The Red Wings have had a decidedly ordinary day dipping their toes into the free agent pool today, and The Athletic’s Max Bultman summarizes the gestalt of the J.T. Compher signing:
Is this the big addition of Detroit’s offseason?
Compher is a good player. But to answer the question directly, the Red Wings had better hope not. Because while both Compher and Daniel Sprong will add scoring to their lineup, neither is the kind of top-six difference maker Detroit really needs to feel good about its offseason.
Compher is more in the mold of 2022 free agent signing Andrew Copp — and in fact, got a very similar contract. And while both are good players who help the Red Wings, it’s debatable whether they really needed two in that mold, especially at freights north of $5 million apiece, when they still lack that top-end scorer.
Compher makes them deeper, and if he’s the third-line center, he’s probably one of the better ones in the league. But again, if the Red Wings don’t also add a scorer, Compher will need to really produce for it to move the needle in Detroit. And that’s a lot of pressure to put on him unnecessarily.
The Red Wings still need to find an elite scorer via trade to truly have achieved their “goals” this offseason.