Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes that the Red Wings have not been able to fully address their search for offense over the course of the first four hours of unrestricted free agency:
The Detroit Red Wings want more goals and have established a willingness to pay $95,238 per goal to acquire them
GM Steve Yzerman signed 21-goal scorer Daniel Sprong, 26, to one-year deal worth $2 million. He has scored 27 goals in 82 games since joining the Seattle Kraken in 2022-23.
As 3:30, the Red Wings had signed goalies James Reimer and Alex Lyon, defenseman Justin Holl and Sprong from what was considered a below average free agent class.
The market’s most desirable forward may have been Alex Killorn. Both Yzerman and coach Derek Lalonde knew him well from their days together in Tampa Bay. However, Killorn chose to sign with the Anaheim Ducks.
Anaheim’s general manager is Pat Verbeek who worked for Yzerman in Tampa Bay. He also had a connection to Killorn.
Continued; 33-year-old Killorn earned a $25-million, 4-year contract, and that’s a bit wacky, even for Detroit to dole out.
Thank you Pat Verbeek! That’s an insane contract for a 33-year-old Killorn (plus he totally overpaid for Gudas too). I was really worried we might give him a 3 year deal especially after the Holl signing.
Kevin Allen is spot on, search for offense hasn’t produced much fruit. But our goalie and defensive situation seems to have gotten worse or basically replaced mediocre players with more mediocre players. The never ending rebuild continues…