkin, who has scored 35 goals alone in each of the last five seasons, makes for a rather bleak outlook.

The other option Red Wings fans should prepare for is Marco Kasper to step into the role. While the young Austrian center had a rough sophomore outing by just about every metric, it isn’t actually out of place for young Red Wings centerman to struggle in their second season.

Larkin himself went from 45 points in his rookie campaign to 32 total points and a -28 rating in his second year in the league. Kasper doesn’t pop with nearly the same offensive numbers, with just 37 points in his first year and a precipitous dropoff to 19 points the following. However, he won over 50% of his faceoffs and led the Red Wings forward group in hits last year as well.

At just 22, Kasper also still has plenty of room to grow, and perhaps locking him into the center position instead of trying him out on the wing on various lines throughout the season will help him to better hone his shooting ability.

Smith also believes, as I do, that the Red Wings may target Elias Pettersson of Vancouver to “fill a hole,” though my gut feeling is that the Wings may “flip” some future assets acquired for Larkin for Pettersson and his $10 million salary; Smith believes that the Red Wings would have to make a player-for-player trade instead:

The WHL’s Cami Kepke examines the Red Wings’ pool of 4 prospects drafted from the CHL’S Western Hockey League today:

Carter Bear

After a season that ended with injury and heartbreak, Carter Bear clawed his way to the top of the WHL mountain. The 2025 13th-overall pick iced 36 goals (including seven game-winners and three hat tricks) and earned a berth on Team Canada at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, where he was part of a bronze medal-winning effort. Bear finished second on the Silvertips in goals and ninth among all WHLers in points-per-game before taking off for 22 points (7G-15A) in 18 playoff games. The 6-foot, 177-pound winger from West St. Paul, Man., helped the Silvertips clinch the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time in franchise history and, with Captain Tarin Smith injured, was the first Tips skater to lift the WHL’s top prize. Bear, 19, was named to the WHL Western Conference Second All-Star Team and is expected to turn pro with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins next season. Not bad for a guy who was selected in the sixth round of the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft!

During a summer of spiraling salaries, MLive’s Ansar Khan attempts to discern how much money it will cost the Red Wings to extend Alex DeBrincat:

Only 10 players scored more goals than DeBrincat last season and he’s coming off a career-high 85 points. DeBrincat’s 80 goals over the past two seasons is tied for sixth in the NHL, only eight behind leader Cole Caufield of Montreal during that stretch.

DeBrincat is a proven goal-scorer, having tallied 27 or more in eight of his nine seasons, scoring 41 three times. He’s also durable, having played 456 consecutive games, the third-longest active streak in the league behind Brent Burns (1,007) and Nick Suzuki (537).

Put all these factors together and the end result is DeBrincat will be the highest-paid player in franchise history in 2027-28, up from his current $7.875 million AAV to perhaps around $12 million a season.

That’s what Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor signed for at the start of last season (eight years, $96 million). He might be the closest comparison to DeBrincat.

The NHL salary cap increased from $95.5 million in 2025-26 to $104 million this season. It’s projected to rise to $113.5 million in 2027-28 and $123 million the following season. The timing worked out nicely for DeBrincat.

It also shows why the Red Wings have a bargain in Larkin, who turned 30 today. He’s locked up for five more years at an $8.7 million AAV ($7.7 million average in actual salary). He requested a trade months ago, but you don’t relinquish a player like that in today’s NHL without making sure you get a good deal.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman provides a rare update into the Red Wings’ search for their next hockey executive:

If it’s seemed a little quiet around Detroit’s search so far, the best explanation I can give is probably the simplest: They’re still pretty early in the process.

Yes, the Red Wings started this search late. Typically, front office exits such as Yzerman’s occur in mid-April; starting a search in mid-July creates obvious potential complications — namely, that training camp begins in seven weeks. But my sense is that Detroit is focused on conducting a thorough search, and that’s going to take time. The Red Wings aren’t going to compromise the process for the sake of speed.

While there is some important business that needs to get done — restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson needs a new contract, and the Dylan Larkin saga remains unresolved — one difference in Detroit’s search taking place now, rather than at the start of the offseason, is that the Red Wings don’t have to worry about any other teams scooping up a potential candidate. They’re the only team in the market.

And the Red Wings acknowledged their disgruntled captain’s birthday:

🎂🎉 pic.twitter.com/RUaR3X2kuO

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 30, 2026

Red Wings prospects JP Hulrbert and Victor Plante “made the cut” and remained with Team USA’s World Junior Summer Showcase team after Adam Nightingale’s team halved its roster halfway through the WJSS in Windsor.

This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff has posted an article about Hurlbert’s tenacity, as described by coach Nightingale…

“He’s got poise with the puck, right?” USA World Junior coach Adam Nightingale said. He’s coaching Hurlbert on the USA roster at the current World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor. “I think he’s competitive at the puck. Sometimes that gets overlooked. You just look at the goals, but when I’m watching him, I see a guy that competes at the puck, and he definitely has a good sense for the game.”

From Hurlbert’s point of view, it’s an element of his game that never gets overlooked. His tenacious determination on the forecheck often wins him the puck, and as his goal output tells us, once he has the puck, he often wins the day.

“I think that’s a big thing for me,” Hurlbert said. “The more I can have the puck on my stick, the more dangerous I am. So, you know, the best defense is getting it back right away and creating offense. So that’s kind of something that I really focus on, and that’s just hard work getting the puck back.”

Hurlbert told Smith that he’s trying to remain grounded as he engages in whirlwind summer of being drafted, living Detroit to train with Red Wings prospects, and preparing to begin his freshman season at the University of Michigan…

“Yeah, it’s been nonstop,” Hurlbert said. “I think that’s what you want, but for sure I’m trying to, you know, stay where my feet are. I think I spent a lot of time in Michigan this summer, so getting to know the area and this is what you want. This is why you play hockey, to be a part of all of these things. So just having a lot of fun with it.”

And Smith also posted a bit of praise for Plante this morning:

Playing on the top line centered by Sammy Nelson, Plante has only been held scoreless once so far in his WJSS matchups, in the opening game against Finland. Plante followed it up with a three assist performance against Sweden on Monday, and notched another yesterday with the combined USA roster.

Another of the Red Wings draft picks, JP Hurlbert, has also been giving a solid showing. While Hurlbert hasn’t yet lit the lamp, he has drawn praise from Team USA’s Coach, Adam Nightingale. Nightingale will be seeing a lot of University of Michigan commit Hurlbert even after the Showcase as head coach of Michigan State.

Victor Plante(2nd round’26) assist 🍎 from today. Simple but good chip and go for Nelson(who’s going to be a top end center in the 2027 draft that the wings should be looking at). #LGRW pic.twitter.com/srL0ZAkg3r

— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) July 29, 2026