Red Wings Recall Forward Carter Mazur From AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

The Detroit Red Wings stripped Grand Rapids of their hottest scorer, recalling Carter Mazur after the 22-year-old right wing had put up 11 points in his last 11 games. The move punched an immediate hole in a Griffins lineup in the thick of a playoff race.

Mazur had built a team-best six-game point streak, four goals in his last four outings, before Detroit elevated him. That run came after he missed 35 consecutive games from Oct. 19 through Jan. 18 rehabbing an upper-body injury. Since returning, he logged 13 points in 17 contests. His final 2024-25 line across 20 appearances: 15 points (8 goals, 7 assists), eight penalty minutes, minus-two.

Detroit had reason to be desperate. Sitting outside a playoff spot on a three-game losing streak after a Tuesday loss to Carolina, the Red Wings faced a Thursday game before heading to Washington on Friday. Per Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, Mazur did not make the Washington trip, leaving his short-term availability uncertain.

For Grand Rapids, the loss stings at a bad time. Mazur ranked second on the Griffins in goals (17) and points (37) during the 2023-24 regular season, then added eight points in nine Calder Cup Playoff games as Grand Rapids reached the Central Division Finals. He was carrying that same production role this season before the upper-body injury derailed it for three and a half months.

A third-round pick (70th overall) in 2021 out of the University of Denver, where he won an NCAA title in 2022, the Jackson, Michigan native owns 58 career AHL points in 86 games with Grand Rapids. He posted a plus-nine rating in 10 games for Team USA at the 2023 IIHF World Championship.

With Mazur gone, the Griffins are left replacing a forward who was only just playing his best hockey.