Author: George Malik

According to Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff, Swedish SHL team Farjestads BK was so depleted on defense recently that they enlisted both a player who skates for its junior team, an NHL prospect, and one Albert Johansson to fill out FBK’s “D” during a recent preseason practice:

Johansson, Noel Fransen, who’s heading to play for the Carolina Hurricanes this season, and teenager Tom Bjurman donned their gear to fill out the Färjestad blueline brigade for practice.

 “It’s great to have eight defenders in training,” [Farjestads BK coach Cam] Abbott told Swedish website Värmlands Folkblad.

Färjestad is without injured defenders Magnus Nygren and Axel Bergkvist. Måns Gudmundsson is away on a national team assignment. The club also lost Cal Foote. They’d signed the former NHL defenseman. However, fan unrest over Foote’s involvement in the Hockey Canada sexual assault court case led to the club voiding Foote’s contract two days after signing him.

Continued

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses whether “baseball guys” might be the answer to the Red Wings’ managerial search this morning.

Khan discusses both Detroit Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg and Tigers VP of analytics Andrew Thomas as candidates for the Red Wings’ GM/hockey of operations spot–two names mentioned by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Tuesday’s 32 Thoughts podcast:

Although Greenberg is Tigers GM, Harris handles the transactions, at least the significant ones. Greenberg has mostly a baseball background, having previously worked for the Pirates, Diamondbacks and Cubs. But he also served as the Chicago Blackhawks associate GM for one season before coming to Detroit.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman said Tuesday on his 32 Thoughts Podcast: “His dad, Chuck Greenberg, was Mario Lemieux’s lawyer when Lemieux was owed a lot of money and got an ownership share of the Penguins. Chuck Greenberg was one of the people that put that together. Really sharp guy. And he was a big hockey fan. He later became a part owner of the Texas Rangers. He was a player agent. He has a long history in sports. And when this opening first came up … I had a couple people say to me, watch Jeff Greenberg on this one.”

The Athletic’s Max Bultman lists 4 priorities for the Red Wings’ next GM or president of hockey operations this morning, suggesting that: The Red Wings need to re-sign Simon Edvinsson and Alex DeBrincat; the team should possibly ink a secondary scorer to replace Patrick Kane; the team needs to resolve the Dylan Larkin situation; and that the entire team’s “hockey ops” departments must be reevaluated:

4. Evaluate players, staff and process

Once the immediate transactions are done, this is really the task that will define much of the new GM’s first year. As with the roster, the new head of hockey operations will be taking over too late in the calendar to make many major changes to any 2026-27 staffing, but taking the first few months to evaluate what (and who) works well and how the organization does things will be foundational to the key decisions that person makes next spring and summer.

The players are one thing — and yes, the new GM will need some time to figure out exactly what is in place and where the biggest needs are before the March trade deadline. But the roster is just the start.

You can expect the new hire to modernize the Red Wings’ operations, and maybe that part can begin during the season. Building out that infrastructure, though, won’t be an overnight change. It will take time. Front offices are growing larger, and scouting, player development, sports science and a robust data operation are all part of the equation. How much of the Red Wings’ current approach needs an overhaul remains to be seen — but that’s exactly what the next GM will be evaluating and updating upon arrival.

Continued (paywall)

The Athletic’s Max Bultman discusses the Red Wings’ managerial search, the Dylan Larkin situation and more on the latest episode of the “Ozzy and Keats” podcast:

Red Wings broadcasters Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond discussed their beginnings as Hockey Night in Canada correspondents on John Shannon and Darren Millard’s “100% Hockey” podcast. It’s 46 minutes long. Enjoy:

PWHL Detroit’s Hilary Knight was at Little Caesars Arena today to speak with the media, per Shap Shots/EliteProspects’ Sean Shapiro…

Hilary Knight is in Detroit this week for the first time since joining PWHL Detroit in offseason. Doing media tour this week, talked a bit how Walter Cup is last thing really missing from her resume pic.twitter.com/f6VDw6CJsK

— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) August 25, 2026

And Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff provided some highlights from her 7-minute press conference, which the Free Press’s Helene St. James also captured on video (non-embeddable):

“To be a part of a place . . . a place where it just feels like Hockeytown,” Hilary Knight said. “Such an iconic place to play. So really looking forward to taking the ice here. I was just geeking out when we were on the bench looking up at the Jumbotron and being like, ‘This is my new home.’”

Another thing we noticed. Knight and Detroit PWHL GM Manon Rheaume? Seems that they get along.

“I wouldn’t be here unless Manon had the vision, right?” Knight said. “I think when we hopped on that Zoom, or maybe it was a Teams, I don’t remember. But I ended that call, and immediately, I was like, this vision is incredible. Like, I want to be a part of this.”

Oh, and one last thing. The superstar player and the iconic GM also appear to be on the same page in discussing the direction of the team.

“Honestly, just the vision, trusting Manon,” Knight said. “She wants to be successful right from the start. So that’s super exciting.

“The other staff members (Coach Josh) Sciba, everything’s sort of just shaping up in a beautiful way. And so when we were having those conversations, it got me really excited and enough to be like, hey, like, I want to be here for years.”

Duff continues…

Since Red Wings defenseman and restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson’s agent, Peter Werner, told Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom that, “We are patiently awaiting for a new general manager” for his client to re-sign with Detroit, there’s been chatter that Edvinsson might be offer-sheeted (despite the fact that the Red Wings have $19.57 million in cap space) or traded.

Today, the Hockey News’s Jonathan Bailey suggests that the Philadelphia Flyers could swoop in and take the 23-year-old Edvinsson off Detroit’s hands, be it via trade or via an offer sheet:

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis took on the massive task of providing in-depth profiles of each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams’ prospect pools, including the Detroit Red Wings’ prospects.

Today, he briefly ranks every team’s prospect pool from 1 to 32, and it’s surprising to see him ranking the Red Wings so highly:

6. Detroit Red Wings (2025: 11th)

Notable Prospects: Trey Augustine, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, Carter Bear

The Red Wings are still trying to figure out where the franchise is going. This club is still trying to make the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade. And the Atlantic looks extremely dangerous heading into this season. It’s going to be an uphill battle to get back to the glory days, but Detroit has one of the best prospect pools in hockey to help make that work. Detroit’s pipeline almost has a bit of everything. From top-rated goaltenders to quality wingers and shutdown defenders, Detroit is in a good spot moving forward. It’s up to the new GM to fill in the gaps to get this fanbase back in the rink for an extended spring play session.

Continued; The Athletic’s Corey Pronman ranked the Red Wings’ prospect pool as the NHL’s 15th-best, and today, Bleacher Report’s Hannah Stuart ranked the Wings 18th-best.

Red Wings prospect William Wallinder faces a make-it-or-head-back-to-Sweden season this fall.

At 24 years of age, the 6’4,” 209-pound defenseman is out of waiver-exempt options, so he has to make the Red Wings’ roster–beating out both Axel Sandin Pellikka and free agent signing Jacob Bryson–to ensure that his future remains in Detroit.

It’s possible that he’d be picked up on waivers if he’s waived, but another season spent in Grand Rapids would most likely mean that the former Rogle BK defenseman would head back home to Sweden to chase a bigger paycheck in his mid-20’s.

Anyway, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen profiles the late-blooming defenseman this morning…

Sportsnet has posted a “Surprise” episode of the “32 Thoughts” podcast this morning (audio link), with Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas addressing the Red Wings’ managerial search 13 minutes into today’s episode.

Red Wings Prospects and the Winged Wheel Podcast have already listened in (I’ve been taking care of Aunt Annie, sorry):

There’s a Red Wings segment on today’s 32 thoughts. Including an Andrew Thomas name drop as an internal(ish) candidate. Friedman brings up Brett Peterson and Jeff Kealty. Also continues to say Greenberg is involved and a little background.
It’s only like 6 min listen for yourself

— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) August 25, 2026

“Initially I thought maybe Yzerman resigned. I don’t believe that was the case. I believe the red wings made the choice to move on.” -Friedman https://t.co/JzNZTabSY3

— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) August 25, 2026

Per @FriedgeHNIC on 32T: DET thinks highly of Andrew Thomas (formerly Minnesota Wild, now w/ Tigers) even if he's not necessarily ready for the role right now – name for the future.

Names Brett Peterson & Jeff Kealty among reported candidates, still hearing Jeff Greenberg. #LGRW

— Winged Wheel Podcast (@WingedWheelPod) August 25, 2026