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Detroit Hockey Now’s Max Smith guesstimates the relative positions of the Red Wings’ 2-goaltender NHL tandem (probably, anyway) and prospect 4 goaltenders on the team’s depth chart:

With [John] Gibson presumably taking on a similar starters workload to last year, the Red Wings signed Daniil Tarasov as the ostensible backup for the team at the NHL level. However, with Tarasov and Gibson both only signed through the end of the year, the Red Wings are likely to want to give Postava as much playing time as possible in the NHL.

Not to mention, Tarasov’s numbers as a backup are far from impressive. The 27-year-old Russian netminder has only had one season in the National League with a save % above .900, and that was in the 2023-24 season when he played 24 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets. For that matter, Tarasov has never recorded a GAA lower than 3.05.

Continue reading Discussing the Red Wings’ goaltending depth

This morning, The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe plays “contrarian,” answering reader questions with contrary answers for the hell of it.

McIndoe facetiously answers a question about the Red Wings’ disgruntled captain, but there are grains of truth throughout his parody:

Dylan Larkin quit on the Red Wings. — Matthew G.

On the contrary, Matthew, you pillock. The only thing Dylan Larkin quit on is denial and delusion. And all he’s guilty of is being realistic.

Specifically, being realistic about whether the Red Wings can win anything as currently constructed. Which they obviously can’t.

I mean, look at the teams around the league that are having success. The Avalanche won the Presidents’ Trophy with Nathan MacKinnon as their top center. The Panthers won back-to-back Cups with Sasha Barkov. The Oilers went to back-to-back finals with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, then the Golden Knights went with Jack Eichel. Even the Hurricanes, a championship team with no good players, are built around a consistent point-per-game center in Sebastian Aho who also finished in the top 10 of Selke voting. If you want to contend in the NHL, it all starts with having an elite center or two.

Continue reading A kernel of truth in the ‘Larkin isn’t a #1C’ argument

The NHL Tonight entertained Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman this evening, with Friedman taking part in a 12:01 segment in which he discusses (among other topics) the Red Wings’ managerial search, but it’s not been posted in YouTube format yet, so you’ll have to click on the embedded link to watch the segment.

Friedman believes that “things are going to get ramped up” as the Red Wings identify candidates, and will begin to interview candidates through their search firm next week.

He says that the Red Wings are very serious about letting candidates know that they will have autonomy in the hockey operations department, and that the Red Wings have no shortage of resources in terms of what the GM or President of Hockey Operations feels that they need to do.

Friedman believes that it’s a wanted job, and it may be one person or two, it might not be a “hockey person” as traditionally defined, and they want whoever is interviewed to come in with a specific, concrete plan to get the Wings moving forward, make Detroit and Michigan a destination, hear specific actions, and determine how the team can facilitate the prospective executive’s plan.

Friedman says that there are names out there, but Jeff Greenberg, who is the GM of the Detroit Tigers, and worked for the Chicago Blackhawks, is not necessarily a leading contender, but as someone who’s already in the organization, will be a factor–though he’s not the favorite by any means.

Of Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. In the “Stuck Behind the Paywall” category, Marco Kasper gave an interview to the Kronen Zeitung’s Martin Quendler, and the teaser promises that he talks about his summer training, his desire to earn a contract extension with the Red Wings, the fact that he splits time between his home in Klagenfurt, Sweden, where his girlfriend Tyra is from, and Detroit.
2. Here’s a picture from Krone.at’s Florian Pessentheiner of Kasper, Tyra and Kasper’s dog, Daisy:

2. Also, former Red Wings goaltending prospect Jake Paterson is 32 now, and he spent the majority of his career in the AHL and ECHL, but the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers have just hired Paterson as their goaltending coach and video coach:

Continue reading Two things: On Marco Kasper’s summer and Jake Paterson, Kitchener Rangers goalie/video coach

Sports Illustrated’s Nathan Smith ponders whether Red Wings coach Todd McLellan should “be on the hot seat” over the course of the 2026-2027 season.

[T]his roster isn’t one that screams genuine Stanley Cup contender, as the team is relying on players in their early 20s alongside Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin, and while that’s a good starting point for a roster, this is a team that’s severely lacking star power.

Then, this off-season, Detroit made very few moves to improve the roster, and with the front office now missing a General Manager and President of Hockey Operations, there are plenty of holes for the organization to fill.

All of this heaps more and more pressure on McLellan, and while the Red Wings should likely be moving towards another rebuild, the higher-ups in the front office and the fanbase are running out of patience, and that may, unfairly at that, force McLellan and the team towards a Stanley Cup Playoffs push in 2026/27.

Continue reading Coach McLellan and the ‘hot seat’ conundrum

Trey Augustine needs to stick to goaltending here…

10/10 self portrait pic.twitter.com/FWygPBxXGc

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) August 6, 2026

Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell examines the Red Wings’ roster if the team had better luck with the NHL’s Draft Lottery over the past 10 years:

Remember when the Detroit Red Wings had one of the longest playoff streaks in NHL history?

It feels like just yesterday the Red Wings were the model of consistency, making the playoffs every year and, at their best, competing for the Stanley Cup. But just as quickly, they fell from grace, and for the past 10 years, the only consistency found in Detroit is their consistency to miss the playoffs.

Continue reading A little draft lottery revisionist history

From the Grand Rapids Griffins:

PRESEASON TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Griffins to Play Cleveland in Toledo in September

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Tickets for the Grand Rapids Griffins’ preseason games against the Cleveland Monsters on Sept. 26 and 27 at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, are on sale now through toledowalleye.com.

Griffins Preseason Schedule:

Saturday, Sept. 26 – Grand Rapids vs. Cleveland, 1 p.m. at Huntington Center

Sunday, Sept. 27 – Grand Rapids vs. Cleveland, 3 p.m. at Huntington Center

These games mark the first preseason outings for the Griffins since 2016, as well as Grand Rapids’ first appearances at the Huntington Center since a preseason clash with the Lake Erie Monsters on Oct. 6, 2012. Including this September’s games, the Monsters will have been the Griffins’ opponent for 10 of their last 11 preseason contests, dating back to 2012.

Fans can secure their full-season, select-season or group ticket packages for the 2026-27 regular season by calling (616) 774-4585 ext. 2 or visit griffinshockey.com for more information. Single-game tickets for the Griffins’ 2026-27 season will go on sale to the public later this summer through griffinshockey.com/tickets. Be sure to sign up to receive the Griffins Nation newsletters to be the first to know when tickets go on sale.

The Hockey Writers’ Tony Wolak builds an “Ideal Post-Yzerman Front Office” this morning, naming Brendan Shanahan the Red Wings’ President of Hockey Operations, and Carolina Hurricanes associate GM Darren Yorke as Detroit’s GM:

With a front office led by Shanahan and Yorke, it’s fair to expect meaningful change. Hiring a chief professional scout and bolstering the analytics department would likely be among the organization’s first priorities.

There will almost certainly be some turnover as well. New regimes typically prefer to surround themselves with people they know and trust. That said, I would expect Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Dan Cleary, Jiri Fischer, and Kris Draper to remain in place. Each provides value within the organization and should continue to play an important role moving forward.

More broadly, this structure would provide Detroit with something it has arguably lacked in recent years: a balance between experienced executive leadership and fresh ideas. Shanahan would offer stability, strategic oversight, and organizational accountability, while Yorke would bring a collaborative, progressive approach to roster building and player development. Together, they would position the Red Wings to capitalize on the strong foundation already in place, while preparing the franchise for its next competitive window.

In addition to staffing decisions, Shanahan and Yorke will need to re-sign Simon Edvinsson, find a resolution regarding the Dylan Larkin trade request, and finalize the roster – all within roughly six weeks. Talk about hitting the ground running.

Continued at length…A good read here…

Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon discusses whether NHL teams should “buy or sell” to improve their position in the 2027 NHL Draft lottery, and, as you might expect, he suggests that the Red Wings burn it all down:

Detroit Red Wings

Hoo boy, Detroit. Dylan Larkin’s trade demand hasn’t been rescinded or settled and the Red Wings have yet to find a GM to replace the reassigned Steve Yzerman and their offseason outside of all of that hasn’t been overly exciting (no offense to Viktor Arvidsson) and one of those moves saw them trade goalie prospect Sebastian Cossa to Utah.

If the Red Wings can get all the loose ends tied up before camp opens in September, things would be a bit clearer, but even with everything looking so foggy, what is more than apparent is that they’re in the toughest division in the NHL and everyone else is either better or got better.

Decision: Selling

Continued; again, I’m in the minority here. I don’t believe that the Red Wings should move DeBrincat, Faulk, etc. etc. and take the rebuild down to the foundations via stripping the team for parts.

To me, the Red Wings owe their paying fans better, they owe Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider better, and, at worst, they need to accept a 1-year reset and then move forward with the foundational pieces of the rebuild in the prospect corps, aggressively working toward a youth movement-led “build.”

But the new GM is going to be the decider there, and we’ll all remain people who are only along for the ride.