Red Wings prospect goaltender Trey Augustine has earned his share of praise from multiple outlets over the course of the past week. This morning, Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis joins the chorus in suggesting that Augustine’s the Red Wings prospect to watch at this weekend’s prospect tournament at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center:

Detroit Red Wings: Trey Augustine, G

Event: NHL Prospect Tournament in Detroit, Sept. 12-15

Augustine is one of the top goaltending prospects in the world, and he’ll finally get to wear the red and white for the first time. The 21-year-old is coming off a strong three-year run with Michigan State, and while he failed to win a national title, he did rack up a career record of 66-25-7 with nine shutouts and a .922 save percentage in 99 games. He was a proven winner at the junior level and is easily one of the most technically sound goalies around, which helped build up the hype. Augustine tends to play better when he’s busier, and he has the lightning-quick reflexes teams absolutely crave – and never seems to slow down during a game. Augustine will have the opportunity to steal starts in the AHL before pushing for the long-time starter gig in Detroit. He’s definitely the best goaltender at any one of these prospect events, too.

Continued; again, it’s going to be very difficult to assess Augustine’s readiness for pro hockey over the course of 2 starts in 4 days at the prospect tournament. Training camp and an exhibition season game may serve as a better assessment of “where he’s at”…

And we won’t really know the level at which he’s capable of playing until he splits time with Michal Postava with the Grand Rapids Griffins this fall and winter. Augustine has a great resume, but nobody should panic if he struggles at the prospect tournament.

Sportsnet’s Michael Amato discusses four “Burning Questions” ahead of NHL training camps opening next Wednesday and Thursday, and yes, the Red Wings’ managerial search is among his topics:

Will Red Wings have a general manager in place?

It’s coming up on two months since Steve Yzerman was relieved of his duties, and the Detroit Red Wings still haven’t found his replacement. 

The Red Wings have plenty of business to conduct, and things are getting to a critical juncture. For instance, standout defenceman Simon Edvinsson is a restricted free agent and needs a new contract imminently. Edvinsson has said he plans to participate in training camp even without a deal, though he can’t suit up on opening night without one. Alex DeBrincat also recently expressed his willingness to sign an extension in Detroit after a career season, so that needs to be taken care of as well. 

Montreal Canadiens fans have been abuzz with discussions as to how their team can convince Dylan Larkin to join their team over the past 10 days, but I’ve more or less ignored the rumors as they’re a waste of ink. This morning, Bleacher Report’s Lyle Richardson agrees that the rumor “is BS“:

Dylan Larkin to the Montréal Canadiens

Since his trade request was reported in early June, Dylan Larkin has been a fixture in the offseason rumor mill. The 30-year-old Detroit Red Wings center sits at No. 2 on our NHL Trade Targets Big Board for September 2026. His request is currently in limbo as the Red Wings search for a new general manager.

Larkin is signed through 2030-31 with an average annual value of $8.7 million. He has a full no-movement clause, but will waive it for the Minnesota Wild, Florida Panthers, and Vegas Golden Knights. The Dallas Stars are also rumored as a possible landing spot.

However, Larkin’s preferred destinations lack the salary cap space and tradeable assets to acquire him. Some observers suggest he must widen his list if he hopes to be traded before the regular season begins, assuming the Red Wings have hired a new GM by then.

On Aug. 28, NHL Network’s Mike Johnson suggested the Montréal Canadiens as a trade destination if Larkin wants to play for a Stanley Cup contender. He noted that the Canadiens are loaded with young talent to be a contender for several years. They can draw on some of it to make a tempting offer to the Red Wings.

BS Meter: It’s BS

Larkin’s list of landing spots is all American-based teams. He’s unlikely to join the Canadiens or any other Canadian franchises. If he has to widen his trade list, it probably won’t include clubs north of the border.

Continued; I don’t know whether Larkin would consider a move to a Canadian team , or Montreal at all, but we do know that he hasn’t expanded his list (unless you count the Dallas Stars), and no one expects Larkin to expand his list any time soon.

So the impasse continues.

The Detroit Red Wings are holding a 4-team prospect tournament between tomorrow and next Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center, hosting prospects from the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins at LCA for a 3-game round robin-formatted set of games.

Ahead of the tournament, MLive’s Ansar Khan offers a list of 6 prospects to watch at the event, including the following:

Nate Danielson: He’s the player in this tournament with the best chance of earning an NHL roster spot this season after appearing in 28 games with the Red Wings in 2025-26 (two goals, five assists). The ninth overall pick from 2023 was drafted as a two-way center but needs to develop more offensively. He suffered a season-ending injury with the Griffins in February, after putting up three goals and 15 points in 18 games.

Dylan James: Left wing drafted in the second round in 2022 (40^th overall) is coming off his most productive season as a senior at North Dakota (21 goals, 32 points in 40 games). Described as a good-skating, 200-foot player, he scored a pair of goals in two games with the Griffins at the end of last season.

Anton Johansson: An intriguing, under-the-radar, good-sized (6-4, 198), two-way defense prospect who’s highly thought of in the organization. The former fourth-round pick (104^th overall in 2022) made a favorable impression during a brief stint late last season with the Griffins, picking up five assists in 11 regular season games and one assist in three playoff games after playing for Leksands in the Swedish Hockey League.

Sutter Mazzatti: A 6-6, 241-pound center the Red Wings acquired this summer from Nashville for future considerations. Selected in the fifth round un 2023 (123^rd overall), he will start his pro career in Grand Rapids after appearing in 37 games with Notre Dame as a senior (13 goals, 32 points).

Continued (paywall); every team’s roster is stacked with star prospects and AHL talents this weekend, so it should be interesting to watch the tournament if you’re able (as the streaming area will be limited to Michigan and Toledo, Ohio).

The Hockey News’s Michael Whitaker adds a few new quips from Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat, as delivered during the NHL’s Player Media Tour in Las Vegas this week:

“I think we have a majority of our team coming back,” DeBrincat said at the NHL/NHLPA North American Player Media Tour. “Obviously Kaner is gone, but we got a couple of additions that will really help us out. Going into the year, we’re looking essentially the same as last year.”

The Red Wings signed Viktor Arvidsson, who scored 25 goals with the Boston Bruins last season, on the opening day of free agency. They also acquired hard-nosed forward Keegan Kolesar and signed backup goaltender Daniil Tarasov. 

Last season, Detroit lost what was a comfortable points cushion entering the month of March for the third consecutive year; they’re now mired in the NHL’s longest active postseason drought.

For DeBrincat, the new campaign represents a chance to correct the mistakes that have plagued them during critical times in previous seasons. 

“I think it’s a fresh start, we can get our mindset and get confident again and learn from our mistakes last year, I think that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “We made too many mistakes late in the season, and it ended up costing us. But the first 60-75 percent of the season was really good; we were right at the top, but we just fell off a cliff. Try and get back that confident side of the game and hopefully not go through that same lull.”

Continued with a bit of Patrick Kane talk…

And it’s hard to deny from an outside perspective that the Wings aren’t quite the same team without #88.

I am more optimistic than most about Detroit’s ability to get its shit together and battle for a Wild Card spot, but I’m not so blind a partisan as to suggest that it’s going to be easy for the team to rise above “mediocre” and in to playoff-worthy form.

The Detroit Red Wings’ 2026 prospect tournament takes place at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center starting on Saturday, with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins and Dallas Stars battling the Red Wings as the teams play 3 games over the course of Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday…

And the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan focuses on a trio of Wings prospects as he previews the round robin tournament:

Each of the teams will play three games. The Wings will face Dallas Saturday, Sept. 12 at 6:30 p.m.; Pittsburgh Sunday at 7 p.m., and Columbus to end the tournament Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Thirteen of the 24 players on the Wings’ roster are former Wings’ draft picks, including two first-round picks (Nate Danielson, Carter Bear), and second-round picks (Trey Augustine, Dylan James).

Danielson, Bear and Augustine are intriguing storylines as the Wings’ training camp Thursday.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen discusses Red Wings prospect and Windsor Spitfires forward Michal Svrcek today, noting that the 19-year-old winger from Slovakia has made the jump from Europe to the OHL to play for Windsor (after struggling to earn playing time with Brynas IF of the SHL).

Svrcek’s earning hype from the Spitfires, who selected him a year ago in the CHL Import Draft, but the 19-year-old stands at stocky 5’11” and 190 pounds (per EliteProspects), and there are some concerns that his size may be an issue:

Three Reasons Why Svrcek Will Play in the NHL

1. High hockey IQ, understands how the game should be played. Strong on the forecheck.
2. Windsor coach Greg Walters says Svrcek boasts “a huge engine.” He can skate, owns breakaway speed
3. Comes with a strong work ethic and possesses a strong desire to improve his game.

What May Hold Him Back

He isn’t the biggest player on Detroit’s prospect list. Can he play his aggressive style against much bigger opponents? And will his offensive prowess translate to pro hockey? Those are questions that have not been answered yet.

Continued

MLive’s Ansar Khan makes a contribution to the complicated news stories surrounding the Red Wings’ managerial search process one week out from the start of training camp:

Now, NHL insiders are questioning the process. Frank Seravalli, on the Fan Morning Show in Toronto, said:

“Are they going to get a GM? Yes. I don’t have the slightest clue who this person’s going to be based on the calls that I’ve made. The names that have been reported and connected to this search, some of them haven’t even gotten interviewed. I really don’t know what’s happening there.”

He added: “I’m not saying they’re bumbling it, I’m just saying we’re none the wiser here. They had a goal of getting a general manager in place by Labor Day. Steve Yzerman, I was told, was informed he was relieved of his duties on July 2. It’s Sept. 9. I’ve never seen anything like this in terms of how long this has gone on.”

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.ca said something similar Thursday on his 32 thoughts podcast: “One of the things out there is that Detroit has asked for permission from some people and hasn’t interviewed them,” Friedman said.

Some inside the organization also describe this entire process as bizarre and said they have no idea what is happening.

Continued (paywall)

The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau weighs in regarding the Red Wings’ managerial search this morning, noting Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg’s withdrawing of his name from the search, and offering some pointed criticism of the Wings as a franchise:

For starters, there are internal candidates — Detroit’s assistant GMs and former NHLers Kris Draper (director of amateur scouting) and Shawn Horcoff (GM of the AHL affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins). Both Draper and Horcoff know the ins and outs of the organization, and the Red Wings need their next GM to be heavily involved with identifying young talent as the franchise moves into a new era. 

But according to [Sportsnet’s Elliotte] Friedman, a prominent external candidate is Andrew Thomas, an assistant GM with the Tigers.

“I don’t know that Andrew Thomas is going to be ready for this now, but I’ve heard that they think very highly of him,” Friedman said in an episode of his 32 Thoughts podcast in August. “That’s a name to remember, although I’m not convinced the opportunity is going to be his now.”

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas discuss many topics as “32 Thoughts” returns from its summer break today, and at the 33:22 mark, Friedman discusses the Detroit Red Wings’ GM search.

According to Friedman…

• The Simon Edvinsson contract situation in Detroit, earlier in the summer, could have been a short-term contract, but the Zeev Buium contract changed the calculus (Edvinsson’s agents are J.P. Barry in the U.S. and Peter Werner in Sweden);
• In terms of finding a GM, Friedman says that Detroit has asked for permission from other NHL teams to interview “some people” around the NHL, but hasn’t actually interviewed them as of yet, and Friedman will work on getting a better handle as to whether the Wings have interviewed said candidates.

In other words, the Zeev Buium contract means that Simon Edvinsson’s contract price has gone up, and the Wings’ GM search certainly sounds to be stuck in neutral.

Update: Here’s the podcast in YouTube form: