The Daily: Former Red Wings forward Gagner plays 1000th NHL game; Crosby appointed to Order of Canada

Sam Gagner was among the most popular Detroit Red Wings during his team with the team, both with fans and teammates alike. That tenure came to an end after last season and the veteran forward was on the move to the Winnipeg Jets as an unrestricted free agent.

Thursday, in a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, Gagner was playing in his 1000th NHL game. He found himself skating on the top forward line with Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois to start the game. At the end of the night came announcement that Gagner was the game’s first star.

Sam Gagner reps the 1000 jersey ahead of his 1000th @NHL game. 👏 pic.twitter.com/LxshhKPGAT

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 30, 2022

Gagner spent 129 of those 1000 games in a Detroit uniform. He scored 21 of his 190 NHL goals for the Red Wings. Prior to coming to Detroit late in the 2019-20 season, Gagner had spent portions of three of the four previous seasons in the AHL and his NHL future looked to be in doubt. He engineered a revivial in Detroit. A guy who once scored eight points in a single NHL game reinvented himself as a 200-foot player.

“Regardless of who you are, you’re going to go through adversity throughout your career,” Gagner told Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe. “You find out what you’re made of and you keep trying to push through.”

Griffins Making Moves

Coming off a 4-1 loss to the Rockfored IceHogs on Wednesday, the Grand Rapids Griffins were doing some more roster shuffling. Forward Cedrid Lacroix was assigned to the ECHL Toledo Walleye.

The son of former NHLer Daniel Lacroix was showing two assists and 33 penalty minutes in 15 games for GR.

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

• Detroit’s rally from a four-goal deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins was a history-making moment for the franchise
• This time, the rally came up short. Detroit fell behind 5-0 in a 6-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres
• No puck luck for Detroit as the Red Wings come up short in Buffalo
• The Buffalo Sabres are becoming the stuff of nightmares for the Red Wings
• Magnus Hellberg got the start on Thursday. Is Alex Nedeljkovic’s destiny a conditioning stint with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins?

Red Wings Next Game

Detroit will close out 2022 in tradtional fashion with a New Year’s Eve home game. This year, the Red Wings are facing the Ottawa Senators with a 7 p.m. ET start at Little Caesars Arena.

Hockey Now Network

Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby, captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, is being appointed to the Order of Canada.

Boston: Former Red Wings center Tomas Nosek sat out the Boston Bruins‘ win over New Jersey for what was termed a maintenance day.

Philadelphia: With just two NHL games under his belt, Philadelphia Flyers goalie Sam Ersson was admitting to being jittery.

Washington: The Ukrainian Canadian Congress is requesting of the Canadian government that it deny a visa for entering the country to Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin.

Florida: Captain Sasha Barkov came back for the Florida Panthers in a big way during a 7-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Islanders: With a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, the New York Islanders have won three games in a row.

Montreal: Should the Montreal Canadiens be exploring a trade for out of favor New York Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere?

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Calgary: Forward Jonathan Huberdeau still needs to shoot more if he’s going to be effective for the Calgary Flames.

Colorado: There’s a Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup ring now on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Vegas: Would Philadelphia Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk be a fit for the Vegas Golden Knights?

San Jose: Injured defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov (Achilles) of the San Jose Sharks is targeting a January/February return to action.