Author: George Malik

The Grand Rapids Griffins signed Alex Kannok Leipert to an AHL contract on July 10th, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson posted a story about the Thai-born Kannok Leipert‘s unique hockey background:

Kannok Leipert, a defenseman who recently signed with the Grand Rapids Griffins comes to Western Michigan from Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, where he was born in 2000.  Or, as the crow flies, about 8,500 miles.

His father, Tim, was a Canadian living in Thailand teaching English when he got married, and Alex lived there until moving to Regina, Saskatchewan, when he was five. But the hockey bug had bitten him before that.

”We visited Canada when I was two and a half,” Kannock Leipert said. “We went to a Regina Pats game and I just fell in love with it; I said I wanted to play hockey and that was it,” he told abbotsford.canucks.com. 

Robinson also spoke with Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson about Kannok Leipert’s hockey chops, as well as his Muay Thai training:

Bleacher Report’s Lyle Richardson suggests that Lucas Raymond is the Red Wings’ best forward going into the 2025-2026 season, and that Raymond is the 23rd-best forward in the NHL overall:

23. Detroit Red Wings: Lucas Raymond

Chosen fourth overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, Lucas Raymond has steadily worked his way into becoming the best forward on the Detroit Red Wings. While the rebuilding club struggled to end a franchise-worst nine-year playoff drought, the 23-year-old winger tallied a career-best, team-leading 80 points last season.

A talented, smart, swift-skating play-maker, Raymond made significant strides during his previous four NHL seasons, sitting second among Red Wings scorers with 254 total points. That includes a career-best 31 goals in 2023-24 along with last season’s career high in points.

Entering his fifth NHL campaign, Raymond has yet to reach his full potential as a scoring winger. He could reach 90 points, which could help lift the Wings into the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Continued; Raymond, Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat would all be good choices here…

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski attempts to determine the best draft picks at every draft position from 1 to 224, and the Red Wings draft picks earn 10 mentions on his list:

2. Marcel Dionne, C, Detroit Red Wings (1971)

Determining the best No. 2 overall pick is just as ferocious as pick the No. 1 first overall pick. Retired star forwards like Brendan Shanahan (Devils, 1987), Patrick Marleau (Sharks, 1997) and Daniel Sedin (Canucks, 1999). Current star forwards in Aleksander Barkov (Panthers, 2013), Gabriel Landeskog (Avalanche, 2011) and Jack Eichel (Sabres, 2015). Legendary defensemen like Chris Pronger (Whalers, 1993), Drew Doughty (Kings, 2008) and Victor Hedman (Lightning, 2009).

In the end, this came down to Evgeni Malkin (Penguins, 2004) vs. Dionne. The case for Malkin is that he scored his 1,346 points in 1,213 games and that he earned more hardware (Calder, Conn Smythe, Hart, two scoring titles) than Dionne. But the former Kings star had 1,771 points in 1,348 games, including the sixth-highest goal total (731) ever in his Hall of Fame career — and at a time when being a Kings star didn’t exactly work in his favor from a legacy perspective. There are a lot of right answers here. Dionne, we think, is the rightest one at No. 2, but it’s extremely close when adjusted for eras.

4. Steve Yzerman, C, Detroit Red Wings (1983)

He didn’t have the goals total of Mike Gartner (708), who was drafted fourth overall in 1979 by the Capitals, or the point total of Ron Francis (1,798), who was taken in 1981 by the Whalers. But Yzerman is seventh in career points (1,755) and 10th in career goals (692) while leading the Red Wings to three Stanley Cups — earning playoff MVP honors in 1998.

The other two were great players. Yzerman was an icon. But 10 years from now, will Yzerman concede this spot to Cale Makar (Avalanche, 2017)?

MLive’s Ansar Khan examines the Red Wings’ potential pairings on defense for this upcoming season, placing Ben Chiarot with Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson with Albert Johansson, and Erik Gustafsson with Travis Hamonic. I’m interested in the bottom pairing because there’s going to be significant shuffling of the Wings’ bottom four defensemen:

3. Erik Gustafsson-Travis Hamonic

Gustafsson’s ability to man the point on the second power play unit gives him the edge in the competition for a third pair spot, but he doesn’t have a firm grip on it. He needs to be better defensively and provide a little more offense (two goals, 18 points in 60 games). The 15-year veteran Hamonic does the dirty work (physical play, shot-blocking) that the Red Wings need.

Extras: Jacob Bernard-Docker, Justin Holl

Bernard-Docker is looking to establish himself after appearing in only 144 games over parts of five seasons with Ottawa and Buffalo. The Red Wings opted not to buy out Holl, who is entering the final season of his three-year, $10.2 million contract, because cap space is not an issue and there is always a need for experienced depth defensemen. But if everyone on defense is healthy, they might opt to waive Holl like they did before last season, and send him to Grand Rapids if he clears, rather than carry eight defensemen.

Continued; Khan doesn’t believe that Axel Sandin Pellikka’s quite ready for the NHL, barring a “spectacular” training camp.

According to WLUC TV6 in Marquette, the United Way of Marquette County has two roster spots open on its “Yoopers United” team that will battle the Red Wings’ Alumni on Saturday, September 13th at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. The two highest donators to the Yoopers United cause, as long as they’re over 18, have the opportunity to join the team:

Here’s the pitch:

Calling all hockey fans 18 and up – you have a chance to play with retired hockey legends and be a Detroit Red Wing for one night.

United Way of Marquette County will hold its third annual Marquette County Hockey Night. The Detroit Red Wings Alumni are coming to hit the ice September 13th, and they need two players to fill the roster.

With enough fundraising for United Way, YOU could be one of those players. You can ask family, friends or businesses to donate with a mention of your name, and the top two people with the highest fundraising get to play with the Red Wings Alumni.

United Way of Marquette County Executive Director Andrew Rickauer said all proceeds for Marquette Hockey Night support programs in the area.

“Youth programs, senior programs, adults with disabilities, food insecurity, housing,” Rickauer said. “A lot of the nonprofits that are around town that you hear about all the time, they’re our partner agencies; we fund for them.”

Click here to volunteer or donate.

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond and defenseman Moritz Seider took part in an NHL/NHLPA European Media Tour this past Friday, and after exchanging jerseys with Inter Milan players at their training facility, the cadre of European players taking in a game between AC Milan and Cremonese this past Saturday.

Seider also talked with NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger about his expectations for the German Olympic team which will play in the Milano-Cortina Olympics in February of 2026.

A couple of days ago, NHL.com/de’s Robin Patzwaldt also spoke with Seider and Raymond as they attended the soccer game, with both players expressing some amazement at attending a soccer game from sideline seats. Here’s a rough translation thereof:

Detroit’s defensive strategist Seider was enthusiastic about his impressions: “I was already wrong. I appreciated it very much that we were given the opportunity to be so close to the game,” said the young defender. “The guys here have so much passion and at the same time they’re incredibly professional. You can notice immediately how important soccer is to the people of Milan–both the players and the fans. The atmosphere was a very special one. For me, personally, these are incredible moments.”

However, he struggled to find a direct comparison with the NHL: “That’s not easy. There are 80,000 fans gathered here–extremely impressive. In the NHL, there are usually 18,000 to 20,000. The people here live for soccer and for supporting their team. That’s really something very special,” acknowledged Seider.

Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka has come to Detroit to begin his battle for a roster spot–or at least a prime spot on the Grand Rapids Griffins’ blueline–and while this is just a small snippet of a subscriber-only article written by Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom, it certainly makes an impact:

LOS ANGELES. He’s tipped to be our next big defensive star in the NHL.

And now the adventure has begun for Axel Sandin-Pellikka.

The 20-year-old from Gällivare, Sweden, landed in Detroit just over a week ago.

Now it’s all about fighting for a place in the Red Wings to the season premiere in October.

“I’m fucking excited for the chance to experience the dream I’ve had since I was fourteen years old,” he told Expressen.

The paywall hits after the f-bomb, but I think we get the picture…

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects have included a number of players graduating to the NHL level over the past couple of seasons, and as such, the Red Wings land in 11th place in The Athletic’s Corey Pronman’s “NHL Pipeline Rankings“:

Detroit’s rebuild has probably been slower than fans would have hoped, but brick by brick the Red Wings have assembled a promising group of young players in their farm system and on the big club. The star power is likely already at the NHL level, with their system being more of a great group of supporting cast types. There’s enough legit talent they’ve drafted in the first round in recent years, though, that odds are one of them becomes a premier NHL player.

2024 ranking: 14

2025 NHL Draft grade: B

New Red Wings defenseman Travis Hamonic discussed his decision to sign with the Detroit Red Wings as an unrestricted free agent yesterday, and the Detroit News’s Mark Falkner took note of the defenseman’s take on the similarities between the Red Wings and his former employer, the Ottawa Senators:

“In the last year or so, the young players (in Ottawa) took another step in their careers, their development and responsibilities on the ice and they kind of drove the team forward last year,” Hamonic said. “I think there are a lot of similarities between the two teams. The fan base in Ottawa was very eager to make the playoffs and they had been out a while. As we came down the stretch, they had a huge impact on the team.

“For us in Detroit, we obviously want to get off to a good start, as does every other team in the league, and then just keep building throughout the season. When you just keep that singular focus, building week-by-week, or game-by-game, from Game 1 to Game 82, the bigger picture will take care of itself. It seems this group is really ready for that challenge and opportunity and the fan base is hungry for the playoffs as well.”

Hamonic, a second-round draft pick by the Islanders in 2008 and a Memorial Cup finalist with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League in 2010, will reunite with former Senators defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker, when they attend the opening of training camp in Traverse City on Sept. 18.

Docker, 25, signed a one-year, $875,000 contract with the Red Wings on July 1, 2025. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound blueliner split the season with Ottawa and the Buffalo Sabres, picking up eight points in 50 games.

“JBD is first and foremost a great teammate and player,” Hamonic said. “He’s got some sneaky skill, plays hard. He’s not the biggest guy but he’s competitive, he moves well and he’s someone who can make solid plays. When he’s feeling confident, leading the rush and making plays, he’s a good player. He had that injury last season and I think it was hard to get going. I think the fans in Detroit are going to see a young player with a bright future.”

As for his own game…

Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat appeared on 97.1 the Ticket from the Ilitch Celebrity Charities Golf Classic earlier this week, and the Hockey News’s Michael Whitaker took note of DeBrincat’s remarks:

Earlier this week, DeBrincat participated in the 17th Annual Ilitch Charities Celebrity Golf Classic, and spent a few minutes chatting with hosts Jim Costa and Jon Jansen of The Costa & Jansen w/ Heather Show on 97.1 The Ticket, and was asked right off the bat how much of an adjustment period it will take thanks to the multiple new faces on the roster acquired by GM Steve Yzerman. 

“Not that long, I think that a lot of the bonding that we do in Traverse City off the ice helps it progress and make it a lot easier,” he said. “It’s nice going up there to get to know the new guys, and as a new player, it’s nice to get to know the team. It’s a great time up there, and it really makes us closer.”

DeBrincat and the Red Wings have been in prime position to further solidify a spot in the Wild Card postseason race in each of the last two seasons coming into the month of March, only to suffer prolonged losing streaks that all but officially sealed their fate. 

“I think there’s a lot of things that happen at that time of year, we obviously weren’t playing well, but that’s history,” DeBrincat said of Detroit’s March struggles. “We gotta figure out a way why in the last two years, we’ve had a lull in that March time frame….us as players have to find a way to power through that and not get such a setback. There are going to be setbacks during the year, but we have to find a way to minimize them and not let them last.” 

Among the multiple new additions to the Red Wings roster coming into this season include goaltender John Gibson, forwards James van Riemsdyk and Mason Appleton, and defensemen Jacob Bernard-Docker, Travis Hamonic and Ian Mitchell. 

Does DeBrincat believe that the team, as currently constructed, can bring playoff hockey to Little Caesars Arena for the first time? 

“For sure,” he said with no hesitation. “We got a couple guys that are coming in that should really help us, and it’ll be fun to start the year and see what everyone’s made of and go from there. You can’t make the playoffs in the first month, but it will definitely help if you have a good start.” 

Continued; DeBrincat also told Costa and Jansen that he’s getting ready for a difficult task in the first training camp under coach Todd McLellan:

“It will be good and it will be hard,” DeBrincat said of he’s anticipating from McLellan in Training Camp. “It will be very attention to detail oriented. In Todd’s game, details are really big, and just the work ethic – he requires you to give it your all on every shift, and tthat’s something that will be instilled on Day 1.”