The Detroit Red Wings traded 6’4,” 209-pound defenseman Andrew Gibson to the Nashville Predators for Finnish right winger Jesse Kiiskinen and a 2nd round pick that was flipped to San Jose in the Jake Walman trade last summer.

A year ago at this time, some hockey types were scratching their heads, wondering why the Wings moved a bruising, downright mean Soo Greyhounds defenseman in Gibson in exchange for a skinny Finnish forward who had an OK season for the Lahti Pelicans of the Finnish Liiga in 2023-2024.

Thankfully for Detroit, Kiiskinen had a tremendous season for a very mediocre HPK Hameenlinna team last season, posting 14 goals and 30 assists for 44 points in 46 games played in the Finnish men’s league. Internationally, Kiiskinen not only wore an alternate captain’s “A” for the FInnish World Junior team, but he also posted 6 goals and an assist over the course of 7 WJC games.

While posting those numbers, Kiiskinen displayed a nasty edge to his game, a nose for the net, and a whole bunch of resilience as HPK struggled. As such, the Red Wings signed Kiiskinen to a 3-year, entry-level contract on June 3rd, and the plucky 6’1,” 190-pound forward attended the Wings’ Summer Development Camp in early July.

MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Kiiskinen at the Summer Development Camp, noting that the young forward led the Under-20 scoring ranks in the Liiga in 2024-2025:

Continue reading Meet Jesse Kiiskinen

The Free Press has been chronicling the tales of Detroit’s “fallen stadiums” over the course of this week, and Matthew Auchinloss has posted a column about Joe Louis Arena’s history this morning:

Joe Louis Arena’s significance to Detroit sports history cannot be overstated, which is remarkable given how poorly it was received when it first opened in December 1979 . Featuring old, gray concrete with fluorescent lighting poorly installed, a lack of bathrooms and no place to sell merchandise, The Joe was not beloved when the team moved from iconic Olympia Stadium midway through the ’79-80 NHL season. Mike Ilitch, who’d bought the franchise in 1982 from the Norris family after 50 years of ownership, began earning his status as a beloved owner with his continuous upgrade work on the building. He mostly succeeded, but The Joe was never beloved for its construction.

It was iconic because of who played there. Not its namesake, legendary boxer Joe Louis – he never set foot in the building, having died in 1981. But there was Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov. Tonya Harding in her infamous U.S. Figure Skating Nationals win (though the attack that eventual Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan actually occurred a few blocks over, at Cobo Arena). Isaiah Thomas’s 1984 Game 5 playoff performance, in which he scored 29 points after the half in an OT loss to the New York Knicks. Dozens of concerts and WWE events and youth and college hockey games and octopi on the ice, all in one gray building.

And four Stanley Cups. A building named after a champion and filled with champions.

Continued; the Joe was never loved for its looks, unless you liked the brutalist architecture of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and it never worked well in terms of amenities, from the troughs in the men’s restrooms to its steep concrete stairs and cramped confines…

But it was a beautiful building in its own blue-collar way, mostly because the “Dead Wings” became the majestic home of a team that won 4 Stanley Cups and had 6 Stanley Cup Final appearances over the course of 13 years.

Everybody squeezed into their runky seats, held their breath, and watched wonderful hockey take place over the course of the 90’s and 00’s, and in its own way, the on-ice product was enough to make up for the lack of creature comforts.

The website of EC KAC Klagenfurt in the ICE Hockey League posted an announcement that you might find interesting if you’re within driving or flying distance of Marco Kasper’s hometown of Klagenfurt, Austria.

Kasper’s been playing shinny hockey in a league called the “Sunshine Hockey League,” skating in 4-on-4 games against European pro leaguers. His Lendhafen Seelöwen are going to be one of the semifinalists in the league championship playoffs on Thursday and Friday:

Sunshine Hockey League at the the Heidi Horten-Arena

Europe’s first summer ice hockey league championship will be held on Thursday and Friday at the Heidi Horten Arena.

For the first time, this year, Sunshine Hockey League, Europe’s only Summer ice hockey league, this week is turning to the home stretch of its premiere season. Since May 30th the eight teams have played in a total of 28 games, all of which were held at the Hockey Training Center in Ferlach, to compete for four places in the Final tournament, that will now be held in the home arena of the Red Jackets, the Heidi Horten Arena.

The two semi-final matches will be completed on Thursday evening: At 6 p.m., the Slowenain Rams will battle Hyänen Hockey, whose roster includes former Klagenfurt forward Rok Kapel. At 8 p.m. the players from the Lendhafen Seelöwen will face off against the HC Krocha, and both teams have a lot of KAC alumni.

Tickets for the entire semi-final day are available at the price of only €10,00 (or €50,00 for VIP) in the SHL online ticket shop and from 5 p.m. at the main entrance the Heidi Horten Arena. The two teams winning on Thursday will then contest Friday (7 p.m.) the grand finale against each other.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Marco Kasper’s ‘Sunshine Hockey League’ to hold its playoffs on Thursday and Friday in Klagenfurt, Austria

The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses Red Wings prospect Nate Danielson this morning, noting that Red Wings director of player development Dan Cleary wants the Grand Rapids Griffins center to bring his “A-game” every night:

Danielson (6 foot 1, 190 pounds) completed his first season of AHL hockey, posting 12 goals and 27 assists in 71 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2024-25. Learning the grind of a long season is one important aspect in the career of a budding pro hockey player – and another is experiencing the intensity of the playoffs. Danielson had one goal in the three games before the Griffins were ousted in the first round by the Texas Stars.

“He had a good finish,” director of player development Dan Cleary said earlier this month. “I’m on him quite a bit – sometimes I don’t know if he likes to see me coming, but I love Nate. His best game was his last game in Texas.

“He played very competitively. He was one of our better players. He’s got to feel what that feels like, and you can’t feel it until you see it and do it. So he was able to feel it. A must-win game. He brought it. That’s how you have to play coming in the fall.”

It’s the thing that’s stressed over and over to younger players (and sometimes older ones, too): The competitiveness has to be there on a nightly basis. That’s what Danielson will need to show in training camp, and even more so when he’ll no doubt get plenty of looks during the Wings’ eight-game exhibition slate. With Dylan Larkin, Marco Kasper, Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher projected to fill the center spots, Danielson may well get moved to wing – that’s not unusual; it was how Larkin transitioned to the NHL.

Playing wing should suit Danielson just fine: At his best, he’s a 200-foot forward who delivers a responsible game at both ends of the ice.

Continued; I’m not certain whether Danielson will be able to replicate his point-per-game-ish production in the WHL at the NHL level, but he’s intense, determined and strong in terms of his skating, faceoffs and ability to compete out there, and he’s a savvy play-maker, too. We’ll see where the fits as he earns his first “cup of coffee” call-ups this upcoming season.

Of note from the Hockey Writers’ Red Wings correspondents this morning:

1. Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson’s entry-level contract with the team expires next spring, and as such, the big defender is going to be the Wings’ most important restricted free agent a summer from now.

I’ve stated that my best guess as to where Edvinsson’s next contract will land is somewhere in the $6.5 million range, but the Hockey Writers’ Tony Wolak believes that Edvinsson will be a little more expensive to re-sign after posting 31 points with the Wings last season:

[E]ight years is the best outcome for the Red Wings. With K’Andre Miller, Bowen Byram, and Matt Roy as the top comparables, it suggested that the AAV should fall between $7.1 and $8.5 million. 

Miller recently signed for eight years at $8.5 million. Byram just signed for two years at $6.25 million. These two should give some indication as to what the short- and long-term contract options could look like.

That said, other contract extensions could influence Edvinsson’s next deal. For one, I don’t expect the Red Wings to let Edvinsson’s AAV surpass that of Moritz Seider ($8.55 million). 

Additionally, Edvinsson’s agent could reference Owen Power’s 2023 deal with the Buffalo Sabres. He signed for eight years at $8.35 million, which, based on cap hit percentage (9.49 percent), would be about $9.87 million when operating under a $104 million salary cap in 2026-27. New deals for Thomas Harley, Luke Hughes, and Lane Hutson could be used as anchoring points as well.

But as of now, an eight-year, $8.125 million AAV deal makes the most sense for Edvinsson. An impressive 2025-26 campaign could change that, though.

Continued; as Wolak suggests, the Red Wings and Edvinsson’s camp won’t feel that time is a big issue propelling negotiations given that Edvinsson has a big season ahead of him, but locking him up to an 8-year deal before the current CBA expires and teams are only allowed to ink their home-grown players to 7-year contracts will be a must.

Again, I don’t see Edvinsson commanding north of $7 million, but I’ve been wrong before….

2. And the Hockey Writers’ Devin Little has compiled a list of 5 Red Wings prospects who Little believes will be ready for at least short NHL stints this upcoming season:

Continue reading Two Hockey Writers things: on Edvinsson’s next contract and NHL-ready prospects

Yesterday, Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon listed the Detroit Red Wings as one of seven possible destinations for Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson, who may or may not be a salary cap casualty as Dallas has to re-sign several young restricted free agents before the 2026-2027 season.

As I said yesterday, I’m not a big fan of the “fit” or lack thereof for Robertson, who will likely have a say in where he’s moved, and I don’t believe that the Stars have any urgency to move Robertson before next year’s trade deadline (presuming they move him at all).

That being said, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen does believe that there’s a “fit” in terms of the assets that the Red Wings would have to surrender to acquire Robertson’s services:

The expectation is that the Stars, if they trade Robertson, will be looking to recoup the assets they gave-up to acquire Rantanen from Carolina. They gave up two first-round picks (2026 and 2028), plus Logan Stankoven and two third-round picks.

If they do that, it would be as if they traded Robertson for Rantanen.

Looking to take the next step in their rebuild, the Red Wings could give up two first-rounders. They don’t have a player like Stankoven, but they could offer William Wallinder. He’s not a top four defensive prospect, but he projects to be a dependable third line performer. They also a bushel of players with potential like Anton Johansson, Shai Buium, Max Plante, Jesse Kiiskinen,  Carter Mazur, etc.

The Red Wings will have to give up someone they don’t want to give up to get this kind of deal done.

The other aspect of this kind of deal is whether Robertson is willing to entertain signing long-term with his new team. You can’t really make this kind of deal without a belief is probable. Robertson did play in Detroit as a youth player.

Continued; they say that the team which ends up with the best player “wins” a trade, but if I’m going to be “playing GM,” I don’t see the Red Wings’ front office surrendering 2 first-round picks and at least a top prospect for Robertson.

Do the Red Wings need another top-six forward? Sure. But I’m not sold on Robertson’s asking price being met, never mind Robertson’s willingness to sign an extension with the Red Wings. It just doesn’t seem likely to me.

This morning, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler “re-drafts” the class of 2022, suggesting that the Red Wings should have picked Columbus prospect defenseman Denton Mateychuk instead of Marco Kasper with the 8th overall pick:

8. Detroit Red Wings: LHD Denton Mateychuk

Actual draft pick: No. 12 (change: +4) to Columbus
My final ranking: No. 13 (change: +5)

I still don’t think people realize how good Mateychuk is. The 5-foot-11/6-foot defenseman has had a tougher time cutting through in recent years, but Mateychuk has been one of the very best players in his age group for as long as I’ve watched him. He stepped right out of junior and into being a top D in the AHL and one of the best rookie D in the NHL right away last year.

He was drafted where Josh Morrissey was and had a better first pro season. I don’t think a similar path as a 30-something point D who breaks out for more in his late-20s like Morrissey is out of the question here, and moving on from David Jiricek cleared the path for him to continue to be prioritized (though it was already pretty clear that he’d leapfrogged Jiricek even before the trade). I’d listen to arguments for Mateychuk behind the next few players on this list, but I’d stop there. At his floor, I think we’re probably looking at a better version of what Rasmus Sandin is on a good Capitals team.

10. Anaheim Ducks: C Marco Kasper

Actual draft pick: No. 8 (change: -2) to Detroit
My final ranking: No. 24 (change: +14)

I think all of Nazar, Nemec, Mateychuk, Rinzel, Kasper, Kulich and Snuggerud could probably be sorted any way you like from No. 6-12 in a re-draft. I’m sure the Red Wings would just take him again at No. 8, too. Kasper was always going to become a real solid, effective NHL player. In a weaker draft, I should have given that more value. If the me of 2025 were back in 2022, I would have had him higher even without hindsight. I might not have landed on him at No. 8 today still, but he would have been in the ballpark.

Continued (paywall); the Red Wings definitely need to add a top-four defenseman, but Kasper has been such a perfect fit in the 2nd line center’s spot that I would not hesitate to pick Kasper instead of Mateychuk.

Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz offers mid-summer grades for the offseason performances of the NHL’s 32 teams this morning:

Detroit Red Wings

Grade: C

The big move so far was adding a mediocre veteran goalie (John Gibson) to a team that has been a revolving door for mediocre veteran goalies the past few years. If Gibson can duplicate what he did a year ago for Anaheim in a bounce-back year, that would be helpful. But there is no guarantee he can do that.

Beyond that they swapped out Vladimir Tarasenko for James van Riemsdyk, which seems like nothing more than a shuffling of deck chairs, and re-signed Patrick Kane. 

A lot of the flaws that already existed defensively and during 5-on-5 play offensively still exist. 

It has been a slow, methodical rebuild under the watchful eye of general manager Steve Yzerman, and it seems that is going to continue.

There is still salary cap space to be used, so maybe a trade is still on the horizon.

Continued; I’d give the Red Wings an “incomplete” B- grade for their offseason. Adding van Riemsdyk and Jacob Bernard-Docker in free agency, in addition to Gibson as a trade asset, help the Red Wings’ depth, but the team hasn’t made a meaningful move to address the top-six forward corps or second defensive pairing.

I’d add a “yet” to the previous sentence, but I have a sinking feeling that the Red Wings will only be able to add a top-six forward or a top-four defenseman without depleting its prospect pool and draft picks, leaving one of those two needs unmet until closer to the 2025-2026 trade deadline.

Of Red Wings defensive-related note this morning:

1. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff surmises that the Red Wings haven’t completed renovating their defensive corps this morning, suggesting that the Red Wings’ re-signing of William Lagesson and signing of Jacob Bernard-Docker don’t feel like the Wings’ final moves of the summer:
   

The Detroit brass has always preferred to carry eight blueliners on the NHL roster. If that is again the decision, it only makes sense that Lagesson will be that guy. There’s nothing to be gained from having a prospect like William Wallinder or Antti Tuomisto, and certainly not Axel Sandin Pellikka, sitting and watching. They need to be playing every night with the AHL Griffins.

That’s all assuming nothing changes within the club’s defensive personnel. As colleague Kevin Allen recently pointed out, there are a number of under-the-radar defensemen who could be had in the NHL trade market.

Seattle’s Jamie Oleksiak is a big body who would add offensive upside while skating in a third pairing. The dream sequence would be the acquisition of reliable, steady veteran Ryan McDonagh from Tampa Bay. He’d be a calming presence and an ideal partner for Seider. And his first pass tends to border on the impeccable. It was Yzerman who made the original move to bring McDonagh to Tampa Bay.

Do we know if any of these moves are in the works? No.

Call it a feeling, a sense if you will. Just a nagging sensation that the Wings aren’t done yet when it comes to retooling the defense.

Continued; the Red Wings are running pretty young and lean in all three groups–at forward, on defense and in goal–and it is entirely possible, if not probable, that we’ll see the team add another forward and another defenseman to flesh out the forwards and defense…

But my gut feeling is that the Wings aren’t going to add an Oleksiak or McDonagh for them to sit and watch the 3rd pairing play. The team needs to bolster its 2nd defensive pair, and that means upgrading said pairing by a more than marginal…margin, for lack of a better word.

2. Speaking of which, MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article about Bernard-Docker this morning, discussing the 25-year-old righty’s desire to play as a regular on the Wings’ roster:

Continue reading Two things: On a ‘gut feeling’ and Jacob Bernard-Docker

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen has posted a subscriber-only article about Red Wings 2024 draft pick and University of Minnesota-Duluth forward Max Plante, a 5’11,” 176-pound center who’s an elite passer and play-maker.

As Allen notes, Plante suffered from a wrist injury which required him to wear a brace and miss time over the course of last season. Nonetheless, he posted 19 assists and 28 points for UMD over the course of only 23 games last season, and the Wings believe that, with time, Plante should rise among the prospect ranks:

Minnesota-Duluth forward Max Plante (47th, 2024) was among the Detroit Red Wings who couldn’t skate at their development camp recently and yet Dan Cleary still talked about him like he did.

“I love Max,” the Red Wing director of player development said. “Max’s energy. Hockey sense. Max’s competitiveness his first year.”

It’s clear the Red Wing have plenty of time for Plante, the son of former NHLer Derek Plante.  Detroit Hockey Now didn’t have him in our Top 10 prospects, but we see him right outside that group. He’s a smallish winger, known more for his playmaking than scoring. He scored nine goals and finished with 28 points in 23 games as a Bulldogs freshman. The Minnesota native was undermined by injury early in the season.

“He got off to slow start. I think he only played like five games before world juniors in the season,” Cleary said. 

Continued (paywall); Plante is playing on a line with his brother, Zam, and as Allen discusses, his family is legendary in the Duluth suburb of Hermantown, Minnesota, so the 2nd round pick (47th overall) is hoping to stay healthy and display his passing acumen as a sophomore playing for his hometown team.

It should be noted that 6’5″ defenseman and Wings draft pick Brady Cleveland will join Plante in Duluth after transferring schools this past spring, so two Detroit prospects will be trying to find their stride at UMD this upcoming season.