As one of the more active teams in free agency during the offseason, the Detroit Red Wings have brought in multiple new players that will suit up for them in the upcoming 2025-26 NHL Season.
One new face in Detroit is veteran forward James van Riemsdyk, who had spent the last two seasons playing for the Boston Bruins and Columbus Blue Jackets, respectively.
The former second overall pick in the 2007 NHL Draft behind his now-current Red Wings teammate Patrick Kane, van Riemsdyk brings 1,082 games of experience to a team hoping to break their postseason drought.
Having already played with multiple high-profile veteran players during his career like Claude Giroux, Danny Briere, Brad Marchand, and John Tavares, van Riemsdyk will be bringing his own leadership style to the Red Wings as he explained via the club's official website.
“It’s a full-time commitment,” van Riemsdyk explained shortly after signing. “Whether that’s your preparation, being ready to practice, being ready to play and being ready to recover to get ready for the next game. Just trying to do the right things like that every day. And just trying to bring positive energy to the group and on the bench. It can be a long year, lots of ups and downs, so I think you need to have some of that sounding board just to help things stay even keeled when maybe things aren’t going your way.”
Throughout his career, van Riemsdyk has been known for making a living around the net and the lip of the crease in a style similar to that of former four-time Stanley Cup champion forward Tomas Holmstrom.
van Riemsdyk also brings considerable experience in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to the Red Wings, having skated in 82 career playoff games, including a trip to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final (against Kane's Blackhawks).
Having already trained with Kane and represented the United States alongside him as part of the 2014 Sochi Olympics as well as the World Juniors Championships and World Cup, van Riemsdyk is looking forward to playing with Kane for the first time on an NHL roster.
“(Kane) is one of my really good buddies and we’ve obviously been through this whole journey over the years together in a lot of ways,” van Riemsdyk said. “Through some different USA Hockey things, with training or bouncing ideas off each other for stuff like that, so really exciting that we get a chance to do all that."
van Riemsdyk, Kane, and the rest of the Red Wings are now just over one month away from the start of Training Camp, held annually in Traverse City, Michigan.
