Red Wings Recall John Leonard; Reassign Austin Watson, Eduards Tralmaks
March 14: The Red Wings announced they’ve brought Leonard back to the NHL under emergency conditions, meaning they could be without 12 healthy forwards on the active roster for tonight’s game. Larkin and Copp remain the only known injuries at the time of writing.
March 13: Watson, along with John Leonard and Eduards Tralmaks, who were also recalled under emergency conditions yesterday, were all reassigned to Grand Rapids following last night’s loss to the Lightning, per the NHL’s media site. None of the three played in the contest, and, since their emergency recalls stipulate they must be returned to the minors if their presence on the roster isn’t necessary to ice 12 forwards, it’s no surprise they’re back down today.
March 12: The Red Wings announced that they’ve recalled winger Austin Watson from AHL Grand Rapids under emergency conditions. He’ll be on hand for tonight’s game against the Lightning. Considering they already have two extra healthy forwards on the active roster, even accounting for Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp‘s injuries, there might be even more trouble up front in Detroit.
Watson, a Michigan native, is now in his second season in the organization after signing with the Wings in 2024 following a successful PTO. They liked what he brought in a depth role enough to sign him to a two-way extension in March, so he didn’t get to free agency last summer. That may change this time around as he’s on an expiring deal once again.
The 34-year-old grinder has passed through waivers a few times since signing and has spent most of his time in Grand Rapids, but he did score three goals in 13 games last season. He’s yet to make an NHL appearance in 2025-26 but has been recalled twice this year, first for a few days in October and November and then again over the Olympic break as an extra practice player.
A former first-rounder by the Predators in 2010, Watson was never the top-nine power forward they hoped he could be but still carved out a lengthy NHL career for himself, recording 63 goals and 121 points in 528 career games to date. After departing Nashville via trade to the Senators in 2020, he made a one-year stop with the Lightning in 2023-24 before landing with Detroit.
He’s been an important minor-league presence for the club, enjoying a strong 19-23–42 scoring line in 60 games last year and now 11 goals and 20 points in 48 outings in 2025-26. He’s gotten into his fair share of fights down in Grand Rapids as well, ranking fifth in the league with 137 penalty minutes, while ranking 11th on the league-best club in scoring. With a 43-9-4 record, Grand Rapids is enjoying its best season in franchise history since its inception in the IHL in 1996.
Red Wings Recall Sheldon Dries, John Leonard, Eduards Tralmaks
The Detroit Red Wings have utilized emergency recalls to call-up three forwards from the AHL. Sheldon Dries, John Leonard, and Eduards Tralmaks will all join the Red Wings with two games left on their current road trip. These moves come after Detroit center Andrew Copp sustained a lower-body injury in Tuesday night’s loss to the Florida Panthers. He has been downgraded to doubtful for Thursday’s match against the Tampa Bay Lightning, at least, per Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James.
Three more forwards will help Detroit balance lines at Wednesday’s practice without captain Dylan Larkin, in addition to Copp’s injury and a recent string of maintenance days for winger Lucas Raymond. Detroit also added winger David Perron to their injured reserve after acquiring him from the Ottawa Senators for a fourth-round pick at the Trade Deadline.
The Red Wings have split their two games since Larkin sustained a day-to-day, lower-body injury. Copp was promoted to the top line in Larkin’s spot and recorded two assists and six shots on net before going down with his own injury. That could force the Red Wings to lean on Marco Kasper as their top center, even if Copp is able to play. Kasper scored one goal on four shots in Tuesday’s loss, bringing him to 10 points in his last 17 games dating back to mid-January. A bump in minutes could be well-timed for Kasper, who has not recorded a game with more than 20 minutes of ice time this season. The former eighth-overall pick had three such games in his rookie season last year. He finished with 19 goals and 37 points in 77 games.
Both Dries and Leonard have played a handful of NHL games this season, with Leonard scoring four points in nine games and Dries scoring one goal in six games with Detroit. The two rank first and third on the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins in scoring with 41 and 37 points respectively. Sixth on the list is Tralmaks, who is receiving the first call-up of his NHL career with this move.
After a quiet three seasons in the Providence Bruins’ organization to begin his pro career, Tralmaks spent the last two seasons with the Kladno Knights in Czechia’s top pro league. He scored 21 goals and 32 points in 52 games of his first Czech season, then jumped to a league-leading 51 points in 48 games last season. He signed with the Red Wings on the heels of that season and has since found his confidence in the AHL. Tralmaks has 18 goals and 28 points in 49 games with Grand Rapids this season. This call-up could now give the six-foot-four, 225-pound Latvian a chance to make his NHL debut.
Detroit may not need to lean on any of their call-ups if Copp can play on Thursday. If not, it will be centerman Dries who gets tapped to fill-in, unless the Red Wings move a winger to the center spot to fit-in the hot-scoring Leonard, or rookie Tralmaks. Bottom-six winger Dominik Shine has filled both forward positions through his career but has only taken one faceoff in the NHL.
Red Wings Sign Eduards Tralmaks To Two-Way Deal
The Red Wings announced today they’ve signed forward Eduards Tralmaks to a two-way deal for the 2025-26 campaign. His deal includes a $775K NHL salary and a $225K minors salary, PuckPedia reports.
This won’t be Tralmaks’ first stint in North America, although it is the 28-year-old’s first NHL contract. The 6’4″, 209-lb forward, who can play both wings and center, spent a pair of seasons in the Bruins’ system with AHL Providence coming out of college in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Tralmaks, a former University of Maine standout, posted 22-19–41 with a +23 rating and 42 PIMs in 87 appearances for the P-Bruins from 2021 to 2023. After failing to land an NHL deal with the Bruins or any other club, the Latvian headed overseas. He signed with Jaromír Jágr‘s club, Czech Extraliga side Rytíři Kladno, where he’s been dominant. After leading the league in power-play goals in 2023-24, he led the Extraliga in points with 23-28–51 in 48 games. He also finished atop the league leaderboard in faceoff percentage with a 62.5% win rate.
He doesn’t have much of any growth left in his game in his late 20s, and he’s unlikely to make an impact in Detroit’s lineup next season. Nonetheless, he should be an important piece for their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids. If he impresses, he now has the option to be called up, unlike in years past.
Tralmaks will become an unrestricted free agent next summer. The Wings now have 30 standard contracts on the books for next season.