The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an article in which she discusses the Red Wings’ first-day-of-free-agency moves, issuing individual grades:
Steve Yzerman added multiple forwards, defensemen and goaltenders on the first day of free agency, but did not find what the Detroit Red Wings arguably need most.
Four months after trading away Tyler Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana and Filip Hronek, all highly skilled players in their mid-20s, the Wings filled those vacancies with J.T. Compher, Daniel Sprong and Justin Holl.
Signing goaltenders James Reimer and Alex Lyon certainly looks like upgrades over Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg, whose struggles last season curbed the Wings’ effectiveness. But Bertuzzi and Vrana were both proven scorers and Hronek was an offensive defenseman, and the newcomers do not have resumes that match their production.
Yzerman was not made available to reporters Saturday, but two days earlier he spoke of the challenge of finding high-end players in free agency: “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.”
Yzerman had salary cap cash, but seven years of missing the playoffs has left the Wings without the cachet of being a destination for the sort of top-end free agents they used to draw. Bertuzzi was a 30-goal scorer and while Yzerman made a smart move in gaining a first-round pick (2024, top-10 protected) for a guy who otherwise could have been lost for nothing in free agency, neither Compher and Sprong have Bertuzzi’s touch around the net.
