Author: George Malik

The Hockey News’s Jake Tye reprinted an article from January’s Hockey News “People of Power and Influence” special, as written by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff.

Duff profiles Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, as well as CEO of Ilitch Sports + Entertainment Ryan Gustafsson, and there’s a character sketch of GM Steve Yzerman and the atmosphere of Little Caesars Arena, too.

Here’s what Duff has to say about Chris Ilitch:

Ownership – Chris Ilitch 

If Chris Ilitch can replicate with the Red Wings what he just did with his Detroit Tigers and get them back to the playoffs, the fan base’s opinion of him will certainly change. Currently, Ilitch is seen as a penny pincher by the Red Wings faithful. His parents, Mike and Marian Ilitch, on the other hand, owned well-earned reputations for spending whatever it took to put the team on track for the Stanley Cup.

To be fair to the Wings’ current president and CEO, his parents’ spending wasn’t constrained by a salary cap. They could allow their GMs free rein in order to keep winning, which is part of the reason the Red Wings made 25 successive playoff appearances between 1990-91 and 2015-16.

It’s also fair to say that when Chris Ilitch ascended to the throne as the man in charge of the Red Wings, he was arriving to a cupboard bereft of prospects.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a “split article” on Thursday, discussing Carter Bear’s recovery from a torn Achilles tendon and Carter Mazur’s recovery from a dislocated elbow:

Coaches undoubtedly are pleased Mazur is healthy. The word is that Mazur has added a significant amount of muscle. He has more than his fair share of injuries early in his pro career. Added strength could help. The Red Wings were hoping Mazur, 23, was ready to be of the big club’s mix late last season.  However, his NHL debut lasted one shift before he suffered an injury that put him out the rest of the season.

Detroit management reminds high on his potential.

Mazur is a gritty scorer with 28 goals in 86 AHL games. There’s hope he could compete for a role in top six, although he may have to make the roster as a bottom six player and work his way up.

Both DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills and the Free Press’s Helene St. James have posted articles on Mazur recently, with Mills interviewing Mazur as he attempts to make the Red Wings’ roster as a 23-year-old.

Former Red Wing Igor Larionov is going to be coaching the KHL’s flagship franchise in big-market team SKA St. Petersburg, but Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that Larionov is going to dive into the hockey podcasting sea as well:

“Bookmaker PARI and its ambassador Igor Larionov are launching a podcast about hockey,” the site reported. “Russian sports stars will visit the ‘Professor.’ PARI with Larionov is an unprecedented project in the world of hockey. This is the first time in history that an active coach is launching his own media project.

For his part, Larionov seems genuinely excited to participate in such a project.

“Many people know me as a person who has been connected to hockey all my life,” Larionov said. “And now I want to talk to you in a long, honest, lively format. Within the framework of this conversation, you can remember a lot, comprehend, and perhaps even say something that has never been said before.

“The essence of the podcast is to convey to the generation of young players, to those who love and watch the game, how success is achieved. How the first steps are taken, how young talents move on, how they achieve great progress. It’s time to talk about hockey for real.”

Larionov’s new podcast debuted on July 30. His first guest was Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kirill Marchenko.

Red Wings forward Patrick Kane is going to take part in a “Patrick Kane Day” back in Chicago on Friday, August 8th, and today he posted a reminder thereof:

Appreciate you guys. See you both 8/8! https://t.co/sUqMoFxa4J

— Patrick Kane (@88PKane) July 31, 2025

Kane shared memories from his Chicago days on an ESPN podcast (with “Carmen and Jurko”) last month, he was on Barstool Chicago as well, and the event is going to be very Blackhawks-centric.

The Red Wings have drafted a significant number of prospects over the course of the NHL Draft’s 2nd round over the past couple of seasons, and MLive’s Ansar Khan notes that the Wings’ record has been hit-or-miss, with the exceptions of Dmitri Buchelnikov, Dylan James and Max Plante:

The Detroit Red Wings have loaded up on second-round picks since Steve Yzerman became general manager and Kris Draper the director of amateur scouting, with 14 selections in seven drafts.

Only defenseman Albert Johansson, the lowest of those picks at No. 60 in 2019, has reached the NHL thus far.

Three others – defensemen Antti Tuomisto (No. 35 in 2019), William Wallinder (No. 32 in 2020) and Shai Buium (No. 36 in 2021) are with the Grand Rapids Griffins, hoping to soon reach the NHL.

Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine (No. 41 in 2023) is one of the organization’s top prospects.

Defenseman Brady Cleveland (No. 42 in 2023) is headed into his third collegiate season with his third different school (Minnesota-Duluth). Eddie Genborg, a physical two-way forward selected this year (No. 44), will be playing for Timra in the Swedish Hockey League.

Defenseman Andrew Gibson (No. 42 in 2023) was traded to Nashville for prospect Jesse Kiiskinen and a second-round pick needed to move Jake Walman to San Jose.

Robert Mastrosimone (No. 54 in 2019), Theodor Niederbach (No. 51 in 2020) and Cross Hanas (No. 55 in 2020) didn’t pan out and are no longer in the organization.

Continued with profiles of Buchelnikov, James and Plante; the draft is a hit-or-miss business, and I’m not overly concerned that the Wings’ 2nd round picks have been more “miss” than hit.

Ideally, you want to draft 3 or 4 NHL players per 7 picks, and that’s not easy to do for anyone.

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills caught up with Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren on Thursday, discussing Berggren’s desire to build upon a solid 2024-2025 season via hard summer training back home in Sweden:

“Last year was a good year for me,” Berggren recently told DetroitRedWings.com. “I feel like I got more opportunity after Todd [McLellan] became head coach, and I think I played better. This one-year deal is a prove-it-deal for me. I want to show what I can do.”

The 24-year-old forward skated in an NHL-career high 75 games last season, recording 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points. Berggren said spending the full campaign with the Red Wings boosted his confidence and helped him stay even keel through the highs and the lows.

“It felt like I was part of the team,” Berggren said. “It’s hard when you’re going up and down between the AHL and NHL, so I got that confidence being there for a full year and I’m going to build off that.”

Since being taken by Detroit in the second round (No. 33 overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Berggren has added more and more to his game. In total, the Uppsala, Sweden, native has notched 58 points (29 goals, 29 assists) in 154 games with the Red Wings since 2022-23. A lot of the progress he’s made, Berggren said, is the result of all the hard work he’s put in behind the scenes.

“Especially last summer, I feel like that was really good and then at Training Camp, everything felt good,” Berggren said. “I took another step last year, but I feel like I’m starting at a higher level this year maybe than where I was two years ago. I want to do the same thing this summer because I feel like that’s going to give me a good result this year.”

Continued; Berggren’s got nowhere to go but up in terms of his level of performance, and I’m glad that he’s setting himself up to succeed before a pivotal season.

My apologies for the lack of posts over the last 20 or so hours.

I’m dealing with a very bad summer cold and it’s gotten worse, not better, over the course of the next couple of days, and I’ve slept for the last day or so because I’m feeling just terrible.

I’ll try to catch up as able today and/or tomorrow. Sometimes these things happen.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan profiles Red Wings prospect and HPK Hameenlinna forward Jesse Kiiskinen today, noting that Kiiskinen had a very good season on a very mediocre team in the Finnish Liiga this past year:

Kiiskinen had 44 points (14 goals, 30 assists) in 46 games with HPK Hameenlinna in Finland last season, despite missing 14 games with injuries. For a 19-year-old playing against established competition in Finland’s best pro league, it was an impressive showing.

“My playing was way better all the time after the tough start,” Kiiskinen said at the Wings development camp this month. “We started to play together better with my line, and then my own game just got better. “

Kiiskinen, 19, has one season left on his contract with HPK Hameenlinna. The timeline for Kiiskinen at this point is to complete the season, then come over to North America to a Wings organization searching for young offensive talent.

“He had good year in Finland,” said Dan Cleary, the Wings’ director of player development. “He came (to Detroit, before development camp) over 10 days prior to hang out with a couple of the other prospects and became friends, and became a little more familiar (with surroundings). He’s a character. He had a good season in HPK, and we expect him to have another strong season; then we’ll see him in North America next year.”

At 6-foot-2, 197 pounds, Kiiskinen has good size, and he’s effective around the net, able to make plays in tight places. Scouts like his forechecking ability, and Kiiskinen enjoys the physical aspects of the game. Kiiskinen has scored as many as 20 goals in junior hockey, and possesses a hard, accurate shot.

“I’m still like a scorer, like a shoot-first player,” Kiiskinen said. “Maybe the stats don’t show that because I had a lot of assists and more than goals, but I like to still make plays and make a goal. I still love scoring and have loved that like all my life.”

Continued; again, I was very puzzled when the Red Wings sent rugged defenseman Andrew Gibson to Nashville for Kiiskinen and a 2nd round pick (which was used in the Jake Walman trade)…

But Kiiskinen is a net-driving presence who has a real edge to his game, and he fills a need for the Wings as he’s something of a pesky forward who enjoys going to the net. All in all, the Red Wings may have ended up with the better player.

Red Wings prospect Carter Mazur spoke with DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills recently. This morning, the Free Press’s Helene St. James wonders aloud whether Mazur’s best chance to make the Wings’ roster might have passed by due to a sustained set of injuries:

The 23-year-old third-round draft pick from 2021 projects to be a lower-six forward, a grinder-type who provides energy and is the type of player a coach loves to throw on the ice after an opponent scores a goal to settle things down.

His first shot at helping the Wings ended so quickly, it was easy to miss. On March 6, 2025, he was in the lineup for the first time – and as it turned out, last time time in the 2024-25 season. He suffered an elbow injury that took months to heal and required Dan Cleary, the team’s director of player development, to have a heart-to-heart with Mazur.

“He’s a great kid, good player,” Cleary said earlier this month. “He’s had some tough-luck injuries over the course of his pro life, which is unfortunate. I tell him, you have to start over – dig in, you’ve got to rehab, you’ve got to keep going because he was in such a good place last year. He’s just had some bad luck.”

Mazur’s dislocated elbow derailed the plans the Wings had for him down the stretch this past spring, which were to audition the 6 foot, 172 pound, right shot forward to see where he would fit into the rebuild.

Continued at length (paywall); as St. James notes, Mazur has been banged-up at both the AHL level on a repeated basis…

But he’s a 23-year-old who told Mills that he’s put on 15 pounds over the course of the summer, and Mazur’s grit and snarl are the kinds of elements that the Red Wings want to add to the bottom half of their lineup.

I’m expecting that Mazur will be afforded every chance to make the Red Wings’ roster come September, and, for lack of a better term, his time is now.

Sportsnet’s Sonny Sachdeva examines 5 potential destinations for Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Bryan Rust and/or Rickard Rakell, and he includes the Detroit Red Wings on his list:

Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings’ need for offensive help is so pressing, it’s seemingly begun to cause friction within the organization. At his end-of-season availability, captain Dylan Larkin lamented the fact that his club didn’t add any pieces at the trade deadline, sending a message to GM Steve Yzerman about what’s expected from the group before 2025-26 rolls around.

“We didn’t gain any momentum from the trade deadline, and guys were kind of down about it,” Larkin had said. “So, it’d be nice to add something and bring a little bit of a spark on the ice, and a morale boost as well.”

Yzerman has brought in a couple additions up front, signing veteran James van Riemsdyk and former Winnipeg Jets forward Mason Appleton. But both are depth pieces who don’t figure to significantly alter the club’s approach. A 30-goal threat would do more to move the needle — Rust, a product of Pontiac, Mich., seems a natural fit, and such a homecoming might be easier to stomach for both the winger and the Penguins fanbase. Financially, there would be no issue here, as the Red Wings still have more than $12 million in cap space to work with.

Continued; we’ve talked quite a bit about the Rust/Rakell rumors and the players’ perceived trade values, and I’m iffy on the concept of dropping a top prospect and a first-round pick for guys in their early 30’s (Rust is 33, Rakell 32) with two years remaining on their contracts (Rust earns $5.125 million, Rakell $5 million), but the Red Wings do need to add offense, and there aren’t many established scorers on the marketplace other than free agent Jack Roslovic.

If the Red Wings do anything this summer, they’re going to have to pony up and pay a price for whoever they add on offense and/or defense.