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Bultman discusses the Red Wings rebuild’s elusive playoff goal

The Athletic’s Max Bultman wrote an article which discusses the pressure under which both Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, the Wings’ coaching staff and Detroit’s players face this upcoming season:

The Red Wings have come close to the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. In 2023-24, their 91 points tied for the final wild-card spot, but they lost out to the Washington Capitals on a tiebreaker. Last season, a midyear coaching change saw Detroit roar back to life under new head coach Todd McLellan, miraculously getting back into playoff position by the end of February — only to collapse in March and miss the postseason by five points.

After that unraveling, the Red Wings finished last season with 86 points. It was the first time they had taken a step back in the standings since Yzerman took over, and the signs of frustration began to show. Detroit’s captain, Dylan Larkin, remarked at his year-end news conference that the team “didn’t gain any momentum from the trade deadline, and guys were kind of down about it” after Yzerman didn’t add any meaningful upgrades for the playoff chase.

Yzerman defended his approach at the deadline, saying his front office looked and hoped to improve the team, but that “there (were) no deals to bring in anyone of any significance that we really felt would make a difference — not just to make the playoffs this year, but to make us a better team in the long run, and to get us ultimately to where we’re going to go.”

Since he arrived, that has been one of Yzerman’s consistent messages: wanting to build a sustainable winner, not simply chase the closest or quickest path back to the playoffs.

“You can’t compete for the Stanley Cup, obviously, until you make the playoffs,” Yzerman said on the eve of this year’s training camp. “But our goal, again, is to be a team that can compete for a Stanley Cup. These rebuilds take time. How much time, I can’t really predict. Every one’s different.”

And in fairness, the Red Wings’ rebuild has yielded some positive results.

Continued (paywall)

Season preview stuff: A 7th place finish, rating the Red Wings’ forward corps, getting the plot wrong and staples for Raymond

Of 2025-2026 NHL Season Preview note this morning:

  1. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski suggests that the Red Wings will finish in 7th place in the Atlantic Division this upcoming season, ahead of only the Boston Bruins:

Detroit Red Wings: The latest amendment to GM Steve Yzerman’s “Yzerplan,” which the Red Wings have executed since 2019: Finally getting John Gibson out of Anaheim for the last two years of his contract. Detroit used four goalies last season, and Cam Talbot was the only keeper. This new goalie battery on a Todd McLellan-coached team gave me pause, but not as much as Gibson’s inability to stay in the lineup does. Otherwise, it’s another season with some young bright spots — Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson, Lucas Raymond and hopefully Marco Kasper, or else Detroit’s in real trouble this season. The Wings don’t have the talent to make the playoffs but have enough of it to limit their lottery odds. Which is unfortunately the most palpable result of the Yzerplan.

2. Yesterday, The Athletic’s Harman Dayal and James Mirtle suggested that the Red Wings’ defense has a slate of “question marks” ahead of it, and this morning, the duo ranks the Wings’ forward corps as “Below average, but with some potential“:

Continue reading Season preview stuff: A 7th place finish, rating the Red Wings’ forward corps, getting the plot wrong and staples for Raymond

Wings have a whole lot of people to ‘prove wrong’ this upcoming season

Detroit Hockey Now’s Max Smith has posted a “Two Truths and a Lie” column, suggesting that the Red Wings won’t be able to make the playoffs this season, but will see significant progress from its prospects:

Lie: This is the year the Red Wings make the Playoffs

This one is more of a prediction, but it’s one I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong on. However, it’s hard to see the Red Wings making it through their Murderer’s Row of division opponents. To put it into perspective, of the eight teams in the Eastern Conference playoffs last year, five of them are in the Atlantic with the Red Wings. And the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup.  At the moment, the Red Wings are banking on the play of two rookie forwards and one rookie defenseman to be their true needle movers.

John Gibson’s save percentage of .910 is impressive until you see that he only played in 29 games last year, and the goaltender whose roster spot he ostensibly took had 30 games for a .896 save percentage. Gibson should win a few more games for Detroit in net. Hopefully, he stays healthy enough to split the load a little more evenly with Cam Talbot. But there are a lot of “ifs” in this season. At the moment, there’s a lot more hope than evidence that the Red Wings will be truly showing improvement this season.

Continued; there are many moving parts in the Red Wings’ situation which have to line up nearly perfectly for the team to make the playoffs, but I’ve read more than a few predictions suggesting that the Wings won’t finish higher than 7th in the Atlantic, and…

Well, the Wings are going to have to prove a significant slate of “experts” wrong this season, plain and simple.

Al Sobotka gets his day in court

According to the Free Press’s Tresa Baldas, former Red Wings Zamboni driver Al Sobotka’s getting his day in court:

More than three years after getting fired for urinating in a drain at work, ex-Detroit Red Wings Zamboni driver Al Sobotka heads to trial this week in Wayne County Circuit Court, where he hopes to convince a jury that he was wrongfully axed from a job he held for 50 hockey seasons.

A jury of five women and three men was seated on Tuesday, Oct. 7 in the high-profile employment dispute, which pits a beloved Zamboni driver and octopus twirler and hurler against a multibillion-dollar entertainment company.

Sobotka is suing Olympia Entertainment, alleging he was let go because the higher-ups at the company thought he was too old, and used the 2022 peeing debacle as an excuse to get rid of him. Moreover, he alleges the company engaged in a cover-up by having an executive who knew nothing about him fire him, just so they could wall off another executive who allegedly called him “old” just weeks before the incident, and then replaced him with a 37-year-old underling after he was fired.

Continue reading Al Sobotka gets his day in court

Midnight Red Wings ride: From Wings & Tigers to a LEGO LCA, great expectations, and Red Wings origins

Of Red Wings-related note as of midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning:

  1. The Detroit Tigers had a rough go on Tuesday, but the Red Wings were at least there to witness the game from a suite:

2. Both the Free Press’s Helene St. James and MLive’s Ansar Khan also posted short articles about the LEGO Little Caesars Arena which impressed the Wings’ locker room and coaches on Tuesday:

3. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of Red Wings coach Todd McLellan’s comments regarding the rookie trio of Emmitt Finnie, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Axel Sandin Pellikka:

Continue reading Midnight Red Wings ride: From Wings & Tigers to a LEGO LCA, great expectations, and Red Wings origins

Prospect round-up: Svrcek gets a talk-up despite Brynas loss in Champions Hockey League action

In the Champions Hockey League:

Noah Dower Nilsson didn’t play in Frolunda HC’s 4-1 win over the Eisbaren Berlin;

And Michal Svrcek finished at -1 with 3 shots and 4 blocked shots in 16:45 as Brynas IF lost 2-1 to Storhamar Hamar, but he earned praise from Red Wings Prospects on Twitter…

And a write-up from the Hockey News’s Jacob Smeds:

When Brynäs faced Norwegian club Storhamar in the Champions Hockey League, they opted to rest much of their regular lineup. That gave 11 junior players a chance to step in, and several of them made a strong impression. Standing out above the rest was Detroit Red Wings prospect Michal Svrček, whose speed and energy created scoring chances throughout the night for Brynäs.

…

Svrček was Brynäs’ best player on the night. He was a whirlwind on the forecheck and made several strong plays offensively, particularly on the power play where he got a look on Brynäs’ top unit. There, he showed excellent movement around the right faceoff circle, keeping the play dynamic and avoiding any stagnant sequences. Thanks to that, he found several smart passing options, both into the slot and across the offensive zone. The opposition’s pressure on the penalty kill was minimal, and Svrček took full advantage of it.

Detroit Red Wings prospect Michal Svrček deserves more ice time in the SHL. Right now, expensive signings are blocking his spot despite not performing at the same level. If Brynäs don’t give him a proper opportunity in the SHL soon, there’s a real chance he could look for new opportunities across the Atlantic.

Svrcek has been banished to the J20 league, and if you recall from earlier this summer, the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires both drafted Svrcek in the CHL’s Import Draft and made a hard push to land his services. It’s entirely possible that we’ll see Svrcek on the other side of the Detroit River if his SHL situation doesn’t improve.

About the Red Wings’ letter men

MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Red Wings coach Todd McLellan’s comments regarding the coaching staff’s decision to name Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond as the team’s alternate captains:

“When I got here last year, (Dylan) Larkin was the captain, but we had six, seven rotating A’s. I didn’t even know who wore them on any given night,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re Original Six. All my years here (previously as an assistant coach from 2005-2008), there was clear definition of who was going to (wear the A), but that didn’t prevent, you know, when Nik Kronwall was a younger player when I was here or whoever else was around that group, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby, they didn’t wear A’s, but they led. And that’s what we’re going with.”

McLellan said the leadership group includes many more players. Veterans such as Patrick Kane, Ben Chiarot, Andrew Copp, Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher all have worn the ‘A’ at one time or another or are looked upon as leaders.

“I expect our younger letter-wearers to lean on Patrick Kane and Copp and Compher and Chiarot and who else had them last year,” McLellan said. “They all have good experience. And the ones that were wearing them, I don’t expect them to change one bit. They’ve been great. So, I think we’re in a good spot.”

McLellan also made a surprising comment about the ways in which the coaching staff interacts with the players:

Continue reading About the Red Wings’ letter men

Video: Patrick Kane and coach Todd McLellan speak with the media

The Detroit Red Wings practiced with what appears to be their lineup for Thursday night’s home opener vs. Montreal on Tuesday morning, and this afternoon, coach Todd McLellan revealed that Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond will wear the alternate captains’ “A’s” on a permanent basis this upcoming season.

He also discussed the concept of building chemistry within the roster over the course of the preseason and regular season ahead.

The Red Wings just posted a clip of both Patrick Kane and coach McLellan speaking with the media today:

Also of Red Wings-related note this afternoon: The Free Press’s Helene St. James also posted a clip of coach McLellan’s presser in non-embeddable form;

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted this highlight from McLellan’s presser:

And I can’t embed it, but Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson spoke with WOOD Radio over the course of a 4-minute interview this morning.

One more: