Author: George Malik

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, Alexander Petrich of the MHL’s website posted a translated English-language interview with Red Wings 2025 draft pick Nikita Tyurin, who turned 18 last month.

Tyurin will likely play for Spartak’s junior team this upcoming season, but Tyurin’s JHC Spartak won the MHL’s Kharlamov Cup last season, with Tyurin posting 5 assists in 19 playoff games, and Tyurin discusses his hopes of repeating a championship season with Petrich:

– What do you want to improve over the summer?
– My muscle mass and endurance. I want to be a tougher player. I have gained five kilos of muscle compared to the weight I had in the 2024/25 season. My current weight is 85 kilos and I want to increase it up to 90.

– Have you already switched from a cage to a visor?
– No, and I haven’t even tried wearing a visor yet. I might do it at the start of the season, but only after getting a mouthguard. I have seen defensemen getting hit in the face with a puck many times, even during practices, so I am in no rush to get rid of a cage. I have also talked to guys about it and many of them say that a visor makes objects appear closer than they actually are. That’s something you are to get used to and it’s quite challenging.

– What are your goals for the 2025/26 season?
– My two main goals for the upcoming season are to consolidate my position in the KHL team’s roster and to win my second Kharlamov Cup with JHC Spartak should I have a chance.

– What helped you make such a statement in your debut season?
– Hard work. It is the most important thing for any hockey player. I have never stopped working on my skating skills, leg strength, dribbling skills. I gave a hundred and ten percent during the preseason at Spartak’s training camp to achieve such a result.

– Did your jitters subside quickly in your first game at the new level?
– It is not my shifts, but the right decisions on the ice that make my jitters subside. A nice pass, outmaneuvering an opponent, a shot – that’s what helps me get into a groove and feel more comfortable. But making some mistakes early in the game makes me feel nervous and then it is pretty tough to reduce that nervousness.

Continued; the translation is a little clunky at times, but it’s a hell of a lot better than plugging a Russian-language interview into an online translator. Many thanks to Red Wings Prospects for finding this one.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman answered reader questions in a mailbag feature this morning. Among his answers is the following:

Why are Red Wing fans so skeptical and even despairing about an in-house rebuild from their own prospect base while the Tigers are the living embodiment of success using that same route (except for the Gleyber Torres acquisition)? — Dale R.

Well, Tigers fans were pretty skeptical and despairing until last August, too — that’s what happens when you’ve been out of the playoffs so long. It gets harder to believe the payoff is actually coming. And honestly, I am pretty skeptical that the Red Wings will deliver the same level of results this season that the Tigers have over the last 12 months. That’s a high bar.

But to Dale’s point, it is entirely possible Detroit can answer some questions and find internal sparks similar to the ones the Tigers have found time and again in that span. I’d argue Marco Kasper, Edvinsson and Albert Johansson already count as such from last season. Elmer Söderblom taking another step would count as the same. Perhaps Nate Danielson and Carter Mazur can provide a boost this year. Certainly, that’s what the front office will be hoping for.

And whether it’s this year or next, I do like what Detroit has on the way. There are a lot of good prospects coming. But they still would need a lot of things to go right to get to the level the Tigers are on right now, and I can’t fault anyone for getting tired of waiting.

Continued (paywall)

According to “The UConn Blog’s” Daniel Connolly, former Red Wings goaltending coach Alex Westlund has landed a new job:

UConn men’s hockey filled the vacancy on its coaching staff, announcing Alex Westlund as its new assistant on Monday. He’ll replace Vince Stalletti as the goaltending coach and will also focus on recruiting.

“We’re excited to add Alex to our program,” UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh said in a release. “He’s an experienced coach who brings valuable knowledge from the NHL, AHL, and Team USA. His enthusiasm for the game will be contagious, and we look forward to having him on our team.”

Westlund arrives in Storrs with an impressive resume, having served as the goalie coach for the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings over the last three seasons following a five-year stint with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. He was also in charge of Team USA’s goaltending at the 2024 IIHF Championship.

Continued

Last week, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin was named the NHL’s 15th-best center by the NHL Network, and Mike Rupp and Dan Boyle discussed Larkin’s pluses in a Twitter video released by the NHL Network. The NHL posted a video link to their 6-minute segment on Larkin and centers #15-11 as well, and today, they’ve posted the video in YouTube format.

Larkin earns the first 2 minutes and 40 seconds of Rupp and Boyle’s time:

Via Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell, EA Sports revealed its list of their top 10 right-handed defensemen in the NHL 26 video game in terms of their overall skill rankings, and Moritz Seider cracked the list…But he’s tied with a host of defenders who have an 88-out-of-100 skill set:

Cale Makar sits at 95 OVR in #NHL26.
Adam Fox trails at 90, too big of a gap? 🤔

See Defensive Ratings here: https://t.co/1ZOOUJeVAz pic.twitter.com/S004oecFDS

— EA SPORTS NHL (@EASPORTSNHL) August 25, 2025

I’m not a big gamer, so I’m guessing that 88 out of 100 is very good, but not “elite.” So it is, I guess. It seems like the gaming world feels the same about Seider’s skill set that the media does–i.e. they underrate it.

The Hockey News’s Jake Tye spoke with Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson and assistant coach Brian Lashoff recently, and Watson and Lashoff told Tye that they are big believers in the potential of defenseman Shai Buium (pronounced “BOO-yum”), who completed his rookie AHL season this past spring:

“I thought he had a great first year, the expectation was for him to go and train and have a really good summer, I talk to him the other day and he’s been doing that,” Watson said “So I’d love to see where he’s at at the start of the year, just a puck-mover, he sees the ice extremely well, could run on power play, so looking to see the stride that he’s made.”

Buium’s listed at 6’3″ and 220 pounds on EliteProspects, but he’s got long and lean arms, legs and a torso, so he could realistically put on another 5-10 pounds of muscle and not lose mobility.

Buium made his professional debut during the 2024–25 season with the Griffins, where he impressed by scoring a pair of goals and dishing 23 assists for 25 points over 67 games. Before turning pro, he was a standout defenseman at the University of Denver, recording 14 goals and 61 assists for 75 points with a +61 rating in 120 games. His collegiate career was littered with success as he was apart of two National Championship wins with the Pioneers in 2022 and 2024.

Longtime Red Wings and Griffins defenseman Brian Lashoff has spent the last two seasons behind the bench as an assistant coach, mainly operating as the coach for the defense, and has mentioned Buium as an exciting prospect to watch. Lashoff explained that Buium has taken big strides in his game saying “he definitely started to steadily progress throughout the season, he learned a ton playing pro for the first time, and he got better and better.” 

Lashoff expanded on the topic by mentioning that he would regularly trust the young Buium with “big minutes” last season and that he has the potential to earn a spot with the Red Wings or a bigger role with the Griffins next season. He finished by explaining that he, like Dan, has heard very positive feedback about how Buium’s summer has been going and he’s looking forward to coming back in September and seeing the work he’s put in. 

Continued; I’m not necessarily sold on Buium being Edvinsson 2.0, but I do know that he’s among the best of the crop of young defensemen that will be playing for the Griffins this upcoming season. He’s one to watch for sure.

MLive’s Ansar Khan examines the Red Wings’ depth chart this afternoon, surmising what the team’s forward lines might look like at the start of the 2025-2026 regular season.

We all know that the top lines will include a Dylan Larkin-Lucas Raymond duo and the Alex DeBrincat-Marco Kasper-Patrick Kane trio, so here are Khan’s third and fourth lines:

Third line: Michael Rasmussen-Andrew Copp-James van Riemsdyk

Copp and Rasmussen, with their size and forechecking ability, are a natural fit together at even strength and on the penalty kill. The team missed Copp following his season-ending shoulder injury on Feb. 22. It might have affected Rasmussen, whose performance declined (from 33 points in 2023-24 to 21 and from plus-8 to minus-12). The veteran van Riemsdyk’s net-front presence might land him on the top line, but he can play up and down the lineup and provide secondary scoring.

Fourth line: Elmer Soderblom-J.T. Compher-Mason Appleton

The 6-8 Soderblom wasn’t out of place when used on the top line, so that’s an option. He missed 10 of the final 14 games with a nagging injury. Compher had a disappointing season with 11 goals and 32 points after producing 19 goals and 48 points his first season in Detroit. He’s out of place as a fourth-line center, but where else is he going to play? The Red Wings invested a good sum in Appleton (two years, $2.9 million average annual value), who is coming off a 10-goal, 22-point season, and he’s another player who’s not a natural fourth-liner.

Continued (paywall); Khan believes that Carter Mazur, Nate Danielson and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard are all in the mix for call-ups, but he doesn’t see them making the opening-night roster.

As stated last week, we made enough money to cover the cost of the WordPress served and the program that allows me to interface with the blog, Jetpack, but only just…

So I’m trying to raise funds to pay the bills and keep the lights on at home as well.

Fundraising is not your or my favorite thing to do, but this is how it’s done when you don’t have commercials or sponsors cluttering the blog, and I do hope that you’ll considering donating to the cause.

Right now, anything and everything will help, because we’re trying to make $200 stretch out between now and the 12th of next month, when I get paid by the State of Michigan for being Aunt Annie’s caregiver, and stretching $200 for 2-and-a-half weeks ain’t easy.

Here are the details as to how you can help:

Red Wings Prospects on Twitter reports that Wings prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov played on CSKA Moscow’s top line as they took part in a final preseason tournament before the early-September start of the KHL’s regular season…

Dimitri Buchelnikov(2nd round’22) 1st line today. Ex wing Daniel Sprong 2nd line. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/E0T19Oyq4V

— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) August 25, 2025

And as you might expect, Buchelnikov scored two preseason goals:

Dimitri Buchelnikov(2nd round’22)
Goal🚨 he’s got 2 goals in 2 preseason games. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/YtKRnAoG50

— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) August 25, 2025

Dimitri Buchelnikov(2nd round’22)
🚨🚨x2 Buch is cooking in preseason #LGRW pic.twitter.com/IHiIL5H4kE

— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) August 25, 2025

TSN’s Travis Yost posted his set of rankings for the NHL’s 32 teams’ center corps, and he lists the Red Wings in the 4th of 5 tiers…But at least he gives Dylan Larkin a compliment in doing so:

Detroit Red Wings (T4) – Dylan Larkin has put together one heck of a streak amidst the Red Wings’ rebuild, with four straight 30+ goal seasons and 126 goals total. That puts him in a class with the likes of Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk (130), Utah’s Clayton Keller (128), and New Jersey’s Jack Hughes (123).

Continued; as we know in Detroit, Dylan Larkin is extremely underrated.