Author: George Malik

Kudos to Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen for stirring things up on a hot and sticky July evening.

I’m a little hesitant to issue grades to Steve Yzerman’s most significant offseason moves as of yet, because I am hoping that the Wings’ offseason moves aren’t yet finished, but Allen offers some nuanced grades this evening, and it’s an interesting way to start a discussion of the Red Wings’ offseason–thus far–as a whole:

Trading Jake Walman/Re-Signing Patrick Kane—Grade:  A-

This feels more like landing a new player than re-signing an old one because many believed Kane would leave for a higher salary or more term that Yzerman could offer.

Yzerman didn’t really have the salary cap room to to support re-signing Kane. Projections had Kane able to get offers in the $5 to $6 million range. It seemed as if teams might give him term as well.

Give Yzerman credit being creative enough to keep Kane in a Detroit jersey. First, he traded Walman and his $3.4 million salary to the San Jose Sharks. Walman fell out of favor in Detroit last season, but the reason they traded him was to clear up the cap space.  The price for doing that was giving the Sharks a second-round pick. It was the pick they got for Gibson.

The second-round pick was going rate to move that much salary. The St. Louis Blues a second-round in 2025 to take center Kevin Hayes and his $3.4 million.

Yzerman had more work to do to land Kane. He used the over-35 bonus option to give himself more buying power. He offered Kane a $4 million base salary, plus $2.5 in bonus opportunities. Some of those bonuses are easily makeable, like $1.5 million for playing 10 games. Those bonuses will be paid out of next season’s camp.

Continued; Allen sticks with the cause-and-effect theory regarding all of the salary cap-shedding moves that the Red Wings’ management group made this offseason.

I cannot deny that sending Walman to San Jose opened up cap space, but the trade in itself still makes me cringe.

Anyway, give Allen’s article a read, and weigh in if you wish in the comments session.

The Red Wings released their 2024-2025 regular season schedule earlier this month, and today, the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood lists “five must-watch games,” including an up-tick in the Red Wings-Senators rivalry:

Tuesday, January 7 vs. Ottawa Senators: When David Perron spoke to reporters at his April exit interview, he spoke of his desire to remain a Red Wing for the foreseeable future. He loved living in Detroit, with its proximity to his Quebec home and the way his family was accepted by the Red Wings. He also had his fair share of heroics for the Winged Wheel, including the tying goal in Detroit’s April 16 game against the Montreal Canadiens that kept their playoff hopes alive for a few more minutes.

Instead, Detroit didn’t re-sign Perron, and he left to play for division rival Ottawa in free agency. Players tend to have good games against their former teams, and the battle-winning Perron is already a pain in the neck to play against. 

Detroit’s bouts with Ottawa have already been chock full of meaning in the past few seasons, some of the most defining of the past couple seasons. In 2023, a back-to-back drubbing by the Senators caused Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman to sell at the deadline, trading off key pieces in Bertuzzi and defenseman Filip Hronek. Last season, a Dec. 9 game at Little Caesars Arena saw Detroit captain Dylan Larkin knocked out by a Mathieu Joseph hit, causing Perron to attack Senators defenseman Artem Zub as retaliation because he thought he was the perpetrator.

Continued; the one thing the Red Wings didn’t address during this offseason was…Well, okay, two things. As it applies to the Ottawa Senators, the Wings haven’t really added any “team toughness,” and it may take adding that much-needed right-shot defenseman to bring in a real gunner who can play toe-to-toe with the Perrons and Tkachuks of the Senators.

I was as surprised as anyone that Perron left Detroit, but he arguably received more money ($4 million a season!) and probably more term (2 years) than the Red Wings were willing to give him, and he’s headed off to Ottawa to kick-start the Senators’ rebuild.

He’s definitely slowed and he’s definitely taken more obstruction penalties as his tenure with the Red Wings progressed, but he’s still a vocal leader and a “sneaky dirty” sniper.

Anyway, Detroit plays Ottawa 4 times–on December 5th in Ottawa, on January 7th in Detroit, on March 10th in Ottawa, and on March 27th in Detroit. As such, the games are spread out in a way that will make the budding rivalry between the teams relevant all season long.

It’s apparently “Wings Week” on Defector.com, and long-time sportswriter and general curmudgeon Ray Ratto posted an article suggesting that the Red Wings’ “Winged Wheel” should be hailed.

This one requires a subscription to Defector to read, but it’s a free subscription:

It’s a wing, attached to a wheel, and needs no elaboration. It is evocative, simple elegance that does not task one’s patience the way this does, make you think the designer stopped for lunch and never returned, or annoy the entire concept of the sport.

It starts with the wing, which is celebrating three quarters of a century as the most perfect logo in all of logodom. Not because it represents the Detroit Red Wings, mind you. Nobody but Comrade Theisen cares about them one way or another, and she cares about them with an unsettling fervor.

No, it’s the logo—the idea, simply and perfectly delivered so well that it has held up with only subatomic modifications since 1948. It doesn’t need any words to explain what, where or why it is, like this. It doesn’t have an angry cartoon character, like this. It isn’t changing every three weeks from something terrible and lazy to something lazy and terrible, like this. It has no socially unsettling antecedents, like this.  It doesn’t even try to anthropomorphize itself, like this.

Mostly, though, the Red Wing is perfect because it stays constant. Most teams submit to a rebrand every few years because the owner’s cousin’s kid took a drawing class in junior college and wants to justify it. Some teams, most of the minor league baseball teams, change their entire name to fool folks into thinking they are wacky, fun-loving, out-of-the-box thinkers rather than the borderline plagiarists they often are.

And a few teams have tried to recreate/reinvent the wing with indifferent success.

But all those logo designs are falling out of fashion, and not just because repetition is the weakest form of flattery, or because of the silent scrutiny of the winged wheel.

Continued; we’ll see what else Defector.com cooks up for “Wings Week.”

The Red Wings signed 32-year-old defenseman Erik Gustafsson to a 2-year, $4 million contract on July 1st after Shayne Gostisbehere chose to leave the team to rejoin the Carolina Hurricanes. As DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills notes, Gustafsson knows that he’s going to be expected to step up and attempt to fill Gostisbehere’s role, if not his point totals:

“I like to run [the power play] on the blue line, get the puck to the forwards, shoot the puck, create lanes,” Gustafsson said. “I’m just trying to get out there and score. I’m very confident on the power play.”

Gustafsson said he received interest from multiple teams when 2024 NHL free agency opened, but he’s pleased he chose the Red Wings.

“(Free agency) is a little nerve-wracking, but I knew which teams were interested in signing me,” Gustafsson said. “I’m very happy to be signed with Detroit, with all the history and Swedes going there.”

Gustafsson also said he’s eager to reunite with several familiar faces in Detroit, previously playing with Tyler Motte for the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs (2016-17), Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat in Chicago (2017-20, 2021-22), goalie Cam Talbot in Calgary (2019-20), Olli Maatta in Chicago (2019-20), netminder Alex Lyon in Philadelphia (2020-21), Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry in Montreal (2020-21) Joe Snively in Washington (2022-23) and Justin Holl in Toronto (2022-23).

“With the skill and group we have, I think we can take another step this year,” Gustafsson said. “It’s going to be fun to see Kaner back here too and be on the same team as him again. I’m looking forward to this year.”

Continued; Gustafsson’s been a bit of a journeyman over the past half-decade, and he’ll be looking for a home in Detroit.

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

10-Game Plans On Sale NOW

10-Game Plans, presented by Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, are on sale now. Each plan features marquee matchups like when the Red Wings face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the ever-popular Thanksgiving Eve game or the New Year’s Eve game.

See below for the four different plan options, then pick the one that’s perfect for you. Act fast, these plans won’t be around for long!

It looks like we all ought to bookmark Nitten.no, because the website has posted a second Norwegian-language story about Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard in three days.

On Saturday, Red Wings Prospects on Twitter spotted an article in which Brandsegg-Nygard explained that his signing to an entry-level contract by the Red Wings means that he may end up playing for the Grand Rapids Griffins instead of Skelleftea AIK this upcoming season, presuming that he has a good training camp with the Wings.

This morning, Red Wings Prospects alerts us to a second article in which reporter Wegard Bakkehaug asked Anders Myrvold, the former Red Wings defenseman and GM of Brandsegg-Nygard and Stian Solberg’s “parent club,” Valerenga, whether MBN and his friend Solberg (an Anaheim Ducks draft pick) should play in the SHL this upcoming season.

Here’s a rough translation of the article:

Myrvold: This will be perfect for both boys

Anders Myrvold believes that playing in the SHL this upcoming season is the perfect “next step” for the Valerenga boys Stian Solberg and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard

Stian Solberg will move to Karlstad, Sweden on August 1st and will play for Farjestads BK next season, even though he recently signed an “entry-level contract” with the Anaheim Ducks.

Michale Brandsegg-Nygard signed the same kind of three-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings just before last weekend.

The signings trigger around 4.2 million Norwegian Kroner in compensation for Valerenga, who are very proud to have produced two 18-year-olds who both became historic when they were drafted in the 1st round earlier this summer.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for them. This will be perfect for both boys,” says Valerenga GM Anders Myrvold to Nitten.no.

Believes in SHL games

This morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan opens what will be a 3-part series of articles which will estimate the Red Wings’ opening-night lineup for the 2024-2025 season.

This morning, Khan discusses the Red Wings’ probable forward lineup (as well as those who will miss the cut, if only barely):

First line: Lucas Raymond-Dylan Larkin-Vladimir Tarasenko

The Red Wings signed Tarasenko for two years ($4.75 million average annual value) to help compensate for the offense they lost in the offseason. He tallied 23 goals and 55 points between Ottawa and Florida last season but should be capable of returning to his 30-goal form of 2021-22 with St. Louis (34 goals), playing on a top line and with more power-play minutes. Raymond took a huge step last season (31 goals, 72 points), particularly during the stretch run when the team was fighting for its playoff life. He will sign a huge contract this summer and be expected to continue his progression. Larkin, despite missing 14 games, scored a career-high 33 goals and averaged a career-best 1.01 points per game.

Second line: Alex DeBrincat-J.T. Compher-Patrick Kane

Kane and DeBrincat, former linemates with the Chicago Blackhawks, had good chemistry at times last season but can be better together. DeBrincat needs to be more consistent after a late-season slump (one goal and six assists in 19 games, with a 2.1 percent shooting percentage). Kane did remarkably well, coming off hip resurfacing surgery (20 goals, 47 points in 50 games) and figures to have a little more offense in him following a normal off-season and a training camp. Compher has averaged 18 goals and 50 points in the past two seasons. You’d like more production from a second-line center, but he still is their best option there.

Continued; I’m always a little cringe-y about making my own estimations of lineups in the middle of the summer given the ups and downs provided by preseason performances and injuries suffered over the course of the 8-game preseason schedule, but that’s probably a lack of confidence on my part.

How do you think that the Wings’ “top six” and “bottom six” forwards will shake out? You can use PuckPedia’s Wings page as a good reference in terms of the team’s depth chart.

The Red Wings drafted 6’3,” 212-pound forward Charlie Forslund with the 176th overall pick in this past June’s NHL Draft, “taking a flyer” on a player who dominated in an under-18 league and then Falu IF of the HockeyEttan, which is two steps removed from the SHL.

At this point, Forslund has signed with Mora of the Swedish Allsvenskan, and, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes, the Red Wings are hoping that better on and off-ice training should help Forslund fulfill his potential as a Swedish-born power forward:

Forslund will be taking his game to another level next season. A higher level. He’ll be skating with Mora in the top Swedish junior league. That’s the same club for which Red Wings top pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard was performing last season.

“That organization has done well with good, young hockey players,” Draper said. “That kind of played into it and that’s going to be important development-wise. Going into a good organization, he’ll continue to develop.”

With the possibility of an NHL future now a realistic dream for Forslund, this new challenge is also exciting to him.

“I look forward to doing that,” Forslund said of playing for Mora. “It’s not so far from home. It’s gonna be big. They take care of the junior players.I think that’s a good step for me.”

Continued (paywall story); very few people other than Draper and the Red Wings’ scouts have actually seen Forslund play in person, so he’s something of a mystery prospect. He could end up being a diamond in the rough, and, as Duff suggests, he could end up being just all-round rough, too.

NHL.com’s Dave Hogg posted a profile of Red Wings 2024 1st-round draft pick and recent signing Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, who’s now the first of two Norwegian-born prospects drafted in the first round (alongside his best hockey pal, Anaheim draft pick Stian Solberg):

“It has been a dream for so long,” Brandsegg-Nygard, who was born in Oslo, told the Red Wings website at the draft. “Now I am living the dream, so I’m just going to work hard, do what I always do and hopefully I’m going to be an NHL player someday.”

Detroit believes it has a player who can help at both ends of the ice.

“I think he plays a pretty responsible game for a young guy,” Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said. “When we all played junior, we worried about scoring. We didn’t check. He’s just got a really well-rounded game to him. I just think he’s a guy who could play in all situations. He can play either wing, a lot of different spots on the power play.”

Brandsegg-Nygard played against men as an 18-year-old last season with Mora IK in Sweden’s second-highest professional league, with 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in 41 games. He picked up his game in the playoffs, with 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 12 games.

“I like his game,” Detroit director of player development Dan Cleary said during Red Wings development camp earlier this month. “Watching him play, you can see he’s strong, protecting the puck, he can shoot it very well.”

Cleary sent Brandsegg-Nygard back to Sweden with some specific things to work on this season.

“Like every young kid, we look at their testing, they’ve got to get stronger, which they will as they get older and more mature. His skating, he knows he’s got to work on it. He’s driven to work on it. Those are the ones that will get better.”

Continued; as we know now, the Red Wings signed MBN to ensure that he’ll play where the Red Wings want him to play, be that with Skelleftea AIK or Grand Rapids this upcoming season–and he’ll attend training camp, as he told Nitten.no’s Wegard Bakkehaug recently.

Both the Free Press’s Helene St. James and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discuss Red Wings forward Patrick Kane’s decision to re-sign with Detroit late last month, framing their stories with comments made by Kane during his conference call with reporters last week.

St. James focuses on Kane’s motivation to re-sign with Detroit…

His decision on the eve of free agency to return to the Detroit Red Wings was a big win for the organization, and it came after Kane heard what general manager Steve Yzerman had to say about the direction of the team: That it needed to be a squad with the potential to build on last season, when the chase for a playoff spot lasted all the way till Game 82.

“We all want to build on last year,” Kane said last week. “That was the message I got as well. I think there’s definitely expectations going into this season, and that’s always a good thing — you want those expectations. You want, whether it’s the fans or the media or just players in general, to expect the team, the organization, to take the next step. I’m excited to be a part of that and hopefully have a chance to have a good regular season and play playoff hockey again.”

As well as Kane’s maturation into something of a salesman for the appeal of joining the Red Wings’ organization: