The trade rumors regarding Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell have been stirring since the start of the free agent period.

This week, both Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski and Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz offered takes on the respective values of Rust and Rakell as consolation prizes for the teams that were unable to land a top-six forward via free agency.

This evening, we receive another take from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ press, via the Hockey News’s Kelsey Surmacz, and she believes that one of said players is worth a compensation package that includes one high or two late first-round draft picks.

According to Surmacz, the Penguins shouldn’t be interested in an offer from the Detroit Red Wings or any other team unless Penguins GM and President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas can get into the late 1st round at least once, if not twice:

Continue reading A third take on the sky-high compensation prices for Rust and Rakell

Michelle Crechiolo of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ website posted a very lengthy article about Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Will Horcoff, who was selected 24th overall in this past June’s 2025 NHL Draft…

But the story includes a whole lot of learning about Red Wings assistant GM and Grand Rapids Griffins GM Shawn Horcoff. Shawn was a pain in the Wings’ ass with that great Edmonton Oilers team that upset the Red Wings along the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006, and he was always a player known for his work ethic:

Shawn himself was a fourth-round pick (99^th overall) of Edmonton back in 1998. After playing four years of college hockey at Michigan State, where he met wife Cindy, Shawn made his Oilers debut in the 2000-01 season.

He ended up playing there for 13 years, with Will arriving about midway through Shawn’s tenure. He was born on Jan. 23, 2007, a couple of months after Shawn scored his first career hat trick – “my only one,” he said with a laugh – which came against the Penguins at Mellon Arena.

Other highlights included Shawn being named to the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, where he won the Fastest Skater competition, and being awarded the captaincy in Edmonton.

“When I was really young, my favorite player had to be my dad, just watching him all the time,” Will said. “I would always go to his games in Edmonton and just seeing the fans and how much each game mattered and how competitive they were, I knew I wanted to play hockey since I was very young.”

By the time Shawn got traded to Dallas in the summer of 2013, Will was a rink rat, through and through.

“I would be lying to say that didn’t fuel me towards the end of my career, trying to play later, because it was so great to be able to bring my son to the rink,” said Shawn, who was Stars teammates with Jason Spezza and Trevor Daley. “Just kind of having him around and soaking it all in, and be able to skate after practice or just kind of mess around in the locker rooms.

“The one thing is in pro hockey, there’s a lot of ups and downs, right? And when your kids are around, your family’s around, they don’t feel that, they don’t see that. There’s no bad days for them. I think there’s a time and a place, obviously… maybe you’re in a little bit of a slump, and it’s like hey, Will, we gotta stay away today [laughs]. But for the most part, it was always really welcomed.”

Continued; the read is not all Red Wings-related, but it certainly tells us about Shawn’s values and hockey philosophies. That’s very relevant to the job he does today working with Steve Yzerman at the NHL level and running the Red Wings’ top developmental affiliate in Grand Rapids.

Daily Faceoff’s Tyler Kuehl offers an update on Erik Karlsson trade rumors via a “plug” for Daily Faceoff’s daily podcast:

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Matt Larkin explain why the Penguins have the chance to be making some moves before autumn.

Matt Larkin: They have chips that I think a lot of teams could use. It’s been the narrative this offseason – they’re the one team that is truly committed to rebuilding and tanking because, of course, the gods are going to give them Gavin McKenna as they do every 20 years. Pittsburgh gets that superstar.

So, I’m looking at Bryan Rust. I’m looking at Rickard Rakell. There are a few teams that still need a top-six forward. If you can make money work, I think Winnipeg does. I think Toronto does. Buffalo is pretty desperate for some kind of veteran help, and Erik Karlsson, to me, is the really intriguing name. He has two years left…if you retain half that salary…he’s a bargain all of a sudden, and there are teams that could use his veteran savvy, his puck-moving ability on the right side.

I really like him for the Detroit Red Wings. That would be an ideal fit. They’re a team that I think wanted to bid on Aaron Ekblad didn’t even get the chance … I think they really badly need that right-shot defenseman. You could have a mentor for your young Swedes on defense, Simon Edvinsson and Axel Sandin Pellikka as well, would be a nice fit with Erik Karlsson there. He just brings something that they need, a bona fide top-four defenseman. So I’d be kicking the tires hard on him if I’m Detroit, who also has a really deep and loaded Prospect pipeline. There’s a really nice fit for a trade there.

Continued; I still don’t quite see the “fit” in terms of the Red Wings adding some or all of Karlsson’s $11.5 million cap hit deal (for two more seasons) at 35 years of age, but there’s no doubt that he could help the Wings’ blueline.

Here’s the podcast clip, lined up to 7:04 into said podcast:

According to the following press release on CambridgeToday.ca, Red Wings defenseman the Ben Chiarot-led “Scotland’s Yard” street hockey tournament raised $153,000 CDN for pediatric cancer care in the Kitchener-Waterloo region this year:

The annual Scotland’s Yard Road Hockey Classic — an initiative co-chaired by Chiarot and his wife, Jacqueline, to support pediatric cancer care at Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) — netted $153,000 on July 19, bringing the event’s total to more than $1 million since 2022.

Nearly 100 teams raised money for children’s care at WRHN, the recently merged hospital in Kitchener-Waterloo. Additional funds were raised on site through sales of Scotland’s Yard merchandise, beer and other activities, including a silent auction.

Both the Detroit Red Wings Foundation and NHLPA supported the event with a donation.

“Hitting that $1-million milestone is a huge accomplishment that will directly benefit kids who need it most across this community,” said Chiarot. “I’m fortunate to be able to use my platform as a hockey player for something good like raising money for children’s care. Everyone who came out to the event stepped up and helped make a difference.”

Chiarot and other notable pros, including Kevin Klein, Gregory Campbell, Mike Hoffman, Loren Gable and Laura Fortino, helped coach some of the 96 teams through their games Saturday. The players mingled with kids and their families, signed autographs and posed for selfies — all for a good cause.

Continued

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills checked in with Red Wings forward Marco Kasper, who’s training for the 2025-2026 season back home in Austria:

Serving as one of the young, driving forces for the Detroit Red Wings in the 2024-25 season, Marco Kasper certainly showcased exciting potential throughout his NHL rookie campaign. And as far as 2025-26 goes, Kasper believes there’s a lot more in store — from both an individual and team perspective.

“We felt like we had a good thing going at the end of the season honestly,” Kasper recently told DetroitRedWings.com. “We want to play those meaningful games and make the playoffs. We have to do everything we can as a team to make the next jump. It’s a lot of offseason work individually, then we’ll get back together in September and just work really hard. We need to play like we did during the last few months of the season, figure out how to get even more wins and get in the playoffs.”

Kasper, who’s playing in the “Sunshine Hockey League” back home in Klagenfurt, tells Mills that he’s hoping to improve upon his 37-point rookie season:

“At the beginning of the offseason, you always focus on getting bigger and stronger so that’s a big part of it,” he said. “I’m trying to improve my shot even more so that I’m more dangerous offensively. Otherwise, it’s just trying to get a bit better in all those small details. That’s what’s important at this high of a level.”

At 21, Kasper is a key piece on a skilled Detroit roster that also features young talent like Elmer Soderblom, Jonatan Berggren and Albert Johansson, each of whom re-signed with the Red Wings this offseason.

“It’s great that all those guys got their contracts,” Kasper said. “It’s fun seeing and knowing all those guys are coming back. We all played together in Grand Rapids before and then last year in Detroit, so the whole group is a lot of fun.”

Continued; Kasper’s father, Peter, is not only his agent, but also a long-time pro hockey player, so he comes from superb bloodlines in terms of his professionalism.

Last week, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reported that Red Wings free agent signing and 28-year-old forward Eduards Tralmaks signed a back-up deal with HC Energie Karlovy Vary of the Czech Extraliga.

That complicates things as the Red Wings were planning to send the hulking 6’4,” 209-pound forward to the Grand Rapids Griffins to start.

As Duff notes this morning, Tralmaks’ back-up plan throws a wrench into the Wings’ hopes of adding a depth winger who has both North American experience, and who led the Extraliga in scoring last season:

Even though he’ll be in training camp with the Red Wings, Karlovy Vary officials remain surprisingly confident that they’ll be getting a chance to suit up Tralmaks at some point in the future.

Will that be the near future? They seem to believe that it could be.

“We were in contact with him when it all happened,” Karlovy Vary sports director Jiri Kalous told Czech website iSport. “Eddie also told us that if the moment doesn’t develop as he would like, that is, when he doesn’t play the NHL consistently, he is very interested in returning.”

The Detroit brass is curious to see what Tralmaks can offer them. They like his size (6-foot-4, 209 pounds).

Unlike most European free agents, he’s well-schooled in the North American ways of hockey. He played youth hockey for the Boston Bandits of the EHL. Tralmaks also played for the USHL’s Chicago Steel.

Following four years with the NCAA Maine Black Bears, Tralmaks played in the AHL with the Providence Bruins and in the ECHL with the Maine Mariners. During the 2021-22 AHL season, he’d produced 14-13-27 numbers with Providence.

Continued; Tralmaks is a heavy late-bloomer, but the Wings may very well not see him for more than a couple of weeks if he uses his back-up contract to opt out of AHL duty.

I am a grumpy, sleepless middle-aged man this morning, and I don’t like “power rankings” when I wake up rested, either. As such, you’ll have to excuse me for instinctively wincing and then grumbling as ESPN posted a set of midsummer “power rankings” based upon teams’ offseason performances:

20. Detroit Red Wings

Pre-playoff ranking: 21
Stanley Cup odds: +10000

Little Caesars Arena has yet to host a playoff game. Is this the season that the drought ends? Detroit was knocking on the door this past season, and GM Steve Yzerman filled perhaps the org’s biggest need by trading for veteran goaltender John Gibson this summer.

Continued; I’d describe the Red Wings’ offseason as “in progress” given that the Wings still need to add a top-six forward and/or a top-four defenseman. I’m not certain whether the Wings will actually make those moves via trades this summer…

But it’s important that the Red Wings have addressed their needs in the crease by bringing in Gibson to supplement Cam Talbot, with Sebastian Cossa and Michal Postava scheduled to start with Grand Rapids in the AHL, and Carter Gylander likely to backstop the Toledo Walleye.

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