DETROIT — Two years ago, the biggest move of the Detroit Red Wings’ offseason did not come in the first week of free agency. It was not until July 9 in 2023, that the Red Wings made their big summer splash, acquiring winger Alex DeBrincat, who quickly became one of the team’s most important players.

Will that be the case again this year? That’s the big question right now, with two of the Red Wings’ key needs still up in the air after a quiet free agency period. Detroit’s big move so far is trading for goaltender John Gibson during the draft, and Gibson has plenty of potential to be an upgrade in the crease. Beyond that, they’ve added a pair of wingers in James van Riemsdyk and Mason Appleton, plus depth defender Jacob Bernard-Docker. But as for the top-four defenseman and top-six winger the Red Wings wanted and needed coming in? Those have not been meaningfully addressed.

It’s possible, frankly, that they won’t be. General manager Steve Yzerman held his press conference Thursday, which certainly doesn’t rule out any other moves, but generally tends to be an indication there’s nothing imminent in the hopper.

Yzerman said that over the next week or two, though, it was possible something could emerge.

“Without going into detail or elaborating, there are a couple teams looking to do some things that we do have some interest in, and are possibilities,” he said. “Something might come up over the summer, for whatever reason, in another organization. But what I intend to do is, once things settle down here — we’ve got the holiday weekend — would be to circle back next week with everyone to see what their plans are for the offseason, if they have any holes to fill, or players, for whatever reason, they want to move. So we’ll see if anything comes up here in the next week or so.”

That’s the last real kernel of intrigue remaining in this offseason, vague and open-ended as it may be.

Some thoughts on where it all leaves Detroit:

1. At this point, it’s hard to know what those trade possibilities could even be. The two defensemen that arguably made the most sense for the Red Wings, K’Andre Miller and Nicolas Hague, have both already been dealt. Forward Mason Marchment, another potential fit, went off the board early to Seattle.

Assuming Jason Robertson doesn’t get traded — and it doesn’t look like Dallas will need to, at this stage — the big forward names thought to be on the trade market are a pair of Penguins veterans, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, both coming off career years. Both are in their early 30s now, so they’re not long-term core pieces, but they do each have three years remaining on contracts in the $5 million AAV range.

On defense, there’s RFA Bowen Byram, but you do wonder about the fit, specifically if he’d be happy going to another situation where he’s not guaranteed to run the top power play.

Beyond that, what’s out there? Surely, there are names that haven’t leaked being discussed by general managers, but it’s not like there’s a robust trade market to draw from.

2. I’ll have a more thorough depth chart analysis coming early next week, but let’s take a stab at a projected forward lineup.

Right now, I’d guess something like:

James van Riemsdyk – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond
Alex DeBrincat – Marco Kasper – Patrick Kane
Andrew Copp – J.T. Compher – Mason Appleton
Elmer Söderblom – Michael Rasmussen – Jonatan Berggren

Yzerman talked about Appleton giving head coach Todd McLellan the chance to put together a checking line that contributes offensively, as well, so the question is really who else is on that line. We can safely assume the center will be one of Compher or Copp, and Yzerman has talked in the past about the possibility of both being on a line together, alternating faceoff responsibilities by side of the ice. So that’s what I’m going with here.

That being said, I also wonder if that fourth line could benefit from a more offensively inclined center than Rasmussen. Do you swap him for either Copp or Compher, in that case? Rasmussen, after all, can play both center and wing, and certainly fits a checking role. And either Copp or Compher could perhaps facilitate more offense for the two skilled wingers Söderblom and Berggren.

I’m also not positive that it’ll be van Riemsdyk up top. That spot, too, could certainly go to either Copp or Compher, Söderblom, or even Berggren — with van Riemsdyk then slotting as more of a depth scorer. My thought here was that his net front presence and size would play well with Larkin and Raymond, but van Riemsdyk has averaged 13:30 and 12:24 in ice time the last two seasons, so the top line could be a big jump for him.

“We think we have a lot of flexibility that he can go up and down the lineup,” Yzerman. “And if you check his usage in Columbus, that’s exactly what he did. He could play up on their first line at times, up and down, he’s a useful power play guy. … There’s some flexibility for Todd now, and with his line combinations. He can be equally effective up and down.”

The Red Wings signed James van Riemsdyk to a one-year contract with a $1 million cap hit. (Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)

As for the ‘D,’ since there have been no major changes, I’d think you’re still looking at a top pair of Ben Chiarot and Moritz Seider, a second pair of Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson, and a third pair that is a sort of rotation between Bernard-Docker, Erik Gustafsson and Justin Holl.

3. Regardless of the line combinations, if that is the roster, and the Red Wings aren’t able to make another add, the obvious question is: is this a better team than Detroit had a year ago?

I think the answer is probably yes, but not by a large margin. The only real subtraction is Vladimir Tarasenko, and by adding Gibson in net, plus another year of growth from Kasper, Edvinsson, Johansson, and even Seider and Raymond, there’s the potential for some progress. That’s in addition to keeping McLellan, under whom the Red Wings did look better than in their first half.

That being said, Yzerman acknowledged the New Coach Bump is over now, and that “it’s up to the players and the coaches to show that they can sustain that level, and I expect them to.”

4. The Red Wings went 26-18-4 in 48 games under McLellan, a 96-point pace over a full season. If they could do that in 2025-26, it would put them in playoff range — albeit still not a slam dunk.

The last two years in the Eastern Conference, that cutoff has been 91 points. In 2023, it was 92. But the year before that, it took 100, and there are certainly teams in the race who are getting better. Montreal added Noah Dobson. The Rangers added Vladislav Gavrikov. Columbus, like Detroit, has plenty of young talent that could spur more improvement.

It’s a crowded field, and while the Red Wings are in that group, they haven’t distinguished themselves from it.

5. There are also fair questions about the sustainability of what Detroit did in the second half under McLellan. The general manager clearly expects that to be the standard, but consider that under McLellan, the Red Wings still ranked 22nd in expected goals share (and 21st in actual goals share) at five-on-five in that span. Their elite power play boosted them, and could very well continue to, but this still was not a five-on-five powerhouse.

Again, that speaks to the need for existing players to drive some improvement, as well as the additions like Appleton potentially slotting the lineup into more natural roles.

6. I asked Yzerman about how, if at all, the age of some of his current key pieces shapes his approach. Kane is 36. Larkin is squarely in his prime, and will soon turn 29, and DeBrincat will be 28 in December, with just two years before he can become a free agent.

“Well, Brad Marchand at 37 just signed a six-year contract, so I’ve got Dylan for another 15 years I figure, so we’ve got plenty of time,” he began, clearly joking. “We’re trying to build around that same group of guys. They’ve got a lot of years ahead of them, which isn’t comforting at all to anybody, but I’m not concerned with the age of Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat — they’re great athletes, they train hard, they take good care of themselves and they’re very motivated.”

He also added, “Believe it or not, we are trying to improve our team, we are trying to get in the playoffs.” He alluded to the younger players who grew into big roles last year — Edvinsson, Kasper and Johansson at the top of that list — and certainly it’s possible another young name gets added to that list this year. Perhaps, at some point, that’s young center Nate Danielson.

“We just kind of keep sticking with it, and again, unfortunately the free agent situation this year wasn’t conducive to getting a real impact player for us,” Yzerman said. “But we’ll keep that option open.”

7. Speaking of the young players, this week doubled as Red Wings’ development camp, although it was a smaller camp than in some past years. It was a smaller camp roster to begin with, and some injuries throughout the week ultimately led Detroit to cancel its planned scrimmage on Thursday due to a lack of bodies.

That event is usually the most fertile for observations, so I’m light on those this year — there were very few head-to-head drills to observe, either. So I really only have a couple of takeaways.

8. One was Jesse Kiiskinen, the prospect Detroit acquired in the Andrew Gibson trade last summer. I’ve liked Kiiskinen’s motor and scoring ability going back to his draft year, after seeing him with the Finnish national junior team, but seeing him throughout this week, his shot really popped. That’s not a surprise, as he scored six goals in seven games at the World Juniors last year, but it was notable seeing not just how hard it was, but how often it actually found the net. The two aren’t always correlated.

9. The other was from Brandsegg-Nygård, who normally, I feel like I notice more in games for obvious reasons: his big traits are his shot and his physicality, and he didn’t get a chance to use the latter of those this week. But what I keyed into, while watching him, was how efficient he can be with puck touches. He’s not someone who’s going to dust the puck off five times before he does something with it, nor does he need to.

Again, without competition to draw on, it’s hard to make significant conclusions, but I just think he’s a savvy player who doesn’t need to overcomplicate things to be effective. That’s a nice quality to have.

We all saw Brandsegg-Nygård come over and translate well into the AHL playoffs, putting up two goals and three points in three games. I think he’ll fit really nicely in that league over a full season in 2025-26.

10. Red Wings’ 2022 second-round pick Dylan James was someone I thought Detroit might have signed by now, after three years in college at North Dakota. James had a career-high 14 goals last season, and the Red Wings really like his skating and penalty killing, thanks to his anticipation.

James told me he did have the chance to leave after his junior year, but he felt better about the chance to develop more with more ice time as a senior at North Dakota than turning pro.

He’d like to play on the power play, with the potential for more offense coming there, and “didn’t want to rush out of there and kind of hinder myself at the next level. I want to make sure that I’m ready before I jump to the next level.”

Obviously, by going back, there’s the threat that James could become a free agent next August. But it sounds like the Red Wings were OK with his decision to go back for his senior year, and they are still the only team that can sign him next spring.

If they are able to sign him, he certainly has some projectable traits in his game to translate into a checking role down the line.

(Top photo: Dave Sandford / NHLI via Getty Images)