Tweet of note: Dmitri Buchelnikov to take place in charity game vs. NHL’ers on July 13th

From Red Wings prospects on Twitter:

Reviewing Yzerman’s free agency remarks

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills looks back toward Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s post-free agency press conference, noting Yzerman’s blunt remarks regarding the team’s offseason outlook:

“Going into free agency, we all recognized that it was going to be difficult all around the League,” Yzerman said. “For whatever reason, there weren’t as many what we would all consider high-end free agents available this year. So, it wasn’t really a shock to us that we weren’t able to get anything done with any of the bigger-name guys.”

But that didn’t prevent Detroit from complementing its already-talented core.

“Jacob Bernard-Docker gives us a little bit of depth on defense,” Yzerman said. “Not a big-name signing but has been an effective player in his time in Ottawa in particular. He plays hard and competes…Up front with JVR, on the left wing, bigger body…Mason Appleton as well, a right winger that plays on the penalty kill and chips in a little bit of offense.”

And the offseason isn’t over yet. So, even with these new faces being added to the mix, Yzerman said the Red Wings will continue exploring opportunities to improve the roster.

“It’s just been my experience over the years that things kind of work themselves out,” Yzerman said. “Opportunities arise. You try to force it or chase it, there’s too many years, too many dollars or you give up too much in a trade…Trying to be diligent, maybe patient, just wait for the right player, the right opportunity, whether it is in a trade or in free agency, to add to our lineup and use our assets wisely if we can.”

Continued; Yzerman may or may not have done enough to improve his team’s roster through the free agent marketplace alone, but he was completely honest about how things worked out.

The Red Wings’ goaltending is better, but it still needs help

Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin offers a set of “Goalie musical chairs” rankings for the 2025 offseason, and he suggests that the Red Wings’ goaltending stock has improved…sort of…

Detroit Red Wings (Stock up)

John Gibson (acquired from Ana)
Cam Talbot

(Out: Alex Lyon)

Among the clearly available netminders this offseason, Gibson was the top option, fresh off his best season in six years. He slides in as Detroit’s No. 1 and forms what looks like a pretty strong duo alongside Talbot, keeping the seat warm until Sebastian Cossa gets a larger opportunity. But after Gibson has spent so many seasons of his career bailing out bad defensive teams, it would’ve been fun to see him flourish in a stingy system. Instead, he’s set up to be shelled once again. The Red Wings iced the worst penalty kill of any NHL team in the past 42 years, and the fourth-worst of all-time, this past season. The Ducks had the most expected goals against in the league at 5-on-5, but the Wings were bottom-third, too, so Gibson will continue getting major workouts, especially when Detroit has barely done anything to improve its D-corps this offseason. Detroit already had above-average goaltending this past season, so Gibson isn’t a savior. He’ll help, but it won’t be enough if the Wings keep bleeding scoring chances.

Continued; man, it’s “Bag on the Wings” season…

Duff confirms that Wings-Stars prospect games will take place in Frisco, Texas this year

The multi-talented Sean Shapiro Tweeted out that the Red Wings’ Prospect Games against the Dallas Stars would not take place in Traverse City, MI this year, and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff confirms the news:

This fall, that won’t be happening. A tournament that dates back to 1998 isn’t taking place this fall. The Red Wings are heading to Frisco, Texas to partake in a pair of games against the Dallas Stars rookies.

Last year, you will recall that the Stars were the only team other than the Wings in Traverse City for rookie games.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the plan is for the two teams to continue to alternate hosting rookie games. That would mean the Stars will be again visiting Traverse City in the fall of 2026.

Continued

Todd Bertuzzi’s mounting a comeback to play in the Allan Cup

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes, former Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi is coming out of retirement to help the Senior AAA Cambridge Hornets in Cambridge, Ontario win the biggest trophy in senior hockey, the Allan Cup:

“I think it’s a little like riding a bike,” Bertuzzi said at a press conference announcing his comeback. “There’s going to be a lot of younger guys, fast guys. I respect the league and I respect what they’re doing. I feel healthy enough to play, and I would love to help them win a championship. It’s going to be a fun process.”

Bertuzzi thinks he can provide a veteran presence to his younger teammates.

“I think with me it’s about sharing what I know about hockey, what I’ve been through,” Bertuzzi said.  I’ve been on a lot of teams and in a lot of dressing rooms on great teams with great players.”

Bertuzzi hasn’t played pro hockey since 2015. That season, he was suiting up for the AHL Belleville Senators. He was hoping to convince their parent club, the NHL Ottawa Senators, to give him a shot. However, after two pointless games, Bertuzzi was given his release from a pro tryout.

Continued (with a video of Bertuzzi’s press conference)

Press release: Red Wings hire Michael Leighton as goaltending coach

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS HIRE MICHAEL LEIGHTON AS GOALTENDING COACH

  … 2025 AHL Hall of Fame Inductee Spent Parts of Three Seasons as Goaltending Coach with OHL’s Windsor Spitfires …

DETROIT – Detroit Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman today announced that the team has hired Michael Leighton as Goaltending Coach.

Leighton, 44, joins the organization after spending parts of three seasons as Goaltending Coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires from 2021-24. During his tenure with the Spitfires, Leighton helped the team win back-to-back Western Conference regular-season titles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. The Spitfires also clinched a berth in the 2022 OHL Championship Series, falling to the Hamilton Bulldogs in seven games. Leighton began his coaching career after playing 18 seasons of professional hockey from 2001-19.

Originally selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the sixth round (165th overall) of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, Leighton posted a 37-43-10-4 record with a 2.98 goals-against average, a 0.900 save percentage and four shutouts in 110 regular-season appearances with the Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes. Leighton became the first goaltender in Blackhawks history to earn a shutout in his NHL debut, stopping all 31 shots he faced in a goalless tie on Jan. 8, 2003 vs. Phoenix. He also logged an 8-4 record with a 2.54 goals-against average, a 0.913 save percentage and three shutouts in 16 postseason contests, helping the Flyers reach the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. Leighton tied an NHL record for most shutouts in a single Stanley Cup Playoff series, collecting three shutouts in five starts during the 2010 Eastern Conference Final vs. Montréal.

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings hire Michael Leighton as goaltending coach

James van Riemsdyk tries to emulate Tomas Holmstrom

As the Hockey News’s Michael Whitaker notes, new Red Wings forward James van Riemsdyk is a big fan of a former Detroit mainstay:

A veteran of 1,082 career NHL games, van Riemsdyk has made a living by being an effective net-front presence, a role that he’s not only accustomed to but has grown into over the years.

“I feel like the more I’ve done it, the more natural it seems to become,” he said. “And like I mentioned before, especially down the stretch and into the playoffs, it seems like that’s where you need to go to have the success and score the goals. So I think that’s ultimately why it’s for me, just an attractive place to be on the ice.”

Perhaps the most effective net-front presence in recent NHL history was former Red Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom, who made life a living nightmare for opposition goaltenders by routinely taking up residency at the edge of the crease. 

van Riemsdyk, who scored 16 goals as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets last season, acknowledged that he used to pay close attention to how Holmstrom parked himself at the front of the net. 

“That was a guy over the years I watched and kind of how he went about his craft and pulled different things from him,” van Riemsdyk said.

Continued

Rudy Guimond had to ‘buck the trend’ of attending college as a developmental path

Red Wings prospect goaltender Rudy Guimond had to “decommit” from Yale University this past spring, choosing to stay with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats for another season, and his decision came down to dollars and cents, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff noted:

His stinginess between the posts has turned goaltender Rudy Guimond into a legitimate Detroit Red Wings prospect. But even if he were to be equally stingy with his finances, Guimond just couldn’t figure out a way through which he’d be able to afford to attend Yale.

He went to the Memorial Cup with the Moncton Wildcats in May. And as much as that was an exciting experience, it wasn’t the deciding factor as to why he was opting to decommit from playing NCAA hockey next season at Yale.

“Yeah, I mean, there were other reasons as well,” Guimond explained. “Kind of a financial issue. I wasn’t able to afford what they were offering me. But, I mean, we also saw it as a very great opportunity to play a lot of games (in Moncton), get a lot of reps.”

Ivy League schools like Yale don’t offer full-ride scholarships like the majority of NCAA programs. Student-athletes are required to ante up a portion of the expenses for attending Ivy League institutions. As a Canadian, Guimond’s stipend would be even more expensive since he’s a foreign student.

Continued; Guimond went 16-and-0 in the regular season and 8-and-1 in the playoffs for Moncton, so he’s got a winning legacy to keep heading into this upcoming season.

Trey Augustine wants to ‘go out’ of college hockey as an NCAA champion

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article about Red Wings prospect and Michigan State University goaltender Trey Augustine this morning, noting that Augustine remains at MSU for his junior season for a reason:

“[Our season] obviously ended on a negative note, and there’s still something to prove there,” Augustine, 20, said. “I want to go back and win a national championship. But there’s a lot of good things that happened throughout the year. I got better as a hockey player and as a person and looking to do that again next year.”

The Spartans, with Augustine in net, became the first team to win the Big Ten regular season and tournament in consecutive years. But a 4-3 loss to Cornell in the first round of the NCAA tournament stung.

He considered signing with the Red Wings, which would have launched his pro career with either AHL Grand Rapids or ECHL Toledo. But after speaking with the Red Wings, Michigan State and his agent, Augustine decided it was best to go back to school.

“It was an open conversation and just kind of talking through it, and I think both sides, the MSU guys and my agents and the Red Wings, all kind of wanted me to have all the information possible to make a decision,” Augustine, drafted in the second round in 2023 (41st overall), said.

“I didn’t feel there was a wrong answer. Just what worked best for me and my career. Still need to get stronger on and off the ice. And I think staying in college gives me a little bit of a better opportunity to kind of develop my body and get ready for the professional game.”

Continued (paywall)

Post-free agency gloom and doom from HSJ and the Hockey News’s Proteau

Both the Free Press’s Helene St. James and the Hockey News’s Adam Proteau suggest that the Red Wings’ underwhelming free agency performance has already doomed the team to another season without playoff hockey.

It’s way too early to make that determination in my books, but St. James believes that the Atlantic Division is too stacked for the Wings to make a meaningful move up the standings…

Consider the competition within the Atlantic Division: The Florida Panthers look like they’ll be a playoff lock for years to come. The Toronto Maple Leafs lost Mitch Marner, but are still a playoff team. The Montreal Canadiens have added defenseman Noah Dobson to their rebuild. The Tampa Bay Lightning still have an elite players and Andrei Vasilevskiy in goal. The Ottawa Senators are a team on the rise.

That’s five teams just within the division who project to finish ahead of the Wings in the 2025-26 standings. In the Eastern Conference’s other division, the Metropolitan, the Carolina Hurricanes, Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers all look like they’re capable of making the playoffs.

Things change, of course, and there’s often a team that looks playoff bound only to drop out (like the Rangers last season). But almost everything would have to go right for the Wings to make it: Both Gibson and Cam Talbot stay healthy – in fact, everybody stays healthy – and there’s more growth in the performances of the younger players, like Seider, Kasper, Raymond, Johansson, Söderblom and Berggren.

The harsh reality is that it’s incredibly hard to build a winning team. The Panthers were forged around Aleksander Barkov (second overall pick in 2013) and Aaron Ekblad (first overall pick in 2014) and it wasn’t until 2023 they had enough surrounding pieces to win the Cup. The Wings haven’t drafted that high since their playoff streak ended in 2016, and suffered severe setbacks by the previous administration flubbing on first-round picks in 2015 (Evgeny Svechnikov), 2016 (Dennis Cholowski) and 2018 (Filip Zadina) – all of whom washed out of the organization without any return.

it is a sad outlook for the franchise, but unless Yzerman finds a way to swing a trade for at least one elite player, the playoff drought appears headed for a 10th year.

And the Hockey News’s Adam Proteau feels that the Wings’ personnel is simply deficient as manged by GM Steve Yzerman:

Continue reading Post-free agency gloom and doom from HSJ and the Hockey News’s Proteau