2023 Red Wings to 2026 Red Wings, Part 2
2026-06-08
Editor’s note: this was all written around the Olympic break and I forgot to finish it lol. Will be updated later in part 3
After a promising end to 2024-25, Red Wings nation was hungry for more and GM Evans knew now was the time to shape this team into a contender for 2025-26.
First up, a decision would need to be made between two elite Swedes: would William Nylander be signed or would it be Victor Hedman? Key to this question: was Jake Sanderson ready to step up and take over, and what would the market be like for either player? In the end, William Nylander was signed to a highly controversial extension and Hedman was moved out for prospects Locmelis and Danford.
Going into the draft, Detroit wasn’t expecting to be very active after swapping their 20th overall pick for prospect Yegor Surin. The team had only a 2nd round pick and a pair of 6th rounders. However, by swapping Ekblad and 2026 2nd round pick for Reinbacher and a 2025 2nd round pick, GM Evans kicked off a series of four trades that would see the Red Wings slipping and falling into a pile of 8 extra draft picks, including three late 1st round picks, three 2nd round picks, and a pair of 3rd rounders.
This collection of early picks turned into Kindel (18), Reid (25), Lee (32), Gastrin (35), Nestrasil (37), Rombach (41), Vansaghi (44), Behm (53), Psenicka (63),and Bedkowski (75) with the remaining 3rd being craftily turned into two 5th round picks: Connor Kurth and Blake Vanek, and three 6th round picks, giving a total of five: Travis Hayes, Petr Sikora, Jake Richard, Joey Muldowney, and TJ Hughes.
It was at this point in time GM Evans decided to do something really wacky and out of character: not make any trades for a while. The focus shifted towards filling out the roster with UFAs and setting up Grand Rapids for success. For once, Detroit made a big splash in UFA and added Travis Sanheim on a massive 10Mx4 contract to anchor the top pair and iconic veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to complement rookie starter Dustin Wolf. Grand Rapids was filled out nicely with promising youth like Washe, Hovorka, Johannesson, and Viel, but had to settle for Hogberg in net after striking out on better options.
Ahead of the waiver draft, the Red Wings managed to open up two spots and walked away with a useful bottom six scorer in Adam Gaudette, and Alec Regula who would later be re-lost on waivers.
To Be Continued! I have run out of time, and the editor demands ink!
2026 Red Wings
Nylander McDavid Hagel
Guentzel Thomas Jarvis
Protas W Johnston Olivier
Johansson Copp Dewar
Scratches: Formenton, Graf, Raty, Lycksell, Lekkerimaki
Sanheim Sanderson
Heiskanen Edvinsson
M Pettersson R Evans
Scratches: St Ivany, Klingberg, Bichsel
Wolf
Fleury
Scratches: D Cooley
-Detroit Free Press
(some point early 2026)
promising youth.....29 year old Jeffrey Viel? Okay then
2023 Red Wings to 2026 Red Wings, Part 2
Okay we’re in 2026… wait it’s June?!
