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TRAVERSE CITY- Popular Red Wings center prospect Amadeus Lombardi is a late add to Detroit’s roster for the two-game NHL Prospect Series against the Dallas Stars starting today.
Game 1 is 6 p.m. today at the Centre ICE Arena. Game 2 is Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Lombardi, who played last season for the Grand Rapids Griffins, replaces Ondrej Becher, a Czech center who played for Prince George in the Western Hockey League last season. The Red Wings drafted Becher 80th three months ago.
Lombardi centers the No. 2 line today. Hunter Johannes is on his left side and Alexandre Doucet is on Lombardi’s right side. Lombardi, 21, posted five goals and 26 points in his first professional season.
Danielson Will Play with MBN
Nate Danielson (ninth, 2023) will center the top line. Jakub Rychlovsky (Czech League leading goal scorer) is on the left side and Norwegian Michael Brandsegg-Nygard at right wing. Emmitt Finnie (201st, 2023) will be the No. 3 center.
Two-time NCAA champion Shai Buium (36th, 2021) is the only Red Wings’ draft pick on their defense. The other five D men are free agent invitees.
Carter Gylander, the former Colgate, should start in goal. Sebastian Cossa, who will be the Griffins’ No. 1 goalie this season, isn’t on Detroit’s tournament roster.
The prospect tournament is an annual event before Red Wings’ training camp in Traverse City. Detroit’s full roster will be on the ice starting Thursday. Practices will be held daily through Sunday. Red Wings players, prospects and tryouts will be divided into teams that will practice and scrimmage. The annual Red and White Game is Sunday.
More must-reads:
- NHL players who will send their GM a 'thank you' card next summer
- Braves to place star player on 10-day IL
- The 'NFL stadium names' quiz
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NHL players who will send their GM a 'thank you' card next summer
While it's possible a few moves will still occur in NHL free agency, most of the major wheeling and dealing is on pause. Here's a look at five players who will benefit the most this season from moves made by their general managers: New York Rangers right defenseman Adam Fox Fox was one of the top-producing defenseman in the league last season despite a revolving door of defensive partners next to him at five-on-five. To aid him, the Rangers signed Vladislav Gavrikov (seven years, $49M) with apparent goal of giving Fox the best defensive partner of his career. Gavrikov (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) was one of the best defensive defenseman in the league last season on the best regular-season defensive team (Los Angeles). If paired with Gavrikov, Fox could get increased minutes if the former King takes the toughest matchups. If split up, Fox will get the luxury of being matched against inferior opponents while Gavrikov takes the hardest minutes. Either way, that's a win for the former Norris Trophy winner. Carolina's wingers We're cheating a little bit here but with good reason. It's not really exactly where Carolina's new high-priced winger Nikolaj Ehlers (six years, $8.5 million AAV) will play — Carolina is likely to play him more often at five-on-five than he played in Winnipeg, where he was ninth in time-on-ice per game last season among forwards. Ehlers is an elite puck transporter who helped the Jets outscore opponents 100-55 at five-on-five the past two seasons, so at least one of Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis or Logan Stankoven will benefit from him. Montreal Canadiens right defenseman Lane Hutson Hutson (5-foot-9 and 162 pounds) will always have doubters because of his size. But some players transcend size, as Hutson did in an outstanding 60-assist rookie season in 2024-25. The Canadiens know that, in the right role, Hutson can do serious damage in creating offense at five-on-five and on the power play. Acquiring Noah Dobson, a 6-foot-4 right-handed-shot defenseman, will allow the Habs to keep Hutson in the ideal role. Dobson, playing a full season under HC Patrick Roy for the New York Islanders, put up his best career defensive metrics in high-danger chances against per 60 minutes (9.66) and expected goals against (2.29) in 70 or more games, according to Natural Stat Trick. Vegas Golden Knights Mark Stone Winger Mitch Marner's arrival could potentially give Stone a chance to take fewer shifts, play more games and be healthier come playoff time, when the Knights need his brand of two-way hockey to make up for Marner's history of playoff troubles. Stone, who has battled back problems for years, is 33 and on the back-nine of his career. The arrival of Marner has the potential to stretch out the effectiveness of the latter stages of his career. St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas Thomas has quietly become one of the more effective No. 1 centers in the league. His back-to-back 80-plus-point seasons are driven primarily by his speed and skill as a setup man. In free agency, St. Louis added centers Pius Suter and Nick Bjugstad. Bjugstad should be able to take harder matchups at five-on-five. Suter, meanwhile, proved to be an effective penalty killer in Vancouver last season. That should allow Thomas to spend fewer minutes on the penalty kill, where he had the worst expected goals against per 60 rate (10.84, per Natural Stat Trick) of any Blues penalty killer to play at least 20 minutes on the PK last season.
Commanders reportedly hesitant about one issue with Terry McLaurin deal
The 2024 offseason expanded the $30M-per-year wide receiver club to six members. D.K. Metcalf, Ja’Marr Chase and Garrett Wilson have taken it to nine this year. Terry McLaurin is undoubtedly pushing to bump that number to 10, after seeing 2019 Day 2 classmates Metcalf and A.J. Brown land among that contingent. McLaurin reported to training camp Sunday and landed on the active/PUP list. As our Rory Parks explained, skepticism exists about how injured the Commanders’ top wide receiver really is. An ankle injury has keyed the PUP stay, but it can be safely assumed McLaurin would be ready to practice if an extension comes to pass. Nevertheless, the Commanders have been surprised by the difficulty of these talks. Using an injury to avoid practicing while negotiating — developments the Jonathan Taylor and Micah Parsons sagas brought — represents a third tactic, joining the holdout and the increasingly utilized hold-in amid extension talks. McLaurin shifted from a holdout to the injury route; no matter how he is accomplishing not practicing, the seventh-year veteran is aiming to land a lucrative third contract. His age provides a complication for Washington. McLaurin is going into an age-30 season, separating him from Brown and Metcalf. Both Ole Miss products were drafted just before McLaurin, a 2019 third-round pick, but they are each two years younger. This strengthened their cases for big-ticket third contracts. McLaurin went first to ignite the second-tier boom on the receiver market in 2022, agreeing to a three-year, $69.6M extension. That shaped the Metcalf and Deebo Samuel extensions, both of which coming in higher than McLaurin’s despite the latter’s consistency with suboptimal quarterback situations. McLaurin’s AAV has dropped to 17th at wide receiver. The Commanders are prepared to extend their top wideout, but Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline indicates the "holdup" is regarding the $30M-AAV number. Some around the league point to the team not wanting to go into that neighborhood for McLaurin, despite his five 1,000-yard seasons. Courtland Sutton and McLaurin are nearly the same age, and the Broncos’ top target signed a four-year, $92M extension. That matches where the Titans went for Calvin Ridley (now 30) in 2024. McLaurin, though, has a better resume than both and should be aiming higher. The Commanders have a Jayden Daniels rookie contract to structure another McLaurin extension around as well. Adam Peters was around for the 49ers’ 2022 Samuel extension but not Brandon Aiyuk‘s $30M-per-year deal. (The Samuel extension also did not work out for the 49ers, who proceeded with a salary dump of sorts by trading him to the Commanders.) The second-year GM taking a hardline stance with McLaurin would be an interesting route given the WR’s importance to a sudden contender. Peters confirmed talks are ongoing, with that comment coming after McLaurin expressed frustration about the negotiations. A potential gap between the pack of 20-somethings (and Tyreek Hill) north of $30M AAV and the Tee Higgins–Jaylen Waddle–D.J. Moore tier could be relevant here, and it will be interesting to see if McLaurin settles for something just south of that $30MM benchmark. Guarantees and contract structure, of course, will be important to determining the value as well. A short-term extension should be reached soon, per Pauline, but if the Commanders hold the line at or around $30M, the McLaurin matter could drag on for a while longer.
Lakers coach JJ Redick issues challenge to Bronny James
The Los Angeles Lakers are looking for Bronny James to make some changes ahead of his second year in the NBA. James, the No. 55 pick in the 2024 draft, played in 27 games for the Lakers last season and started in one game. He averaged 2.3 points, .8 assists and .7 rebounds per contest. For James to improve on those numbers this season, head coach JJ Redick thinks the 20-year-old needs to change his physique. "The biggest thing for Bronny is that he has to get in elite shape," Redick said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. "That's the barrier of entry for him right now. And if he does that, I think he's got a chance to be a really fantastic player in the NBA." James didn't have much of a chance to get in elite shape before his rookie season. He played a shortened season at USC after suffering cardiac arrest on July 24, 2023. James made his debut for the Trojans on Dec. 10, 2023. Redick compared James' ceiling to Davion Mitchell of the Miami Heat and T.J. McConnell of the Indiana Pacers. For James to get there, he has to push past his fears of the prior cardiac arrest caused by a congenital heart defect. "I think we have all seen these amazing flashes of it from Bronny," Redick said. "And to get to that next level for him, it's cardio fitness. "He's cleared. ... I get that there's a history there of a really scary thing that he had to live through, and I think it's tough to push past certain points for him, but he's going to get there. He's going to get there." Based on Redick's comments, James has more to change than getting his 6-foot-3, 210-pound frame in shape for the upcoming season. He has to work on his mental fear of pushing his body too far. James' mental hurdle might be the biggest obstacle to his improvement as an NBA player.
It's time for the Bengals to meet their disgruntled star halfway
As Trey Hendrickson prepares to end his holdout, it's time for the Cincinnati Bengals to meet their star edge-rusher halfway. On Tuesday, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported that Hendrickson plans to end his holdout amid a prolonged contract dispute by reporting to Bengals camp on Wednesday despite still seeking an extension. "Reporting to camp stops the $50,000 per day fines and also serves as a good-faith gesture to try to jumpstart negotiations," Schefter wrote. Hendrickson is owed $18.7M in 2025. Last season, Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks (17.5). He originally signed a four-year, $60M contract with the Bengals during 2021 free agency and later signed a one-year extension in July 2023 to keep him Cincinnati through 2025. With no guarantees beyond this upcoming season and the edge-rusher market exploding recently, Hendrickson certainly has a valid argument to demand an extension. Meanwhile, Cincinnati has few (if any) good reasons not to reward their best defensive player. Hendrickson, 30, has been one of the league's most prolific pass-rushers since joining the Bengals. Former agent Joel Corry, writing for CBS Sports, brushed aside concerns about a potential drop-off in production while pointing to Pittsburgh Steelers edge T.J. Watt's recent contract extension. As Corry noted, Watt, who became the league's highest-paid non-quarterback when he agreed to a three-year, $123M extension earlier this offseason, is roughly two months older than Hendrickson. "Hendrickson also accounted for 48.6% of Cincinnati's sacks last season while Watt was responsible for 28.8% of Pittburgh's," Corry wrote. On Monday, Schefter shared that the main sticking point in Hendrickson's contract dispute is guaranteed money, with the Bengals hesitant to provide any guarantees beyond 2025 on a potential three-year deal. As productive as Hendrickson has been for the Bengals — his 57 sacks since 2021 only trail Watt and Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett — the front office should be doing everything in its power to ensure he finishes his career in Cincy. Hendrickson ending his holdout is the first step to the sides reaching a resolution. The next is the Bengals giving him an extension commensurate to his production.
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