Howdy, gang. It’s been a minute since you’ve heard from us. We’re creeping into the “no news” zone of the NHL offseason. Hell, we’re probably already there at this point. Let’s get caught up with what happened recently.
The 2025-2026 NHL regular season was unveiled last week. It all gets started Thursday, October 9 at Little Caesars Arena against Montreal. It’s going to be a bit of a gauntlet for Detroit to start the season. The Wings will open against Montreal, Toronto (back-to-back), Florida, Tampa, and Edmonton. We’ll get one of the west coast swings out of the way early, between October 30 and November 4. All we can do is hope that west coast trip didn’t go like the first one did last season! HA!! The final two games are against Tampa and Florida, so I’m REALLY HOPING our playoff chances don’t come down to the wire.. But I won’t hold my breath.
Red Wings top 2025 pick Carter Bear has signed his three-year entry-level contract. Bear will return to the CHL this upcoming season looking to bounce back after going down with an achilles injury in March. The ceiling is high for this young man, and where he goes from here will hinge on the next couple of years of development. Carter is a really exciting prospect. If he hits, it would be a massive boon for the Red Wings franchise.
Mentioning just for fun, the Daily Faceoff has its ranking for Detroit’s top-10 prospects. Here it is:
- Axel Sandin-Pellikka (D)
- Trey Augustine (G)
- Sebastian Cossa (G)
- Carter Bear (LW)
- Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (RW)
- Nate Danielson (C)
- Dmitri Buchelnikov (LW)
- Carter Mazur (LW)
- William Wallinder (D)
- Amadeus Lombardi (C)
Not much to hate about that top 10 at all. I do feel like Buchelnikov is slept on, and should be a top-5 prospect in this system, but his KHL status makes it a little more difficult I guess. It’s awesome that we have two young goalies that are in such a position right now. Augustine will spend one more year at MSU before making the jump to Detroit’s system (assuming he signs his ELC), and Sebastian Cossa is in line to take Cam Talbot’s spot after his time with the Red Wings is up. Couldn’t tell you the last time we had two big-name goalie prospects like this. Certainly exciting, and even if just one of the two pan out, it’s a good thing. If both do? Lookout.
Also going to be a big season in Grand Rapids for players like Lombardi, Danielson, Sandin-Pellikka, Mazur, and MBN. There’s a lot to feel good about when you look at this prospect pool.
Finally, some overseas news with some Red Wings ties — former Red Wings great Slava Kozlov has reportedly been fired as head coach of the KHL’s HC Sochi. What’s weird about this is that the dude hasn’t even coached a game for the team. Kozlov was appointed head coach about a month ago. He says he’ll be looking for another job, but this is just a weird situation.
Rest up and enjoy the downtime while we have it! Hockey season will be here before you know it.
