Month: July 2025

Regarding free agent sparklers on Canada Day

ESPN’s Ryan Clark gives the Red Wings a solid “B” grade for the team’s re-signing of one Patrick Kane, and in discussing the re-signing, Clark also discusses the Wings’ likely free agency plans:

The greatest value the Red Wings have in re-signing Kane might be the layers associated with that value.

Trading away Vladimir Tarasenko earlier Monday spoke to the Red Wings’ faith in re-signing Kane. But now they appear to have an opening next to J.T. Compher and Jonatan Berggren on the Red Wings’ third line.

Shedding Tarasenko’s $4.75 million contract — while signing Kane to a deal that is $1 million less than what he was making last season — gives Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman $17.211 million in salary cap space entering free agency Tuesday, per PuckPedia. He has some options:

They have the space now to target forwards such as Brock Boeser and Nikolaj Ehlers, but could possibly find a stronger fit for their top nine with players like Evgenii Dadonov, Jonathan Drouin or Jack Roslovic.

Detroit could also be active in a top-four defenseman market that includes Vladislav Gavrikov, Ryan Lindgren and Dmitry Orlov.

Finally, there’s the trade route — and again, Kane’s contract being lower than last season’s gives Yzerman extra wiggle room if he wants to add salary in that fashion.

Continued; I’m going to be honest here–I’m expecting the Wings to sign some depth players if they are unable to sign the Ehlers or Boesers of the free agent world, and, from there on out, the team’s probably going to utilize a trade or two to address their need for another top-six scorer and a second-pair defenseman.

I’m not expecting any fireworks today. It’s going to be more like sparklers, and if the Wings can land a Connor Brown to bolster the fourth line (because Tyler Motte and Craig Smith just didn’t quite get the grinding job done) and/or a Nate Schmidt (to stabilize the 3rd defensive pairing), I’ll be very happy.

Mostly, I expect a surprise trade to happen sometime after the free agency period cools down a bit, and I don’t know if it’s going to be overwhelming in scope. The reality of the situation is that GM SY may have to wait until sometime during the NHL’s 2025-2026 regular season to add a meaningful addition to the top six and/or defense, and, in the interim–as he told us all last weekend–the team will have to lean on its younger players for growth.

I’m okay with that.

Update: As DetroitHockey.net’s Clark Rasmussen suggests, Detroit’s biggest signings of the day might be Grand Rapids Griffins players:

They’re losing Austin Watson, Tim Gettinger, and Joe Snively up front and Brogan Rafferty on the blue line, in addition to having already lost Eemil Viro, who bolted for Europe, and having a few more pending free agents who were on AHL deals.

Detroit will probably also want a veteran goalie at the AHL level so that Grand Rapids doesn’t have to rely on Sebastian Cossa and Michal Postava.

As such, we’ll probably see the Wings sign some guys who will be bound for the Griffins. Lagesson was the seventh defenseman on my roster above but he could easily be in GR instead, especially if Detroit brings in Gavrikov or Miller or someone else, bumping Justin Holl to the press box.

Duff explains Anton Johansson’s decision to ‘stay home’

Last Friday, hockeysverige.se reported that Red Wings prospect Anton Johansson will remain with his club team in Sweden, Leksands IF of the SHL, for one more season before he makes the jump to North America.

This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff takes note of the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman regarding the lanky defenseman’s situation:

“To be honest, it was Anton’s decision,” Yzerman said.

Secondly, due to Johansson’s contract situation, the Red Wings were really going to be left with no option but to reassign Johansson to Leksand next fall. When the Red Wings were signing Johansson to an entry-level contract last fall, he still had one year remaining on his SHL pact with Leksand.

“Our obligation in signing him is if he were to come to camp next (fall) and not make the Red Wings, we would first have to offer him back to his Swedish club Leksand (on loan),” Yzerman explained.

Johansson spent the latter part of last season in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins and was showing well in that brief trial.

“Based on what we saw in the end of the season and playoffs in GR, he would be more than fine here,” Yzerman said. “Ultimately we wanted him, much like Albert Johansson made this decision four years ago now that he wanted to play one more year in Sweden.

“We’re okay with it. We want these boys, or these young men, to be mentally ready when they come over and prepared. He’s in a good situation. He ultimately decided that he wanted to start the season, he wanted to get off to a good start in Leksand.”

Continued; Anton wants to play one more season for a rebuilding Leksand team, and that’s all right. He should be earning top-four minutes, and he’s helping the Wings avoid a logjam at right defense in Grand Rapids. It’s a situation that works for all parties involved.

With free agent frustration in mind, the Red Wings may need to turn to the trade market to improve

Former Red Wings coach Mike Babcock used to say “frustration is a waste of time,” and I’ve tried to believe that axiom.

That being said, all of us Red Wings partisans are more than a little frustrated by the fact that this summer’s free agent marketplace has become so very thin over the past couple of days.

Tomorrow, Brock Boeser and Nikolaj Ehlers are really the only offensive difference-makers left on the market, and they’ll be gobbled up quickly by contending teams; the same is probably true for defensemen Vladislav Gavrikov and Dmitri Orlov.

As such, the Red Wings are likely to end up adding players of the “supporting cast” variety, and the Detroit News’s Bob Wojnowski expresses frustration this evening, suggesting that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman hasn’t been aggressive enough in utilizing trades to improve his team.

Sure enough, many of the elite free agents re-signed with their teams, with the notable exception of Toronto’s Mitch Marner headed to Las Vegas. Most teams have ample cap space, and few are inclined to sell off players. The champion Panthers shockingly managed to keep all their top free-agents: Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand. Life in the Florida sun pays well, especially with no state tax.

The Wings desperately need defensemen, and reportedly are making a run at L.A.’s Vladislav Gavrikov. Restricted free agents are more cumbersome and require compensation, but the Rangers are vulnerable. Defenseman K’Andre Miller and forward Will Cuylle are intriguing, and could pop free.

Hard to make trades, hard to sign free agents, hard to stay patient. Fans may be frustrated, but so is Yzerman. After the draft ended Saturday, I asked if he felt “stuck” in a tight market.

“What do you mean by stuck?” Yzerman said, before a long pause. “When talking to teams, everybody wants players, much like we want players. I’m looking to add to our team and use our future assets, and right now, teams are all looking to add players.”

…

“I don’t feel stuck,” Yzerman said. “It’s just being patient. Maybe if we can’t do anything, we get better simply by Marco (Kasper) taking another step, or Simon (Edvinsson) takes another step, or Albert (Johansson) takes another step. All I can tell you is, we will keep trying. But the worst thing I can do is make a move out of desperation or panic that doesn’t make us any better.”

Such as last summer, when he settled for the aging Tarasenko, and now cut his losses. In previous off-seasons, he spent heavily on free agents J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp, Justin Holl and others who either under-performed or departed.

“Anybody can go look at the list of potential free-agents and see there aren’t many players you’d think will have an impact,” Yzerman said. “At some point, something will come along, whether it’s a free agent, or maybe someone spends a lot of money and now they’ve got to move somebody, so they’re looking for a draft pick or a prospect for that player.”

Wojnowski continues, comparing the respective states of the Red Wings and the Detroit Pistons, and just short of midnight, MLive’s Ansar Khan suggested that the Red Wings will have to look to make significant improvement not through the free agent marketplace, but instead, via a trade or two:

Continue reading With free agent frustration in mind, the Red Wings may need to turn to the trade market to improve