Author: George Malik

The Athletic’s Jesse Granger suggests that Red Wings prospect Sebastian Cossa is a “free agency loser” because the Red Wings chose to shore up their goaltending with John Gibson:

Sebastian Cossa

Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman upgraded his starting goalie with the aforementioned trade to bring in Gibson. For a Detroit team fighting to break out of the rebuild stage and back into the playoffs, the potential of Gibson is enticing.

The acquisition also creates another hurdle for 2021 first-round pick Sebastian Cossa to break through with the NHL club. Taken with the No. 15 overall selection, Cossa is the third-highest drafted goalie in the last 15 years, but with Gibson and Cam Talbot in Detroit, it appears he’s destined for a fourth season in the minor leagues.

It’s not the end of the world for a 22-year-old goalie to get more seasoning, but Cossa has already played more games in the minors than every first-round pick since Jack Campbell in 2010.

In speaking with a few goalie coaches around the league, 100 games in the minors is considered a good amount for a young goalie prospect. Considering Cossa’s pedigree one would expect fewer for him, especially when you add in the fact that Detroit hasn’t exactly been settled in net.

Trey Augustine, whom Detroit drafted in the second round in 2023, has looked great at Michigan State and with Team USA at the World Junior Championship. He’ll soon be nipping at Cossa’s heels. The big, athletic Hamilton, Ont. native needs an impressive camp, and an even more impressive season with the Grand Rapids Griffins, to maintain his place as Detroit’s goalie of the future.

Continued (paywall)

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen suggests that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman needs to find a little “magic” in terms of his attempts to add to the team’s top six forward corps and top four on defense:

Yzerman did upgrade his goaltending by acquiring John Gibson, and whether fans want to believe it or not, James van Riemsdyk for $1 million is a plus-signing. He scored 16 goals last season, and it’s not unthinkable that he could score 16-18 this season. The man knows what to do in front of the net. But while Mason Appleton is a coach-pleasing, dependable player, he has not historically been a dangerous scorer.

The preliminary assessment is that the Red Wings, who now have a full roster of players, will again struggle to score enough goals this season and their defense still will put too much pressure on their goaltending.

That’s a fair review based on what we’ve seen thus far.  Perhaps younger players, particularly Marco Kasper and Simon Edvinsson, could provide more offense this season. That will help. Maybe Axel Sandin Pellikka makes the roster, or Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. But none of that feels like it will be enough help.

The only true hope for the Red Wings is that Yzerman can conjure up help in the trade market. He still has $12 million in cap space and there are players available who can score goals.  Yzerman really needs to pull off the show-stopping trick of making Detroit’s problems disappear.

Continued

Three Red Wings beat writers posted articles regarding new Red Wings forward James van Riemsdyk’s press conference from yesterday morning, and we’ll begin with MLive’s Ansar Khan:

Van Riemsdyk, 36, looks forward to being reunited in a way with Patrick Kane. They were the top two picks in the 2007 draft, Kane to Chicago and van Riemsdyk to Philadelphia.

“He’s one of my really good buddies and we’ve been kind of through this whole journey over the years together in a lot of ways through some different USA Hockey things and with training or bouncing ideas off each other,” van Riemsdyk said. “I think there was one game last year at Columbus where we had a couple of points … I think he said something to me on one of the faceoffs like, ‘We still got it.’ Just the love that he has for the game, it’s fun to kind of be around and be in kind of his orbit for some of that.”

Van Riemsdyk has multiple ties with the Red Wings. He was skating with Justin Holl Tuesday in Minnesota when he accepted their offer. He also knows Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat and some others.

van Riemsdyk also confirmed to the Free Press’s Helene St. James that he’s almost found himself in Detroit multiple times over the past couple of years…

Asking players who were born after 2005 what constitutes as “old” is a painful endeavor for those of us from the 90’s, 80’s, 70’s and before:

From the Detroit Red Wings, here’s a Tweet of a minute’s worth of Summer Development Camp action:

On the ice at development camp 💨 pic.twitter.com/GtvG9n2jKg

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 3, 2025

I don’t think that many Red Wings fans would suggest that the additions of James van Riemsdyk, Mason Appleton, Jacob Bernard-Docker and John Gibson suddenly make the Red Wings Stanley Cup contenders.

The Red Wings’ management has done OK in terms of shoring up some deficiencies in the bottom six forwards, and, we believe, it’s addressed the team’s goaltending questions in Gibson.

All of that being said, the Wings’ management team is probably going to have to make a summertime trade or two to truly address the team’s need for one more top-six forward and top-four defenseman.

Not surprisingly, the Hockey News’s Adam Proteau deems the Red Wings to be a free agency “loser” this evening:

Detroit Red Wings: Like the Blackhawks, the Red Wings are an Original Six franchise who have seen better days. Detroit GM Steve Yzerman has been preaching patience with his lineup, but Wings fans are starting to grow tired of seeing him kick the competitive can down the road. And very few moves he’s made in the past few days qualify as legitimate roster improvements.

Yzerman did trade for former Anaheim Ducks star goalie John Gibson, so there’s an upgrade in net. But otherwise, Detroit has only retained aging star winger Patrick Kane, and signed veteran winger James van Riemsdyk and fringe defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker. This is hardly the stuff of Grade-A acquisitions.

Even if Yzerman’s gamble on internal improvement comes to pass, the Red Wings don’t have the elite talent to compete with other Atlantic teams. So you can’t say they’ve been anything other than losers through the first couple days of free agency.

Continued; I’m not gonna bash 36-year-old Patrick Kane for posting a point per game under coach Todd McLellan, at the very least.

I think that it’s hard to be a free agency “winner” when the free agent class is so thin, and you’re just not a “destination team” despite your big-market status. I’d give the Wings a solid “C” in free agency. But I think that’s more of a neutral grade than a suggestion that the Wings have completely failed to address their needs through free agency and trades.

I hope there’s more to come, and that’s an optimistic tone, I know, but I’ve got to hope.

The Red Wings signed 29-year-old grinding forward Mason Appleton to a 2-year contract at $2.9 million per season. I like the signing–it bolsters the Wings’ bottom-six with a 6’2,” 194 pound center/winger who more than replaces Craig Smith and Tyler Motte with a bigger, faster, tougher player with more offensive upside.

I’ll grant you that it’s very much so a depth signing, and an expensive one at that, but I believe that Appleton makes the Wings’ bottom six better than it was last season.

I’m not saying that the Wings don’t still need to add a top-six forward and a top-four defenseman, presumably by trade, but the signing is satisfactory for me.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff isn’t so sure, describing the signing as “puzzling“:

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman does seem to like to collect honest, 200-foot players who can play in his bottom six. But those aren’t guys who are going to be moving the needle.

Appleton was 12th on the Jets in scoring with 22 points. His 0.31 points per game average was third-worst among Winnipeg forwards who were playing at least 50 games. So no, he isn’t going to be making regular contributions to the offense. His plus-seven rating would’ve looked good on Detroit, but it was 18th overall on the Jets.

Appleton is 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds, so he does bring some size. Will he have an impact in making the Red Wings a heavier team that’s harder to play against? His numbers suggest no.

Appleton’s 4.3 hits per 60 minutes rated 17th on the Jets. His 1.65 blocked shots per 60 was tied for last on the team. Might he be providing a boost to Detroit’s moribund penalty hill? The evidence says no. Appleton saw just 45 seconds per game on the PK for Winnipeg. Six Jets forwards were logging more shorthanded ice time.

So, when you figure out how this move makes sense, let us know, because we’re completely puzzled by this decision. At first glance, this signing has all the earmarks of one that’s going to come back to bite the Red Wings.

Again, I’ll take the signing and run with it, but not everybody agrees when it comes to critiquing player movement, and in this case, Duff makes a good case to wonder where Appleton fits going forward. My hope is that he’ll help the 3rd or 4th line in a more meaningful way than his predecessors.

Per the University of North Dakota:

A total of six members of the 2024-25 North Dakota hockey program were honored by the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) on Wednesday as 2024-25 AHCA/Krampade Division I All-American Scholars. 

To qualify, a student-athlete must have attained a 3.75 GPA for each semester, and had to appear in 40% of the team’s games. Exceptions were granted to injured players and back-up goaltenders. Schools also were required to be members of the AHCA.

Dalton Andrew, Cody Croal, Hobie Hedquist, Louis Jamernik V, Dylan James and Caleb MacDonald were all honored for the their work in the classroom last season, with Jamernik V earning the honor for the fourth time in his career. James was selected for the third time in his career while Andrew, Croal, Hedquist and MacDonald collected their first honor.

James, a 6,’ 190-pound left wing, has just completed his junior season at North Dakota.

The Hockey News’s Michael De Rosa, who follows the Boston Bruins, offers an intriguing take on Red Wings depth signing and defenseman Ian Mitchell:

It is understandable that the Red Wings are taking a shot on Mitchell. It is not a secret that they need more defensive depth on their right side, and he should be a nice pickup for their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, at a minimum. However, he could also be a candidate to be an extra defenseman on their NHL roster if he puts together a strong training camp.

Mitchell spent each of the last two seasons with the Bruins organization after being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in the deal that sent Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to the Windy City. In 28 games over two seasons with Boston, he posted three assists, eight hits, 36 blocks, and a plus-4 rating. 

Mitchell spent most of this season in the AHL with the Providence Bruins. In 47 games with the AHL squad, Mitchell posted four goals, 27 points, and a plus-11 rating. He also had one assist and a minus-2 rating in 15 contests for Boston in 2024-25. 

From Getty Images: Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider took part in the pro-am for the BMW International Open golf tournament in Munich, Germany today:

Update: Per NHL.com/de, Seider golfed with his friend Tim Stuetzle of the Ottawa Senators:

Hockey meets soccer on the links ⛳️

(📸 BMW International Open Pro-Am) pic.twitter.com/XFdyIf0xaS

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) July 2, 2025