Of Red Wings-related note this Canada Day morning:
- The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the Red Wings’ free agency needs ahead of the start of the unrestricted free agent period today at 12 PM EDT:
“We have a list this year, yeah,” [GM Steve Yzerman] said Thursday after wrapping up the second day of the NHL draft. Free agency begins Saturday at noon, and among priorities for the Wings are a scorer and a goaltender. “I’d like to add some offense,” Yzerman said, “but there’s no guarantee I can do anything. We’ll fill some spots; who exactly; I’m not sure, or for how long or how much. That’s the nature of free agency.”
Last year the Wings used the free agent market to add forwards Andrew Copp, David Perron and Dominik Kubalik and defensemen Ben Chiarot and Olli Määttä.
Ville Husso was acquired via a trade, and Yzerman could go that route again if he doesn’t get what the Wings need on the market. Priority No. 1 is someone to serve with Husso, which Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg both struggled to do. (Both are pending unrestricted free agents.)
…
Then there is the issue of scoring. Yzerman unloaded his top two goal scorers at the trade deadline in Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrana. Bertuzzi is headed for the market after the Boston Bruins were unable to re-sign a player for whom they gave up a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 draft (top-10 protected) and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft. Yzerman made the trade because there was no common ground in exploratory contract talks with the Bertuzzi’s agent.
St. James continues (no paywall);
2. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes that yesterday was a very important day for the Red Wings, who acquired four-time Stanley Cup champion Kris Draper from the Winnipeg Jets for “future considerations”:
It was 30 years ago on June 30, 1993 that Detroit owner Mike Ilitch was reaching into his wallet to grab a dollar bill. He gave that dollar – rumor has it that it was even a Canadian dollar – to the Winnipeg Jets in acquiring Draper’s contract.
Talk about bang for your buck. All Draper did for the Red Wings was win four Stanley Cups while centering the legendary Grind Line, play 1157 NHL games and win the Selke Trophy. He continues to make contributions today as the club’s director of amateur scouting.
And yes, he has fond memories of the day he was purchased at the dollar store by Detroit from the Jets, the club that selected Draper in the NHL amateur draft.
“I still have my Winnipeg Jets hat from when I got drafted,” Draper said.
3. Finally, EP Rinkside’s Sean Shapiro shares a column’s worth of “Unnumbered Thoughts” this morning, and while the article is subscriber-only, I can share what has become somewhat common knowledge:
Alex DeBrincat and Detroit seem to have fallen apart. DeBrincat would like to go to Detroit, but the Red Wings and Ottawa Senators aren’t seeing eye-to-eye on that, and this song and dance feel like it’ll continue into the regular season.
Continued (paywall);
Now buckle up, because today will hopefully be a busy one.
