The Hockey News’s Jake Tye argues that the Red Wings need to re-sign Simon Edvinsson, who will be a restricted free agent next summer, as soon as possible, especially given that the Anaheim Ducks signed young defenseman Jackson LaCombe to a massive contract recently:
The young blueliner has been steadily improving with 43 points in 75 games last season. LaCombe’s eight-year, $72 million contract with a cap hit at $9 million has reset the market in terms of what others defenders are asking for as Montreal is currently in a dispute with 2024-25 breakout Lane Hutson. This could also have an effect on the Detroit Red Wings as they too have a young defenseman that finished with 12 points less than LaCombe last season and is due for a new deal in Simon Edvinsson.
The 22-year-old pending restricted free agent is younger than LaCombe but has shown to be a solid top four defenseman at the NHL level for at least one season and the longer that the Red Wings management staff waits to extend him, it could mean the dollar amount climbs.
If Edvinsson shows once again that he can handle a big role in the Detroit defense plus lead in areas like penalty kill this season, he could see his next contract land in the range of LaCombe at roughly $8-9 million per season. Starting next offseason, the new CBA will change contract limits: new deals will have a maximum length of six seasons, while contract extensions will be limited to seven seasons.
An extra year of holding Edvinsson till he turns 30 would be valuable plus getting a deal in early before the salary cap increases can give Detroit a better chance at getting a bargain contract. Recent insider reports suggest the salary cap could increase by nearly $12 million next season. Additionally, the Red Wings could free up to $13.25 million more in cap space if they decide not to re-sign veterans like Patrick Kane, James van Riemsdyk, Ben Chiarot, Travis Hamonic, and Cam Talbot, on top of their current $13.2 million in available cap space.
It’ll be hard for Detroit GM Steve Yzerman to make the point to Edvinsson and his representatives that he doesn’t deserve a massive deal if he is coming off another productive season, the market indicates he should be getting a big deal of that nature and the team has the ability to give him what he wants with so much cap space. It might be worth while for an Edvinsson extension to be near the top of the Yzerplan going forward.
Continued; I’m sure that the Red Wings want to lock up Edvinsson on a $7+ million contract as soon as humanly possible, but we’ll see.
Going to be real interesting to see if Ed complies with the wings internal salary cap, staying below Larkin. 7×8.5 would be a huge win, with all the current and future ELC’s on the roster. Makes it that much more likely Kasper and Aljo sign reasonable contracts the following year.
Wings are in a really good spot and should be a powerhouse sooner than later. LGRW