The Red Wings keep showing up in the same place in prospect rankings: good enough to be respected, not quite dangerous enough to scare anyone.
That’s the takeaway from The Athletic’s Corey Pronman, who dropped his latest NHL prospect guide and slotted Detroit’s pool 15th. He’s the latest evaluator to place the organization outside the top 10, reinforcing the idea that the Red Wings still haven’t landed - or acquired - that one young player with true game-breaking upside.
Pronman’s list includes some current Red Wings players who already have a chunk of NHL games on their résumé, Marco Kasper among them, with the cutoff for the rankings set at under 23. The overall picture is a familiar one for Detroit: there’s talent here, but most of it projects more as middle-six or bottom-nine help than star power. Plenty of names, not much thunder.
Elsewhere around the league, a contract rumor involving Cutter Gauthier made the rounds over the weekend. NHL Network radio host Paul Shaheen reported that Gauthier turned down a four-year, $52 million deal carrying a $13 million AAV. The report hasn’t been verified, but if Gauthier is indeed looking for more, Anaheim may have some difficult math ahead.
The Ducks have already been pushed into an expensive corner at forward, largely because of the $18 million AAV offer sheet for Leo Carlsson from the Philadelphia Flyers that they elected to match. Gauthier, who scored 40 goals last season, has been a major piece of Anaheim’s push back toward playoff contention.
Even with that momentum, fitting another big contract under the cap could be too much to ask this offseason, especially with other players already locked into hefty extensions. It’s been a busy stretch for Ducks GM, who has had plenty to sort through over the last couple of months.
For Red Wings fans looking for more on the pipeline, the club also put out a video from its latest Prospect Development camp, featuring Mickey Redmond speaking to the group along with on-ice footage from inside the Belfor Training Center. The full video is available on the team’s official YouTube page.
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