Of all the press reactions to Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s 33-minute press conference with the media today, it’s DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills who reminds us how very different the 2023-2024 Red Wings already are from last year’s team–for better, worse, or indifferent:
Before free agency began Saturday afternoon, the Red Wings signed center Klim Kostin and re-inked defenseman Gustav Lindstrom and right wing Matt Luff. Since free agency opened, Detroit has signed 10 new players: centers J.T. Compher and Nolan Stevens, left wing Tim Gettinger, right wings Daniel Sprong and Christian Fischer, defensemen Justin Holl, Brogan Rafferty and Shayne Gostisbehere and goalies Alex Lyon and James Reimer.
“Good teams have depth,” Yzerman said. “I think we have some depth. We would all love a couple of big-time scorers. Hopefully we’ll get that. Again, we’ll continue to work to get that.”
The NHL’s flat salary cap in 2023-24 influenced this year’s signing period, as most clubs opted to offer many short-term deals to free agents.
“Not every team, but a lot of teams, are squeezed,” Yzerman said. “So trying to get guys on shorter-term deals. For a lot of the players, they’re looking at this, potentially, what happens to the cap a year from now? If they couldn’t get a deal that they like – one with term that was a good fit – ‘Hey, I’ll do a shorter-term deal, the cap is gonna go up and I’m gonna go back at it.'”
…
While Monday marked just the third day of free agency, Yzerman acknowledged that trade opportunities could still arise this summer, so he will keep an open mind regarding how to further improve Detroit’s roster.
“Generally after July 1 and 2, things start to settle down and teams reevaluate where they are and what they need to do,” Yzerman said. “For various reasons, [teams] might have to make a move. We’ve all kind of settled in after July 1 and 2, kind of knowing now where we go from here. We’ll explore some other opportunities potentially.”
