Hey there, gang! Quite a bit to talk about today across the NHL and in Red Wings world. Let’s get into it.
Been a tough week to be a fan of Michigan State Spartans hockey, eh? First, consensus 1st overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft Gavin McKenna committed to Penn State. The top prospect was down to Penn State and Michigan State as the final two teams. Penn State shelled out an NIL deal worth some $700k to get him, which of course pales in comparison to the NIL deals and money going to college football players, but still a big number considering the sport.
THEN, news got worse for MSU — the “Ice Man” Isaac Howard was traded to Edmonton from Tampa last night. In exchange for the Hobey Baker winner, Tampa received forward Sam O’Reilly. Howard signed his three-year ELC with Edmonton, so he won’t be returning to MSU for another season. This is also tough news for a lot of Red Wings fans — many wanted Steve Yzerman to pursue Isaac Howard. I’m not sure who wins this trade just yet. O’Reilly will be a boon for Tampa’s future middle or bottom six. Same time, Howard seems ready to take his dynamic skill to the NHL. Seems like a fair trade…for now.
Detroit still has over $12 million in cap space. We have no idea what, if any, moves will be made before the regular season arrives. Trades are still possible!
Staying on the Red Wings front, it looks like the coaching staff has been filled after the team parted ways with a couple of coaches at the end of the regular season. Michael Leighton will serve as goaltender coach.
Leighton, who is 44 years old, makes the jump across the Detroit River after winning back-to-back Western Conference regular-season titles with the Spitfires. His pro hockey career ended rather recently — he was active from 2001-2019 between the AHL, KHL and NHL. His career accolades as a goalie were mostly earned in the AHL, where he still holds the all-time shutout record (50). Another crazy state — Leighton holds the AHL record for most saves in a single game. In April of 2008, he stopped a staggering 98 of 101 shots in a 5OT decision. Leighton also has ties to Patrick Kane for, uh, reasons…
Detroit also hired a new video coordinator — Jeff Weintraub will take that position. Detroit also parted ways with video coordinator LJ Scarpace and European Pro Scout Tommy Boustedt. Couldn’t tell you much about any of these people, so maybe someone can give us more context in the comments. I can tell you that Scarpace is joining Michigan Tech as an assistant coach, however.
Finally, just wanted to mention that the NHL and NHLPA have ratified a Collective Bargaining Agreement, bringing at least four years of labor peace to hockey’s biggest league. Good news for us fans, I think. We’re gonna have to wait and see what happens in the future — the NFL is reportedly considering renegotiating its media rights deals before the 2029 opt-out. That would mean a lot of money is shelled out to the NFL from all of the major networks, which may or may not have an impact on the NHL’s future media rights deal(s). Something to monitor.