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van Riemsdyk’s (almost) ready and raring to go

MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses James van Riemsdyk’s imminent Red Wings debut:

“Whether we use him tomorrow or not, that’s still to be determined,” coach Todd McLellan said. “If not, I expect him in Monday (at Toronto). But he’s a hockey player now. He’s back into it. And I think after watching last night, he probably wants to get in there and try to make a difference as well.”

The Red Wings lost 5-1 to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. They worked on many of their issues Friday in practice. Van Riemsdyk replaced Elmer Soderblom at left wing on a line centered by Michael Rasmussen, with Mason Appleton on the right side.

“I’m feeling better and better and just about getting back into it now and again, I think just getting the timing down and some of those things, and some extra practice is never a bad thing,” van Riemsdyk said. “So, you just got to stay ready to go.”

The 17-year NHL veteran joined the team on Oct. 1 after tending to a family matter in Minnesota, forcing him to play catch-up.

“There’s that general buildup that you get when you start on Day One,” he said. “You’re kind of jumping on a little bit of a moving train here when you come a little bit later. But I think with my experience and having been through these sort of things before, it’s almost like coming back from an injury in a way where you’re just trying to build yourself back up and make sure you’re ready to go. When you first get back in it’s just about mentally being sharp with your details and things like that. And then it’s like riding a bike, where it becomes more natural the more reps you get.”

Continued (paywall); as Khan notes, the Wings will have to open a roster spot for JvR, most likely by demoting Erik Gustafsson to Grand Rapids.

Framing Friday’s practice on a pessimistic note

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that the Red Wings went through a tense practice on Friday afternoon, which is no surprise given the way in which they lost 5-1 to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

[Andrew] Copp described McLellan’s message to the team before practice on Friday as “very stern.”

And entirely deserved.

“The mistakes that we made were unacceptable,” Copp said. “And I think everyone in here knows it. And each individual mistake, everyone knows it.”

Watching the video of the game, [coach Todd] McLellan felt like he was viewing a horror flick.

“I was actually shocked when I looked after the game and saw that they had 17 shots on goal and only 12 even strength, because they’ve had at least 12 outnumbered rushes,” McLellan said. “So they didn’t convert on a number of them. But that didn’t diminish the fact that we erred in a lot of those areas. It’s so much easier to fix if it’s one player or maybe one line. This was team-wide.”

Duff is less than convinced that the Red Wings can salvage their season, already…

McLellan described the poor quality of his team’s game management. The fact of the matter is that this team has been lacking in the area of game management skills long before McLellan became coach. That it never seems to improve is an alarming indictment of the player.

“It’s not going to ruin our year because we lost the first game,” Copp said.

It will if they continue to play like they did in that first game.

And that’s a little too much for me. I know that the Red Wings haven’t proved to anyone that they’re anything but the pumpkin as opposed to Cinderella’s carriage, but jeez, it really was one game after a perhaps-too-easy exhibition season. I still believe that this team can improve.

Video: Copp, JvR and coach McLellan speak with the media after Friday’s Red Wings practice

The Detroit Red Wings made some subtle tweaks to their lineup during Friday’s practice, the day after dropping a 5-1 decision to the Montreal Canadiens.

After practice, coach Todd McLellan stated that James van Riemsdyk may return on Saturday or Monday, necessitating a roster move, with Cam Talbot starting in goal for tomorrow night’s beginning of a home-and-home series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Red Wings have posted a video in which Andrew Copp, van Riemsdyk and coach McLellan speak with the media over the course of just under 18 minutes:

Post-practice Tweets: van Riemsdyk close to return; Talbot to start against Maple Leafs Saturday night

The Red Wings took part in a spirited practice at the BELFOR Training Center the day after their 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, preparing for a difficult home-and-home series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After practice, the Red Wings’ players and coach spoke with the assembled media corps:

Continue reading Post-practice Tweets: van Riemsdyk close to return; Talbot to start against Maple Leafs Saturday night

Press release: Hockey Hall of Fame to celebrate Red Wings, Blackhawks and Rangers’ centennials with special exhibit

From the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Kelly Masse:

HOCKEY HALL OF FAME CELEBERATES BLACKHAWKS, RED WINGS AND RANGERS WITH A TRIPLE CENTENNIAL EXHIBIT

Limited-time exhibit features exclusive artifacts showcasing 100 seasons

of three Original Six teams

TORONTO (October 10, 2025) – To honour three of the Original Six teams celebrating historic seasons, the Hockey Hall of Fame has opened a Triple Centennial Exhibit that will run through January 2027.

Specially curated artifacts have been chosen to represent the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers franchises from their inaugural NHL seasons in 1925-26 to present day. The display showcases stories that define milestone moments and championship seasons. Numerous Honoured Members are also highlighted in this time-limited display.

The Hockey Hall of Fame celebrated the other three Original Six NHL franchises 100th anniversaries with dedicated displays of the Montreal Canadiens in 2009, Toronto Maple Leafs in 2017 and the Boston Bruins in 2023.

“The Hockey Hall of Fame is thrilled to honour the remaining three Original Six teams of the National Hockey League who will be celebrating their 100th anniversaries.  We are excited to showcase the rich history of the Blackhawks, Red Wings and Rangers,” said Phil Pritchard, Vice-President, Resource Centre and Curator, Hockey Hall of Fame.  “Some of these unique artifacts are on display for the first time, giving hockey fans and guests a first look at hockey history.  We look forward to sharing these special memories with hockey fans of all ages.”

Featured Artifacts:

Continue reading Press release: Hockey Hall of Fame to celebrate Red Wings, Blackhawks and Rangers’ centennials with special exhibit

Tweets from Friday’s Red Wings practice: some lineup changes are made as the Wings skate the ‘bad’ out of their systems

The Detroit Red Wings laid an egg in the form of a 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens last night, and coach Todd McLellan and captain Dylan Larkin didn’t hold back in terms of criticizing their team’s effort and structure (or the lack thereof).

The Red Wings kick off a home-and-home series against the Toronto Maple Leafs tomorrow night (7 PM EDT start on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit/CBC/Sportsnet Ontario/Sportsnet West/Sportsnet Pacific/97.1 FM), too, so the Red Wings need to resolve their neutral zone coverage and tendency to surrender odd-man rushes in a hurry.

NHL.com previews tomorrow night’s match-up thusly:

Americans to duel in Detroit

Auston Matthews and Patrick Kane, potential teammates with the United States at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, will take the stage when Matthews’ Toronto Maple Leafs (1-0-0) visit Kane’s Detroit Red Wings (0-1-0) at Little Caesars Arena (7 p.m. ET; FDSNDET, SNP, SNW, SNO, CBC) for the first game of a home-and-home series that concludes Monday at Toronto. The two forwards have a knack for putting on a show when they face each other; Matthews had 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) and Kane had 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in their 16 previous meetings. After scoring in Toronto’s 5-2 season-opening win against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday, Matthews (402 goals) is 19 away from passing Mats Sundin (420) for most goals in Maple Leafs history. Kane (492) needs eight goals to become the fifth U.S.-born player to reach 500. He didn’t score in Detroit’s 5-1 season-opening loss to Montreal on Thursday.

Saturday night’s game is a Hockey Night in Canada match-up, too:

The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center at 12 PM today, and they “got skated” from the get-go:

Continue reading Tweets from Friday’s Red Wings practice: some lineup changes are made as the Wings skate the ‘bad’ out of their systems

Pressure’s on Cossa, Griffins as the AHL season begins

FloHockey’s Patrick Williams posted a set of team previews ahead of the start of the AHL season tonight, and here’s what he had to say about the Grand Rapids Griffins:

Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings): Pressure definitely abounds in Detroit as the organization’s rebuilding process continues, and that feeling certainly extends to Grand Rapids, where the Red Wings will continue to count heavily on proper development of a long list of prospects. Detroit has gone with some youth coming out of training camp, but the Griffins need to continue preparing prospects or this rebuilding plan will not pan out. Sebastian Cossa is going into his fourth pro season; he has been good, but now he needs to be dominant. Detroit signed forward John Leonard, whose 36 goals last season with Charlotte tied him for second in the AHL. 

Continued

Keeping an eye on ASP

Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis offers one rookie from every NHL team to watch, and he picks one of the Red Wings’ rookie trio as his spotlighted debutante:

Detroit Red Wings: Axel Sandin-Pellikka, RHD, 20

The Red Wings will start the 2025-26 season with three rookies in the NHL (Emmitt Finnie and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard being the others). While there’s a solid chance all three will end up in Grand Rapids, all three deserve to be with the big club to start the year. ASP is perhaps the most interesting – he might be a bit undersized, but he has immense skill. For starters, he plays with so much confidence – and it led to a U-20-leading 29 points in the SHL in 2024-25. His defensive game is solid, too. Sandin-Pellikka is physically engaged quite often, something that wasn’t the case in his draft year.

Continued; Sandin Pellikka probably has the highest ceiling of the three, and he looked pretty good on a very “off” night for the Wings yesterday evening.

Morning Griffins goodies: Setting up the Griffins-Stars series; on Shai Buium, Ondrej Becher and the illustrious Mark Newman

Of Grand Rapids Griffins-related note this morning:

  1. Andrew Streitel wrote a very, very good slate of game notes ahead of tonight’s game against the Texas Stars (8 PM at H-E-B Park Arena, and tomorrow at the same time, airing on FloHockey.tv), including the following:

Shine On, Captain


Yesterday, Dominik Shine was named the 19th captain in franchise history. He returns to Grand Rapids for his 10th season, becoming just the third player in team history to reach the milestone (Brian Lashoff 14, Travis Richards 10). During the 2024-25 AHL season, Shine posted career-high numbers in assists (32), points (46), power-play goals (5), game-winners (4), shots (149), and multi-point outings (11) to go along with 14 goals and 76 penalty minutes in 61 regular-season games. He also signed his first NHL contract on Jan. 27, 2025, and later that evening made his NHL debut against the Los Angeles Kings. Shine became the oldest skater to make his NHL debut since Evgeny Medvedev did so at 33 on Oct. 8, 2015, and the oldest Red Wings player to make his debut since Vaclav Nedomansky did it at 33 on Nov. 18, 1977. On the all-time regular-season franchise leaderboard, Shine ranks third in games played (483), tied for seventh in goals (75), tied for ninth in assists (109), ninth in points (184), sixth in penalty minutes (553), tied for eighth in short-handed goals (5), tied for seventh in game-winners (12), tied for first in unassisted goals (10), and tied for sixth in shots (797). 

2. The Grand Rapids Griffins also post a monthly magazine called “Griffiti.” Amongst this month’s stories are the following:

A) Shai Buium discusses his unconventional hockey roots with Kyle Kujawa:

Continue reading Morning Griffins goodies: Setting up the Griffins-Stars series; on Shai Buium, Ondrej Becher and the illustrious Mark Newman

Roughly translated: Nicklas Lidstrom watches Eddie Genborg; Brandsegg-Nygard’s debut goes ‘okay’

Of foreign language-related Red Wings note this morning:

  1. Red Wings prospect Eddie Genborg, who plays for Timra IK of the SHL, has found himself in the company of Red Wings legends of late. Hockeynews.se’s Linnea Andersson reports that both Nicklas Lidstrom and Niklas Kronwall have watched Genbrg play recently:

Eddie Genborg had eyes on him when Timra played Orebro. On the spot was NHL legend Nicklas Lidström, in his role as representative of the Detroit Red Wings, to probably get a closer look at the Timra talent.

Nicklas Lidström was in Orebro when Timra fell 5-3 [on Thursday]. He is today “Vice President of Hockey Operations” in the Detroit Red Wings – the team that chose to draft Eddie Genborg last summer.

Genborg had time to exchange a few words with him after the loss, but he isn’t sure if the visit really was for him. The only thing he knew was that Lidstrom was there – something he found out just before the game began.

“I talked to him a little bit after the game. I don’t really know, but I think it was just me who was drafted by Detroit there. It’s great that he was there,” Genborg told ST.nu.

Genborg was pleased with his efforts, and told us that he and Lidstrom talked a little about the start of the season–and about how he enjoys life in Sundsvall.

Genborg was told that Lidstrom was in place just before puck drop. In the past, Niklas Kronwall has also visited Timra to follow him. This time, Genborg tried not to put too much emphasis on one of the hockey world’s biggest names sitting in the stands.

“I try not to think about it that much. It’s just fun that he’s there and watching, but you can’t think about it too much, it probably just puts traps in your head then.”

2. Nitten.no also posted a column which discusses Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s NHL debut:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Nicklas Lidstrom watches Eddie Genborg; Brandsegg-Nygard’s debut goes ‘okay’