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Detroit Red Wings Recall Erik Gustafsson

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The Detroit Red Wings have recalled Erik Gustafsson from their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. In a corresponding move, the club has placed forward Elmer Soderblom on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 9.

These moves place Gustafsson in position to potentially make his season debut for 2025-26. The veteran did not make the Red Wings’ NHL roster out of training camp, and has spent the entirety of the season thus far in the AHL. Through 10 games with Grand Rapids, Gustafsson has eight points, and is the most experienced blueliner available on the Griffins for the Red Wings to call up.

This recall indicates that Gustafsson is above fellow veteran Justin Holl in the team’s call-up priority order. Holl has just three points in 11 AHL games this season, though it’s important to draw a distinction between the style each blueliner plays when comparing the two. Holl has a more defensively-oriented game than Gustafsson, who is a natural puck-mover and power play quarterback.

Gustafsson was also the more successful NHL player than Holl, or at least reached a higher peak at the NHL level. In 2018-19, Gustafsson scored 60 points, leading all Chicago Blackhawks defensemen in scoring. As recently as 2022-23, Gustafsson remained an effective generator of offense from the blue line. He scored 42 points in 70 games between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs, and followed that up with 31 points in 76 games playing 2023-24 for the New York Rangers.

It was after that strong campaign on Broadway that Gustafsson earned the two-year, $2MM AAV deal he’s currently playing out. His tenure in Michigan hasn’t gone to plan, though, as he scored just 18 points in 60 games in 2024-25 and appears to have been passed by several young defensemen, something that culminated in him needing to start the year in the AHL.

With this recall, he gets the chance to return to an NHL roster and perhaps get into some NHL games. While Gustafsson wouldn’t be a natural fit for that role as a left-handed defenseman, his addition to the roster could allow the Red Wings to take veteran Travis Hamonic, who has struggled this season, out of the lineup.

The chance to get back into the NHL and potentially hold down a spot in an NHL lineup is a significant opportunity for Gustafsson. As a pending UFA, spending the year in the AHL would likely do significant damage to his hopes of securing a strong contract in the upcoming free agent market. Assuming he gets the chance to draw into head coach Todd McLellan’s lineup, it’ll be very important that he finds a way to make a positive contribution.

Soderblom, a forward, was also involved in a transaction today, although his was more of a procedural move to clear a roster spot for Gustafsson to occupy. Soderblom has been out for two weeks with an undisclosed injury, and it’s unclear at this point what his timeline is to return.

The fact that his IR placement was retroactive does provide Detroit with the flexibility to activate him whenever he’s ready, though, bypassing the customary one-week waiting period mandated by standard, non-retroactive IR placements.

Cam Talbot Could Become A Valuable Trade Chip

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In a recent update on Daily Faceoff Live, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that Detroit Red Wings netminder Cam Talbot could become the most viable goaltending trade candidate by the deadline. Any trade for Talbot would depend on Detroit falling out of playoff contention by the trade deadline and the interested teams not having internal improvements in their goaltending situation.

Assuming the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes don’t peddle Sergei Bobrovsky or Frederik Andersen, respectively, Talbot could be considered one of the most movable netminders at the deadline should he be made available. He’s a pending unrestricted free agent on a more than affordable $2.5MM salary and has no trade protection to overcome.

Furthermore, he has been a consistent, albeit unimpressive, netminder for his entire career, which is more than most teams can count on each night. Even since the 2019-20 season, despite playing for five different teams, Talbot has compiled a 134-85-23 record in 254 games with a .909 SV% and 2.73 GAA.

He gets better the more he plays in the postseason, though it’s been five years since he spent any meaningful time in the Stanley Cup playoffs. This season, while sharing the crease with John Gibson, Talbot has earned a 6-2-0 record in nine games with a .892 SV% and 2.93 GAA.

Entertaining the idea that the Red Wings may make Talbot available for trade by the deadline, there are a few teams that should be interested. The Edmonton Oilers, Utah Mammoth, and even the Montreal Canadiens could all use some veteran depth in net. Still, there is plenty of time for each of the listed teams to improve their goaltending performance by March, rendering any reason to seek out Talbot via trade moot.

Detroit Red Wings Recall Nate Danielson

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The Detroit Red Wings have announced that center Nate Danielson has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The ninth overall pick at the 2023 NHL Draft, Danielson is now in line to make his NHL debut at the earliest in today’s matinee contest against the Chicago Blackhawks or in Thursday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks.

The 21-year-old center began this season injured before he was reassigned to the AHL on Oct. 24. It took just four games in the AHL (where he scored five points) for Danielson to earn a recall to the team’s NHL roster.

The former Brandon Wheat Kings captain is in his second season playing professional hockey. He scored 12 goals and 39 points in 72 games for Grand Rapids last season, and added a goal in three playoff contests.

Entering the season, Danielson was ranked as the No. 7 prospect in the Red Wings’ system by Elite Prospects, though his ranking there can vary, as The Athletic’s Corey Pronman slotted Danielson as the team’s No. 1 prospect in August. Pronman wrote that he sees Danielson as a future top-six center, while Elite Prospects projects him more as a middle-six pivot.

Whatever his ultimate NHL role may be, it’s unlikely he’ll take up that role in Detroit any time soon. All four of the Red Wings’ NHL centers (Dylan Larkin, J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp, Michael Rasmussen) are under contract at least through 2026-27, and they have a combined cap hit of nearly $23MM.

One of those players could be shifted to the wing, of course, as could Danielson, but it’s important to nonetheless note how set-in-stone things appear to be at center for the Red Wings in this short-term future, and that’s before even bringing up the fact that the team’s top pick from 2022, Marco Kasper, is a natural center.

Having an abundance of capable NHL pivots is hardly a problem, and the addition of Danielson only further enhances the team’s depth in that area. He’s not yet proven himself at the NHL level, of course, but if his AHL performances are any indication, it would seem that Danielson has a long NHL career ahead of him.

Thanks to this recall, that NHL career could start very soon.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Former Flyers Center Mel Bridgman Passes Away At 70

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Former Philadelphia Flyers centerman and general manager of the 1992 Ottawa Senators, Mel Bridgman, has passed away at the age of 70. Bridgman was the first-overall selection in the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft. He played through 14 seasons in the NHL, then returned to school to support a front office career with the Senators.

Philadelphia drafted Bridgman on the heels of the Broad Street Bullies era. Coming off of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, the Flyers managed to acquire the first-overall pick from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Bill Clement, Don McLean, and a later first round pick. Naturally, the Flyers took a player that fit right in with their gritty style. Bridgman was coming off a 157-point season in the WCHL, the predecessor to the modern WHL. He didn’t keep quite that spark in the NHL, but still put together a solid rookie year, with 50 points and 86 penalty minutes in 80 games. That presence helped Bridgman climb into a major role with the Flyers at only 20-years-old, and earned him a fifth-place finish in 1976 Calder Trophy voting.

Bridgman found his groove as a hard-nosed grinder over the next five seasons. He became the seventh Flyer to cross the mark of 200 penalty minutes when he reached 203 PIMs in the 1997-78 season. He continued to rival that mark through 1981, all while routinely rivaling 50-to-60 points. Bridgman reached his scoring peak in the 1981-82 season, though the bulk of his points would come with the Calgary Flames, after a contentious November trade swapped him for Brad Marsh. Bridgman put up 75 points and 94 penalty minutes in 63 games with Calgary, bringing him up to a year-long total of 87 points and 141 penalty minutes after nine games with Philadelphia to start the season.

His scoring fell back to normal in the following year, prompting a move to the New Jersey Devils in 1983. Bridgman, once Philadelphia’s captain for three years, took on the Devils’ captaincy and led the team in scoring (61 points) in the 1984-85 season. He continued to wear the ’C’ until being traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the 1987 Trade Deadline. Bridgman continued his career for two more years, and retired with the Vancouver Canucks in 1989.

Soon after ending his playing days, the well-known Bridgman was named GM of a 1992 expansion team, the revitalized Ottawa Senators. He brought in eight-year pro John Ferguson as his Director of Player Personnel, and built a Senators squad headlined by Peter Sidorkiewicz, Norm Maciver, and Brad Shaw. The team ranked dead-last in scoring in their inagural season, leading to an attempt to spur the offense with Alexei Yashin and Alexandre Daigle, the second-overall pick in 1992 and first-overall pick in 1993 respectively. The duo led the Senators in scoring as rookies, but failed to pull Ottawa from the league’s depths, prompting Bridgman to launch a flurry of roster transactions that would end with his firing at the end of the 1992-93 season.

Bridgman stepped away from the NHL following his ousting in Ottawa. To some, he’s remembered as a great Flyer who led the team through the first years after their dynasty era. To others, he’s among the most imposing players of the NHL’s most physical era, as described by Mike Bossy in his biography and NHL Player’s Tribune letter. Bridgman’s tenure in the NHL often sparked controversy, but was never short of action. He was tapped to lead clubs through dark times, as a player and manager, and did both with breakneck pace. Pro Hockey Rumors sends condolences to Bridgman’s family, friends, and fans.

Detroit Red Wings Reassign Austin Watson

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11/3/2025: The Red Wings announced today that they’ve reassigned Watson back to AHL Grand Rapids. The Red Wings played in three games from Oct. 30 through Nov. 3, but Watson didn’t dress for any of them.

The main benefit for Watson during this recall was financial: he will receive a prorated bump in pay, as he has a $775K NHL salary and a $375K AHL salary. That will make it more likely he will be able to exceed his $400K guarantee by the end of the season, should he be recalled again down the line. He also gains pension credits for those three games for which he was on the NHL roster.

Therefore, while this recall did not pay any on-ice dividends for Watson, the Red Wings’ choice to provide the veteran with some additional time on its NHL roster did have some financial benefits for the player.

10/30/2025: According to a team announcement, the Detroit Red Wings have recalled forward Austin Watson from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Detroit has had an open roster spot for the last few days after reassigning prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard on Monday.

Despite taking Brandsegg-Nygard’s spot on the active roster, there’s little chance for consistent playing time for Watson. Even without veteran Patrick Kane for the foreseeable future, the team has Elmer Soderblom, who has a much higher ceiling than Watson, to fall back on.

If Watson does enter the lineup at any point over the current recall, the Red Wings will know exactly what to expect. The 11-year veteran is in his second year with the organization, scoring three goals in 13 games for Detroit last year, averaging 7:51 of ice time.

The only value Watson can provide is his physicality and aggression. Since debuting with the Nashville Predators during the 2012-13 season, Watson has accrued 722 PIMs in 528 games while collecting 1,245 hits. Interestingly, he’s been more of an offensive contributor in the AHL, scoring 94 goals and 176 points in 298 games while managing 221 PIMs. It’s important to note that before his time with the Griffins, Watson had only managed 90 PIMs in the AHL.

Detroit begins a four-game road trip through the NHL’s Pacific Division tonight against the Los Angeles Kings. Given that no teams on the trip are particularly physical, the earliest Watson could be expected to enter the lineup is next Friday against the New York Rangers, who have the third-most hits to start the 2025-26 campaign.

Red Wings Assign Michael Brandsegg-Nygard

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The Detroit Red Wings have reassigned top prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Brandsegg-Nygard played through the first nine games of his NHL career to start Detroit’s season. He recorded one assist, one penalty, and a minus-five through those appearances.

Brandsegg-Nygard’s first NHL sample was filled with up-and-down performances. Detroit was outscored one-to-six at even-strength when the Norwegian rookie was on the ice. At the same time, the Red Wings managed 5.06 expected-goals-for to only 2.78 expected-goals-against in Brandsegg-Nygard’s minutes. That difference not only gives Brandsegg-Nygard a Detroit-leading 64.5 expected goals-percentage (xGF%), it also gives him the eighth-worst goals-above-expected (-4.06) among NHL forwards.

Those numbers all suggest that Brandsegg-Nygard ran into a string of bad shooting luck to start his career. He’s long been a top prospect, and earned the 15th-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft after potting 28 points in 53 games in Sweden’s second-tier pro league, the HockeyAllsvenskan. His imposing two-way presence helped Mora IK earn a promotion to the SHL for the 2024-25 season. Brandsegg-Nygard chipped in 17 points in 53 games at Sweden’s top level, before ending last season with the first five games, and three points, of his AHL career.

He earned a spot in the NHL out of training camp this season, and showed through an impressive ability to make plays even when shots weren’t going his way – emphasized by a team-leading 28 hits. An assignment to the AHL should give Brandsegg-Nygard a chance to rediscover his puck luck, but it’s hard to imagine Detroit will want him out of the lineup for too long.

Red Wings’ Patrick Kane To Miss Fourth-Straight Game

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Future Hall-Of-Famer Patrick Kane won’t travel with the Detroit Red Wings for the start of their upcoming five-game road-trip, but could join the team partway through, head coach Todd McLellan told broadcast reporter Daniella Bruce. Detroit will visit the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, then head for a series of games on the west coast, with McLellan insinuating Kane could be ready for the latter stretch.

Kane was injured in last week’s win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, after taking a hard fall into the boards. He has missed three games since – a run that will grow to four absences on Tuesday. Kane has continued to bring electric offense to the Red Wings lineup. He has five points in five games, making him one of only two Red Wings scoring at-or-above point-per-game pace. The other is scoring leader Dylan Larkin, who has 13 points in nine games.

With Kane’s productive offense usually comes meager defense, a routine that hasn’t changed this season. Alongside center Marco Kasper and winger Alex DeBrincat, Kane’s line has outshot their opponents 51-to-37 at even-strength, but been outscored two-to-three. That imbalance, and Kasper’s mere one point in nine games, could be a sign of even more offensive upside to come once Kane is back to full health.

Until their star winger can return, Detroit will continue to deploy the hard-nosed Mason Appleton in a top-six role. Appleton stepped into the elevated role in Saturday’s win over the St. Louis Blues. He didn’t manage any scoring in the six-goal effort, but brought a helpful amount of grit to the top of Detroit’s offense. With how well the scorers performed, Detroit should feel no pressure to shake things up ahead of a rematch on Tuesday.

Afternoon Notes: Pesce, Hintz, Finnie

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Amanda Stein, team reporter of the New Jersey Devils, shared mid-game that Brett Pesce did not return for the second period of the team’s matinee tilt vs Colorado. The defenseman notched 6 minutes in the first but missed his final shifts of the period and did not return. 

Especially given the Devils’ hot start, currently atop the league, and their consistent stream of injuries, it is certainly the hope that Pesce’s injury is not serious, and many will keep a watchful eye on further updates today. 

Elsewhere across the league:

  • Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas News wrote earlier today that Stars forward Roope Hintz will miss tonight’s game in Nashville. Given the club’s activation of Oskar Bäck earlier today, it appears the 6’4” center could appear tonight for his season debut. Meanwhile, Hintz was shaken up last night from a big hit into the boards from Taylor Hall, one which gave Hall a charging minor. Further details of Hintz’s injury have not been disclosed, but Dallas will cross their fingers that their star, currently at a point a game pace, is not out long-term. 
  • Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now shared earlier today a story on Red Wings rookie Emmitt Finnie, a former seventh-round-pick who has burst onto the scene. Finnie first earned a spot on the Wings’ roster which was impressive enough, but now he is featured on the team’s top line, with 8 points in 9 games. As mentioned by Allen, few seventh-rounders even make the NHL (20 since 2019) but zero have made an immediate impact like Finnie, who is right among the league’s best rookies so far in 2025-26. His contributions have helped Detroit to a great start as they aim to finally take a step back into the playoffs. Whatever may happen, Finnie’s all-around-game is showing to be an absolute steal from the Wings at 201st overall in the 2023 draft, a franchise no stranger to such throughout their history. 

 

Red Wings Activate, Reassign Nate Danielson

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The Red Wings announced they’ve activated center Nate Danielson from the non-roster list and assigned him to AHL Grand Rapids. He had begun the season there after sustaining an undisclosed injury in a preseason game. He’ll now get his season underway in the minors after missing nearly a month of action.

Danielson, 21, is beginning his second season in the pros. The No. 9 pick of the 2023 draft arrived in Grand Rapids last year to great expectations, particularly after he ended 2023-24 on a 12-goal, 41-point heater in 28 games with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. However, his transition didn’t go as the Red Wings had hoped. The playmaking pivot only contributed a 12-27–39 scoring line in 71 games – fine production for a first-year pro, but not necessarily the level expected from a top-10 pick.

As such, 2025-26 is a crucial season for Danielson to get his offensive development back on track and prove he can compete to be a long-term top-six piece in Detroit. While more comfortable down the middle, he can also play the right wing. That might be important for a team that looks comfortable riding Dylan Larkin and Marco Kasper as their top two pivots for the foreseeable future, allowing Danielson to be one of their wingmen or center the third line.

But his lukewarm initial showing in the AHL means he’s no longer standing out among the organization’s premier prospects. NHL.com ranked him as the No. 5 prospect in the organization over the summer, behind fellow forwards and first-rounders Carter Bear and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, the latter of whom made the opening night roster but has struggled with one assist and a minus-four rating in eight games.

Panthers, Red Wings, Sabres Among Teams Interested In Yegor Chinakhov

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It has been over three months since Blue Jackets winger Yegor Chinakhov’s former agent said that his client had requested a trade out of Columbus. Much has happened since then, including an apparent reconciliation with head coach Dean Evason, but that was short-lived before he ended up back in a fourth-line/press box role in training camp. Following that move, Chinakhov switched his representation at the beginning of the month in hopes of accelerating his departure from the organization.

According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Chinkahov’s new representation at Maverick Sports Management now has permission to speak directly with other teams about facilitating a trade. Among the teams that “have recently kicked the tires” in trade talks with the Jackets are the Panthers, Red Wings, and Sabres, he adds.

All of those Atlantic Division clubs are looking to fill out their middle-six depth for various reasons, and it’s clear why Chinakhov specifically offers some intrigue there. While it’s been a tough go in Columbus for him, particularly over the last 12 months due to injuries and dwindling usage, he’s shown the ability to come up with productive scoring lines when given more considerable ice time. In his career-best 2023-24 season, the former first-round pick averaged 15:10 of ice time per game and managed 16 goals and 29 points in 53 appearances. That was on track for 45 points had he played a full 82-game schedule, and he also managed to record half a point per game last year with 15 in 30 appearances.

He’s by no means a top-six needle-mover for a contender with those numbers, but for teams needing to plug a third-line or fringe second-line hole, he could be of real benefit. The Panthers are without top-six forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk for months, and the ripple effect has been ugly. They’ve understandably gotten off to a sluggish 4-5-0 start and, more concerningly, are only scoring 2.44 goals per game – 29th in the league. Names like Sam Bennett (1-1–2 in nine games), Eetu Luostarinen (1-1–2 in nine games), and Jesper Boqvist (1-0–1 in nine games) have struggled to produce in elevated roles. Getting another body in the mix to ease everyone’s workload is a short-term priority for general manager Bill Zito.

Teams considering Chinakhov a short-term fix can non-tender him at the end of the season. He’s in the final year of a contract that carries a $2.1MM cap hit and an identical qualifying offer that he’s unlikely to warrant with his current trajectory. However, that can quickly change if he manages to return to his 2023-24 form with a new club.

As for the Red Wings, adding forward depth was always going to be a priority for them based on how they entered the season. Leaning into their youth has made them one of the league’s pleasant surprises early on. Still, they’ve struggled to find offensive consistency outside of their explosive first line of rookie Emmitt Finnie, Dylan Larkin, and Lucas Raymond. Only three other forwards have more than four points through eight games, and there’s been a bit of a mix-and-match through the first few weeks with Jonatan Berggren, Elmer Söderblom, and James van Riemsdyk all coming in and out of the lineup.

Detroit presumably hopes Chinakhov can be an upgrade on a similarly cast young winger in Berggren. The latter has never received the kind of leash Chinakhov did previously in Columbus, never averaging more than 13:28 of ice time per game. His career points-per-game pace, though, isn’t too far off from Chinakhov’s. Berggren averages 16 goals and 31 points per 82 games, while Chinakhov averages 16 and 33.

Like Florida, Buffalo’s interest is injury-fueled. Their already semi-questionable forward depth has been decimated in the season’s opening weeks by injuries to Jordan Greenway and Joshua Norris, among others. They’re looking for additional top-nine wing insurance, but with all of Zach Benson, Josh Doan, Jack Quinn, and Jason Zucker off to strong starts, their interest might be more tempered than what Detroit and Florida are bringing to the table.

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