Press release: Red Wings recall Sheldon Dries, place Andrew Copp on IR

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS RECALL SHELDON DRIES FROM GRAND RAPIDS

  … Detroit Places Andrew Copp on Injured Reserve …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today recalled center Sheldon Dries from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Additionally, the Red Wings have placed center Andrew Copp on injured reserve.

Dries, 30, has skated in 48 games with the Griffins during the 2024-25 season and ranks among the team leaders with 19 goals (1st), 27 points (4th), a plus-six rating (4th), 29 penalty minutes (T6th), three power play goals (T4th), six power play points (T5th), one shorthanded goal (T3rd), six game-winning goals (1st) and 108 shots (T3rd). The 5-foot-9, 178-pound forward spent the entire 2023-24 campaign with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks and placed among the team leaders with 29 goals (1st), 23 assists (7th), 52 points (T3rd), a plus-six rating (5th), 45 penalty minutes (6th), six power play goals (T2nd), 16 power play points (3rd), four shorthanded goals (1st), two game-winning goals (T7th) and 167 shots (1st) in 55 games. Dries also recorded three points (1-2-3) in six Calder Cup Playoff games with Abbotsford. Originally signed by the AHL’s Texas Stars as a free agent on May 10, 2017, Dries has tallied 26 points (16-10-26) and 59 penalty minutes in 122 NHL games with the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks since 2018-19. Dries has also compiled 231 points (132-99-231), a plus-32 rating and 251 penalty minutes in 322 AHL games with the Stars, Colorado Eagles, Canucks and Griffins.

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings recall Sheldon Dries, place Andrew Copp on IR

ESPN talks trade deadline plans for the Red Wings

ESPN’s Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton posted an Insider-only article which discusses the trade deadline plans which they believe each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams should follow, and here’s what they have to say about the Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings

Deadline status: Optimistic adders
Cap space: $7.84 million
Players, picks in play: Amadeus Lombardi, Alex Lyon, Carter Mazur, Jeff Petry, Vladimir Tarasenko

Detroit has pushed its way into the playoff picture this season, and GM Steve Yzerman would be well-served in helping the team stay there by making a few key additions at the deadline — namely, another center and a defenseman.

Yzerman could target players on expiring contracts such as Jake Evans, or even guys with some remaining term like Ryan Strome or Connor Murphy. Regardless of which players Yzerman brings on board, his strategy should be to see the Red Wings get better by March 7 and take advantage of their impressive surge.

Detroit has waited a long time to be in this position again, and it would behoove Yzerman to give his players confidence in their ability to stay in the hunt through April.

Continued (paywall); Mazur is practically a unicorn in terms of his combination of grit and scoring ability, so I don’t see the Wings moving him, or Lyon, frankly. I know that not everyone is an untouchable player, but I just wouldn’t mess with those two…

And I guess that the Wings are probably buyers on the secondary market, but that’s okay. Again, rentals aren’t a great idea in terms of spending assets–instead, as Yzerman himself has suggested, adding players that will be part of the long-term plan would be much more useful.

HSJ in the morning: Wings learning the hard way that 3rd period poise matters

The Detroit Red Wings split their weekend, winning a 5-4 OT decision over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, but dropping a 4-3 OT decision the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.

Those results earned the Red Wings 3 points out of 4 this past weekend, but the Free Press’s Helene St. James notes that the Red Wings were particularly disappointed with having surrendered a pair of 3rd period leads–and 3 goals in total–due to opposition goals scored with their goaltenders sitting on the bench:

“It’s pretty evident we have to do a better job,” coach Todd McLellan said. “All six guys — the three forwards, the two defensemen and the goaltender — have to do a better job 6-on-5. It’s not something you’re able to work on a lot. So maybe we’ll spend a little more time on that.”

Patrick Kane saved the day against the Anaheim Ducks when he scored in overtime Sunday, delivering a 5-4 victory. The Wings were up by two goals as late as 17:44 of the third period. The Ducks had pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker with about four minutes to play, and the Wings learned they have to handle that better.

“I think just continue playing the way we’re supposed to,” Kane said. “It seems we get a little bit of trouble when we sit back a little bit. But we had plenty of chances to make it 5-2. So maybe that’s something we can look at — bearing down on those opportunities. We can be a little bit harder in those 5-on-6 situations with the goalie pulled, whether it’s rimming it hard or winning the battle to get the puck out.  It’s happened two games in a row, but we can learn from it and I think we’ll definitely be better in those situations going forward.”

…

“We just have to find a way to eliminate those empty-net chances,” Moritz Seider said. “Just a little more composure, try to get the puck out as quick as possible, be in the shooting lanes at all times. We will definitely learn, analyze and get better. “

It’s a hard thing to practice: No matter what, the intensity just isn’t the same in a scrimmage. Video can help, instruction can help — and the best teacher of all is the experience gained from this weekend: The Wings need more poise, or as McLellan put it: “Don’t get overexcited.”

Coach McLellan made a simple and succinct conclusion regarding the Red Wings’ inability to earn the kinds of goals that put opponents away for good–and the Wings’ ability to surrender the kinds of goals that earn opponents points:

“Both games we couldn’t find the dagger,” McLellan said. “We threw a lot of darts but we couldn’t hit the target. We have work to do.”

Continued; learning is a painful process in the NHL, and most teams learn by making mistakes.

The Wings got away with “learning experiences” on Saturday and Sunday while still accumulating essential points, but the regular season is going to get harder from here on out, so they can’t play as fast and loose as they have over the past two games.

An early Red Wings-Wild preview

The Associated Press posted an early game preview of the Red Wings’ rematch with the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday:

BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Red Wings visit the Minnesota Wild after the Red Wings took down the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 in overtime.

Minnesota has a 34-19-4 record overall and a 13-12-1 record in home games. The Wild are 14-5-2 in games they score at least one power-play goal.

Detroit has a 29-22-6 record overall and a 13-10-3 record on the road. The Red Wings have a 5-7-3 record in games they serve more penalty minutes than their opponents.

The teams play Tuesday for the second time this season. The Wild won 4-3 in overtime in the previous meeting.

TOP PERFORMERS: Marco Rossi has 20 goals and 29 assists for the Wild. Marcus Foligno has five goals and two assists over the last 10 games.

Alex DeBrincat has 26 goals and 23 assists for the Red Wings. Dylan Larkin has scored four goals with six assists over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Wild: 6-4-0, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.4 assists, 3.9 penalties and 8.4 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game.

Red Wings: 8-1-1, averaging 3.4 goals, 5.6 assists, 2.5 penalties and 5.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.6 goals per game.

Red Wings-Ducks wrap-up: without Rasmussen (and Copp), Detroit persists over Anaheim, but there’s work to be done

The Detroit Red Wings took a 5-4 OT decision over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night, losing Michael Rasmussen in the process due to a dirty elbow from Trevor Zegras, and losing a 4-1 lead over the course of the 2nd and 3rd periods, surrendering a point to the Ducks as well.

Detroit splits the season series with Anaheim 1-and-1, with Anaheim taking 3 points out of the 2 games.

Detroit ends up going 1-0-and-1 on the weekend, taking 3 out of 4 points thanks to two overtime games, including Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Minnesota–whom the Wings play on Tuesday in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Patrick Kane scored a glorious breakaway goal to end the affair…

But there was bad news after the game, too:

We’ll start with the injury news, per MLive’s Ansar Khan…

Continue reading Red Wings-Ducks wrap-up: without Rasmussen (and Copp), Detroit persists over Anaheim, but there’s work to be done

Red Wings-Ducks quick take: Detroit wins in OT despite itself

The Detroit Red Wings faced a streaking Anaheim Ducks team on Sunday evening, hoping to snap Anaheim’s 4-game winning streak.

The Red Wings were able to accomplish their task, but only just, defeating Anaheim 5-4 in overtime.

The Wings built up a 3-0 lead on goals by Kasper, DeBrincat (PPG) and Kane (PPG) in the first 5:06, and after Ryan Strome made it 3-1, Compher made it 4-1 on a 3rd PPG early in the 2nd period…

But Anaheim, which took its pound of flesh in dirty hits to Michael Rasmussen (who left the game thanks to an elbow by Trevor Zegras) and Radko Gudas, among others, the Ducks rallied with one 2nd period and 2 3rd period goals, by Gauthier, Zellweger, and Gauthier again, with 55 seconds remaining, forcing OT.

Thankfully, Jackson Lacombe ripped a puck wide of a wide open net in OT, and Marco Kasper fed Patrick Kane, who charged in alone and five-holed Lukas Dostal to make it 5-4 at 4:00 of overtime.

Detroit goes 1-and-1 on the weekend and takes 3 of 4 points, with 3 more games to be played over the course of the next 6 days.

Continue reading Red Wings-Ducks quick take: Detroit wins in OT despite itself

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From Michigan State University:

Kane still wants to play in the 2026 Olympics

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an afternoon notebook today, discussing Patrick Kane’s desire to play in the 2026 Olympics despite missing the Four Nations Face-Off:

“This year I didn’t play well enough to be picked for the team,” Kane said. “So it’s not like I’m blaming anyone or anything besides myself.”

At the time [the roster was picked] in December, that was generally true. But as the Wings begin their final push to the end of the regular season, Kane, 36, is looking like his usual self, the one nearing 500 career goals (483 entering Sunday) and who has 1,316 points.

Kane had one assist in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota, giving him 20 on the season. That’s the 18th consecutive season Kane has had at least 20 assists. Further, Kane has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his last 16 games, dating to Dec. 29.

The slow start is becoming an afterthought. And, likely, Kane is beginning to make a case for the next international competition next year, the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

“It’s tough,” Kane said of not being part of the Team USA’s 4 Nations team. “You definitely want to be there, and you feel like you’re missing out on some great hockey and great opportunity, too. Personally, you start looking back, I mean we (NHL players) missed nine years of (international competition), right? So, those first four, five, or six years of those nine years were some of the best hockey I’ve played in my life, so obviously you think about those opportunities that were missed, whether it was the (2018, 2022) Olympics or not having the World Cup.”

Continued; it would be good to see Kane stick around for the sake of playing in the Olympics…

Two more Red Wings-Ducks previews

I posted a preview ahead of tonight’s game between the Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks (6 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Extra/Victory+/KCOP-13/97.1 FM), and this afternoon, the Ducks and Red Wings’ respective websites posted previews as well.

Here’s what AnaheimDucks.com has to say about tonight’s game:

Anaheim hits the midway point of a three-game road trip looking to replicate a strong performance Saturday night in Boston, a 3-2 overtime victory clinched by Leo Carlsson’s game-winning goal.

“I thought we were really good in the first period, on our toes and on the puck a lot,” head coach Greg Cronin said. “Second period turned into a special teams game…In the third period it was a typical kind of a playoff game. You have to eliminate any scoring chances against and keep the puck in their zone. For the most part, we did a good job in that department.”

Emerging from the 4 Nations Face-Off break with a fourth consecutive win, and the club’s seventh in the last eight games, the Ducks are now 25-24-7 on the season, just seven points back of a Western Conference Wild Card position.

“We’ve had that confidence since before Christmas time,” Cronin said, referencing wins over Winnipeg, Edmonton and New Jersey in December. “Those are games I call benchmark games, you know you can compete with anyone in the league. Now we just need to keep finding ways to get better as a group.”

The preview continues, discussing goaltender John Gibson’s injury, and Lukas Dostal’s status as a viable back-up goalie…

And DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills discusses the redemptive quality of today’s game, given that the Wings lost to Minnesota yesterday at this time:

Continue reading Two more Red Wings-Ducks previews

Quickie Red Wings-Ducks preview, rematch version: Wings hope to slow down streaking Ducks

The 28-22-and-6 Detroit Red Wings host the 25-24-and-6 Anaheim Ducks this evening (6 PM start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit Extra/Victory+/KCOP-13/97.1 FM), with the Wings having lost 6-4 to Anaheim way back on November 15th.

As the Ducks make their own playoff push, the Red Wings find themselves in an incredibly tight battle for Wild Card positioning in the Eastern Conference:

On Saturday night, the Anaheim Ducks won a 3-2 overtime decision over the Boston Bruins, despite blowing a 2-0 lead, and Anaheim has won 4 straight games and 7 of their last 8, so they’re no pushover–but they lost starting goaltender John Gibson to an injury on Saturday, as the Associated Press reports:

Continue reading Quickie Red Wings-Ducks preview, rematch version: Wings hope to slow down streaking Ducks