MLive’s Ansar Khan posted his list of potential unrestricted free agents for the Red Wings to target starting at 12 PM EDT tomorrow, and he includes one player that would be a dark-horse candidate, presuming that he would be willing to come to a rebuilding team:
Jonathan Marchessault, Vegas, RW/LW, 33 ($5 million): He’s an original Golden Knight, the franchise’s all-time leader in goals and points and the 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy winner. He’s coming off his most productive season (42 goals, 69 points in 82 games). Vegas has virtually no cap space, however. Yzerman, as Tampa Bay’s GM, traded for him in 2014 before he left as a free agent in 2016.
Continued; Again, I don’t know whether Marchessault would be willing to “step down” from a contender like the Golden Knights to a team in the middle of a rebuild, but he’s fast, he scores goals, and I’m sure that there will be 31 teams hot on his tail if he has to leave Las Vegas.
Update: The Athletic’s Max Bultman suggests that the Red Wings need a top-six winger as well:
Detroit hasn’t given up on trying to keep Patrick Kane, but whether it’s him or someone else, the Red Wings have a hole for a scoring forward high in the lineup. Kane was a big source of offense last season, so there is real incentive for Detroit to figure something out with the future Hall of Famer. If not him, perhaps Jonathan Marchessault or Steven Stamkos (if either make it to market) would be fits for a team that came close last season to snapping an eight-year playoff drought. — Max Bultman
