Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell lists 5 prominent restricted free agent players this afternoon, and Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson finishes 3rd on his list:
3. Simon Edvinsson, D (Detroit Red Wings)
2025-26 season: 72 games, 9 goals, 16 assists, 25 points
While [Alexander} Nikishin might be the sexier name among defensemen on the RFA market, Edvinsson is the more proven commodity right now. Remember how Moritz Seider had his best season this year, proving himself as a top-10 defenseman in the league. That’s partially because Edvinsson took major strides as a top-four defenseman, giving the Red Wings someone who they could play in shutdown minutes without forcing Seider into the toughest minutes in hockey. The dispersed workload resulted in better hockey for Detroit, even if it still wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs.
Some consider Edvinsson the most-likely candidate for an offer sheet among the remaining RFAs. With unproven defensemen like Pavel Mintyukov and Simon Nemec getting $7+ million cap hits on the RFA market, Edvinsson can probably command more. Detroit has more than enough cap space to re-sign him with $19,572,084 available, but that won’t stop them from playing a bit of hardball. The Red Wings have operated under the “no one makes more money than our best player” rule in the past, so it’s possible that they don’t want Edvinsson’s number to go over Seider’s. But according to reports, the Red Wings will match any offer sheet, so all that will do is speed up the process of this negotiation. Hopefully they don’t have to pay the same price as the Ducks for being so confident.
Continued; I don’t believe that Edvinsson will be “offer sheeted”; if he is, Detroit has more than enough cap space to match any offer. I do expect him to be re-signed by training camp in the $8 million-per-year range.
