A gaggle of unrestricted free agents-to-be either re-signed with their teams or were traded this afternoon, and as such, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan revisited the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman this past weekend. Yzerman stated that he sees the Unrestricted Free Agent marketplace as a particularly thin one, so, should the Red Wings not land help on July 1st or July 2nd, he’s going to examine the trade market:
“Anybody can go and look at the list of the potential free agents and see there aren’t that many guys you would think will have an impact,” Yzerman said. “There are very few this year, for whatever reason.”
The Wings have approximately $19 million to spend, if need be, after acquiring goaltender John Gibson Saturday from Anaheim for goaltender Petr Mrazek and two future draft picks, in addition to Monday’s moves. Yzerman said after Saturday’s NHL Entry Draft he’d like to add to the defense and add a winger.
If the Wings stay silent in free agency, they could always turn back to the trade market, as they did to get Gibson. Some teams might be backed against the salary cap after their free-agent acquisitions, which would necessitate moving out players. If that’s the case, Yzerman (and other general managers) will be ready to pounce. Yzerman said he is continuing to make calls around the league.
“It’s just there aren’t a lot of options right now,” said Yzerman, adding teams are looking for NHL players, not draft picks, in trades. “Everybody wants, the teams I’m talking to, they want players. Just like we want players. What do we have to offer? I don’t want to trade our core players. You’re looking to add to your team, (using) future assets for that, and right now teams are all looking to add players to their teams. Kind of the same thing we’re trying to do.”
Yzerman noted there “are a couple little somewhat interesting options” from his discussions around the league, but he’ll concentrate first on free agency.
“Everybody will focus on free agency for a few days and then kind of see where it shakes out,” he said. “Like, who has been able to accomplish or address some of their needs through free agency or missed (in free agency) and what they need, or to move out bodies (teams who’ve signed free agents). We’ll go through the free agency period here and see how that shakes out.”
