Author: George Malik

The New York Rangers sit only 3 points behind the Detroit Red Wings in the Eastern Conference standings, but the Hockey News’s Adam Proteau suggests that the Red Wings are better-prepared to make the playoffs this season:

If only one of these two teams could make the post-season, the Red Wings look more ready to do that this season.

For one thing, Detroit will likely add talent by the league’s March 7 trade deadline. The Wings have about $8.29 million in salary cap space, and GM Steve Yzerman is under tremendous pressure to get his team back into the playoffs. This is not to say Rangers GM Chris Drury doesn’t have serious pressure on him to avoid missing the playoffs, but Yzerman needs his team to jump the hurdle and avoid getting stuck in the mushy middle.

There’s still a lot of solid talent on the Rangers’ roster, such as Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin and newly acquired J.T. Miller. But there’s a reason they’re three points out of a playoff spot instead of battling for the conference lead. Simply put, they’re too inconsistent to rise through the Eastern ranks and claim a playoff spot.

Since Nov. 21, the Rangers haven’t won more than two games in a row. In that same span, the Rangers have had a five-game losing streak, a four-game losing skid and two three-game losing streaks, the most recent occurring from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1. This team has been a regular disappointment, and nothing we’ve seen of late is changing our mind about the Rangers.

The Red Wings, on the other hand, have been on an impressive tear since they changed coaches on Dec. 26. Put aside their first loss under new bench boss Todd McLellan, and the Red Wings have had two seven-game winning streaks. That’s why the Wings are now in a wild-card spot and why we’re confident Detroit will outlast the rest of the field and squeeze into the playoffs.

The Rangers must know they’re not getting into the top three of the Metropolitan Division. They’re 10 points back of the New Jersey Devils for third place in the Metro and 12 points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for second place. 

Continued; right now, the Red Wings have at least half-a-dozen rivals as they attempt to wrest a Wild Card spot from the rest of the pack.

The Hockey News’s Caleb Kerney posted an article in which he discusses four prospects who the Red Wings must either sign or relinquish the rights to starting on June 1st, when European prospects’ rights expire, and ending on August 15th, when NCAA prospects’ rights expire. Of Kyle Aucoin, Sam Stange, Red Savage and Liam Dower Nilsson, the latter set of prospects are the ones I’ve been thinking about:

Red Savage

Red (Redmond) Savage was another 2020 fourth-round draft pick. Unfortunately, his season was cut short. 

At the end of January, the University of Michigan head coach announced that Savage would miss the remainder of the season. This was a big blow to the team, as he served as its captain. In 20 games this year, he recorded 11 points.

Liam Dower Nilsson

Liam Dower Nilsson could be a big steal for the Red Wings. The 2021 draft pick is currently playing for IF Bjorkloven of the HockeyAllsvenskan.

He has 37 points in 44 games. This is his third season playing in the HockeyAllsvenskan league, and each year, his point production has improved, from 15 to 27 and now 37.

Savage has displayed significant progress over the course of his collegiate career at Miami of Ohio and Michigan State, and he’s one of those stalwart “bottom-six” forwards that you want on your team, because he relishes winning every puck battle;

Dower Nilsson has played quite well in the Allsvenskan, and he’s bulked up to 6′ and 190 pounds, but it’s hard to say whether the Red Wings plan on making him part of the team’s future.

Iltahleti’s Vesa Parviainen posted an article about Red Wings prospect Jesse Kiiskinen.

Regrettably, the article comes out of Google Translate as word salad, so here’s a summary of the article’s points about Kiiskinen, who’s posted 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points in 36 games played with HPK Hameenlinna:

1. Kiiskinen has helped HPK rally from a last-place status under coach Mikko Manner, who raves about Kiiskinen’s “ability and craving to score goals” while playing a team-first game;
2. Kiiskinen is from the Lahti area, but he chose to leave the hometown Lahti Pelicans for HPK over the summer, and thus far, coach Manner is impressed by Kiiskien’s resilience, commitment to the team, and play at the World Junior Championship;
3. Coach Manner also praises Kiiskinen for not falling into a “sophomore slump” as the team’s veterans and management attempt to afford Kiiskinen a full season’s worth of strong production;
4. And as Kiiskinen has another year of his contract with HPK remaining, coach Manner hopes that the young center will remain in Finland, but he concedes that Kiiskinen may head over to North America to play in the AHL, which Manner believes is a tricky league to break through.

I can’t embed the video which accompanies this story, but WLNS’s Megan Viecelli reports the following:

Golfers of the Michigan Section PGA, the Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association (DRWAA) and a few other NHL friends will face off on the ice to raise money for Michigan veterans.

The third Patriot Classic charity hockey game is Sunday, February 16 at 1 p.m. at Michigan State University’s Munn Ice Arena.

Admission is free, and spectators will have the opportunity to donate to PGA Reach Michigan, Folds of Honor and Spike’s K9 Fund.

Update: Here’s the video interview with Michigan PGA Tour director Justin Phillips:

MLive’s Ansar Khan weighs in on the rumors that the Red Wings might be interested in trading for Buffalo Sabres center Dylan Cozens, and Khan offers a somewhat realistic expectation of compensation for the Sabres, should Detroit attempt to fill their second-line center’s spot with Cozens:

Cozens has three years remaining on his contract after this season at a $7.1 million AAV. The Red Wings have enough cap space to fit him in without shedding salary. And with the cap increasing considerably the next three seasons, the Red Wings wouldn’t be hamstrung.

The Sabres likely would want a good, young player or a first-round pick. It’s safe to assume the Red Wings aren’t relinquishing any of their top, young players like Marco Kasper or Simon Edvinsson.

Jonatan Berggren might be expendable because there hasn’t been an opening for him in the top-six to maximize his talent. But Buffalo surely would need more than that.

The Red Wings’ first-round pick looks like it will be middle of the pack or slightly lower. Yzerman traded a 2024 first-rounder (Boston’s, acquired in the Tyler Bertuzzi deal) that ended up being 25th to Ottawa in 2023 for DeBrincat, who was 25 at the time.

Therein lies the rub–the Sabres are going to want at least a top prospect and a first-round pick–somebody like Kasper or Edvinsson, and that’s probably why a trade hasn’t happened as of yet.

Instead…

Perhaps the Red Wings have [a second-line center] in [Marco] Kasper (No. 8 in 2022). He’s flourishing at left wing on the line with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. But even coach Todd McLellan revealed recently that club ultimately would like to move Kasper to center, his natural position.

Maybe Kasper could be the second-line center they’ve been seeking for so long.

Continued; at this point, I’d rather not see the Wings make another pitch for Cozens, because the team would have to carve out a hole in the roster and prospect pipeline to acquire a positional hole that the team has already addressed.

DetroitHockeyNow’s Bob Duff notes that Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin will keep the memory of playing alongside Johnny Gaudreau close as Larkin participates in the Four Nations Face-Off:

“I think the last three USA World championships I played in, it was with Johnny,” Larkin recalled.

The two became close friends through their shared international hockey journey.

Last spring, Gaudreau sought desperately to convince Larkin to join him at the IIHF World Championship in Czechia. Requiring offseason surgery, Larkin didn’t go. At the time, he didn’t realize it would be their last chance to suit up as teammates.

“Obviously last year I wanted to go to play with him,” Larkin said. “He was probably one of the big reasons they had a really good team going over there. And he called me and said, ‘let’s play one more.’ And we’re getting to a different stage in our lives with kids. So it was hard not to be there and have to sit at home and have surgery.”

Continued; Team USA has a Gaudreau jersey in their locker room, and Gaudreau’s father, Guy, took part in one of Team USA’s practices earlier this week.

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond played 17:52 in Sweden’s 4-3 overtime loss to Canada on Wednesday, registering 2 assists, finishing at +2 with 3 shots, 1 giveaway and 1 lost faceoff.

Raymond’s steal from Drew Doughty along the back boards and off-the-half-wall pass to Victor Hedman facilitated Jonas Brodin’s 2-1 goal…

And Raymond’s look-it-off shot-pass to Jesper Bratt yielded a lateral from Bratt to Joel Eriksson Ek, who scored Sweden’s 3-3 goal:

2 assists + 3rd star of the game.

Way to rep tonight, Ray! 👏 pic.twitter.com/GRPqUoQO2a

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 13, 2025

Raymond got better as the game went along, and he earned time on the first shift in 3-on-3 OT as well.

NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika discusses the sacrifices that some of Team USA’s Four Nations Face-Off participants are making in order to fill necessary roles on the team, starting with Dylan Larkin’s status as a 4th-line forward and a penalty-killer:

When the United States practiced the power play at Bell Centre on Tuesday, Dylan Larkin skated out. On the penalty kill.

Larkin ranks third in the NHL in power-play goals this season with 12 for the Detroit Red Wings. The center is one of the best bumpers in the League, using his quick head and hands in the middle of the ice.

But this is the 4 Nations Face-Off, a best-on-best tournament featuring Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States. Each team is stacked with talent, the coaches must make hard decisions, and some stars must swallow their egos.

Larkin is just one example.

“All of these guys are the go-to guys on their respective NHL teams,” U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. “Not everybody can play on the first power play. Not everybody can play on a power play. We need some guys that are going to have to be a big part of the penalty kill. We’re going to have to manage minutes and define roles for everyone so that we can come together as a team, and that’s one of the biggest challenges of these types of tournaments, and we’re going through that process right now. That was a conversation we had with our group, and we’ll continue to have that conversation with our group.”

…

Here’s the thing about Larkin: He’s a fiery competitor who went through the USA Hockey National Team Development Program and has represented his country in multiple international tournaments. He’s a leader as the captain of the Red Wings. He’s also second among Detroit forwards in short-handed ice time (63:30) this season, behind J.T. Compher (84:53).

“I totally understand it, and I’m excited to get out there and penalty kill,” Larkin said. “And if they need me on the power play at some point throughout the tournament, I’ll be ready. We’ve talked about it a little before as a group of buying into your role and accepting it. I’m just a guy that I’ll do anything to play on this team, and if that means not being on the power play, killing penalties, I’ll do it with a smile on my face.”

Continued; it can’t be easy for a #1 center to play as a #4 winger, but Larkin’s doing just that for his country.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a profile of Red Wings forward Elmer Soderblom, noting that the Red Wings’ coach is very impressed with the 6’8″ forward’s moxie:

“I think it speaks to the organizational depth right now to have those kids come up and find a way to contribute,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “(Assistant coach) Trent Yawney and I don’t have any past experience, everything’s brand new for us. We just play them and see what we get out of them. They’ve responded. They’ve made good on their end of the bargain when they come up and play hard and they keep themselves in the lineup.”

In Soderblom’s case, he’s definitely delivering the goods. The 6-foot-8, 246-pound Swedish left-winger has 2-3-5 totals in nine games since his recall. That includes a five-game point streak, four games of which were played on the road.

“He looks like he belongs more and more every night,” McLellan said. “The size, the reach, but then the silkiness of his hands, the ability to make some plays. I have a lot of confidence in putting him on the ice right now. I’m not afraid or trying to hide him, or anything like that.”

There was always going to be intrigue in Soderblom’s case. The raw materials that he possesses alone kept the what if question on the forefront of people’s minds.

As the old saying goes, you can’t coach big. And you certainly can’t coach someone to play like they’re 6-foot-8.

What if Soderblom would master the art of using his size to his advantage? The possibilities seemed endless.

Continued

From the Oakland Press’s Cathy Blake:

The Detroit Red Wings Alumni will face off against local hockey team, the MI-UCP Pucksters, (Michigan United Cerebral Palsy), with both teams raising money and awareness for MI-UCP.

The charity event is March 15, at the St. Mary’s Arena, 3535 Indian Trail, West Bloomfield Twp. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. The event will showcase two hockey games: A sled hockey exhibition featuring adult and youth sled players from Belle Tire Sled Hockey and the MI-UCP Sledsters at 5 p.m. followed at 7 p.m. by the MI-UCP Pucksters against Detroit Red Wings Alumni. Admission is free, donations are welcome.

Over the past 23 years, the annual event has raised nearly $650,000 to assist the 2.3 million Michiganders who live with disabilities, according to a press release.

Those interested can donate to the general  directly to a player from either team by visiting the MI-UCP website at www.mi-ucp.org/hockey, where each player has a fundraising goal.