The sports talk radio circuit has been buzzing in the Metro Detroit area with chatter suggesting that the Detroit Red Wings majorly screwed up their free agency moves by not focusing on bringing a superstar player in one now-Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau to Detroit. As 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield notes this afternoon, Wings GM Steve Yzerman shot that idea right down:
Gaudreau was the biggest fish in the pond, a 28-year-old winger who just put up 115 points for the Flames and finished fourth for MVP. He hit the open market after turning down an offer from Calgary reportedly worth more than $10 million per year, intent on being closer to home. A New Jersey native, he’ll make about $9.75 million per year for the next seven seasons in Columbus.
Asked if the Red Wings explored bringing Gaudreau to Detrout, Yzerman told the Stoney & Jansen Show Friday, “No, not really.”
“Obviously we’re following what’s happening around the league and who might become free or not, but if you look at our lineup and our roster, we have a lot of wingers, a lot of left-hand-shot wingers. An excellent hockey player obviously, but it wasn’t a priority for us in tying up that much money and term,” Yzerman said. “We have a lot of left-shot wingers, different than him obviously, but just wasn’t really a priority for us at this time.”
Instead, the Red Wings did more with less money, securing a No. 2 center in Andrew Copp (five years, $28.2 million), two left-shot defensemen in Ben Chirarot (four years, $19 million) and Olli Maatta (one year, $2.25 million) and two scoring wingers in David Perron (two years, $9 million) and Dominik Kubalik (two years, $5 million).
Kubalik is one of five left-shot wingers who’s penciled in Detroit’s Opening Night roster, along with Tyler Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana, Filip Zadina and Adam Erne. The Red Wings also have a pair of highly-regarded left-shot wingers in the pipeline in Jonatan Berggren and Elmer Söderblom, both of whom are nearing Detroit.
Yzerman intends to find stars via the draft, and fill in the gaps in free agency — not the other way around. One of those stars is Dylan Larkin, who is likely to sign a long-term extension with the Red Wings this summer. Yzerman, per usual, wouldn’t divulge any details Friday about contract talks, but said that he would like to keep Larkin in Detroit for the duration of his career.
Continued, and here’s the interview Yzerman gave this morning:
