Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has said his team needs a change.

How successful he is in delivering that will depend mostly on which new players he can bring in this summer. But as the offseason begins, it’s also time for our annual look at which members of the 2025-26 Red Wings are most likely to stay and who could be out the door before next season.

Not going anywhere

Moritz Seider

Seider became the Red Wings’ best player in 2025-26, a true do-it-all defenseman who will be on Norris Trophy ballots this spring. His 60 points were a career high, and that’s in addition to being perhaps the league’s best defensive defenseman. At 25, he’s the foundation upon which the Red Wings’ future will be built.

Lucas Raymond

Raymond seemed to be playing hurt at multiple points this season and saw his numbers dip slightly from a year ago. But he still finished with 76 points and has another level of goal scoring in him if he increases his shot volume. At 24, he’s just entering his prime, and a summer to heal and add strength could position him to take that step next season. His doing so is crucial to the team’s future.

Simon Edvinsson

Edvinsson is a key piece of the Red Wings’ present and future. He played 72 games this season despite two knee surgeries (one before the season and one midseason) and was a top-pair staple throughout. He’ll need a new contract this summer as a restricted free agent. The number could carry some sticker shock because of the rising cap, but Edvinsson is already a good top-pair defenseman who is only getting better. He’s a building block.

Dylan Larkin

Larkin will turn 30 this summer, and it’s clear how hungry he is to get the Red Wings back into the playoffs. His five-on-five numbers this season were a concern, and that’s something he’ll have to address this summer (after healing from a late-season injury that hampered him). But he still had a career high 34 goals, his fifth consecutive 30-goal season, and those numbers could rise next season if the Red Wings can find a legit top-line left wing to play alongside him and Raymond.

His age looms as a ticking clock for Detroit’s contention timeline, and that’s something to keep in mind in the big picture. But he’s the Red Wings’ No. 1 center, and they’ll need him if they’re going to snap their playoff drought next season.

Alex DeBrincat

DeBrincat was the Red Wings’ best and most consistent forward all season, becoming Detroit’s first 40-goal scorer since Marian Hossa in 2008-09 and showing plenty of tenacity along the way. He is one year out from unrestricted free agency, which means the Red Wings probably need to extend him this summer, and he’s too central to Detroit’s attack for the organization to mess around on this negotiation. I expect him to become the new highest-paid Red Wing when his next deal begins, and likely by a wide margin.

Back barring a surprise

Marco Kasper

Kasper’s second NHL season didn’t go according to plan, with his production dropping from 37 points as a rookie to 19 this season. His minutes dropped too, and he ended the season in Detroit’s bottom six. That said, he was also the victim of some brutal puck luck, with individual and on-ice shooting percentages below 7 percent. Those are dramatically low numbers that seem destined to rebound back toward 10 percent next season.

Yzerman and Todd McLellan reiterated their belief in Kasper at the end of the season, and the young center is a highly motivated player who is sure to work hard toward a rebound this summer. Yzerman and McLellan also referenced potentially needing to find Kasper a consistent spot in the lineup, which is notable. He has played center and wing thus far and could do either job. But his value is highest down the middle, and the ideal situation for him and the team would be if he can make a push at the No. 2 center job next season, though there will be competition.

Emmitt Finnie

Finnie was the breakout story of the season, making the team out of camp as a 20-year-old 2023 seventh-round pick. He finished the season with 30 points, a strong showing for a rookie his age. The Red Wings likely need to add a top-line wing, which would change Finnie’s role next season, but he looks like a legit top-nine player and has center-wing versatility.

John Gibson

After a slow start, Gibson took command of the Red Wings’ net in December and became the clear starter the rest of the way. He started 57 games, his most since 2018-19. The only issue: He seemed to run out of gas toward the end, not finishing several starts down the stretch and seeing his play dip a bit as well.

Still, Gibson looks plenty capable of a 50-game workload and is in line to be the clear-cut starter again next season.

Andrew Copp

Copp is coming off his best season as a Red Wing, with 43 points and a 51.58 percent expected goals share. His best work came while centering DeBrincat and Patrick Kane on Detroit’s most consistent line, and now the question is whether Copp will reprise that role in 2026-27. If not, will Kasper — who looked like the 2C entering the season — take another run at the job? Or will the Red Wings look to upgrade the second-line center spot via trade or free agency?

Copp can play as a 3C and often has in his time in Detroit. But the pairing with Kane and DeBrincat seemed to get the most out of him, making this an interesting call for the Red Wings. He’s entering a contract year and should be quite motivated, whichever way it falls.

Ben Chiarot

The Red Wings extended Chiarot for three more years in January, seemingly cementing him for the near future. He has been a minute-eater in his four seasons as a Red Wing, particularly on the penalty kill, and figures to maintain a large role next season.

Justin Faulk

Detroit’s big trade-deadline acquisition, Faulk had his ups and downs after coming over from the St. Louis Blues. The good: Only Larkin, DeBrincat and Kane had more goals than Faulk after the trade deadline. The bad: His underlying numbers weren’t as good, and he gave up plenty of quality defensively. It’s fair to wonder how much of that was his fit next to Chiarot, how much was the midseason change of scenery, and how much was simply how much Detroit allowed overall.

But regardless, the Red Wings traded for him with the extra year on his contract in mind, and he figures to be a second-pair staple next season.

Albert Johansson

Johansson didn’t have the expanded role I predicted this season, but he nonetheless played in all 82 games, logging about 16 minutes a night. He likely has another level in him, and I’d be curious to see him get at least a look next to Faulk to see how they fit, but either way, he’s on a cheap contract and figures to be back as a regular.

Axel Sandin-Pellikka

Sandin-Pellikka surpassed expectations for this season by making the opening-night roster and playing 68 games. But he lost his lineup spot after the Faulk trade, and now he’ll have to work this summer to win it back in training camp. And he’ll have a playoff run with AHL Grand Rapids to set the tone, which should be a good launching pad.

Certainly, Sandin-Pellikka can help himself by continuing to polish his defensive game, but really, it’s about getting his offense and puck-moving up to the level they can be. His seven goals and 21 points this season were respectable for a now-21-year-old rookie, but Sandin-Pellikka’s value is predicated on his ability to move (and shoot) the puck. Finding a way to better utilize those strengths in the NHL is his best path to a secure role.

Jacob Bernard-Docker

In and out of the lineup early in the year, Bernard-Docker earned the coaches’ trust and locked down a consistent spot as the season went on — and a two-year contract extension to go with it. That indicates he’ll be back next year, with the big question being whether he can hold off Sandin-Pellikka for the third-pair job to begin the season.

Patrick Kane

Kane is the only unrestricted free agent in this tier, and I wrestled with where to list him. But ultimately, he was one of the team’s few consistent five-on-five producers — something Yzerman noted at his year-end news conference — and that should be enough for the Red Wings to bring him back. Kane has always seemed happy in Detroit and has said he would “love to be part of the solution” getting the team back into the postseason. For those reasons, I’ll say he’s back again for a fourth season.

Carter Mazur

Mazur is a restricted free agent and has played only nine career NHL games, largely due to all the injuries he has suffered. But the Red Wings have put a lot into developing him, and his AHL track record is enough to earn a new contract. From there, it seems unlikely Detroit would risk him on waivers. That makes him a good bet for a roster spot, with the hope being that he can stay healthy and contribute some depth scoring, likely in a fourth-line (or 13th forward) role.

Have term, but candidates to move

J.T. Compher had an underwhelming season, finishing with just 28 points, his lowest since the 56-game 2020-21 season. (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

J.T. Compher

Compher stepped up when the Red Wings had center injuries late in the season, delivering a 63.81 percent expected goals share (and 65.5 percent actual goals share) at five-on-five in the games Larkin missed in March. That should be a reminder of his utility. So is the fact that all 11 of his goals this season came at five-on-five, the fourth most on the Red Wings. Still, his season on the whole was underwhelming, finishing with just 28 points, his lowest since the 56-game 2020-21 season. He was one of several bottom-six pieces who didn’t bring enough physicality to make up for their lack of production.

The reason he’s in this category despite two years of term remaining, at a $5.1 million AAV, is twofold. First, Detroit has centers ahead of him in Larkin, Copp and potentially Kasper next season, with Nate Danielson on the way as well, which either complicates Compher’s path to high-lineup playing time or blocks one of the young players. And second, the former Cup winner could have real value on the trade market, especially in a year in which the free-agent class (particularly at center) leaves much to be desired.

Compher has positional flexibility, so he could play a bottom-six role on the wing for Detroit as well, and his late-season play made a case for that. He also has a 10-team no-trade list. But with the Red Wings needing to remake their bottom six, Compher nonetheless stands out as a player who could appeal to other teams in a trade and perhaps benefit from a larger role elsewhere.

Michael Rasmussen

Rasmussen has two years left at $3.2 million annually, but his numbers trended the wrong way in multiple categories this season. He had just 14 points, and though he missed 18 games, his per-game scoring rate at 0.22 was a career low. His 64 hits were also a career low — and a massive drop-off from 141 last season.

Rasmussen has always been a valued player by the Red Wings, but those aren’t good signs for a player who should be squarely in his prime at age 27, putting him on the radar if the Red Wings decide to move out bodies down the lineup.

Mason Appleton

Appleton’s first year in Detroit did not go well, particularly after a strong start in which he had three goals in his first four games. He had just three more the whole rest of the season, though, and he had three total points in his final 34 games. Appleton wasn’t signed to be a scorer, but it’s hard to survive that little production from a lineup regular.

More troubling, the territorial numbers that made him intriguing as a free agent — Appleton entered the year with four consecutive seasons at or above a 51 percent expected (and actual) goals share at five-on-five — cratered to below 43 percent in both categories. He’s a good skater with size, and perhaps he can bounce back next season. But it’s also fair to wonder if the fit just wasn’t right in Detroit. If that’s the case, Appleton’s prior track record as a solid checking-line player could be enough for another team to call on him.

Pending UFAs who could move on

James van Riemsdyk

Van Riemsdyk brought valuable goal scoring to Detroit, finishing fifth on the team with 15. The Red Wings might try to keep him around for that reason — they need the scoring, especially around the crease. But he’ll be 37 next season (assuming he opts to continue playing), did about half of his damage on the power play, and doesn’t play with significant edge in his game. That all makes him a candidate to go elsewhere, though not a lock to do so.

David Perron

Perron will be 38 in May, so the first question is whether he wants to keep playing. If he does, he was popular enough in the dressing room for Detroit to bring him back at the trade deadline, and that’s notable. The organization clearly values him. He protects the puck well down low, is good along the walls and can still shoot it. But he had only 3 points (all goals) in his 16 games after the trade deadline, compared to 18 penalty minutes, and his feet remain heavy. It’s not impossible to see a world where he’s back, but his age and contract status would more likely point toward moving on.

Cam Talbot

Talbot was a good backup this season, often coming into tough situations cold — he played in 34 games despite starting just 25 — and holding his own, certainly better than his .883 save percentage would indicate. He’s an excellent veteran to have around. Still, he’ll be 39 this offseason, and with Sebastian Cossa needing to come up next season, the safest bet would be on Talbot departing to make room.

The only question is whether Detroit would consider going with three goaltenders next year to account for Cossa’s lack of NHL experience — and whether Talbot would sign up for that kind of a split.

Likely gone

Travis Hamonic

Hamonic played in only one game after the Olympic break: the season finale in Florida. With Seider, Faulk, Bernard-Docker and Sandin-Pellikka in the picture next season, plus prospect Anton Johansson on the radar, it looks like his time in Detroit is over.