Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin doesn’t deem the Red Wings to be a first-day-of-free-agency “winner,” but he doesn’t believe that they’ve “lost,” either. Instead, he places the Red Wings front and center in the “murky middle“:
Red Wings: Steve Yzerman keeps adding up the middle. After backing up Dylan Larkin with Andrew Copp last season, he landed two-way maven J.T. Compher, who was legitimately one of the top pivots available in the depressed market. While he won’t score in Detroit like he did with Mikko Rantanen in Colorado, Compher will be useful in a shutdown role. On the other hand: Compher’s defensive acumen is offset by, er, whatever Justin Holl was doing out there for the Maple Leafs. Lacking in confidence and seemingly tilting the ice for the Leafs’ opponents every shift during the playoffs, Holl could be a worthy reclamation project for a lower-pressure market in theory given his past success as a penalty killer. But at $3.4 million per for three seasons, there was absolutely no discount on the signing. The additions of Daniel Sprong and Shayne Gostisbehere fortified Detroit’s depth, but the Holl head scratcher put a damper on things.
