Since the 2022-23 season, the Detroit Red Wings’ leadership group has remained steady without much fluctuation. Headlined by captain Dylan Larkin, the four-year captain’s alternates were all veterans brought in during free agency: Ben Chiarot, Andrew Copp and David Perron. Though a few other players wore an ‘A’ on their sweater over the last two seasons, this group of four has been entrenched as the team’s on-ice leaders.
Ahead of the 2024-25 season, the winds of change are blowing. That’s because Perron recently departed the organization by signing a two-year contract with the Ottawa Senators. NHL teams technically only need a captain and two alternates, but the Red Wings have utilized three alternates in a majority of the last 20 seasons.
That then begs the question: who might inherit the ‘A’ Perron left behind? Luckily for the Red Wings, they have no shortage of viable candidates.
Patrick Kane
It sure seemed like the entire hockey world took note when Patrick Kane chose to sign with the Red Wings a month into the 2023-24 season. The longtime Chicago Blackhawk joined the Red Wings after an offseason hip surgery, and there was a lot of trepidation about whether or not he could still be an impact player in Detroit. The 35-year-old went on to look like vintage Kane, collecting 47 points in 50 games. On the day before he was set to become an unrestricted free agent, Kane re-signed with the Red Wings on another one-year deal.
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Entering his second season with the Red Wings, Kane seems set to fully enter the next phase of his career. After winning almost everything you can win in the NHL including three Stanley Cup championships, his decision to re-sign with the Red Wings shows that he isn’t necessarily chasing championships anymore. For him, the last seasons of his career will be about personal milestones and being part of a winning culture.
When he met with the media after re-signing with the Red Wings, Kane mentioned his willingness to be a leader in a locker room that won’t have a ton of big game experience.
“Maybe I’m leaned on a little bit more by the coaching staff in certain areas, or even in the locker room or a leadership role, things like that. Obviously I’m 35, going to be turning 36 this year. So, I’ve been around for quite a bit and feel like I can bring that leadership aspect to the group and just kind of help the group along, whether it’s in good times or bad times.”
– Patrick Kane
Kane was an alternate captain for the Red Wings during their visit to Chicago last season; you might remember that game as the one where Blackhawks fans cheered for a Red Wings win because it was Kane that sealed the victory. Prior to joining the Red Wings, he was an alternate captain for the Blackhawks from 2015 to 2023. He is highly respected among his teammates, he has been where the Red Wings want to go, and he has made it clear that he enjoys the city of Detroit and being a Red Wing. What more could you ask for?
Moritz Seider
Since Chiarot, Copp and Perron were brought in during the 2022 offseason, Moritz Seider is one of three players to also wear an ‘A’ on his sweater. Mind you it was once during his rookie season, but that is still a glowing endorsement of his leadership abilities given that the Red Wings aren’t exactly known for throwing big roles at their youngest players. Now widely accepted as the team’s top defender, there is a strong chance that he will legitimately become the team’s first German alternate captain.
Giving the ‘A’ to Seider would be a symbolic move for a few reasons. One, he was the first player brought into the organization by general manager Steve Yzerman after taking over GM duties in the spring of 2019. Yzerman has always been vocal about wanting to build around the nucleus of kids he’s added into the organization through the draft, and drafting Seider was step one of that plan.
Two, as the team looks set to start adding prospects and young players to the roster over the next few seasons, there will inevitably be a “passing of the torch” from the team’s veteran leaders to the team’s younger leaders. With three seasons and a Calder Trophy to his credit, Seider has already set an example that future Red Wing defenders can follow.
Seider is already the longest-tenured Red Wings defender. He plays with a blend of skill and physicality that many of Detroit’s prospects on the blue line will want to emulate, and that’s without mentioning his competitive drive off the ice. Currently a restricted free agent, he is seemingly on the cusp of signing a new deal with the Red Wings that will keep him around for the foreseeable future. That stability, mixed with the maturity he has already displayed in the NHL, makes him a highly viable option as an alternate captain.
Michael Rasmussen
Pop quiz: who is the Red Wings’ longest tenured player? The answer, as you probably know, is the player that wears a ‘C’ on his sweater, Larkin. Next question: who is the team’s second-longest tenured player?
The answer is Michael Rasmussen, the organization’s top pick in the 2017 draft.
Rasmussen is the final player aside from Seider and Kane that has worn the ‘A’ on his sweater since 2022. He wore it once for a game in Vancouver against the Canucks (he is from Surrey, British Columbia, so the game was a homecoming game for him), but that should not take away from the fact that he was given that distinction in the first place. The 25-year-old forward isn’t the most skilled or accomplished player on the team, but he has already been through a lot with this organization and he embodies what the Red Wings are looking for out of their next wave of players.
Rasmussen is one of four players remaining in the organization that were drafted by Ken Holland, Yzerman’s predecessor. Initially drafted with hopes that he would become a big-bodied shutdown center, Rasmussen’s development into a physical defensive forward wasn’t always smooth, but over time he was able to turn himself into a useful piece in the Red Wings’ lineup. That experience of having to work hard to become a useful NHLer, especially after being selected with a top-10 pick, should make him someone future players can look up to and model themselves after – especially if they themselves fall short of draft day expectations.
Affectionately nicknamed “Moose” by the fans, Rasmussen plays hard and isn’t afraid to sacrifice his body to make a play on both sides of the ice. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Detroit’s playoff hopes quickly went down the drain a couple seasons ago when he incurred a season-ending injury in late February, just a week before the 2023 trade deadline. His importance to the team was further cemented when he signed a four-year extension back in February of this year. He may not be the first name that comes to mind when thinking of players that could be leaders for this team, but in a lot of ways he already is one.
Christian Fischer
One of the more underrated additions to the team last season, Christian Fischer is a perfect example of the “fourth line grinder that plays with a ton of heart” archetype that Red Wings fans have come to love. While he only put up 19 points last season, he wasn’t brought in to be a major offensive contributor. Instead, look to the nearly two hits per-game he recorded as well as his even plus/minus rating despite playing in a bottom six that primarily spent their time in the defensive zone.
Fischer is the ultimate team player. He doesn’t skate around the ice looking for glory, he looks to chip in and help wherever he can. Sometimes that’s by grinding the opposition along the boards, other times that’s by hyping up his teammates on the bench. After spending seven seasons in the Arizona Coyotes organization, it cannot be overstated just how seamlessly he fit into the Red Wings’ locker room. That was perhaps never more evident than when he accidentally dropped an F-bomb while talking about Larkin’s return to the lineup in the final weeks of the season.
Like Kane, it isn’t immediately clear how long Fischer’s time in Detroit will be, and maybe that means the organization will opt to pin the ‘A’ on a player that stands to stick around for a lot longer. But if they are simply looking for someone that would go to war for their teammates, there might not be a better option out there than him. He’s a heart and soul-type of player, and those are the types of players that often make great leaders on and off the ice.
Lucas Raymond
Speaking of Larkin’s return to the lineup, there was no player that stepped up more during his absence than Lucas Raymond. The highest-drafted player of the Red Wings’ rebuild looked like a burgeoning superstar late in the season and was arguably the biggest reason why Detroit was in the playoff mix until the dying moments of the season. You want your leaders to step up in big moments, and it was Raymond that did so time and time again last season.
At 22 years old, Raymond is the youngest player listed here and has been the youngest player on the Red Wings’ roster since he joined it in the Fall of 2021. Since day one, he has displayed an undeniable competitive spirit, as well as the drive to improve. With last season’s 72-point campaign still so fresh in our memories, it is maybe a little easy to forget that his sophomore campaign was not as promising. His improvement throughout the season is a testament to his willingness to put in the work and do what needs to be done to reach that next level. That’s something the Red Wings will want their prospects to emulate as they rise up through the ranks and try to realize their own NHL potential.
The decision-makers for Team Sweden must have taken note. After completing his third season with the Red Wings, Raymond represented his country during the World Championships, a yearly tournament that often looks like a mini-Olympics. With Erik Karlsson serving as the team’s captain, Raymond joined Victor Hedman as an alternate captain for Team Sweden, marking the second-straight year he has done so. If he’s already wearing an ‘A’ with the blue and yellow, how long will it be before he’s wearing one with the red and white?
From the moment the Red Wings selected him with the fourth pick of the 2020 draft, Raymond has been as important of a player as there is in the organization. Raymond embodies a lot of what Yzerman is trying to build in Detroit, and watching him score clutch goals late in the season felt like you were watching a leader emerge. For a team that desperately needed someone new to rise to the occasion, there has to be real optimism that he is ready to carry the torch.
Secret 6th Option
All of these players qualify for one reason or another, but so, too, do Chiarot and Copp, the two players already wearing A’s for the Red Wings. While they did have three alternate captains the last two seasons, they only had two alternates in the two seasons from 2021 to 2022. They may very well decide to just roll with Chiarot and Copp as the two alternates and hand out an additional ‘A’ as needed.
If they decide, however, that they want to recognize someone else as a leader of this team, they certainly have plenty of options.
What would the Red Wings’ leadership group look like in 2024-25 if it were up to you? Let us know in the comments section below!
