The NHL’s unrestricted free agent period begins at 12 PM EDT today, and this morning, both the Free Press’s Helene St. James and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff make suggestions as to which players the Red Wings should sign.
St. James believes that Detroit needs to sign a scoring winger and a back-up goaltender, first and foremost, but she also suggests that the Red Wings need more “team toughness,” too.
Here are three of her main targets…
Viktor Arvidsson, F, Boston Bruins
The 33-year-old is a veteran of 682 NHL games (with 219 goals among 443 points), most recently contributing 25 goals, 29 assists and a plus-20 rating in 14:35 of ice time per game for the Bruins in 2025-26. He has also appeared in 91 playoff games (46 points). Arvidsson (5 feet 10, 181 pounds) has a quality the Wings don’t have enough of among their forwards: He is tenacious and consistent about going to the net, plays with pace and is a 200-foot player.
Mason Marchment, F, Columbus Blue Jackets
The 31-year-old forward has played 370 NHL games (139 points) and was a 20-goal scorer a couple years ago with the Dallas Stars. Marchment (6-5, 212) plays a physical, hard-nosed game, something, again, the Wings don’t have enough of. He was traded by the Seattle Kraken to the Blue Jackets midway through last season, sparking Marchment to 15 goals in 39 games with Columbus (and 19 total on the season).
Anders Lee, F, New York Islanders
The 35-year old appears to be moving on from Long Island, his only home since entering the league in 2012-13 (including a captaincy since 2018). He’s durable, having missed only one game the last four seasons. Lee (6-3, 234) likes to use his size around the net. Over the past five seasons, he has flirted with 30 goals three times, most recently hitting 29 in 2024-25, and been around 20 goals the other two seasons.
St. James continues (paywall);
Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff also weighs in this morning, wondering aloud whether Detroit’s desperation for a scoring winger should yield a pursuit of 38-year-old Mats Zuccarello, especially if Patrick Kane leaves the Red Wings as a free agent:
We’re talking about Mats Zuccarello, and here’s why the 38-year-old right-winger might be an ideal fit in Detroit.
Zuccarello has accounted for 34 goals and 108 points with the Minnesota Wild over the past two seasons. That’s one reason to like him.
Here’s another – he could be an ideal mentor to fellow Norwegian Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. In Brandsegg-Nygard’s draft year, he and Zuccarello were linemates at the IIHF World Championship. And boy, did they ever click.
At the 2024 worlds, Brandsegg-Nygard scored three goals with two assists. Zuccarello dished out six assists.
“It was just a good experience to play with him,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “He said to me just to keep my shots down. He’s gonna pass the puck to me so I can shoot. That was the only thing he said.”
Continued; Zuccarello can still skate despite his “advanced age” (for a professional athlete); he’s also a legend among Norwegian hockey players for his trailblazing ways.
