The Red Wings are a team with great historical roots that are up-and-coming in the league right now. In a way, that describes the roster as well with 15 of the 25 players to suit up for them being at least 35 years old or being 25 and under. There’s a deep history involved, Patrick Kane, James van Riemsdyk and Travis Hamonic all combine for over 3300 total games played in the NHL. However, there is also a ton of youth and energy in the lineup as well.
Related: How Have the Red Wings’ Veterans Performed This Season?
In the first part of this article, we discussed the Red Wings’ veterans and what they have brought to the team this season. This time, we are going to look at the youngest players on the team and just how important they are for the present and future of this Red Wings team.
Detroit has dressed 10 players aged 25 or younger so far in the 2025-26 season, so let’s take a look at how they’ve performed and how important they are for the team’s playoff chase.
Axel Sandin Pellikka – 20 Years Old
After a thrilling start to the year where Axel Sandin Pellikka (ASP) cracked the NHL roster after playing just two career AHL games. He sits at third in scoring among Detroit’s defenders (unless you count Justin Faulk’s points in St. Louis, which I don’t) despite ranking fifth among that group in ice time. That is a blueprint for what he will likely be in his prime, a strong offensive defender in a sheltered second or third pairing role.
With Faulk joining the fray and the team in the midst of a playoff race, ASP appears to be on the outside of the defense rotation looking in. He hasn’t played since March 6th against the Florida Panthers. His success had been waning a bit as the long NHL schedule wore on and Faulk’s addition made it easy for the team to sit the youngster. I don’t think ASP needs AHL minutes necessarily, but playing full third pairing minutes all year next year behind Faulk and Seider is a really good fit I think.
Emmitt Finnie – 20 Years Old
Finnie was the best story for the Red Wings in the Fall (and one of the best stories in the league), going from the 7th round of the 2023 Draft to the first line in the NHL with Lucas Raymond and Dylan Larkin. However, the middle months of the season were pretty quiet for Finnie. I don’t think he was bad, per se, but I think it centers his potential a bit more realistically as a good middle-sixer most likely and not a clear top line player. That said, getting a strong middle-six worker in the seventh round is some nice work.
Michael Brandsegg-Nygård – 20 Years Old
It was a surprise that Michael Brandsegg-Nygård even made the NHL team in October, but it was right for him to spend most of the year in Grand Rapids with the Griffins. By the end of his stint in the AHL, MBN was really getting going, with 16 goals and 37 points through 50 games.
His shot and physicality really popped and it was great to see him brought back up into the Red Wings’ lineup for three games as they waited for David Perron to come off the Injured Reserve. MBN has been haunted by the most horrific puck luck in the NHL through his small sample, but his potential as a physical scorer is looking excellent.
Nate Danielson – 21 Years Old
Nate Danielson is a prospect that I have been very high on over the years. Ever since his draft year I have seen him as a prospect with clear potential as a top-six pivot so it has been nice to see him finally get his first shot in the NHL this season. Detroit has been notoriously cautious with their top prospects of late, so it came as no surprise that they sent Danielson back to Grand Rapids following some middling play so he could begin to apply some of the lessons and development directions from the team.
Danielson showed flashes of what he could become, but Detroit needed more from him in the games he did play so it felt like a matter of time before he returned to the AHL. His seven points in 28 games doesn’t exactly jump off the page but that scoring rate (0.25 points per game) is better than the rates of guys like Marco Kasper, Mason Appleton, and Michael Rasmussen so it’s safe to say his return to the AHL isn’t solely about points and has more to do with their desired development of a massively important prospect.
Marco Kasper – 21 Years Old
Marco Kasper is one of just two Austrian players in the NHL this season, and the 17th ever to debut in the history of the league. His 53 career points rank 5th among all Austrian players, but he is still more than 700 points behind the nation’s all time scorer Thomas Vanek.
After an incredibly slow start (in terms of both production and two-way play), Kasper’s play has picked up a bit over the past month or so. Expectations were high at the end of Kasper’s rookie season, but he hasn’t quite captured that 2C level of play as he has dealt with an incredibly tough sophomore slump. This season has been an unequivocable disappointment, but there have been enough flashes in his play this year that I’m still a believer that Kasper will find his way to being a solid middle-six center.
Simon Edvinsson – 22 Years Old
In just his second full NHL season, Simon Edvinsson has blossomed into a great top-pairing quality defender. His pairing with Mo Seider has given Detroit the best d-pairing they’ve had since the Lidstrom days, a pair that they can throw out whether they’re up a goal or down a goal in a game.
Watching Edvinsson, I still get a sense that he’s just scratching the surface of his potential. There are still flashes of Victor Hedman in his game, as a massive defender with the skill and skating to cause havoc on both ends. If Edvinsson can inch closer to that skill level even a little, Detroit would have two elite defenders at the top of the lineup. Edvinsson missed some time right before the Olympic break with a lower body injury, and has come out of it a bit slower, but this is still a wildly successful season for him.
Lucas Raymond – 23 Years Old
Lucas Raymond has gradually improved every year of his career, and this season is no exception. He is already a top-30 scorer in franchise history, and was phenomenal for Sweden at the Olympics. Raymond led Sweden in scoring and was third in the entire tournament for scoring behind just Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini.
Raymond is looking like a reliable 70-90 point winger long-term. Someone who can do serious damage on the power play and score some clutch goals when games get tough, much like his game tying goal against the Dallas Stars in the 3rd period last Saturday night. Raymond’s season has been excellent, and his 66 points through 65 games ties him for 28th in NHL scoring to this point, cementing his impact as a first line talent.
Moritz Seider – 24 Years Old
Moritz Seider is one of the best defensemen in the NHL. Not only is he scoring at a high-end rate (47 points through 68 games ties him for 14th among NHL d-men), but Seider is a formidable defensive presence, imposing himself physically on a nightly basis.
After several years of strong play despite his incredibly difficult deployment, Seider has emerged this season as an elite two-way defender, and has put himself in the running for the Norris trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman. Since NHL awards voters always rely on narratives, it’s likely that the Red Wings will need to make the playoffs for Seider to win, but I think he’s got a good chance of being one of the three finalists regardless.
Albert Johansson – 25 Years Old
Albert Johansson has had a somewhat frustrating year, yoyo-ing from frustrating defensive lapses to electric offensive moments. There’s certainly potential for Johansson to become a second-pairing defender, but it feels much more likely at this point that he becomes a strong depth option for Detroit going forward. His nine points in 68 games are right in line with that role as well.
Jacob Bernard-Docker – 25 Years Old
Jacob Bernard-Docker was signed in the offseason on a very affordable one-year deal. He has been a decent fifth/sixth option for Detroit while averaging roughly 15 minutes a night. Bernard-Docker’s expected goals for percentage (xGF%) actually ranks third among Red Wings defenders at 49.7% (stats via. Natural Stat Trick). He has been perfectly acceptable as a third pairing option, and if Detroit can bring him back cheap next year they would do well to give him a year or two.
