The Athletic’s Max Bultman penned an intriguing article discussing the Red Wings’ priorities heading into a free agency period like no other:
With only four remaining NHL RFAs (Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmytro Timashov and Adam Erne) left to sign, the Red Wings have 14 returning NHLers under contract for next season, or 15 if you include defenseman Gustav Lindstrom, who finished the season in Detroit after spending most of it in Grand Rapids.
Either way, that leaves space for additions, even after taking care of RFA business.
The most glaring hole is in net, where the Red Wings will need to find a tandem partner for Jonathan Bernier after deciding not to offer longtime starter Jimmy Howard a new contract for next season. Yzerman said last week the team will look for a replacement in free agency, where the market is shaping up to be robust.
But Yzerman seems at least interested in adding at every position.
“I’d like to try and add another forward, a right shot, but not necessarily,” Yzerman said Wednesday. “Even potentially two forwards, depending on who’s available and what the cost of these players are. We do have holes on the back end. Under contract … we have Fil Hronek and Alex Biega on the right side. We’ll explore the free-agent market, and whether we added a right and a left, or two rights, or again depending on the term and the dollar amounts, we potentially could maybe even do two to three defensemen. Three isn’t a necessity, but it would provide us with some depth if we did sign three D-men.
“But I would hope to sign a couple and leave our young guys developing, whether it be in the American league or in the European leagues, for the time being.”
Continued (paywall)
