2025-2026 NHL team preview: Detroit Red Wings
LAST SEASON
It may have been a low bar to clear, but the Detroit Red Wings enjoyed their finest season in some years in 2023-24. The Wings nearly ended their long playoff drought with a dramatic goal by David Perron in the dying seconds of Game 82 against Montreal before the Capitals pipped them for the eighth seed only moments later.
The Red Wings’ relative success that season justified bringing back a virtually unchanged team. The problem? Detroit wasn’t a good club in 2023-24; it was a hot one (11.6 SH%) that won just enough wide-open games to stay in the hunt during a down year for the Eastern Conference. Trying out the same ill-disciplined style after their shooting luck dried up in 2024-25 got the Wings crushed, as they limped to a 13-17-4 mark before erstwhile head coach Derek Lalonde was dismissed on Dec. 26.
Veteran bench boss Todd McLellan came in to pitch relief and quickly transformed the Red Wings, led by rapid captain Dylan Larkin and stud wingers Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat, into a potent offensive outfit with a lively five-man forecheck. McLellan’s Wings jumped out to a 17-5-1 start against a murderers’ row of Cup contenders. Already in a hole after their rocky start, though, they couldn’t survive a six-game slump that included a deflating Stadium Series loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Detroit has a strong offensive core in Larkin, Raymond, and DeBrincat but can’t seem to build a coherent defense around Moritz Seider. Part of the problem is the personnel available on ‘D.’ Steve Yzerman’s inability to pick the right veteran defensemen remains a critical flaw as the greatest living Red Wing embarks on his sixth season as GM. Will the return of the “Hockeytown” center-ice logo from Yzerman’s playing days coincide with a long-awaited renaissance, or will it only bring cruel irony as the Lions, Tigers, and even the long-suffering Pistons pull away from the Wings in the Detroit sports landscape?
KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES
Additions
John Gibson, G
James van Riemsdyk, LW
Mason Appleton, RW
Jacob Bernard-Docker, D
Travis Hamonic, D
Departures
Alex Lyon, G (Buf)
Jeff Petry, D (Fla)
Petr Mrazek, G (Ana)
Tyler Motte, C (UFA)
Craig Smith, RW (UFA)
OFFENSE
The Red Wings fell to 22nd in scoring last season (9th in 2023-24), but their output suffered from a dreadful start (2.6 G/GP) under Lalonde. There’s still a lot to like about Detroit’s attack, which surged back into the top 12 on the strength of a league-best power play (30.2%) after McLellan took over.
The strength of the Red Wings’ offense, other than Raymond (29 PPA, fourth in NHL) and future Hall-of-Famer Patrick Kane’s (29 PPP in 72 GP) work on the man advantage, is the connection between Larkin and Raymond. The duo keeps Detroit on the front foot (52.65% expected-goal share) with high-end skating and skill. Larkin had a down season by his standards (30 G, 70 P), and Raymond could still stand to fire the puck more (27 G on 14.1% shooting), but their line has consistently produced at a high-end level despite brutal defensive assignments.
After a fruitful stint on Larkin’s left wing, Marco Kasper finished the season with a flurry (9G, 14 P in 24 GP) when an injury to Andrew Copp opened up a spot in between former Chicago Blackhawks DeBrincat and Kane on the second line. Kasper has work to do in the dot (44.9%), but there aren’t many players who display as much offensive potential and physical edge in their age-20 season. The tireless work ethic of both Kasper and DeBrincat, a hometown kid and the team’s top sniper (39 G), helps protect the aging Kane at even-strength.
Veteran power forward James van Reimsdyk (327 career G) and 6’8 winger Elmer Soderblom (4 G, 11 P in 28 GP) will likely vie for the spot Kasper left open on the top line. Soderblom protects the puck well and has a rocket of a shot, but he’s still quite awkward. van Riemsdyk, meanwhile, is a known entity but hasn’t skated in a top-six role in two seasons. J.T. Compher, in need of a reset after a tough second season in Motown (32 P in 76 GP), could be an option there as well.
The Red Wings lean heavily on Mo Seider for point production from the blueline. He could get some internal help if Simon Edvinsson finally gets power-play time after a monster first year (30 even-strength points, T-23rd among NHL D).
DEFENSE
After Yzerman inexplicably banished Jake Walman (40 P, 22:46 ATOI for SJ/EDM) and Olli Maatta (19:55 ATOI for UTA) from a group that was already overmatched in 2023-24, the Red Wings finished in the bottom 12 of scoring defense and dead last on the penalty kill (70.1%, worst in NHL). Still, there are a couple of building blocks on this disjointed blueline.
Seider has been remarkably consistent throughout his career. The German has never missed a game, never averaged less than 22:22 minutes, and never recorded fewer than 151 hits, 161 blocks, and 42 points. A righty who can skate, hit, and score, Seider logged the most ice-time against “elite” competition of any player in 2024-25, per Puck IQ. If there’s one knock on the 24-year-old, it’s that he never exploded into superstardom and onto Norris ballots after his Calder-winning rookie season. There should be concern in Detroit that if he continues taking every tough assignment, the finesse aspects of his game will plateau.
Seider did get some help last year in the form of Edvinsson, who similarly burst onto the scene as a big, two-way minute muncher (31 P, 21:07 ATOI in 78 GP). Edvinsson and Seider were dynamite together last season, and the Red Wings won their 5-on-5 minutes 20-12 against the other teams’ best. Without another defenseman capable of driving the bus on a pair, though, McLellan made the tough call to split up his two best horses for the home stretch.
Veteran banger Ben Chiarot and rookie puckmover Albert Johansson rounded out the rest of a top-four group in need of a shakeup. Chiarot is an honest player who protects the crease well, but he would be better off as a No. 4 or 5 defenseman at this stage in his career. The underweight Johansson (168 lb) is a responsible low-event player, but looked more like an acceptable stopgap than a long-term fix on his off right side.
Like Seider, Larkin had too much on his plate defensively in 2024-25 (second in ice time vs “elite” competition among forwards, 21st in defensive zone faceoffs), but there’s reason to believe that could change next season. Copp, bumped from the second unit by Kasper, and free agent addition Mason Appleton should provide solid matchup minutes in a bottom six that previously leaned on journeymen like Christian Fischer and Tyler Motte for defense.
GOALTENDING
If you can divorce them from that terrible penalty kill, Detroit’s goalies weren’t all that bad last season. Even after eight rough starts from Ville Husso, the Wings finished in 11th in 5-on-5 SV%. The problem was consistency. 37-year-old Cam Talbot led the team with 43 starts, and injuries to Talbot and primary backup Alex Lyon forced five netminders into service for the Red Wings.
Yzerman hopes that his trade for veteran shotstopper John Gibson will stabilize a crease that’s been in flux since Jimmy Howard called it a career. After five years of getting peppered behind some dreadful Anaheim Ducks rosters, Gibson finally showed signs of life last season (2.77 GAA, .911 SV%). Whether or not Gibson is really “back” after his best 29-game stretch in a half-decade, he’s an innings eater (seven 50-start seasons) with an NHL floor (.910 career SV%) and some miles left in the tank at 32 years old.
Talbot is back for another year in Motown and was a net positive in 2024-25 despite some rocky stretches. The well-traveled vet has been a fast starter in each of the past three seasons only to struggle after the calendar turns over. Talbot should stay fresher for longer with Gibson around and will more likely serve as a pedigreed backup than a 1B goalie.
COACHING
McLellan’s return to the Red Wings, where he assisted Mike Babcock from 2005-08, went as well as could have been expected given the overwhelming odds against the Wings. He managed a 26-18-4 mark (95.6 point-pace) against staunch competition after Lalonde squandered the easiest part of the schedule. Things won’t get any easier in October, when Detroit will face both conference champions and just three non-playoff teams in 12 games.
For McLellan, surviving that tough season-opening slate with a respectable mark will be crucial for convincing Yzerman to reinvest in the roster in the trade market. McLellan might have woken up the offense last season, especially on the power play, but still doesn’t have the personnel to mime the bludgeoning forecheck he oversaw in San Jose or the stingy neutral zone defense he implemented at his last stop in LA.
Elsewhere on the staff, Alex Tanguay is staying put as the head of the power play after the unit finished fourth (27%). So is Trent Yawney, who came on board last season and has run McLellan’s defense for much of his coaching career. AHL Hall-of-Famer Michael Leighton will manage the goalies after three seasons across the river with the OHL Windsor Spitfires.
ROOKIES
The Red Wings still have a ton of high-end talent in their pipeline even after graduating Kasper and Johansson, but the success of their slow-burn development policy (Kasper, Edvinsson, and Seider all spent two or more pro seasons outside the NHL before debuting with Detroit) means top names like Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard aren’t likely to get a ton of run with the big club this season.
There are still nice players who should force their way into Detroit’s NHL picture, the closest of whom is probably Carter Mazur. Mazur, 23, plays a heavy two-way game and already donned the Winged Wheel for a few shifts last season before suffering an upper-body injury that ended his year. He could work his way into an energy role in the bottom six.
Unlike Mazur, former ninth-overall selection Nate Danielson would be better off logging huge minutes for the AHL Griffins than on an NHL fourth line. Could Kasper’s success in the top six as a physically developed, two-way prospect convince Yzerman to take the training wheels off Danielson a little earlier? His 39 points in the ‘A’ are four more than Kasper had through 71 games, and the spot Kasper is leaving vacant on the first line remains wide open.
Sebastian Cossa was an All-Star in his second season for the Griffins and is the next man up in goal in case of an injury to one of the veterans above him on the depth chart. The longer he outduels AHL competition, the smoother the 6’6 22-year-old’s transition to the show will be.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. Is help on the way? Yzerman won’t dip into his draft and prospect assets unless he’s confident such a move will make the Wings an upper-echelon contender. His draft-centric “Yzerplan” was always going to take a little patience, but even captain Dylan Larkin has become frustrated by Yzerman’s unwillingness to help out the roster in the short term. For a team with more talented young players than there are lineup slots, would it be the worst idea to speed things up just a bit? The Red Wings will never win enough to “earn” a deadline buy-in from Yzerman while Seider and Edvinsson are stuck dragging around a blueline full of Yzerman’s free agency mistakes.
2. Are Raymond and Seider Cup-winning players? The Red Wings might be moving forward at the speed of a dreadnought, but they have improved. That means the bulk of Yzerman’s most high-leverage draft selections have already been made. There’s no question he’s an excellent amateur scout, but does it rattle some nerves in Hockeytown that Raymond and Seider are so far ahead of every other young player in the organization save, perhaps, for Edvinsson? Both are great young players, but they could stand to take another jump if they’re to be the principal stars of the Red Wings’ next winner.
3. Anyone have a playoff spot? It couldn’t have felt good for the Wings to watch the Montreal Canadiens, whose rebuild started around five seasons later than theirs, snag the last Wild Card. Montreal’s core players are younger than Larkin and DeBrincat (if not Seider and Raymond), and the team has shown a willingness to add name-brand talent like Noah Dobson and Patrik Laine to expedite their growth. The Ottawa Senators’ rebuild ran concurrently with Detroit’s for a while, but they’re also pulling away now that they have stable leadership in place; Ottawa finished seventh in the East, just a point adrift of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. With Montreal and Ottawa on the rise, and Florida and Tampa Bay entrenched in the top three, where exactly is Detroit supposed to sneak into the postseason in a crowded Atlantic Division?
PREDICTION
The Red Wings have reasons for optimism. Their forward group could end up outkicking expectations, especially if Kasper thrives at 2C. McLellan was the best, most proven coach on the market when Yzerman hired him. The same could be said of Gibson among the goalies available this summer. Still, it’s tough to pick a Detroit team that’s waiting on at least one more proven NHL defenseman ahead of clubs that already look fairly complete on paper. Yzerman could still swoop in for Rasmus Andersson or Mario Ferraro before Christmas, but it would be out of character. If he doesn’t, the Red Wings will end up with another ~90-point finish as the drought drags on.
_____
POST SPONSORED BY bet365
_____