Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff engages in a little speculation this morning, suggesting that the Red Wings’ elusive free agent target who went unsigned must have been the one and only Steven Stamkos:
“We had some interest in one that we thought might be a fit,” Yzerman admitted. “You know these things got to happen really quickly. And we decided very quickly that it’s going to be really some major surgery here to try and get it done and and we didn’t want to waste everybody’s time in really getting there.”
Naturally, Yzerman wasn’t about to go all in and put all his cards on the table. He wasn’t going to reveal the name of the player the made a bid to sign as a UFA.
However, doing the math, and knowing that it was one of the players who signed quickly, a very likely educated guess would be that it was Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos.
Look at the players who were moving to new teams the earliest. Among that Stamkos is the one who would make the most sense to be of interest to the Red Wings. He would’ve fit into their need for a top-six forward who could provide scoring. He would also be a presence on the power play.
Duff continues, and…In free agency, even if you pursue a grade-A player, there might not be a fit for the player himself, so I understand why the Red Wings “pivoted” away from Stamkos, who was rumored to be headed to Nashville a couple of days before free agency began.
This year’s free agency period was nuts–and a good example of the fact that there’s some collusion going on between GM’s, agents and players prior to noon on July 1st–with over a billion dollars spent and 100+ players signed for the first time.
The Red Wings seemed to get who they could while they could, and, ultimately, the wait for Vladimir Tarasenko paid off (we think).
