ESPN’s Kaplan and Wyshynski weigh in on NHL teams’ UFA options, including the Wings

ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski filed a massive article for ESPN+ this morning, discussing the free agency outlook for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams. Here’s what they had to say about the Red Wings’ free agency outlook:

Detroit Red Wings

Key players hitting UFA: RW Bobby Ryan, C Sam Gagner, C Valtteri Filppula, C Luke Glendening, C Darren Helm, D Alex Biega
Key players hitting RFA: F Tyler Bertuzzi, F Adam Erne, F Jakub Vrana, D Christian Djoos, D Filip Hronek
Cap space: $37,565,277

What they should do: GM Steve Yzerman has already gotten some work done. He traded for defenseman Nick Leddy and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, and re-signed defenseman Marc Staal and forward Michael Rasmussen. That’s a good start. At the moment, the Red Wings have only 13 players under contract for next season. But that number will climb when they get around to signing some of their RFAs, with an emphasis on Vrana, Bertuzzi and Hronek.

The Wings will likely go bargain hunting in free agency, as they continue to cycle through their rebuild. Yzerman signed six UFAs last offseason, none of them to longer than two seasons. The needs this time for the Red Wings: Some right-shot forwards, as the back end looks fairly filled out — including two goaltenders.

Continued (paywall)

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.

3 thoughts on “ESPN’s Kaplan and Wyshynski weigh in on NHL teams’ UFA options, including the Wings”

  1. There are quite a few intriguing names out there. SI lists the top 30 UFAs and a couple caught my eye.

    Matias Jannmark
    Phillip Danault
    and what is the thought on a Thomas Tatar reunion?

    Throw a ridiculous offer at Ovie.

    1. Regrettably, the thought on a Tatar reunion is that he’s 30 going on 31, and likely wants to win after sitting on the sidelines during Vegas and then Montreal’s Cup runs.

  2. And Ovie report too. LOL
    Fourteen million a year might have swayed him.
    It would sway me.

    I am reluctant to support any tanking for a lottery pick next year. We seem to have poor luck in that regard, so I hope the Wings shoot for the playoffs this year.

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