Could John Gibson and Emmitt Finnie surprise fantasy hockey poolies?

The Hockey News’s Jake Tye posted a fantasy hockey preview for the Detroit Red Wings, whose roster’s hard to pin down given Dylan Larkin’s uncertain place within the next GM’s vision for this year’s Red Wings team.

Nonetheless, Tye suggests that Simon Edvinsson is primed for a breakout, and Tye also believes that two Wings should merit candidacy as “sleeper picks”:

Sleeper: John Gibson & Emmitt Finnie

Many goaltenders in recent years have proven that age is just a number, and Gibson is looking to do the same. After a strong first season in Hockeytown, the 33-year-old enters the final year of the eight-year deal he originally signed with Anaheim back in 2018. 

He’ll look to build off that solid season with a chip on his shoulder as he plays for his next contract. With Cam Talbot gone in free agency and Detroit bringing in Daniil Tarasov as a one-year backup, Gibson should have plenty of runway, and he’s a strong bet to outplay his current 140th-overall average draft position, along with other netminders being taken ahead of him like Dustin Wolf, Tristan Jarry, Pyotr Kochetkov and Philadelphia’s tandem of Joseph Woll and Dan Vladar.

Finnie, meanwhile, was one of Detroit’s biggest surprises last season, developing rapidly from a seventh-round pick and AHL grinder into a full-time NHL regular at just 21 years old. The Lethbridge, Alberta native steadily improved his production at every level, earned a spot on Detroit’s opening-night roster, and finished his rookie campaign with 13 goals and 17 assists for 30 points while playing all 82 games. 

With another offseason of development ahead, Finnie has the potential to keep climbing, likely remaining a top-line option alongside Larkin and Raymond, with 45-plus points within reach. Owned in just three percent of Yahoo leagues, he’s an intriguing low-cost, high-reward option to watch on the waiver wire.

Continued; I’m not sure that Finnie will still be on the Wings’ top line, but he’s established himself as someone who drives play as a relentless forechecker, and that gives him a leg up on the competition.

Talking about Red Wings prospect defenseman Larry Keenan

During last year’s hiatus, I kept on getting Google email alerts about Red Wings prospect and UMass defenseman Larry Keenan, a 21-year-old left D who stands at 6’4″ and 205 pounds.

Keenan didn’t overwhelm statistically last season, posting 8 goals and 11 assists for 19 points in 39 games played, but the news stories I read consisted of coaches, players and scouts raving about Keenan’s leadership, clutch play and excellent 2-way abilities.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a profile of Keenan today, describing the big defender as, “Keenan the Most Improved Prospect?” I’m not certain that the question mark is necessary as the 2023 draft pick has become someone whose name is in at least the “He’s going to make pro hockey” conversations, if not discussions as to whether his ceiling is that of a solid 3rd pair NHL defender:

Three Reasons Why Keenan Will Play in the NHL

  1. Possesses a toolbox that will allow him to be a three-zone defenseman in the pro game. He can have impact all over the ice. He has NHL-caliber skating.
  2. His offensive game is improving. He can skate the puck out of his zone and can shoot the puck.
  3. Gets his team out of trouble in the defensive zone. Can play heavy. Can kill plays

What May Hold Him Back

The Red Wings boast a collection of quality young defensemen looking to climb onto the roster. He must continue to improve both offensively and defensively if he wants to compete for playing time against the likes of Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Anton Johansson.

Continued; I agree with Allen’s assessment here. Keenan would raise more eyebrows if he wasn’t a defenseman in the Red Wings’ system, where players like ASP are NHL’ers-in-waiting, and Anton Johansson stands ready to make his pro debut at a rangy 6’4″ and 196 pounds, having earned some “wows” for his physical play both in the SHL with Leksands IF and during his 16 games (8 regular season games and 8 playoff games) with Grand Rapids.

Trying to break into the Red Wings’ corps of defensive prospects on the right-hand side isn’t going to be easy, but I certainly wouldn’t bet against Larry Keenan.

Tweet of note: PuckPedia reports that the Red Wings’ managerial search is narrowing

The dearth of news regarding the Red Wings’ general manager/president of hockey operations search is slowly but surely cracking. Last night, per SI’s Jonathan Bailey, PuckPedia posted the following Tweet:

Two DHN things: Griffins have abundance of roster players; waiting on Paul Woods’ replacement

Of note from Detroit Hockey Now this morning:

  1. According to Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff, the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, should have a stacked roster this upcoming season, even given the likely NHL graduations of players like Carter Mazur, William Wallinder and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard:

The Griffins’ website currently lists 34 players as signed with the club.

That list includes 20 forwards: Carter Bear, Ondrej Becher, Tag Bertuzzi, Kaden Bohlsen, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Cameron Butler, Nate Danielson, Noah Dower Nilsson, Kienan Draper, Sheldon Dries, Dylan James, Jesse Kiiskinen, John Leonard, Carter Mazur, Nolan Moyle, Sutter Muzzatti, Theo Rochette, Dominik Shine, Wilmer Skoog, and Chase Stillman.

Then there are 10 defensemen: Ronnie Attard, Shai Buium, Justice Christensen, Marcus Crawford, Anton Johansson, William Lagesson, Alex Kannok Leipert, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Jacob Truscott, and William Wallinder.

The four goalies are Trey Augustine, Carter Gylander, Jonathan Lemieux, and Michal Postava.

Continued; the AHL has no roster limit for teams, but it’s highly likely that some of the players signed to AHL contracts would be assigned to the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye for playing time.

2. Duff also reports that the Red Wings haven’t replaced radio color commentator Paul Woods yet. With training camp approaching, Duff believes that the Wings will platoon several voices alongside Ken Kal this upcoming season:

Continue reading Two DHN things: Griffins have abundance of roster players; waiting on Paul Woods’ replacement

Free agent signing Theo Rochette’s among 5 prospects deemed ‘important’ over the course of the Red Wings’ prospect tournament

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a column which discusses the Red Wings’ imminent prospect tournament this afternoon. In the subscriber-only article, Allen highlights Nate Danielson, Theo Rochette, Carter Bear, Anton Johansson and Trey Augustine as five players who will serve as focal points as the Wings’ prospects play 3 games in 4 nights next weekend:

Who is Theo Rochette?

This is the 24-year-free agent forward the Red Wings signed out of the Swiss National League. The Red Wings don’t have an impressive history of hitting the lottery with European free agent signings. The organization took some criticism from Eduards Tralmaks because he didn’t believe he received a true chance to earn an NHL uniform.

But it will be new regime making decisions about Rochette. What we know about Rochette: he is a sformer QMJHL player who went undrafted. But scouts were impressed this past season when he put up 22 goals and 21 assists for 43 points in 46 games for Lausanne. He was a 106-point scorer in his final season in the QMJHL.

This was his third season in the Swiss League, and he has improved each season. The issue on Rochette is his smallish physique. He’s 5-10, and not much more than 170 pounds.

Continued (paywall); all four players could really improve their stock over the course of the prospect tournament, which is Allen’s point of emphasis.

Tweet of note via RWP: Red Wings prospect Max Plante named University of Minnesota-Duluth’s captain for 26-27 season

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, Red Wings prospect Max Plante has been named the captain of the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs for the 2026-2027 season:

Roughly translated: Eddie Genborg confirms that he’s staying in Sweden for this upcoming season

Red Wings prospect Eddie Genborg spoke with ST.nu’s Nathalie Vinroth for a paywalled article, and Hockeysverige.se’s Adam Wenborg provides us with a peek behind the paywall…

Genborg: “It feels like I’ve played here for a hundred years”

There will be no season on the other side of the Atlantic for Eddie Genborg. Instead, the 19-year-old World Junior Championship gold-medal-winning hero from last year will stay at home with Timrå all this upcoming season.

“It feels incredibly good to know that I will play here for another year,” he told Sundsvalls Tidning.

There have been reports before that Eddie Genborg will stay in Timrå. The Detroit-drafted forward suffered an injury during the AHL playoffs last season that he has had problems with until recently. This was the reason there was no pre-season training camp on the other side of the Atlantic [in Detroit].

Genborg has been training with the team on the ice for two week,s and is looking forward to a whole season fresh from the start in Timrå IK.

“It feels great to know that I will play here another year. It’s been pretty safe here all along, that’s what I’ve known. Given how well I enjoyed it here, it has been pretty obvious to me all the time,” he says to Sundsvalls Tidning.

Continue reading Roughly translated: Eddie Genborg confirms that he’s staying in Sweden for this upcoming season

Frank Seravalli updates the Red Wings’ mangerial search

Long-time NHL reporter Frank Seravalli has landed with Casino.org, and Seravalli provides an update on the Red Wings’ managerial search this morning:

The Detroit Red Wings have been without a permanent general manager since franchise icon Steve Yzerman was dismissed in mid-July.

Sources say Detroit hoped to have Yzerman’s successor in place by Labor Day. While that target has passed, a final decision could still come soon.

Several candidates have emerged in the search, including Florida Panthers assistant GM Brett Peterson and San Jose Sharks assistant GM Jeff Kealty. Another intriguing name in internal discussions is current Detroit Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg, who previously served as an associate GM with the Chicago Blackhawks.

However, despite initial reports, sources now indicate that Kealty has not actually interviewed for the position, even though Detroit received permission from San Jose to speak with him.

In the meantime, hockey operations continue to manage day-to-day duties as Detroit prepares for training camp. Whoever ultimately takes the helm will immediately inherit a major roster decision: the future of Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin.

Continued; this is a lot better than the nothing we’ve heard from the Red Wings’ organization thus far…

Red Wings prospect Michal Svrcek hopes to be a leader with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires

The Windsor Star’s Jim Parker profiles Red Wings prospect and Windsor Spitfires forward Michal Svrcek this morning.

Svrcek hoped to play for Brynas IF’s SHL team this past season, but instead, he battled through injuries as he skated for Brynas’ J20 team, and, ultimately, Vasteras IK of the Hockeyallsvenskan. He did play for Brynas late in the SHL season and during the playoffs, but only in a limited role…

And as such, he chose to head over to North America to try his luck with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires:

“When I was in (Detroit’s) [rookie] camp, Windsor drafted me and I looked it up and I was close to Windsor,” Svrcek said. “The past is past and I’m just looking forward now. (Windsor) was one of the options. It was the main one to come here and play in such a good junior league is good for me and (my) development. When they wanted me to come here and play here, I started watching the results and I felt like that should be my team last year.”

[Spitfires head coach Greg] Walters is confident Svrcek will be a scorer in the OHL and anticipates him playing in all situations for the club.

“I would say I’m an aggressive player with a lot of energy and a lot of compete level,” Svrcek said. “Good offensive player, overall. That’s why I think they drafted me here. I think I’m the type of player this league likes, this team likes, and I’ll do everything I can to be helpful to the team. I have a couple of friends playing in this league. They said it’s a really offensive league and that suits me good.”

But aside from the skill level, Svrcek has a chance to bring some much-needed experience to a young Windsor roster. Aside from Cole Dubowsky and Shawn Costello, Svrcek is the only 2007-born forward on the roster.

Continue reading Red Wings prospect Michal Svrcek hopes to be a leader with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires

Viktor Arvidsson definitely ‘has to deliver’ as a Red Wings secondary scorer

Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon discusses “one player who has to deliver for every Atlantic Division team,” and he’s not wrong in suggesting that 33-year-old free agent signing Viktor Arvidsson faces a significant amount of pressure to step up and replace Detroit’s losses in the secondary scoring department:

Detroit Red Wings: Viktor Arvidsson

Arvidsson posted 54 points last year for the Bruins, his best total since consecutive 61-point showings for the Nashville Predators in 2016-2017 and 2017-18.

Now, he lands in Detroit on a two-year deal with a Wings club that features all kinds of top-six uncertainty thanks to Dylan Larkin’s trade request and Patrick Kane’s departure as a UFA.

Even in a year that went well for him, Arvidsson missed 13 games due to injury and the 33-year-old hasn’t played 75 games in a season in nearly 10 years. With all the volatility in Detroit, there’s no doubt the Wings need Arvidsson to provide a steady dose of secondary scoring. Without that, Detroit could be in a world of trouble. 

Continued; Arvidsson will have to prove durable and consistent for the Red Wings to succeed, but that’s the truth about players like Marco Kasper, Emmitt Finnie and the rest of the Red Wings’ secondary scorers as well.