Henrik Zetterberg may have no interest in running the Detroit Red Wings’ front office, but he sure sounded like a general manager while talking about the challenge facing Timra.
“When you lose a player who scores 30 goals, it doesn’t happen that often,” Zetterberg recently told Swedish website Hockey Sverige. “We’ll have to spread his 30 out over five or six other players instead.”
The comment came as Timra braces for life without Jonathan Dahlen, its 30-goal scorer from last season, and after also losing Emil Pettersson, the club’s second-leading scorer from 2025-26. It’s a familiar kind of headache for Detroit, too, with Patrick Kane gone and Dylan Larkin potentially next in line to depart. Zetterberg, though, was speaking in his role on Timra’s sports council, not as a Red Wings executive.
Timra’s offense will lean on a different name Detroit fans know well: prospect Eddie Genborg. The Red Wings selected him 44th overall in the 2025 NHL entry draft, and he delivered nine goals and 25 points for Timra last season.
The club is also betting on a player who once sat on Detroit’s draft board. In the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, the Red Wings used the 191st pick on Finnish center Otto Kivenmaki, and after piling up 134 points in 154 games over the last two seasons in Finland’s SM-liiga, he has now signed with Timra for this season.
“We really believe in the squad we have,” Zetterberg said. “It will be fun with a little fresh start with a little bit of everything.
“Others are also getting more space and opportunities to develop and take steps in their careers.”
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Now the bigger question around the rebuild is not just what Yzerman wanted to do, but what he was actually allowed to do. Reports from the Detroit Free Press suggest some of his roster plans may have met resistance higher up the chain, adding another layer to a tenure that has already been judged harshly by fans looking for progress. In a market that has waited a long time for a turnaround, the debate over who deserves the blame is only getting more complicated. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Still Have One Big Danielson Question At Center
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Red Wings Face A Dylan Larkin Decision That Could Change Everything
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If Detroit does go down that road, the ripple effects would likely reach well beyond one trade. The idea would be to lean harder into youth and development, giving younger forwards a chance to take on bigger responsibilities while the organization continues searching for its next direction. It is the same sort of tension that has shown up elsewhere in the city, where the line between trying to win now and planning for what comes next has started to blur. [Read more 🡒]