Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a “getting to know you” article regarding the 7 free agents who the Red Wings invited to take part in their pair of Prospect Games against the Dallas Stars this upcoming weekend:

Among the seven rookie free agents that the Red Wings have extended an invitation to participate in the club’s prospect games against the Dallas Stars, defenseman Justice Christiansen is the captain of the WHL Prince Albert Raiders. In the summer, Christiansen was also the captain of the Canadian team that won the World U20 ball hockey championship in Slovakia.

Last season, the 5-foot-9, 191-pound Christiansen scored 22 goals for the Raiders.

At the other end of the spectrum, 6-foot-7, 225-pound Swedish defenseman Carl-Otto Magnusson was also extended a camp invitation. The Frolunda rearguard is known more as a stay-at-home defenseman. And since he’s still eligible for the 2026 NHL entry draft, the Red Wings wouldn’t be able to offer Magnusson a contract if he wows them at rookie camp.

Magnusson was selected in the CHL Import Draft by the QMJHL Moncton Wildcats. However, he opted to remain in Sweden.

Still, there will be plenty of Moncton flavor on Detroit’s rookie roster. Two draft picks – goalie Rudy Guimond (2023) and center Grayden Robertson-Palmer – will play for Moncton this season.

Joining them will be free agent right wing Vincent Collard. He scored 25 goals for the QMJHL champions last season. Collard also had a four-goal performance in Game 3 of the QMJHL final against Rimouski.

Continued

The Hockey News’s Andre Leal posted a set of biographical sketches regarding 3 likely-to-play-in-the-AHL prospects which he suggests bear watching in Oliver Bonk, Tanner Molendyk and Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka:

Axel Sandin-Pellikka,  Grand Rapids Griffins

Axel Sandin-Pellikka really made a name for himself in the last two World Junior Championships that he featured in. For the latest 2024-25 world juniors, Sandin-Pellikka captained Team Sweden.

Despite a fourth-place finish, the blueliner equalled Carolina Hurricanes prospect and Chicago Wolves right winger Felix Unger Sorum to lead his team in points with four goals and 10 points in seven games. 

With that, Sandin-Pellikka finished the tournament tied in second for points behind Team USA’s and Washington Capitals prospect defenseman Cole Hutson, who had 11 points.

The offense-minded defenseman has already made a few appearances in the AHL last season. After racking up 12 goals and 29 points in 46 games for Skelleftea in the SHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins brought him in to end the AHL campaign.

The Detroit Red Wings prospect recorded one assist across two regular-season and three post-season contests.

Continued; Sandin Pellikka may have a bit of a slow start if he requires readjustment to the North American style of play, but his skill set translates well to every rink, so we’ll get hints as to whether his apprenticeship will be short or somewhat extended over the course of training camp and the exhibition season.

Red Wings prospect Carter Mazur suffered a dislocated elbow on the second shift of his NHL debut, and he’s been beset by injuries over the past two AHL seasons as well. Mazur spoke with the Hockey News’s Jake Tye recently regarding his “upper-body injury,” his recovery from said issue, and his expectations going forward:

“It’s been my dream ever since I was a little kid to play for the Detroit Red Wings, so just to get the taste of it was kind of a good thing, and it just makes me want to work even harder to get back there,” Mazur said “I’ve had the right people behind me, the right training staff and everything to go through that injury, it was pretty tough when it happened but I’m looking forward to getting back out there and showing them what I can do.”

The 23-year-old winger has his sights set on making the Red Wings roster once again and feels like he is in a favorable spot to rejoin the team once again. 

“I’m not really a stat guy, I don’t really care about stats and I’m more about making a team right now, I’d say I think I’m in a good position to make Detroit, that’s my main goal” Mazur explained “I got a little taste of it last year, even though it ended pretty badly, which kind of sucked, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity to go into camp and just put my best foot forward and just show them what I can do.”

The former Denver Pioneer had a successful college career with 75 points in 81 games and helped lead his school to a NCAA National Championship in 2022. He carried that momentum into the AHL, where he became an impact player over two seasons, posting 28 goals and 30 assists for 58 points in 86 games. What makes these numbers even more impressive is that Mazur doesn’t view himself as a point producer, but rather as a gritty, physical player who brings energy and edge to the ice. One of his favorites in the NHL to watch right now is Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett.

“I was watching [Bennett] in playoffs, and just how he competes, and he’s just a hard player to play against, I feel like that’s kind of how I am I’m not going to be a guy who’s going to go out there and dominate and get you 80 points,” Mazur outlined “I’m a gritty guy, I like to go to the hard areas, I feel like I would fit well on a top line, I could play up and down the lineup, and it’s just something that I’ve really built in my game, I like to penalty kill, I just like to be hard to play against. I think that’s probably the biggest thing that stands out about my game.”

Continued…good stuff here.

Of Red Wings prospect-related note today:

Dmitri Buchelnikov took part in CSKA Moscow’s “derby” against Dynamo Moscow, with CSKA prevailing by a 6-2 score, but Buchelnikov didn’t register a point. He finished even with 1 shot in 14:52 played.

Update: In Champions Hockey League action, Noah Dower Nilsson finished at -2 in 14:55 played as Frolunda HC lost 4-2 to Sparta Prague.

NHL.com/sv’s Janne Bengtsson posted a lengthy interview with Lucas Raymond in Swedish today. Here’s a rough translation thereof:

Lucas Raymond on the playoff hunt with Detroit

The Red Wings’ Swedish star forward has set his sights on copying Zetterberg and Datsyuk

Lucas Raymond turned 23 at the end of March. But despite his relatively low age, he has already played four seasons in the National Hockey League.

Now Raymond is preparing for his fifth year in the world’s best hockey league. And he’s planning to take Red Wings to the playoffs after nine years outside them. That’s an eternity for a team that, between 1991 and 2016 reached the playoffs 25 times in a row, and also won the Stanley Cup four times during that period. Facts that everyone, players, club management and fans, are aware of in the hockey-crazy city in Michigan and on the team that is one of the NHL’s legendary Original Six.

“We have the capacity to get back to the playoffs. I feel like we’re doing it this season (25-26),” Lucas Raymond said.

“Detroit is a cool city to play in. Not only for the tradition and history of the team, but also because of how the fans treat us (players). We haven’t gone to the playoffs during the time I’ve been to the team, and we’ve had some really difficult years, so if there’s any who are disappointed and frustrated, it’s us players. But still, it’s sold out to every game,” says Raymond.

“And when you meet fans on the street, it’s never in a bad way. We have magical fans who support us in the wet and in the dry. Not the least, it’s something that drives me and the players; to get back where we belong.”

Continue reading Roughly translated: Lucas Raymond speaks with NHL.com/sv at length

The Detroit Red Wings Alumni are going to face off against a “Yoopers United” team to help raise funds for the United Way of Marquette County next Friday, September 13th via an exhibition game called “Hockey Night in Marquette County.”

The event will be held at the Berry Events Center on Northern Michigan University’s campus (click the link for tickets), and two high-mark donators, Brad Boudrie and Kevin Thompson,mwill be skating with the Yoopers United team.

WNMU-FM of Marquette interviewed executive director Andrew Rickauer about the event, and you can listen to the 10-minute interview here.

Per Oakland County Executive David Coulter:

I recently joined @DetroitRedWings captain Dylan Larkin and hockey legend and commentator Mickey Redmond to encourage our community to support @AdoptPetOakland, which remains at capacity with pets in need of a new home. Adopt, don’t shop! https://t.co/CpXHW5Ise2. pic.twitter.com/oCHJGnHrB2

— David Coulter, #OaklandCounty Executive (@OakGovEO) September 4, 2025

You can find more about the Oakland County Animal Control & Pet Adoption Center here.

The Detroit Red Wings revealed their Prospect Games roster on Thursday, and one of their free agent invites is Justice Christensen, the captain of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. The 5’9,” 185-pound right-shooting defenseman is 20 years old, and he posted 22 goals and 24 assists for 46 points in 64 games played for Prince Albert this past season.

Prince Albert Now’s Nick Nielsen spoke with Christensen and the Raiders’ two other prospect tournament invitees today:

Captain Justice Christensen is heading to camp with the Detroit Red Wings, the newly acquired Max Heise is heading to San Jose Sharks camp, and Lukas Dragicevic is heading to camp with the Seattle Kraken.

Starting off with Christensen, the 20-year-old defenceman was not drafted by the Red Wings, but has earned his spot after leading all WHL defencemen in goals and earning a scholarship with the University of Nebraska-Omaha for next season. He first heard from the Red Wings in early July when he captained Canada’s U20 World Ball Hockey Team to a gold medal in Slovakia.

“It’s been about a month and a half-ish. I got the call when I was in Slovakia, actually, so that was a crazy week for me. But yeah, I’m super pumped to get there.”

Raiders Assistant Coach Connor Yawney is the son of Red Wings assistant coach Trent Yawney, but Christensen says the two of them have not spoken much about the opportunity to head to Detroit. For Christensen, he believes it’s important to keep some distance between the Raiders and the Red Wings to make sure he has his focus in the right place.

“I was in touch with Connor over the summer and yeah, we just talked a little bit about it, but yeah, just kind of keeping the two separate a little bit. Like I want to do my job when I’m here, but then obviously when I get the opportunity there to prove myself. Not a whole lot’s been said, but it’s definitely exciting.”

Continued; I’ll be posting an article on the Wings’ Prospect Games invites soon.

Red Wings prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov begins his KHL season tomorrow when CSKA (the Central Red Army team) battles Dynamo Moscow in a “Moscow derby.” As such, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes that Buchelnikov’s moving from the Russian pro hockey hinterlands to both Russia’s capitol and a capital of hockey:

It’s been hard to fully analyze Buchelnikov (52nd, 2022) because he has played for weak, non-competitive KHL teams for the past two seasons. But the Red Wings have seen enough to know that the flashy Russian athlete possesses, at the very least, the potential to be an impact offensive performer. The smallish, speedy winger finished 17th in last season’s KHL scoring race with 15 goals and 39 assists for 54 points for Balashikha Vityaz.

Buchelnikov’s only 5’10” and 170 pounds, and he did begin his hockey career in the mighty SKA St. Petersburg system, but after 10 games played for the men’s team, he was loaned to the Admiral Vladivostok, a team in Russia’s far east, and as Allen notes, he played for Vityaz Moscow Region last season, a small-market team stuffed into a Moscow suburb.

Buchelnikov’s KHL profile is changing this season because he is playing for CSKA Moscow, the country’s most storied franchise. One of the reasons CSKA acquired Buchelnikov is team officials believe he can help CSKA return to the prominence. In the KHL preseason, no player registered more points than Buchelnikov (three goals, four assists).

Not every KHL standout ends up as an NHL star. But could Buchelnikov end up having NHL impact like New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin and Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov? After this season we may be better able to answer that question. Playing in CSKA’s top six, Buchelnikov will be matched up against the KHL’s best forwards every night. This season will provide a more demanding challenge for him before he comes to North America.

Continued; I’m not certain where Buchelnikov will ultimately play, but he’s got the chops to make it…It’s just a matter of how much he can develop both physically, mentally and game-wise when he makes the jump to North America next spring.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff offers a quiz regarding facts about the Red Wings’ Johanssons, roster player Albert Johansson and prospect and Leksands IF defenseman Anton Johansson.

I don’t know if it’s that hard to pick between the two as Albert is smaller (6,’ 185 pounds), shoots left and plays a sound positional game, while Anton (6’4,” 196 pounds) shoots right and plays a more rangy, physical game…

But what the hell, here we go:

Which Johansson played in the Hlinka-Gretzky Tournament? Who won an IIHF World Junior Championship silver medal? Name the Johansson who won a gold medal at the IIHF World U18 Championship. Which Johansson led the Swedish J20 league in goals by a defenseman? Who was the Johansson who led all Swedish J20 defensemen in assists? Which of the Johanssons won a Swedish Hockey League championship? Who is the Johansson who was a teammate of former Red Wings forward Jacob de la Rose? Which Johansson was a teammate of Red Wings 2022 draft pick Maxmilian Kilpinen?

Continued; as Duff suggests, it’s not all that rare for fans and pundits alike to mistake Albert for Anton, and vice versa.

I fully expect Anton to join Albert in the NHL at some point in the future, however, so I assume that we will see Albert-vs-Anton confusion for the foreseeable future.