Bleacher Report’s Lyle Richardson looks ahead to the 2026 offseason this morning, discussing a top 10 list’s worth of players who will be restricted free agents next summer. Richardson begins his list by discussing Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson’s status as he will graduate from his entry-level contract (PuckPedia has Edvinsson earning $894,167 this season) next spring:
10. Simon Edvinsson, Detroit Red Wings
The 2024-25 season was a disappointment for the Detroit Red Wings. Expected to finally emerge as a playoff team following several years of rebuilding, they fell short down the stretch for the second straight year, finishing five points out of a wild-card berth.
One bright spot was the play of Simon Edvinsson. Appearing in his first full NHL campaign, the 22-year-old left-shot defenseman earned a full-time position on their second blue-line pairing, finishing with 31 points and sitting third among their skaters with 21:01 of ice time per game.
Edvisson’s size and skills also earned the 6’6”, 209-pound blueliner some playing time on the top pairing alongside Moritz Seider. The duo provided a tantalizing preview of what could become the Wings’ top defense line for years.
Should Edvisson continue his development as expected, he’ll put himself in line for a big raise coming out of his entry-level contract. Wings management will want to keep his annual cap hit below Seider’s $8.55 million. Depending on his play, he could get an AAV of around $6.5 million.
Continued; unless Edvinsson’s offensive production rises like a rocket over the course of 2025-2026, I think that Richardson’s estimation of a $6.5-million-ish salary is spot-on.
Right now, somewhere between $6 and $7.5 million is the market value for a 30-point-producing, promising young defenseman (Edvinsson turns 23 next February, and he posted 7 goals and 24 assists for a total of 31 points in 78 games played this past season).
With the salary cap rapidly escalating over the course of the next three seasons, I’m sure that the Red Wings will be aggressive in attempting to sign Edvinsson to a new contract before next summer. If they can land under $7.5 million, he’ll be a bargain in two or three years.
