Author: George Malik

Last Friday, hockeysverige.se reported that Red Wings prospect Anton Johansson will remain with his club team in Sweden, Leksands IF of the SHL, for one more season before he makes the jump to North America.

This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff takes note of the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman regarding the lanky defenseman’s situation:

“To be honest, it was Anton’s decision,” Yzerman said.

Secondly, due to Johansson’s contract situation, the Red Wings were really going to be left with no option but to reassign Johansson to Leksand next fall. When the Red Wings were signing Johansson to an entry-level contract last fall, he still had one year remaining on his SHL pact with Leksand.

“Our obligation in signing him is if he were to come to camp next (fall) and not make the Red Wings, we would first have to offer him back to his Swedish club Leksand (on loan),” Yzerman explained.

Johansson spent the latter part of last season in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins and was showing well in that brief trial.

“Based on what we saw in the end of the season and playoffs in GR, he would be more than fine here,” Yzerman said. “Ultimately we wanted him, much like Albert Johansson made this decision four years ago now that he wanted to play one more year in Sweden.

“We’re okay with it. We want these boys, or these young men, to be mentally ready when they come over and prepared. He’s in a good situation. He ultimately decided that he wanted to start the season, he wanted to get off to a good start in Leksand.”

Continued; Anton wants to play one more season for a rebuilding Leksand team, and that’s all right. He should be earning top-four minutes, and he’s helping the Wings avoid a logjam at right defense in Grand Rapids. It’s a situation that works for all parties involved.

Former Red Wings coach Mike Babcock used to say “frustration is a waste of time,” and I’ve tried to believe that axiom.

That being said, all of us Red Wings partisans are more than a little frustrated by the fact that this summer’s free agent marketplace has become so very thin over the past couple of days.

Tomorrow, Brock Boeser and Nikolaj Ehlers are really the only offensive difference-makers left on the market, and they’ll be gobbled up quickly by contending teams; the same is probably true for defensemen Vladislav Gavrikov and Dmitri Orlov.

As such, the Red Wings are likely to end up adding players of the “supporting cast” variety, and the Detroit News’s Bob Wojnowski expresses frustration this evening, suggesting that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman hasn’t been aggressive enough in utilizing trades to improve his team.

Sure enough, many of the elite free agents re-signed with their teams, with the notable exception of Toronto’s Mitch Marner headed to Las Vegas. Most teams have ample cap space, and few are inclined to sell off players. The champion Panthers shockingly managed to keep all their top free-agents: Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand. Life in the Florida sun pays well, especially with no state tax.

The Wings desperately need defensemen, and reportedly are making a run at L.A.’s Vladislav Gavrikov. Restricted free agents are more cumbersome and require compensation, but the Rangers are vulnerable. Defenseman K’Andre Miller and forward Will Cuylle are intriguing, and could pop free.

Hard to make trades, hard to sign free agents, hard to stay patient. Fans may be frustrated, but so is Yzerman. After the draft ended Saturday, I asked if he felt “stuck” in a tight market.

“What do you mean by stuck?” Yzerman said, before a long pause. “When talking to teams, everybody wants players, much like we want players. I’m looking to add to our team and use our future assets, and right now, teams are all looking to add players.”

…

“I don’t feel stuck,” Yzerman said. “It’s just being patient. Maybe if we can’t do anything, we get better simply by Marco (Kasper) taking another step, or Simon (Edvinsson) takes another step, or Albert (Johansson) takes another step. All I can tell you is, we will keep trying. But the worst thing I can do is make a move out of desperation or panic that doesn’t make us any better.”

Such as last summer, when he settled for the aging Tarasenko, and now cut his losses. In previous off-seasons, he spent heavily on free agents J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp, Justin Holl and others who either under-performed or departed.

“Anybody can go look at the list of potential free-agents and see there aren’t many players you’d think will have an impact,” Yzerman said. “At some point, something will come along, whether it’s a free agent, or maybe someone spends a lot of money and now they’ve got to move somebody, so they’re looking for a draft pick or a prospect for that player.”

Wojnowski continues, comparing the respective states of the Red Wings and the Detroit Pistons, and just short of midnight, MLive’s Ansar Khan suggested that the Red Wings will have to look to make significant improvement not through the free agent marketplace, but instead, via a trade or two:

Updated most recently at 8:43 PM: Per The Athletic’s Max Bultman:

This is done now — Kane sticking around in Detroit https://t.co/ek3sy9mOY2

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 1, 2025

Here’s the salary from TSN’s Chris Johnston:

Patrick Kane's one-year extension with Detroit is worth $3M in salary and carries $2.5M in potential bonuses.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 1, 2025

It’s OFFICIAL:

YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS 🎬

The #RedWings have signed Patrick Kane to a one-year contract with an AAV of $3,000,000. pic.twitter.com/wpLFyzkPGq

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2025

Per The Athletic’s Max Bultman:

Hearing the Red Wings have made progress toward a deal with pending UFA LW Patrick Kane

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 1, 2025

The Athletic’s Max Bultman filed an after-today’s-free-agency-flurry article, discussing whether the Red Wings can improve themselves from the free agent leftovers who will be available tomorrow at 12 PM EDT, or whether the Wings might need to take the trade route to address their needs for a scoring winger and top-four defenseman:

The bottom line is, while Detroit cleared some cap space and did some housekeeping, a thin free-agent market has only gotten thinner, creating what could be quite the bidding war Tuesday for those who remain.

Among potential needle-movers, the market is basically down to three: L.A. Kings LHD Vladislav Gavrikov, Winnipeg Jets LW Nikolaj Ehlers and Vancouver Canucks RW Brock Boeser. Maybe you elevate Dallas Stars forward Mikael Granlund into that tier too after consecutive 60-point seasons, though he hasn’t been consistent through his career.

After that, you can argue Kane is arguably the most impactful player available — and you do wonder if that could tempt him at all, even though his fit in Detroit has been excellent.

Beyond that, there are some scoring wingers such as Andrew Mangiapane, Anthony Beauvillier, Jonathan Drouin, Connor Brown and Max Pacioretty; a handful of fringe top-four ‘D’ such as Brent Burns, Ryan Lindgren, Brian Dumoulin, Dmitri Orlov, Matt Grzelcyk and Nate Schmidt; and then more depth fits.

If Detroit doesn’t like the ‘D’ options, could it be tempted by a big-bodied righty in Tampa Bay’s Nick Perbix, or Dallas’ Cody Ceci in a third-pair role? It’s debatable whether either would really be an upgrade over Justin Holl on the third pair.

There are some good candidates for down-lineup identity players (which Detroit may need) in Joel Armia, Brandon Tanev, James van Riemsdyk or even Corey Perry if he is willing to consider a team that’s not a serious Cup contender.

Some of those names could help, but it’s doubtful any would drastically change Detroit’s outlook or perception. If the Red Wings want a difference-maker, then, it may have to come via trade.

Continued (paywall)

I can only link this one, but the Detroit News’s David Guralnick posted a 49-image photo gallery from the first day of the Red Wings’ Summer Development Camp.

A gaggle of unrestricted free agents-to-be either re-signed with their teams or were traded this afternoon, and as such, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan revisited the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman this past weekend. Yzerman stated that he sees the Unrestricted Free Agent marketplace as a particularly thin one, so, should the Red Wings not land help on July 1st or July 2nd, he’s going to examine the trade market:

“Anybody can go and look at the list of the potential free agents and see there aren’t that many guys you would think will have an impact,” Yzerman said. “There are very few this year, for whatever reason.”

The Wings have approximately $19 million to spend, if need be, after acquiring goaltender John Gibson Saturday from Anaheim for goaltender Petr Mrazek and two future draft picks, in addition to Monday’s moves. Yzerman said after Saturday’s NHL Entry Draft he’d like to add to the defense and add a winger.

If the Wings stay silent in free agency, they could always turn back to the trade market, as they did to get Gibson. Some teams might be backed against the salary cap after their free-agent acquisitions, which would necessitate moving out players. If that’s the case, Yzerman (and other general managers) will be ready to pounce. Yzerman said he is continuing to make calls around the league.

“It’s just there aren’t a lot of options right now,” said Yzerman, adding teams are looking for NHL players, not draft picks, in trades. “Everybody wants, the teams I’m talking to, they want players. Just like we want players. What do we have to offer? I don’t want to trade our core players. You’re looking to add to your team, (using) future assets for that, and right now teams are all looking to add players to their teams. Kind of the same thing we’re trying to do.”

Yzerman noted there “are a couple little somewhat interesting options” from his discussions around the league, but he’ll concentrate first on free agency.

“Everybody will focus on free agency for a few days and then kind of see where it shakes out,” he said. “Like, who has been able to accomplish or address some of their needs through free agency or missed (in free agency) and what they need, or to move out bodies (teams who’ve signed free agents). We’ll go through the free agency period here and see how that shakes out.”

Continued

Red Wings prospect Jesse Kiiskinen spoke with the media after Day 1 of the team’s Summer Development Camp at Little Caesars Arena, and the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan reports that Kiiskinen didn’t find out that he was a Red Wing until he was completing mandatory military service back home in Finland, a summer ago:

“It was a big surprise,” said Kiiskinen, who was a 2023 third-round pick by Nashville. “I was there and almost leaving for the forest, about 10 minutes before we are going to the forest and living in a tent for a few days. I got the call and yeah, ‘You’ve been traded.’ I was like, OK, great.”

Kiiskinen took everything in stride and took a few more calls from the Wings.

“I got a few calls from here and I was just a little bit like, ‘What happened?'” he said. “They didn’t realize that I started to see messages from my friends. It was fun. I finished (the required Finnish military training) like the end of last summer. I don’t have to go back anymore, and just able to focus on hockey.”

Kiiskinen believes he can bring to hockey something he learned from the military, mainly patience.

“Be confident if everything doesn’t go like you want,” Kiiskinen said.

Kiiskinen had 14 goals and 30 assists in 46 games with HPK Hameenlinna in Finland this past season.

Continued

NHL teams have to determine whether to issue qualifying offers to their restricted free agents this afternoon. Most NHL teams reveal who they’ve qualified and who they’re going to let walk as unrestricted free agents, but the Red Wings tend not to show their cards.

As a result, I took a look at PuckPedia, and, in addition to now only needing to qualify and then re-sign Elmer Soderblom at the NHL level, the Wings will have to determine whether to qualify Grand Rapids Griffins forward Cross Hanas and goaltender Gage Alexander, who doesn’t seem to have a spot in the organization right now.

The team is very unlikely to qualify Eemil Viro as the diminutive Finn left North America to play in Sweden.

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

BERGY 🍔

The #RedWings have signed Jonatan Berggren to a one-year contract with an AAV of $1,825,000. pic.twitter.com/Jrl04kt0yb

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 30, 2025

Detroit has signed Jonatan Berggren to a 1-year, $1.825M deal

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) June 30, 2025

Update: Here’s the press release:

RED WINGS SIGN JONATAN BERGGREN TO ONE-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION

  … 2018 Second-Round Pick Has Skated in 154 Games with Detroit Since 2022-23 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today signed forward Jonatan Berggren to a one-year contract extension with an average annual value of $1.825 million.

Berggren, 24, spent the entire 2024-25 season with the Red Wings, recording 24 points (12-12-24) and 14 penalty minutes in 75 games. The 5-foot-11, 199-pound forward split the 2023-24 campaign between the Red Wings and American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, logging six points (2-4-6) and two penalty minutes in 12 games with Detroit. Berggren also skated in 53 regular-season games with Grand Rapids in 2023-24 and ranked among the team leaders with 24 goals (1st), 32 assists (1st), 56 points (1st), 58 penalty minutes (T2nd), four power play goals (T3rd), 19 power play points (1st), four game-winning goals (T1st) and a 15.4 shooting percentage (1st). Additionally, Berggren paced the Griffins with 10 points (5-5-10) in nine Calder Cup Playoff games, helping the club reach the Central Division Finals. Selected by the Red Wings in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Berggren has registered 58 points (29-29-58) and 32 penalty minutes in 154 NHL games since 2022-23. He also compiled 127 points (49-78-127) and 84 penalty minutes in 130 AHL games with the Griffins from 2021-24, representing the club at the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic.