Author: George Malik

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:

The Red Wings drafted Emmitt Finnie out of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers because, in 2023, the 6,’ 170-pound center looked like a promising and plucky speedster, albeit of average size. So they selected him 201st overall, and he’s looking like a real “sleeper” pick.

Finnie grew in production from 35 points in 64 games in 22-23 to 19 goals and 40 assists for 59 points in 62 games in 23-24, and he grew an inch to 6’1″ and added 13 pounds to his 183-lb frame.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff profiled the “most intriguing sleeper prospect” on Sunday morning, and he noted that Red Wings assistant director of player development Dan Cleary loves what Finnie brings to the mix…

The seventh round of the draft is when teams roll the dice, take a shot on a player they hope could ultimately develop into something. It isn’t supposed to happen as fast as it’s happening with Finnie, however.

“He’s looked good,” Cleary said. “For me, when you go watch him play, say you go in October and you’re back again in December, it feels like he just grew each time you meet him. He started getting bigger, his chest fills out. When he was in Grand Rapids for the games he played, he didn’t look out of place at all because he’s smart, he knows where to be positionally. All it’s going to take is a little more experience, a little more maturity but he’s a nice player. I really like Emmitt.”

The one thing the Red Wings want Finnie to add isn’t height or weight any more–it’s “swagger”:

“When I talk to him, he’s really quiet,” Cleary said. “He’s a really good strong player but I’d like him to have a little more swagger to himself. We keep trying to instill that confidence in him. He believes he’s a good player. Once they start to believe it, they’ll start to show it more on the ice.”

Continued; sometimes players like Finnie and Kevin Bicker pan out; sometimes they don’t. But it’s always a bonus when they do.

Well, this is cheery. SI Now’s Jacob Punturi examines three players who Punturi believes will “regress” during the 2024-2025 season, and his crosshairs land upon Red Wings restricted free agent forward Lucas Raymond, Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, and Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard:

Lucas Raymond, Detroit Red Wings: The Red Wings are high on Lucas Raymond and are depending on him to keep improving his game in 2024. He’s a playmaking top-six forward with two 20+ goal and 50+ point seasons to begin his NHL career. In 2023, he jumped from 23 to 31 goals and 57 to 72 points.

Raymond is due for a regression in 2024. The Red Wings have a solid group of forwards that improved in the offseason. He could see his ice-time eaten up by the veteran duo of Patrick Kane or Vlad Tarasenko.

The real issue, like Bouchard, is Raymond’s shooting percentage skyrocketed last season. In his first two seasons, he had 12% success rate shooting the puck. In 2023, 19% of his shots on goal went in. That’s nearly one in every five shots finding the back of the net. Raymond is a quality player and still improving, but don’t count on him to record 70 points or more in 2024.

Continued; I don’t mean to be Debbie Upper here, but why not? Raymond is going to be playing with Kane or Tarasenko, most likely, and if he isn’t playing with one of those players, he’s added size and strength to his game, as well as maturity and poise.

No, he’s not going to score at nearly 20%, but he’s shown that he’s a master of adaptation to the hardest league in the world. He’ll find a way to “get ‘er done.”

Bleacher Report’s Hannah Stuart chose to “check in” on each and every one of the NHL’s 32 first-round draft picks from the 2023 NHL Draft, and as you probably know by now, Red Wings first-rounder Nate Danielson will be “turning pro” this upcoming season with an abundance of self-confidence:

#9 Nate Danielson, Detroit Red Wings: Nate Danielson had quite a run during the 23-24 season. While he started out his WHL season with the Brandon Wheat Kings, the trade deadline saw him heading to the Portland Winterhawks, with whom he would reach the WHL Championship before getting swept by the Moose Jaw Warriors. All told, he ended up with 67 points in 54 regular-season games. He also fit in a stint with Team Canada at the World Junior Championships, and logged two games with the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, after the end of his WHL season.

Danielson made it to the final round of cuts during training camp with the Red Wings last season. If his performance at the team’s recent development camp is any indication, he clearly intends to come into training camp ready to push the envelope further and ensure he’s in conversation for one of those opening night spots. Whether he can convince general manager Steve Yzerman to take the chance is something we’ll all have to find out together in the fall.

Continued; I don’t know whether Danielson will end up as a center or a winger in the NHL, but his grit and playmaking abilities indicate to me that he’s likely to jump to the best league in the world sooner than later.

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s biggest job this offseason involves attempting to re-sign restricted free agents Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider.

Yesterday, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a subscriber-only article discussing the leverage (or lack thereof) that Raymond and Seider have in terms of signing an offer sheet (very little because the Wings have the cap space to match any offers), and he estimated the actual amounts of Raymond and Seider’s contracts…

Yzerman has $19.9 million (puckpedia.com data) left to pay RFAs Seider, Raymond, Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno. Just in general terms, Detroit Hockey Now uses a $17 million projection combined for Seider and Raymond, $2 million for Veleno and $775,000 for Berggren.

AFP Analytics projects Seider at $8.1 million per season on a long-term deal, while Raymond was at $7.758 million per season on a long-term contract.  Using comparables, AFP Analytics does a good job of projecting. But it’s plausible that Raymond and Seider are asking for more.

The compromise could be a shorter bridge deal. For example, AFP Analytics sees a Seider bridge deal at three years at $5.425 million. Because of Raymond’s scoring numbers, his short-term deal (according to AFP Analytics) projects to be at $6.1 million per season for a three-year deal.

Allen continues (paywall); it’s hard to assume anything less than the fact that Dylan Larkin’s $8.7 million is the team’s informal salary cap limit, but some of the restricted free agent contracts thrown around of late (I can think of the Rasmus Dahlin deal, which gives the Sabres defenseman an $11 million cap hit) might require a new “internal cap” to be set, probably in Seider’s case.

What do you think will happen in terms of the Raymond and Seider deals?

From Alex Wood on YouTube comes over half an hour’s worth of Alex DeBrincat’s 2023-2024 season highlights:

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, Nitten.no’s Wegard Bakkehaug took part in an interview with Red Wings 2024 draft pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. Here’s a rough translation thereof, and:

As you and I discussed the other day, the Red Wings signed MBN to an entry-level contract at only 18 years of age so that they can control his playing destinations. According to Brandsegg-Nygard, he’s going to attend training camp, though he expects to play with Skelleftea AIK of the SHL when all is said and done:

Brandsegg-Nygard travels to a new Red Wings camp–could play in the AHL

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard will battle for an NHL job at the Detroit Red Wings’ training camp this autumn, but he could also end up playing in the AHL or SHL.

This week Michael Brandsegg-Nygard signed a so-called “entry-level contract” with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.

The 18-year-old was informed that the Detroit Red Wings wanted to sign him already during development camp following the NHL draft in Las Vegas, and after some negotiations, the contract was signed this week.

“There was nothing to wonder about. I’m very satisfied with the agreement,” says Brandsegg-Nygard to nitten.no.

How was the development camp?

“It was good to see my level [of play] compared to the others who were drafted. It was also great to be trained by and meet legends such as Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall. The last few weeks have been a dream come true. It’s been incredibly exciting and one of the coolest things I’ve experienced.”

This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses free agent signing Erik Gustafsson’s likely role as the Red Wings’ power play quarterback and de-facto replacement for Shayne Gostisbehere:

[The Red Wings] foresee that like Gostisbehere, Gustafsson will be filling a third-pairing role and be quarterbacking one of their power-play units.

“Erik Gustafsson will replace the Ghost as that offensive, probably on the power play guy,” Detroit GM Steve Yzerman said. “We expect him to be on one of the power play units.”

Knowing he’ll be filling that role and that more will be expected of him is a factor that Gustafsson finds to be exciting.

“I have been playing power play ever since I came over here,” Gustafsson said. “It’s something I like to do and something my game is meant to do. I like to run it and try to give the puck to the forwards to shoot, create lanes and stuff like that. I feel very confident playing on the power play. While I don’t know what’s going to happen, hopefully I can get an opportunity.”

Continued

According to Marquette’s WZMQ 19 News, the Detroit Red Wings’ Alumni are going to play against “Yoopers United” to raise money for the United Way of Marquette County on Friday, September 13th. And the “Yoopers United” team will have a special guest in the lineup:

The Yoopers United Hockey Team and the United Way of Marquette County are excited to announce that former Marquette Iron Ranger and retired NHL forward, best known for helping Paul Newman earn his first Oscar winning performance for their real world antics from their time in the United State Hockey League with Marquette and the Johnstown Jets of the North American Hockey League, Steve Carlson of the infamous Slap Shot Hanson Brothers will be lacing up the skates for their game against the Red Wings Alumni Association. 

Carlson, 68, and his wife, Vicki, will be making their way north this September to join the Yoopers United team and help raise funds for our local community. 

Carlson appeared in 66 games for Marquette, recording 34 goals and 53 assists for 87 points in his only season with the Iron rangers before heading to Johnstown where he helped the Jets win the championship in ‘75. Carlson would go on to have a long professional career spanning 14 seasons, including 5 seasons in the World Hockey Association and 1 season with the LA Kings in the NHL. Carlson, who was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) in 2021, was able to put on the foil to beat his cancer this year. 

One of the many organizations that the United Way of Marquette County supports is Cancer Care of Marquette County. They will be hosting a Showing of Slap Shot at Blackrocks Brewery on Third Street of September 14, 2024 at 5:30pm to celebrate Carlson’s remission. 

…

The Marquette County Hockey Night will take place on Friday September 13 at 3:30 p.m. with a block party at the Berry Events Center. Red Carpet Player Entrance to follow, with a Sled Hockey Game and the Red Wings Alumni game dropping at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the events are $25/adult and $15/youth 12 and under are available through NMU’s ticketing website.

Continued