FloHockey’s Allen Catour highlights Trey Augustine, Max Plante and Jesse Kiiskinen as three Red Wings prospects to watch this upcoming season:

Jesse Kiiskinen Brings Offensive Upside

Jesse Kiiskinen is another prospect worth watching in the Red Wings organization.

The forward continues to develop his game and remains one of the young players working through Detroit’s system. His offensive abilities and long-term potential make him an intriguing player to monitor entering the season.

A strong year could help strengthen his standing among Detroit’s top prospects.

Max Plante Is A Forward To Watch

Max Plante gives the Red Wings another promising young forward to follow.

As he continues his development, Plante remains part of the organization’s future plans and a player worth monitoring. His progression will be an important part of Detroit’s prospect story as the season unfolds.

Red Wings fans will be watching to see how he continues to grow within the system.

Continued; for what it’s worth, I thought that Augustine looked good against the Penguins despite surrendering 2 3rd-period goals; Kiiskinen was pretty much invisible until he scored against the Pens, illustrating that he needs a little more work in terms of his consistency of play.

As for Max Plante, he told the Duluth News-Tribune’s Matt Wellens that he’s still hungry for more NCAA hockey wins while playing alongside his brothers, Victor and Zam, at the University of Minnesota-Duluth:

McKeen’s Hockey’s Peter Harling posted an article about players who skated in Europe last year who happen to be available for fantasy hockey drafts ahead of this upcoming season, and Harling includes Red Wings prospect forward Theo Rochette on his list:

Theo Rochette, C – Detroit Red Wings

Rochette has dual citizenship with Canada and Switzerland. He played five seasons in the QMJHL, culminating in a 106-point season in Quebec where he captained the Ramparts to a Memorial Cup Championship. Undrafted, he has played the past three seasons in the Swiss NL with Lausanne where he has 104 points over 131 games. His recent play at the WC with Switzerland where he posted six points in ten games caught the Red Wings eye and they signed him to an ELC. Rochette is an undersized, playmaking center with excellent vision. Looking at a season in the AHL with Grand Rapids, he could see some NHL time this season but is a work in progress.

Continued; Rochette’s only 5’11” and 172 pounds, so he got pushed around during the prospect tournament and in exhibition games, but he’s definitely got superb passing skills, and he’s a maneuverable skater. I would definitely deem him a “work in progress” despite his status as 24 years of age.

Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos posted his first “Trade Board” of the 2026-2027 season this morning, and two Red Wings crack Kypreos’s list:

Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings

His trade request went public, his captaincy was stripped, but Larkin is at camp and participated in practice Wednesday. This is an important trade the Red Wings can’t afford to undervalue. Given he still has five years left on his contract, it’s not necessarily a trade that has to happen quickly either. 

…

Alex DeBrincat, Detroit Red Wings

[Red Wings interim GM Shawn] Horcoff only recently was green lighted to take over and make decisions in Detroit and he’s walking into a tough situation. Right now, he could use a win after the team has been getting beat up for a while. DeBrincat would be that easy win if Horcoff could get an extension done, but until that happens this player is one to watch for in trade rumours since he’s on an expiring contract and could be a UFA next summer. 

It’s also worth noting that Kypreos weighed in on the Red Wings’ situation as a whole:

Wings rookie interim GM Shawn Horcoff, who only was empowered recently, is in a delicate position, having to balance Detroit’s goal to make progress with the fact the team’s No. 1 centre and former captain wants out. Larkin certainly didn’t do himself any favours with his recent press conference, where he didn’t elaborate on exactly why he wanted to leave and didn’t seem to have any ideas on how to manage the fallout of his request being made public. He noted that Detroit fans deserved answers then failed to provide them. Awkward to say the least.

Continued

Updated at 12:01 PM: Red Wings coach Todd McLellan spoke with the Wings’ media corps for 10 minutes this morning, discussing the Wings’ impending match-up with the Buffalo Sabres (7 PM EDT start on Detroit SportsNet/WWJ 950):

Amongst McLellan’s remarks:

Todd McLellan confirms Dylan Larkin is still not quite ready; Carter Bear is at least 7-10 days away. Meanwhile, Lucas Raymond departed practice early after taking a stick to the mouth, but is “fine”. #LGRW #RedWings

— Michael Whitaker (@mwhitaker_89) September 24, 2026

Carter Bear out a week to 10 days, per McLellan

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) September 24, 2026

Upper body injury

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) September 24, 2026

#RedWings lineup for tonight’s preseason game vs. Sabres at LCA (7, Detroit Sports Net). Tarasov slated to play the entire game. pic.twitter.com/A651O4GwGV

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) September 24, 2026

As noted in the “morning skate Tweets” post, Tarasov will start opposite Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon. Here are the teams’ respective lineups:

Updated at 11:44 AM: The 1-0-and-1 Detroit Red Wings open the second half of their 4-game exhibition season with a slate of two home games, starting tonight when the Wings host the Buffalo Sabres (7 PM EDT start on Detroit SportsNet/WWJ 950).

Home ice hockey!

⏰ 7:00 P.M.
💻 @watchdsn
📻 @971theticketxyt
🎟️ https://t.co/JEZEpKeLpq
🤝 @familyheatingmi pic.twitter.com/VqwKpa0ZsK

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 24, 2026

Buffalo already posted their roster for tonight’s game, which doesn’t include the injured Mattias Samuelsson or Olen Zellweger on their blueline…

Red Wings prospect Charlie Forslund, a 6’4,” 218-pound forward, thought he was going to make his SHL debut for Brynas IF this upcoming season…

But Brynas signed former Red Wings draft pick and long time Toronto Maple Leafs forward Calle Jarnkrok, so Forslund was bumped down to Almtuna IS of the Hockeyallsvenskan.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that Forslund’s already going up and down from Sweden’s top pro league to its second division:

It’s been a big week for Detroit Red Wings draftee Charlie Forslund.

Wednesday, Forslund scored his first goal of the season for Almtuna IS. The goal came in a 3-2 shootout victory over Östersunds IK in HockeyAllsvenskan action. That’s the Swedish second division.

Forslund’s second-period power-play goal gave Almtuna a 2-0 lead. The 20-year-old winger has 1-1-2 totals in three games for Almtuna this season.

One day earlier, Forslund made his SHL debut with Brynas. He collected his first SHL point, an assist, in a 9-2 drubbing of Linkoping.

Forslund skated 10:49 of ice time on the fourth line in his first taste of game action in Sweden’s top division. He drew the primary assist on a goal by Linus Olund that gave Brynas a 6-1 lead.

Continued; Red Wings prospects posted clips of Forslund’s goal with Almtuna and assist with Brynas:

According to Detroit Hockey Now’s Max Smith, the Red Wings’ first significant injury suffered over the course of the exhibition came from prospect Carter Bear, who’s suffered an “upper-body” ailment:

The Red Wings took their first big hit of the preseason, as 2025 first round pick Carter Bear sustained an injury during their preseason game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bear was a long shot to make the Red Wings roster, but should be a top six contributor for the Grand Rapids Griffins this year in the AHL.

“Bear has an upper body injury, which is probably day-to-day or a week, is what we think. Obviously Larkin is still hurt, said McLellan, “[Chase] Stillman, who came into training camp with an off-season injury, still
hasn’t been cleared.”

Both [Dylan] Larkin and Stillman have returned to practice, however, neither has taken part in heavy contact drills.

Continued; with two games to be played over the course of the next three nights, I’m crossing my fingers that the Wings don’t suffer any significant dings or bangs.

As Smith indicates, we’re going to see the Wings play more and more game-one-ready rosters as Saturday’s game approaches, so there’s going to be an element of risk tonight vs. Buffalo and Saturday vs. the Blue Jackets. Both games happen to air on Detroit SportsNet and WWJ 950.

The Buffalo Sabres have Tweeted out their roster for tonight’s exhibition game between the Sabres and Detroit Red Wings (7 PM EDT start on Detroit SportsNet/950 WWJ):

The Buffalo Sabres have released the team's roster for tonight's game at Detroit. pic.twitter.com/8p2779c5BY

— Buffalo Sabres PR (@SabresPR) September 24, 2026

The #Sabres roster tonight for a preseason game at Detroit. The forwards are a mix of NHL/AHLers, including Konsta Helenius, Jiri Kulich and Noah Ostlund. ⬇️ https://t.co/mVI4KDY3B6

— Rachel Lenzi 💁🏻‍♀️😎💥 (@rachelmlenzi) September 24, 2026

Two of Buffalo’s defensemen, Mattias Samuelsson and Olen Zellweger, are out with a lower-body injury and a concussion, respectively.

BuffaloSabres.com’s Jourdon LaBarber posted a set of storylines for tonight’s game, which airs on MSG-B and WGR 550 in New York:

Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin ranks the NHL’s 32 goaltending tandems this morning, and while the Red Wings do not rank highly, Larkin offers some praise to John Gibson and Daniil Tarasov:

22. DETROIT RED WINGS: John Gibson & Daniil Tarasov

Gibson is seemingly doomed to spend almost his entire career laboring on subpar teams, overachieving and trying to keep them in the playoff hunt. Last season was among his strongest in years; it wasn’t a competition at all between him and [Cam] Talbot in the end. The Wings will eventually hand the keys to prospect Trey Augustine, but he needs significant AHL seasoning first, and Gibson should stay very busy. Tarasov is a serviceable backup with great size; he quietly started a career-best 31 games for Florida last season and outplayed Bobrovsky.

Continued; Talbot was awful last year, honestly, and not having a solid back-up yielded over-work for Gibson and a bit of a burnout, in my opinion. If Tarasov can step up, and/or if Michal Postava or Augustine can step in and earn the Wings a couple of wins here and there, the team will benefit.

Sportsnet is ranking its top 50 NHL players heading into the 2026-2027 season, and their panel ranked Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider as the 37th-best player in the entire league:

#37: Moritz Seider, D, Detroit Red Wings

Last Year: Unranked

It was much the same situation for defender Moritz Seider, who jumps to No. 37 on this year’s list after going unranked last time out. While 2025-26 saw the Red Wings finish sixth in the Atlantic and extend their post-season drought to a decade, Seider managed a career year from the back end. The 2019 sixth-overall pick collected a career-best 60 points in his fifth campaign in Detroit, while averaging more than 25 minutes of ice per night — third-most in the league, behind only Quinn Hughes and Zach Werenski. Earning the first Norris votes of his career last season, Seider’s future remains bright, despite the growing tumult around him.

Continued; in August, the NHL Network named Seider its 30th-best player and 9th-best defenseman…