Profiling Red Wings free agent signing Jacob Bernard-Docker

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted an article about Red Wings free agent signing Jacob Bernard-Docker today, noting that Bernard-Docker is still looking to establish himself as an everyday NHL player at 25 years of age:

“There’s a lot of potential there, and [Detroit] is a team on the right trajectory,” Bernard-Docker said in his introductory Zoom call with the media last month. “I’m super excited to go there, show what I got and hopefully be a contributor.”

Originally selected by Ottawa at No. 26 overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Jacob Bernard-Docker split last season between the Senators and Buffalo Sabres and finished with eight points (two goals, six assists) as well as a plus-5 rating in 40 games.

“Jacob Bernard-Docker gives us a little bit of depth on defense… an effective player in his time in Ottawa in particular,” Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman said last month. “He plays hard and competes.”

Having a strong sense of his identity is as a player — someone who can be “annoying and kind of always on guys” — helps Bernard-Docker set goals for himself that he works hard to achieve.

“That’s another part of my game in the NHL, I feel like maybe hasn’t been as consistent as I want it to be, is just the physicality aspect,” Jacob Bernard-Docker said. “And there’s been some games where I think I’ve shown I can do that.”

Bernard-Docker said he also wants to show he can be a reliable piece on Detroit’s penalty kill this season.

“That’s one area where I was really looking to develop and show how I played in the minors and maybe I haven’t shown as much as I’d like to in the NHL yet,” Bernard-Docker said. “It’s an area that I think is a strong part of my game. I’m willing to block shots and I’m pretty good on my stick.”

Continued; we’ll find out this fall whether JBD can break into the Red Wings’ top six on defense. That’s his stated goal, and the 6,’ 190-pound right-shooting defenseman will give his compatriots a run for their money.

Video via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter: Michal Svrcek discusses his summer, expectations for upcoming season with Brynas IF

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter comes a 2-minute, English-language video in which prospect Michal Svrcek discusses his preparations for tomorrow’s preseason premiere for Brynas IF against Timra IK:

Early-August power rankings: Wings mirage?

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a set of early-August power rankings, and he’s not yet sold on the Red Wings’ potential for the 2025-2026 season:

21. Detroit Red Wings – While you can certainly still talk yourself into some existing Wings players like Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson moving the team forward, it just feels like Detroit needs an acquisition to give this thing a meaningful push.

Continued; the Wings have more than Seider, Raymond and Edvinsson. I think this is a little light on not recognizing the Larkins, Kanes, DeBrincats and Gibsons of the Wings’ world.

But yes, the Wings need to add a top-six forward and/or a top-four defenseman. Whether those trades happen this summer is uncertain.

Duff: Red Wings draft pick Michal Pradel has yet to determine where he’ll guard the crease in 2025-2026

Red Wings prospect goaltender and 2025 draft pick Michal Pradel was selected by the Regina Pats in the CHL Import Draft, and at the time, Pradel was committed to playing for the USHL’s Tri-City Storm.

This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that Pradel has yet to make a final decision as to where he’s going to play this upcoming season:

“That’s in the process of being resolved,” Pradel told Slovak website TVNoviny.

He is certain about the factor that is weighing the heaviest in his decision-making process, though – playing time.

“I’m making sure I get as much match experience as possible,” Pradel said. “The head coach left Tri-City, and some things changed there.”

Former NHL head coach and one-time Red Wings assistant coach John Torchetti is now in charge at Tri-City. Late last month, he was named head coach, as well as director and president of hockey operations for the Storm.

“I like Tri-City so much,” Pradel said. “They gave me a lot of games in a short amount of time. So I really like it there.”

Continued; as Duff notes, Pradel’s ultimate destination will be an NCAA Division 1 team, but for now, he wants to continue playing Major Junior hockey while he finishes high school.

Moritz Seider earns the same ‘maybe next year’ that Lucas Raymond did from NHL.com’s best positional players lists

Lists in themselves are not a good thing or a bad thing–they’re arbitrary exercises in ranking “bests” and “worsts” of something, they’re attempts to make sense of the order in which to rank, rate or arrange, to make order out of chaos, if you will.

All of that being said, when NHL.com’s list of the top 10 forwards under 25 did not include Lucas Raymond, even the Red Wings were a bit annoyed by the exclusion; it was not a surprise when Raymond was named to next year’s likely top 20 wingers in the NHL, either.

Now that July has turned to August, the NHL is ranking its best wingers, centers, defensemen and goaltenders over the course of a series of special shows on the NHL Network, and it should come as no surprise to Red Wings fans that one Moritz Seider has also earned a “Maybe Next Year” from the NHL’s “Top 20 defensemen” list:

NHL Network will reveal its list of the top 20 defensemen in the League right now Wednesday when the second of a nine-part series debuts (NHLN, 6 p.m. ET).

While we wait for that much-discussed annual list, NHL.com asked a panel of its writers to identify players who could join the top 20 list next season.

And Moritz Seider? He gets an honorable mention, though it’s in the form of a heartfelt endorsement from Tracey Myers:

Continue reading Moritz Seider earns the same ‘maybe next year’ that Lucas Raymond did from NHL.com’s best positional players lists

A bit of praise for Marco Kasper

I missed this one, and it’s not huge news, but it’s a nice compliment for a young Red Wing:

on Sunday, NHL.com’s “32 in 32” series posted a preview/check-in for the Detroit Red Wings, and on Monday, Pete Jensen named a player who might break out in the fantasy hockey realm:

Detroit Red Wings: Marco Kasper, F

Kasper had strong linemates in center Dylan Larkin and wing Lucas Raymond as a rookie last season and ranked tied for third among his class in even-strength goals (17). Kasper also provided strong category coverage of hits (156; second on Red Wings) and finished strong with a four-game point streak with five points (three goals, two assists) and 19 shots on goal in the span. At 21 years old, Kasper joins Raymond and defenseman Moritz Seider on NHL.com’s top 100 keeper rankings and could see expanded power-play usage (four power-play points last season) in the years ahead. Per NHL EDGE stats, Kasper also excelled in terms of 20-plus mph speed bursts (163; 88th percentile among forwards). — Pete Jensen

As far as I’m concerned, the 21-year-old Kasper is the Red Wings’ second-line center they’ve been searching for, period.

Roughly translated: Noah Dower Nilsson registers 3 assists in preseason game

August isn’t just trade rumor season, part 2: It’s also the beginning of a full month’s worth of exhibition games and “friendly” tournaments for European teams from Russia to Finland, Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, et. al.

Most European teams have already had their “ice premiere,” in which the teams make their first public appearances before fans after practicing informally for a couple of weeks together, and then the month-plus of exhibition games and tournaments begin around the 10th-to-14th of the month.

Now it’s incredibly important to remember that we’re talking about a month-long preseason in August here, but it is good to hear GP.se’s Viktor Freden report that Noah Dower Nilsson had 3 assists in today’s exhibition game between NDN‘s Frolunda HC and HV71.

Frolunda won 5-0, and 20-year-old Dower Nilsson, a 6,’ 185-pound winger, posted those three “apples” on a line with former Red Wings draft pick Theodor Niederbach.

Here’s a short translation of the pertinent part of Freden’s article:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Noah Dower Nilsson registers 3 assists in preseason game

Matheson confirms some long-term Oilers interest in Sebastian Cossa, but interest is not action

My English professors in college always told me to cite my sources, and so we’re citing a third source regarding the Edmonton Oilers’ long-term interest in Sebastian Cossa, from one Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal:

So we’ve got a third source in addition to yesterday’s pair thereof, and three sources is usually the threshold for accuracy. I’d trust Matheson and Cam Robinson and Bob Stauffer, to be honest, so this rumor has legs in my book…

But interest is one thing, and making a deal happen with an organization that wants to see both Cossa and Trey Augustine in its goaltending system two years down the line is a very different matter.

Today’s source of rumor-fueled discussion is Kyle Connor

I’m posting this with a big caveat here: It’s August 12th.

So Bleacher Report’s Frank Seravalli suggests that, should Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor not re-sign with his team, he might return home to Detroit as an unrestricted free agent next summer:

Now I have literal tons of respect for Mr. Seravalli, who’s one of the most respected experts in hockey. And he’s right that the Red Wings could use a player like the 28-year-old Connor, obviously.

But Seravalli himself suggests that the Jets have every opportunity to re-sign their own player for the next 11 months before Detroit would get its chance to swing at Connor next July.