Author: George Malik

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen reports that the Red Wings’ coach and players are very well aware of the fact that this year’s preseason is significantly truncated, down from 8 games played over the course of 2 weeks to 4 games played over the course of one week:

“By this time next week, we’re almost done — three exhibition games and only have one left,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “You don’t have time to wade.”

The Red Wings are at [Columbus Monday,] Pittsburgh Tuesday, and then are home Thursday at 7 p.m. to face the Buffalo Sabres Thursday. The preseason schedule is over Saturday with a game at LCA against the Blue Jackets.

The Red Wings may be too busy to be distracted by all that is happening around. The start of the new 84-game regular season is two weeks from today.

Players understand why this is happening. They know that it could be worse if they allow themselves to become distracted by the circus.

“It’s part of the business,” Red Wings player J.T. Compher said. “Unfortunately, when you don’t reach the goals that you set out for as a team, that’s what tends to happen. Teams maybe get broken up, players get moved, coaches, all the way to the top.”

Continued; coach McLellan was also asked about back-up goaltender Daniil Tarasov yesterday:

Updated at 11:43 AM: The Detroit Red Wings took to the ice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center this morning to participate in their second day of training camp.

Here are the Tweets/X posts of note from Friday’s on-ice sessions.

This post will be updated repeatedly, so “stay tuned!”

The day began with some business news…

Red Wings announce their jersey patch sponsor, solutions and staffing company DQS.

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) September 18, 2026

We’re proud to welcome @dqsdetroit as our new jersey patch partner and the Official Workforce Partner of the Detroit Red Wings.

More » https://t.co/jkPLxtWHNF pic.twitter.com/TEwEhaiyf0

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 18, 2026

And then the Wings got down to the business of hockey:

Day 2 of Training Camp. #LGRW #RedWings pic.twitter.com/RrPbxvlDAU

— Michael Whitaker (@mwhitaker_89) September 18, 2026

#RedWings Day 2 of camp, lines for the first of two practice groups:
Finnie-Kasper-Arvidsson
Rasmussen-Compher-Kolesar
Bear-Rochette-Appleton
Dower Nilsson-Becher-Kiiskinen
Albert Johansson-Faulk
Chiarot-ASP
Lagesson-Attard
Truscott-Christensen
Gibson
Postava pic.twitter.com/sUmf4m5GYr

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) September 18, 2026

#RedWings scrimmaging. Lines for second group:
DeBrincat-Copp-Raymond
Mazur-Danielson-MBN
Leonard-Dries-Shine
James-Muzatti-Skoog
Draper/Stillman
Wallinder-Seider
Bryson-JBD
Buium-Anton Johansson
Kannok Liepert
Edvinsson still unsigned, not scrimmaging
Tarasov
Augustine
Gylander pic.twitter.com/QLPsQOUIbE

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) September 18, 2026

Update: Hello, Simon Edvinsson!

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

We’re proud to welcome @dqsdetroit as our new jersey patch partner and the Official Workforce Partner of the Detroit Red Wings.

More » https://t.co/jkPLxtWHNF pic.twitter.com/TEwEhaiyf0

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 18, 2026

Here’s the press release:

Detroit Red Wings announce Metro Detroit-based DQS Solutions & Staffing as jersey patch partner

• DQS becomes Red Wings’ Official Workforce Partner for the 2026-27 season
• Red Wings home and road jerseys will feature DQS branding beginning September 21
• Multi-year partnership reflects the Red Wings’ commitment to supporting Michigan-grown businesses deeply invested in the community

DETROIT, Mich. – September 18, 2026 — The Detroit Red Wings today announced Metro Detroit-based DQS Solutions & Staffing (DQS) as the team’s new jersey patch partner. As part of a multi-year agreement, the DQS brand mark will be featured on Detroit’s home and away jerseys beginning September 21. DQS will also serve as the Red Wings Official Workforce Partner.

DQS is one of Michigan’s fastest-growing companies and has been recognized on the Inc. 5000 list for three consecutive years. Founded in 2020 as Detroit Quality Staffing LLC, the company has deployed more than 45,000 associates and provides scalable workforce and security services designed to help employers solve complex operational challenges. DQS specializes in building and managing launch-ready workforces that can flex with production schedules, seasonal demand and changing operational needs.

Operating under parent company AXVOR, DQS works alongside Comprehensive Logistics and McLaren Transport as part of an integrated supply chain platform supporting customers nationwide. Together, the companies bring workforce, inbound-to-manufacturing logistics, warehousing and transportation capabilities under one network.

“We are excited to welcome DQS as our new jersey patch partner and feature their brand on the Red Wings jerseys,” said Ryan Gustafson, Ilitch Sports + Entertainment President and CEO. “DQS represents the same Michigan work ethic our organization and our fans take pride in, and we look forward to building a great partnership for years to come.”

EliteProspects/DLLS Stars/Shap Shots’ Sean Shapiro weighs in regarding Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin’s incredibly awkward press conference on Thursday.

Shapiro suggests that Larkin tried to take the easy way out by offering non-answers to every question posed by the Red Wings’ media corps. As such, Shapiro goes so far as to describe Larkin’s reaction to a very understandably uncomfortable situation as “cowardly,” betraying Larkin’s own sometimes awkward but very honest leadership style:

Larkin said he wanted to be truthful, that he wanted to give some explanation, which he immediately followed up with zero explanation at all.

The trade request he said was for personal reasons, but then refused to give any further explanation of what that meant. We didn’t need the full list of reasons, maybe there is something truly personal about this, but you can’t simply state media reports are wrong about it then refuse to give anything of substance back (I thought Nick Cotsonika voiced this extremely well in his question to Larkin about the situation, when he said I don’t care what’s been reported, I just want the truth.)

Larkin also said he didn’t want this to get out, which I struggle with how neither he nor someone in his close circle, his agent maybe?, didn’t stop at some point and make him realize that was impossible.

He’s a top-six center, American gold medal winner, and captain of the Detroit Red Wings, still one of the NHL’s iconic franchises. There was no way it was going to stay secret, whether he liked or not.

So Larkin is lying here, but I guess the deeper question is whether he’s lying to us or lying to himself. And if it’s the latter, you kind of have to question how his agency, Pat Brisson and CAA, somehow haven’t stepped in to save their client from himself during this public self-immolation of any good will Larkin ever had in Detroit.

Continued (paywall) at length..

Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen discusses “the most interesting contract” on every Atlantic Division team this morning, with Boylen suggesting that each and every one of the 8 contracts that he discusses have deep ramifications for their respective franchises. For the Red Wings, Boylen chooses to examine Moritz Seider’s now-affordable mega-deal:

Detroit Red Wings: Moritz Seider

There is a lot going on in Detroit lately, and not much of it is great. Dylan Larkin’s trade request appears to stand and though he is at training camp, he’s no longer the team captain. Patrick Kane is gone. Alex DeBrincat has a year left on his contract, after which he could explore UFA. In the meantime, they have the longest current playoff drought in the league and there’s only an interim GM in place to steer the ship.

So, this is a silver lining. Seider, the 2022 Calder Trophy winner, is now 25 years old, in the peak years of his career, and seems to still be levelling up. He set new career-highs in his offensive totals last season, and averaged 25:40 of ice time a game — only Hughes and Zach Werenski earned more ice time around the NHL. Seider finished fifth in Norris Trophy voting, and might be just at the start of an era where he’s going to be an annual candidate for that award.

With everything else going on, at least this isn’t a contract Detroit has to worry about for some time. Seider will make less than $9 million against the cap through the 2030-31 season. If he does in fact turn into a Norris Trophy winner or even close to it, this will undoubtedly be one of the best value contracts going.

Continued; no disagreements here. Between Seider and Raymond, the Red Wings have two cornerstones locked up for a long time to come.

Updated with video at 12:26 PM: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas discuss the Dylan Larkin situation on today’s episode of “32 Thoughts.”

At the 23:25 mark, Friedman and Bukauskas talk about Dylan Larkin’s evasive press conference, and Friedman says that his theory is that Larkin was really disappointed and upset that the trade request got out.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Max Smith discusses the Red Wings’ attempts to “move forward” despite Dylan Larkin’s trade request. Coach Todd McLellan suggests that the team has its hands full simply trying to build a winning machine:

Said McLellan, ‘We’re talking about winning the day. We’ve got to— we have to win today, and that was on the ice, that was in the locker room preparing, and then tomorrow we’ve got to win tomorrow, and then we’re going to start the season.’

Detroit has struggled to win consistently, especially late in the season in recent years, and the anticipation of those collapses seems to build itself into a self fulfilling prophecy.

‘I think you heard Horc talk [at yesterday’s press conference] about we’re moving forward,’ Said McLellan, ‘We are moving forward.’

This morning, the Athletic’s Max Bultman discusses Dylan Larkin’s awkward, disjointed and mostly answer-less press conference. Bultman notes that, for better or worse, the Detroit Red Wings will have to battle through what has become a near-constant distraction from business as usual for the team:

This is what the Red Wings are walking into this season. Distraction is not avoidable. It’s there. It’s everywhere. And while getting past Day 1 will help, it’s something everyone involved — from those at the center to those just catching fallout — will have to get comfortable with if the Red Wings are going to get through it.

“I have no idea what’s in front of us,” head coach Todd McLellan said. “But I do know what we have in the locker room, and I do know he’s got his teammates’ support. He’s done what he needs to do with his teammates, and he wants to earn their trust. He’s sat with me and he wants to do the same with the coaching staff. And then there’s 19,000 people that will sit in the rink each day. He’s got to continue to do that, and he’s determined to do it.”

The thing is, though, it’s not just Larkin who will be affected by this sideshow. Just as J.T. Compher, Ben Chiarot and McLellan were still answering questions about Larkin after he spoke Thursday, the boos that now seem inevitable at Little Caesars Arena will find the rest of the Red Wings’ ears all the same. Other players may be able to rationalize or tune them out for a while, but at a certain point, every bit of noise or criticism or speculation will be another reminder of what is still hanging over them all.

According to Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff, Red Wings prospect center Nate Danielson has pulled something of what I call a “Valtteri Filppula,” a.k.a. focusing too heavily on being defensively responsible, to the detriment of his offensive abilities.

Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson wants to see Danielson display a little more selfishness in pursing his own offensive game:

“He’s very responsible,” Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson said. “Maybe sometimes too responsible, and that sometimes can hurt you.”

In 27 NHL games with the Red Wings last season, Danielson accounted for two goals and five assists.

“Last year, when he got here, he performed really well,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “He didn’t quite hold on to it, but he’s older, stronger, more experienced, and our job is to help him.”

McLellan reminded everyone that he had Danielson penciled in on the team in training camp. Then a wrist injury put him on the shelf. When healthy, Danielson was sent to GR to regain game shape. He got the call to Detroit in November.

“I hope that he has the same type of training camp he had last year because he would have been on our team,” McLellan said.

Continued

If you weren’t able to spend 30 minutes watching the Red Wings’ clip of Ben Chiarot, J.T. Compher and coach Todd McLellan’s remarks from the first day of training camp, WOOD TV8 in Grand Rapids offers an interesting quip from coach McLellan in a 55-seocnd news clip.

Coach McLellan emphasizes the concept that Detroit has to “get harder and firmer” to compete against this upcoming season, in all areas of play:

Here’s the full clip of Chiarot, Compher and coach McLellan as well: