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Of foreign-language Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom wonders aloud whether Lucas Raymond might become the next captain of the Detroit Red Wings…

Detroit Red Wings: Long-standing captain and star forward Dylan Larkin announced earlier this summer that he wants to leave Red Wings, and named four teams, which he could conceivably iron out his “no trade” clause in the contract.

The clubs turned out to be Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights and [Dallas Stars], added to the list.

No trade has yet taken place, the question is whether Detroit can receive acceptable compensation for its star forward and captain. And should Larkin, if he remains on the Red Wings this fall, it will probably be without a C on the jersey. Fans are disappointed in him over his actions.

And then Lucas Raymond could be a hot candidate. Raymond is 24, and has scored during his five seasons in the NHL. He’s a sharp forward with good scoring production and is well-liked among teammates and fans.

The team’s 25-year-old defenseman star, Moritz Seider, is a competitor for the captaincy.

The fact that the general manager – and the club icon – Steve Yzerman recently announced that he is stepping off the mission, that no star is managing the Red Wings right now.

(I believe that Moritz Seider’s a lock to be named the Red Wings’ next captain, but that’s just my gut feeling)

2. And Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that former Grand Rapids Griffins forward Wojtech Stachowiak gave a German-language interview to Eishockey News’s Julia Pickl, in which Stachowiak suggests that he didn’t receive a fair shake in his negotiations with the Red Wings:

Continue reading Two things: Expressen’s Nordstrom suggests Raymond could be the Wings’ next captain; Stachowiak headed elsewhere as a free agent

Red Wings prospect goaltender Michal Postava spoke with iRozhlas.cz’s Adam Kodet about his rookie season in North America, and here’s a rough translation of their conversation:

From Přerov to the Red Wings. The character’s goalie has experienced a rapid rise and is now looking for his first NHL start

The hockey goalkeeper Michal Postava has risen very quickly. In the spring of 2024 he played for the first-league team in Přerov. In the next one, the Kometa of Brno secured an Extraliga title. And in the past season, he has already sat on the Red Wings’ bench in the NHL, although he did not play in the game. His transition to a new environment do not obviously cause him a problem.

“I guess I can adapt to what’s needed. It is certainly important not to try to change everything, but just to adapt in [terms of] smaller details and work on them all year. That’s what I think was doing pretty well, and I was extremely happy for that,” says Postava.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Michal Postava reflects upon his first season in North America

This is pretty cool, per the Hockey News’s Jake Tye:

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider has been recognized as the NHL’s top defensive blueliner, earning The Hockey News’ Rod Langway Award for the 2025-26 season.

The honour, voted on by a panel of THN staff and contributors as part of the publication’s annual awards, is given to the league’s best defensive defenseman. Seider’s case was built on how he tilted play in Detroit‘s favor whenever he stepped on the ice. 

Seider beat out a strong group of finalists for the award with Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin finishing as the runner-up, followed by Dallas’ Esa Lindell in third and Miro Heiskanen in fourth, giving the Stars two representatives among the top five. Minnesota’s Jonas Brodin rounded out the list at fifth.

Rod Langway was a tremendous defensive defenseman who spent the majority of his career with the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals.

Detroit Hockey Now is launching a series of articles about the Red Wings’ young players, and Kevin Allen kicks it off with a discussion of Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s readiness for NHL play:

Three Reasons Why Brandsegg-Nygard Will Play in the NHL

1. The Red Wings believed Brandsegg-Nygard boasted an NHL shot when they drafted him. Last season, he made strides in understanding how to use his shot off even when he doesn’t have much time or space.
2. Although he grew up in Norway, MBN came to the U.S. with a North American approach to hockey. He offers a physical game to go with his scoring touch.
3. A feisty competitor, the young winger is already a strong forechecker and is improving as a defensive forward. “I trust him, and he’s going to do the right things,” [Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan] Watson said. “He’s strong on pucks, he protects pucks, he’s hard to knock off pucks. So just all those intangibles he has.”

What May Hold Him Back

Brandsegg-Nygard is still learning how to get himself open in the offensive zone. He is still working to master the knack of seeing a scoring chance before it happens.

Continued; MBN is definitely a stocky, physical sniper in waiting if he is able to manifest that big, booming shot regularly, but he could also be a superb net-front player on the power play. It’s just going to take him a little more time to harness NHL timing with NHL coordination and NHL strength.

The Hockey News’s Frank Zawrazky spoke with Red Wings prospect Trey Augustine at the NHLPA’s Rookie Showcase in Chicago, suggesting that Augustine represents growing roster stability in goal (if only eventually):

Between 2008-2026, Detroit had 24 different goaltenders play at least one game. Jimmy Howard, who spent 15 years in the Red Wings organization and was the last goalie to appear in the playoffs, was a great regular season goalie. 

Detroit currently has two goaltenders on its roster this year, neither of which are a long-term solution.

John Gibson is a solid veteran, coming over via trade from Anaheim last summer. While the longtime Duck had his moments, the 33-year-old isn’t the same goalie he was earlier in his career. Daniil Tarasov, who was signed on July 1, has struggled at the NHL level in both Columbus and Florida. He earned a 20-25-3 record and 0.888 save percentage in 50 games across the past two seasons.

Both players are pending UFAs at the end of next season, which should pave the way for Augustine as he makes the full-time jump from college to the pros.

“I think just being around Tom Wilson and Kyle Okposo at dinner last night, hearing what they had to say about their experiences and kind of how they’ve gone about their own business, it’s super valuable to hear from them and how different it really is from college or juniors or wherever you’re coming from,” Augustine said at the Rookie Showcase. “Definitely, the highest level of hockey there is. I’m just going advantage of all the things that the NHLPA and these guys and the players have to offer.”

The Hockey News’s Jake Tye reports that Augustine also had the magic touch as NHLPA Rookie Showcase participants “broke” several boxes of Upper Deck cards:

Continue reading A bit about Trey Augustine, both as a goaltender and a ‘magic pull’

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan discusses seven “clearance rack” free agents who might be of use to the Red Wings this upcoming season. Kulfan includes some names that haven’t been linked to Detroit yet…

▶ Adam Henrique, 36, center, 65 games, three goals, 12 assists— The best center available on the market, Henrique has played 1,058 games and has been a nice addition to the lineup wherever he’s been. A dependable veteran who supplied consistent offense early in his career, Henrique struggled last season with Edmonton but someone might be willing to offer one more one-year contract.

▶ Patrik Laine, 28, right wing, five games, no goals, one assist— Laine is the wild card in this bunch. He still possesses one of the hardest shots in the league and would be a weapon for a team on the power-play flank. But his inability to stay in the lineup, along with defensive struggles, cost him basically the entire season in Montreal. That being said, Laine is such an intriguing gamble for a quality team.

As well as the favorites:

▶ Michael Bunting, age 30, left wing, 74 games, 14 goals, 19 assists (2025-26 stats)— Bunting has scored at least 19 goals four times in his career and plays the agitating type of game the Wings could always need. Bunting will be playing on his seventh team in seven years, which is a bit shocking considering his production, but some team will add him before training camp.

▶ Eeli Tolvanen, 27, right wing, 78 games, 12 goals, 24 assists— Tolvanen dropped from 23 goals to 12, and he struggled defensively last season. At his age, it’s surprising no team has committed to Tolvanen, who should be able to help anyone’s middle six forwards. The Wings have been linked to him and Tolvanen would bolster the lineup.

Kulfan continues, naming Vladimir Tarasenko, David Perron and James van Riemsdyk as potential UFA “fits.”

Red Wings fans have dealt with losing for a long time, and they’re the reason why I don’t believe in the Red Wings tearing down what structure Steve Yzerman constructed for a full rebuild all over again. Fans have paid too much money for too long to watch losing hockey, and I don’t believe that it’s fair.

According to the Hockey News’s Jake Tye, fans aren’t thrilled with ticket prices for the upcoming season, either:

As tickets for the Detroit Red Wings‘ 2026-27 season officially go on sale, many fans are voicing frustration over what they see as steep prices despite the club entering a 10th consecutive season without a playoff appearance.

While preseason pricing has largely been viewed as reasonable, with entry-level tickets generally starting around $29, the regular season tells a much different story.

The biggest point of contention has been Detroit‘s home opener against the New York Rangers. Standard admission, not resale, for seats in the 10th and 11th rows of the upper bowl is listed at more than $88 before fees. 

Fans looking for seats in the first few rows of the upper bowl can expect to pay well over $100, while the least expensive tickets in the lower bowl begin around $188 at standard pricing.

Once taxes and fees are added, attending the game becomes a significant expense with a pair of lower-bowl tickets can climb to more than $400 for a single night, prompting criticism from fans who believe the prices don’t reflect the current state of the franchise.

Continued; I try to keep my criticism of the organization to a moderate level, but I do feel that the team’s “dynamic pricing” system is inherently…it’s a bummer for fans who want to get into games for a fair price.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff certainly has his timing right in examining several reasons why “the game passed by” former GM Steve Yzerman this morning, especially in light of the Free Press’s Helene St. James’ report that the Wings are looking to build an analytically friendly front office.

Duff suggests that Yzerman’s legacy could still be at least a mixed bag in that he did build a strong core of prospects for Detroit…

But Duff believes that the Red Wings didn’t pursue trades aggressively, and that the team didn’t do enough to build enough of a core of young players:

The Red Wings did insert some young players. In the case of Seider, Raymond and Edvinsson, they were able to count on them to fill key roles. Still, it always seemed that they were only half-committed to a youth movement.

Yzerman stayed with the traditional Detroit philosophy of letting prospects ripen on the vine with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins. It meant that they traded goalie Sebastian Cossa, a 2021 first-round pick, after he’d played less than a full game in the NHL.

The Wings inserted way too many mediocre journeymen into roles that could’ve been filled in house by prospects.

Meanwhile, teams like Buffalo, Ottawa, and Montreal fully embraced youth and sailed past Detroit in the standings.

I do agree with Duff that the Wings didn’t give the team’s prospects enough opportunities to make the team. Under the previous management, there was almost a glass ceiling between the Red Wings and the Grand Rapids Griffins, and that’s not how you build a team with a young core.

Duff also believes that the Wings didn’t do enough to build an analytically-based front office:

Continue reading Duff on Dinosaur Yzerman

The Free Press’s Helene St. James breaks the Red Wings’ radio silence this morning, discussing the team’s front office machinations:

In selecting new leadership for the Detroit Red Wings, owner Christopher Ilitch is seeking outside assistance. 

A league source told the Free Press that Ilitch has hired a search firm to help determine who should replace Steve Yzerman, who served as general manager from April 19, 2019-July 15, 2026, when it was announced he would transition to a role as a senior advisor. 

In the meantime, assistant general manager Shawn Horcoff is handling day-to-day responsibilities, though that does not extend to making trades. 

St. James also updates Dylan Larkin’s status, which remains the same…

Continue reading HSJ in the morning: Red Wings utilizing an outside search firm to find analytics-based GM; Larkin still wants to be traded

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discusses Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat this evening, arguing that the diminutive scorer is more than worth whatever it takes for the Red Wings to re-sign him this upcoming season:

[Red Wings coach Todd] McLellan likes the competitiveness, durability and shot that comes with the DeBrincat package. This is a man who can handle heavy hitting. He has played every game in each of the past five seasons. Obviously, NHL Network selectors didn’t appreciate those attributes as much as McLellan does, never mind the fact he was 19th in the league’s points race last season.

Lucas Raymond was 20th on the NHL Network list and that seems low as well. But it wouldn’t be hard to for most NHL fans to find someone in the No. 14-19 range to remove to add DeBrincat and his 26 even-strength goals from last season.

Continue reading DeBrincat works hard for his money