The Detroit Red Wings never gave Eduards Tralmaks a chance to show if he could play at the NHL level.

And we still don’t understand why.

Tralmaks’ six points in his first two games for Latvia at the World Championships is a reminder of the big forward’s propensity to rise up offensively. Tralmaks registered a goal and two assists in Latvia’s 8-1 win against Hungary Tuesday. He also had a goal and two assists in a 6-0 win against Great Britain. Latvia has qualified for the medal round

Tralmaks scored 26 goals for the Grand Rapids Griffins in the regular season and four more in the postseason before arriving in Switzerland.

You would have thought in the closing games of the season the Red Wings would have promoted Tralmaks just to see how he looked playing against NHL competition. There’s no question he knows how to find the net.

We understand that there are players who look impressive at the AHL level, putting up impressive numbers, and then get to the NHL level and cannot handle the tempo. Maybe Tralmaks is that guy. It’s not like he’s a young man with development potential. He’s 29.

But you would have thought that the Red Wings, a team looking for goals, would have wanted to be sure about their assessment of Tralmaks. Sometimes players surprise us by figuring how to make their abilities to work in the Show.

Is it possible Tralmaks could score 20 goals in the NHL playing on a third line with Andrew Copp and Michael Brandsegg Nygard?

European media is reporting that Tralmaks has offers from European teams to return over there. Are the Red Wings considering bringing him back? We have not heard if they are.

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Forward David Perron earned a “D” in his short time with the Red Wings this season.

GM Steve Yzerman will be looking address the organization’s lack of depth at center.

Red Wings Extra

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard had the overtime goal in Norway’s 4-3 win against Denmark Tuesday. He also added an assist. The 2024 Red Wings first rounder has three goals in his first two games at the World Championship. . . The Everett Silvertips and 2025 Detroit Red Wings first round pick Carter Bear had to feel good about their Memorial Cup chances after they won 46 of their last 51 games in Western Hockey League play. But the Kitchener Rangers brought them back to reality with a humbling 6-2 win against Everett Monday. The Silvertips wrap up the round robin portion of the tournament Wednesday with a game against Kelowna.

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