Shapiro on the Red Wings’ GM search, or the lack thereof

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EliteProspects/DLLS Stars/Shap Shots’ Sean Shapiro discusses the potential fit between Dallas Stars assistant GM Scott White and the Red Wings this morning, but Shapiro’s backgrounder on “how we found ourselves here” is almost as pertinent:

The Red Wings have also hired a consulting group ZRG Partners, to run the GM search, and that search has, at some point, involved interviewing current Detroit Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg, who took his name out of the running for the NHL job last week.

We also know the Red Wings/ZRG Partners have asked other NHL teams for permission to interview people, but we don’t know exactly who or how many people they have officially interviewed.

Stars assistant general manager Scott White, who has been mentioned as a candidate for the job, has been in Detroit this weekend for the NHL prospects tournament, which leads to some curiosity on whether he’ll get Yzerman’s old post at some point.

Those are facts, as I understand them at this point. It’s a limited list of facts, however, because Red Wings ownership, particularly Chris Ilitch, have effectively hidden from the media or answering public questions for a long, long time.

All of that being said, I figured it’s probably a good idea to lay out things I’ve learned and been able to establish this when it comes to the Red Wings, Scott White, and his potential candidacy.

Continued (paywall)…

Tweet of note: The clock’s ticking on a major CBA change

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The Athletic and TSN’s Chris Johnston notes that the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement changes its rules regarding the maximum length of contracts to which NHL teams may sign their own players tomorrow. NHL teams will only be able to ink their own players to 7-year contracts instead of 8-year deals.

This rule would apply to re-signing Simon Edvinsson, as well as extending Alex DeBrincat and Marco Kasper:

Red Wings prospect Charlie Forslund loaned to Almtuna of the Swedish Allsvenskan

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Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, Red Wings prospect Charlie Forslund attempted to crack Brynas IF’s SHL men’s team this season, but the 6’4,” 218-pound winger has been loaned out to Almtuna IS of the Swedish Allsvenskan for the present moment:

Or, in English…

Duo loaned out to Almtuna

Brynäs IF has reached an agreement with the HockeyAllsvenskan team Almtuna IS regarding a loan deal for Leo Sundqvist and Charlie Forslund.

Theo Rochette among the Red Wings’ most intriguing prospects

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The Athletic’s Max Bultman offers several thoughts regarding the Red Wings’ 2026 prospect tournament this morning, discussing Carter Bear’s impressive form, Theo Rochette’s North American return, Nate Danielson, Trey Augustine, Anton Johansson and draft picks Myles Brosnan and Noah Dower-Nilsson:

1. If Bear was the standout of game one, Rochette probably deserved that title for Sunday’s game. Beyond that first goal, he created multiple rush chances with takeaways, ran the left flank on the power play and showed a nice blend of skill and skating. He scored Saturday too, notching the game-tying goal with a nice move to the net from below the goal line.

And really, Rochette should be a standout. While he’s a new name to Red Wings fans, Rochette is a 24-year-old center the Red Wings signed out of Switzerland this summer after finishing eighth in the NL with 43 points in 46 games last season. He was good enough to make Switzerland’s World Championship team in the spring, and thus certainly should be expected to look a cut above the field at an event like this.

Continue reading Theo Rochette among the Red Wings’ most intriguing prospects →

Jesse Kiiskinen offers offensive ‘pop’ for the Red Wings, Grand Rapids Griffins

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Detroit Hockey Now’s Max Smith discusses Red Wings prospect Jesse Kiiskinen this morning, arguing that Kiiskinen brings a scoring touch to a slightly diminished Grand Rapids Griffins team:

While Kiiskinen doesn’t appear to be in line quite yet for a spot on the Red Wings roster, the young Finn proved that his 2024-25 season playing at just under a point-per-game pace (14 goals, 30 assists in 46 games) wasn’t a fluke. The 197-pound winger upped his goal-scoring totals last year to 17, though his total points dropped to 28.

However, Kiiskinen still finished in the top three of his team for offensive production and spotted three more points on HPK’s six-game playoff run. The young Finn’s production has mostly come from his ability to shoot hard and fast from the mid-range, but last night’s goal was emblematic of the effort and energy that Kiiskinen brings.

With smaller North American ice, he will get plenty of opportunities to throw his body around and mix things up with opponents in traffic. The Red Wings have plenty of players who play with that kind of energy, but not many combine that energy with the extra size and seeming durability to back it up for a full season.

Detroit’s offseason deemed the ‘most bizarre’ by The Athetic’s McIndoe

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The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe discusses teams which had the “most bizarre” offseasons in the Eastern Conference this morning, with the Detroit Red Wings taking the title:

Detroit Red Wings

The offseason so far: The summer was dominated by the Dylan Larkin saga, as the team’s (then) captain decided he wanted out, shooting him to the top of the offseason trade board and making him public enemy number one for the vast majority of Wings fans. That was especially true once we found out he intended to use his no-trade clause to narrow his list of potential destinations down to just a reported three.

The response from around the hockey world was nearly unanimous: Hold the line, Steve Yzerman!

Uh, Steve? You still there, Steve?

But their strangest story was: Ditching Yzerman as GM, which is something a lot of us figured they’d never have the courage to do. (Even if it was framed as a promotion to senior advisor or whatever.)

But what made this situation even weirder is the timing. The move didn’t come after the season ended, or even after some sort of multi-week organizational review. Instead, the Wings waited until mid-July to drop the bomb. And they somehow still haven’t hired a replacement.

Bizarro-meter ranking: 9.4/10. And after all that, Larkin will report to camp after all, but will be stripped of the captaincy. Quite the way to cap off the league’s weirdest offseason. Congratulations on winning something for the first time in a decade, Wings fans.

Continued (paywall)

HSJ in the morning: Regarding Dylan Larkin’s situation

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The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses 3 topics of note during training camp including the Red Wings’ managerial search, Dylan Larkin’s future and re-signing Simon Edvinsson:

Dylan Larkin trade request to address

Larkin said Friday will report to camp (to hold out would mean he would not be paid), simultaneously with the Wings announcing Larkin has been stripped of the captaincy. So many more questions remain for Larkin to address, and the prudent thing would be to do so on opening day of camp, rather than let it linger.

Among the questions: What pushed him, shortly after the season ended in mid-April, to request a trade? Was it spurred by missing the playoffs again, or had it been simmering since winning the gold medal with his fellow USA teammates at the 2026 Milano Olympics? (Fellow USA teammate Brady Tkachuk was traded from the Ottawa Senators to Florida Panthers in June, and fellow USA teammate and Michigander Connor Hellebuyck has asked out of Winnipeg.)

Continue reading HSJ in the morning: Regarding Dylan Larkin’s situation →

Red Wings-Penguins prospect tournament wrap-up: Pens’ penalty-kill, Wings’ mistakes mar Detroit’s net-front drive, Rochette’s display of skill

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The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects dropped a 4-3 decision to the penalty-killing Pittsburgh Penguins’ prospects on Sunday evening, dropping the Wings’ record to 1-and-1 (Detroit defeated Dallas’ prospects 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday night).

The Red Wings, Penguins, Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets will take Monday off, and the prospect tournament will conclude with a game between the Wings and Blue Jackets on Tuesday at 2 PM EDT (to be streamed on DetroitRedWings.com).

On Sunday night, the Red Wings opened the scoring only 23 seconds into the 1st period as Theo Rochette raced in and roofed a Carter Bear set-up over Penguins goaltender Xavier Wendt, and after the Penguins quickly tied the game, Jacob Truscott blasted a slapper off Kienan Draper’s pants to make it 2-1, a lead that stood up for the remainder of the 1st period…

But the wheels began to come off the Red Wings’ machine in the 2nd period. First, Tomas Galvas scored to tie the game 2-2 with a highlight reel marker…

And then Brayden Edwards leaned into a power play one-timer that beat Michal Orsulak to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead at 12:23 of the 2nd period.

Detroit would tie the game 3-3 on an Adam Levac goal at 14:16, but the game devolved into a series of power plays and penalty-kills for the duration of the 2nd and 3rd periods…

And Kienan Draper would suffer the indignity of wearing goat horns as Pittsburgh’s Jordan Charron sent a centering pass of Draper’s skate and through Orsulak’s legs early in the 3rd, and while the Red Wings received power play after power play, the Penguins ended up killing 7 of 8 Detroit opportunities on the evening.

Continue reading Red Wings-Penguins prospect tournament wrap-up: Pens’ penalty-kill, Wings’ mistakes mar Detroit’s net-front drive, Rochette’s display of skill →

Red Wings-Penguins prospect tournament Tweetcap: Detroit’s prospects lose 4-3 to Pittsburgh’s penalty-killers

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The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects battled the Pittsburgh Penguins’ prospects on Sunday night at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center, with both teams playing in their second of three games at the Red Wings’ 2026 Prospect Tournament.

Detroit would ultimately lose a 4-3 decision to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ prospects thanks to some spectacular penalty-killing from the Pens in a penalty-filled game, and Pittsburgh rallied from a 2-1 deficit and 3-3 tie thanks to a terribly unlucky “own goal” in which Kienan Draper accidentally redirected a Jordan Charron shot through Wings goaltender Michal Orsulak’s legs.

It was a frustrating game for the Wings’ prospects, who started out on fire, but faded down the stretch as the Penguins’ PK sapped Detroit’s momentum.

PREGAME: The Red Wings dressed the following lineup, with no Nate Danielson or Anton Johansson on the roster this evening, and Orsulak starting in goal:

Continue reading Red Wings-Penguins prospect tournament Tweetcap: Detroit’s prospects lose 4-3 to Pittsburgh’s penalty-killers →

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