The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a profile of Red Wings free agent signing J.T. Compher, who the Red Wings brought in to stabilize their center depth:
Compher, [GM Steve] Yzerman believes, will help the Wings in a variety of ways, and those types of players are valuable.
“I like his versatility as a hockey player,” Yzerman said after the announcement of the signing. “He’s a natural centerman, he’s a right-shot centerman, which we don’t have at this time. We just drafted one in Nate (Danielson), but we’ll give him time to develop into an NHLer. We’ve got a right-shot centerman (Compher) who has played all three forward positions, who has played on the power play, does kill penalties. He’s a very versatile player for us and that ability to move around, to me, makes him very valuable.”
Compher, 28, signed a five-year contract worth $25.5 million ($5.1 annual average value) to join the Wings and reunite with former Michigan teammates Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp. Compher (6-foot, 190 pounds) is coming off a career-best 52-point season in Colorado, with 17 goals and 35 assists.
The ability to play all three forward positions, being on both the power play and penalty kill, and coming from a Colorado organization that won a Stanley Cup recently but also went through an extensive and painful rebuild — which Compher was there for — should benefit the Wings.
“We had some success in Colorado but it took a lot of building,” Compher said upon joining the Wings. “My first year (in Colorado, 2016-17) we were the worst team in the league. I’ve seen both sides of it and I know what it takes. I’m excited to be with this group and build toward the ultimate goal of winning a championship. It starts with making the playoffs.
