Twitter video via Red Wings Prospects: Max Plante is interviewed at the World Junior Summer Showcase

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter…

Red Wings prospect Max Plante, who isn’t skating but is participating at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Minneapolis this week, spoke with Scott from Ice Time Hockey West for Ice Time College Hockey West in a 6-minute interview:

Fundraising to pay the server bills

I’m not thrilled with having to do this, but I have no choice. I’ve got a combination of server bills ($477) and regular bills ($139) that add up to $616.42, and those bills come due at the end of August. As such, I must go back to banging the fundraising drum.

I realize that this is a small blog with a loyal audience, and that I’ve only been “back” for about seven weeks now, but I’d like to continue blogging as July turns to August and the hockey news cycle slowly builds again…So it’s time to pay the server bill, which I cannot do on my own.

I realize that I’m testing the limits of your generosity here, but that’s survival for you.

So:

Continue reading Fundraising to pay the server bills →

Rudy Guimond hopes to sustain positive momentum in Moncton this season

Red Wings prospect goaltender Rudy Guimond went on a 16-game winning streak after joining the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats last season, and he followed up his regular season unbeaten streak with an 8-and-1 playoff record.

Today, MLive’s Ansar Khan profiles Guimond, who has chosen to return to Moncton for his “overage” 20-year-old season due to both hockey and financial reasons:

Guimond (6-4, 175) went 16–0 with a 1.73 goals-against average, .940 save percentage and three shutouts during the regular season. He was 8-1 in the playoffs, helping the Wildcats win the QMJHL Championship and earn a spot in the Memorial Cup.

“It was really amazing, but it was a testament to the group in front of me, with the D core and almost every guy was drafted,” Guimond said earlier this month at Red Wings development camp. “So, I just had to do my job.”

Guimond didn’t play in the Memorial Cup – the Wildcats went with the more experienced Mathis Rousseau – but he learned from the experience. Moncton lost in the semifinals to London, which won the championship.

“Just how hard it is to win a series like that,” Guimond said. “And obviously in my career, I’ll run into those experiences, and it’ll just make me more prepared for when that comes.”

Guimond will be Moncton’s No. 1 goalie now that Rousseau is done, giving the Red Wings a bigger sample size to evaluate him.

“Pretty incredible statistics when you think about it,” Dan Cleary, Red Wings assistant director of player development, said. “I’m very close with (head coach) Gardiner MacDougall and (general manager) Taylor (MacDougall). Those guys in Moncton did a tremendous job. And their goalie coach (Antoine Samuel), but I think Rudy just got to an environment where he felt comfortable. They embraced him, they helped him, and his game really shines. So, testament to Rudy and the people in Moncton that really saw something.”

Continued (paywall) with an explanation as to how Jimmy Howard’s goal pads influenced Guimond’s developmental path…

9 Red Wings make Daily Faceoff’s Larkin’s ‘fantasy hockey top 300 player rankings’

Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin posted his top 300 fantasy hockey players for the 2025-2026 season, and, remarkably, he added comments about every selection:

36. Lucas Raymond, RW, Red Wings: Hyper-intelligent playmaker, first-line role, 23 years old, still getting better. Checks so many boxes for me. The supporting cast isn’t improved, though, so I envision a stat line similar to last season’s 27-53-80.

66. Alex DeBrincat, LW, Red Wings: At least 27 goals in seven of his eight full seasons, with occasional spikes like last year’s 39. A great early-round pick for goals if you targeted a goalie or defenseman with your first couple selections.

78. Dylan Larkin, C, Red Wings: Four straight years between 30 and 33 goals and between 69 and 79 points. Reaching on young talent is fun, but it’s always smart to load up on these reliable late-prime vets in the early middle rounds.

Continue reading 9 Red Wings make Daily Faceoff’s Larkin’s ‘fantasy hockey top 300 player rankings’ →

Tweet of note: The NHLPA praises Ted Lindsay on his 100th birthday

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As posted last night, NHL.com’s Dave Stubbs wrote a fantastic article about Ted Lindsay to commemorate his 100th birthday. This morning, the NHLPA pays tribute to Lindsay, who was instrumental in the founding of the league’s players association:

Roughly translated: Eduards Tralmaks says he’s receptive to starting this season in the AHL

There’s been some significant concern of late, via some fine reporting from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff, that Red Wings free agent signing Eduards Tralmaks might end up playing in the Czech Extraliga (where he was the leading scorer last season) for HC Energie Karlovy Vary if he doesn’t make the Red Wings’ NHL roster.

Thankfully, Tralmaks gave an interview to Rem Ratnikov on HokejaZinas.com in which the 28-year-old winger (who stands at 6’4″ and 209 pounds) seems receptive to starting the season in the AHL.

There’s an 8-minute video accompanying the interview, but it’s in Latvian–as is the interview itself–so you’ll have to be patient with the rough translation from a hard-to-translate language:

Tralmaks: My style of play doesn’t fit the NHL’s first or second line

Eduards Tralmaks, the forward of the Detroit Red Wings and the Latvian national ice hockey team, and now the National Hockey League (NHL), told Sporta Studija about his preparation for the season.

HokejaZinas.com has already reported that Tralmaks signed a two-way contract with Red Wings for one season.

“I know how to prepare. I’ve been preparing in the Czech Republic for the last two years, I know the training plan. At the beginning or middle of August, I will have to fly to Detroit, where I will be examined and continue to prepare in the presence of their coaches.”

“If it were that easy, I would love to withdraw the one-way contract. After such a season, I’ve been given the opportunity to move back [to North America] and fulfill the goal of the dream I have. At that point, I didn’t really think whether the contract is one-way or two-way, it was just important to me that the team sees in me the potential to play in the NHL. I think I have that with the Red Wings organization,” says Tralmaks.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Eduards Tralmaks says he’s receptive to starting this season in the AHL →

The ‘henchmen’

Former Red Wings players Sean Avery and Chris Chelios appear in the movie Happy Gilmore 2, very briefly, as mafia henchmen:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff explains:

Adam Sandler may be decked out in a Boston Bruins jersey as the star of Happy Gilmore 2, but a couple of former Detroit Red Wings are the ones representing the NHL in the hit film.

Sandler portrays a hockey player turned golfer, but it’s ex-Red Wings Sean Avery and Chris Chelios who are hockey players turned actors on screen.

Well, actors might be a bit of a stretch. Extras would be the more appropriate acting handle to apply to their cameo roles on screen.

Billing in the credits shows them as Henchman #1 (Avery) and Henchman #2 (Chelios). The two former hockey stars feature briefly in a black and white scene, serving as the muscle for a 1950s-era gangster. Chelios appears especially impressive in his role, looking as though they were lifting him straight out of an old George Raft gangster flick. Don’t blink or you might miss it, though.

Continued…

Praising Lucas Raymond’s ‘value contract’

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn posted a column ranking the NHL’s 10 best “value contracts per Luszczyszyn’s metrics as to a player’s value over the remainder of the contract.

Lucas Raymond makes the cut with his $8.1 million contract, which Luszczyszyn says is worth $12.6 million in market value, but Moritz Seider does not make the cut (nor does any defenseman or goaltender):

8. Lucas Raymond

Contract: $8.1M x seven years
Surplus Value: $31M
Positive Value Probability: 92 percent

Lucas Raymond has reached another level. That was clear to close out the 2023-24 season and confirmed the following year with a near point-per-game season. Raymond is the real deal and the Red Wings are about to benefit greatly from it.

That’s because of his $8.1 million cap hit, an amount that will equate to a high-end second-line player during the remainder of Raymond’s deal. It’s a mark he looks likely to blow past. Raymond is already a bona fide top-line talent and looks likely to ascend to stardom as he enters his prime. He’s on track to become a franchise winger, a legit star-level threat and his current price tag is a pittance for the kind of value he should bring. 

Raymond’s deal looked like a win last year before he truly established his current level. Now, it’s a slam dunk. The fruits of Detroit’s rebuild are finally coming together.

Continued (paywall); it’s great to read some due praise for Raymond’s value. There’s no doubt that, with the salary cap rising, Raymond’s $8.075 million cap hit will be a pittance soon.

I’m just a little puzzled as to why all 10 of Luszczyszyn’s deals are forwards. There are some great deals out there for defensemen, like Seider and his $8.55 million cap hit deal.

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