ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski took on the enormous task of dissecting the free agency needs of each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams (ahead of the start of unrestricted free agency tomorrow at 12 PM EDT). Here’s what they have to say about the Wings’ needs:
Key players hitting UFA: F Kyle Brodziak, D Trevor Daley, D Jonathan Ericsson, G Jimmy Howard
Key players hitting RFA: F Tyler Bertuzzi, F Anthony Mantha, F Brendan Perlini (did not receive qualifying offer), D Madison Bowey (did not receive qualifying offer)
Cap space: $28,211,111
What they should do: Now that GM Steve Yzerman is finished watching the fruits of his labors win a Cup in Tampa, he turns his attention back to turning the Red Wings back into a relevant franchise. Buying out the last three years of Justin Abdelkader is a good first step. Howard, Daley and Ericsson are all as good as gone as well. Mantha and Bertuzzi are going to get new deals, but it’ll be interesting to see what those deals look like, as they are two players drafted by Yzerman’s predecessor.
There are two factors to watch for the Red Wings this offseason. The first is what they do with their cap space and ownership’s money. Yzerman has a stated goal of rebuilding through the draft. Taking the chunk of a player’s contract as an intermediary team in a trade — for example, as the facilitator of a Marc-Andre Fleury deal between Vegas and another team — will net Detroit some picks. There’s also the chance to pluck some contracts from teams facing a cap crunch, either to help in the future or to pick up more draft assets, as the Wings did with the Marc Staal trade.
This brings us to the second factor: Making sure they have enough players under contract for 2021-22 and the Seattle expansion draft. They currently have five. Detroit has been linked with a couple of interesting players this offseason, too, including Torey Krug, UFA defenseman and Michigan native, and as a potential landing spot for one of the Lightning’s cap casualties. This could mean a player such as Tyler Johnson; it wouldn’t mean an offer-sheet raid on Mikhail Sergachev or Anthony Cirelli, would it?
