I’ve let it be known. I spent two-day power outage we endured in South Lyon mostly grumbling about the power being out, but I managed to write an opinion piece suggesting that Red Wings fans need not freak out about the fact that Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider remain unsigned restricted free agents as of August 29th.
Now I’m more than willing to admit that I’m jittery about the fact that the Red Wings haven’t re-signed two cornerstone players.
I deal with an anxiety disorder and depression, so my brain chemistry insists that EVERYTHING IS SCARY ALL THE TIME, and I take medication and engage with a therapist to function. My therapist is as bookish as can be, but he knows who Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider are, because we’ve talked about managing the anxiety that comes with getting closer to training camp without the Red Wings having come to a contract agreement with Raymond or Seider.
But there’s not much we can do about it as fans and partisans other than wait and see. There are still two weeks until training camp begins, and about six weeks until the NHL’s regular season begins in early October, so the hard-and-fast dates have yet to arrive, and there’s nothing like the imminent nature of a deadline to get a contract negotiation going.
I wasn’t the only one writing during the storm which knocked out power to over 200,000 Southeastern Michiganders, however.
The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood offered one perspective regarding the lingering negotiations…
No matter which side is causing the delays, the result is the same. For players of Seider’s and Raymond’s importance, waiting them out shows that the Detroit front office either doesn’t have a solidified vision of its future on the cap sheets, or it can’t convince either player to make that vision come to light. The Red Wings knew that Raymond and Seider were going to demand hefty salaries. They knew that they’d have to come to haggle on contract term. Despite knowing all the details they’d have to work out, the Red Wings have responded with hesitation.
At the end of the day, Detroit has had all the time in the world to satisfy its two most important players and get these deals done. Instead, they’re letting it all tick away with each day that passes.
Meanwhile, Detroit went into action everywhere but its two biggest needs. It signed Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko, two aging forwards that probably won’t be around longer than a couple years. It picked up Cam Talbot for a three-goalie rotation that Yzerman admittedly didn’t want. And for the reasons of cap hit and term, Detroit whiffed on every big-name free agent or trade asset on the market. It did everything but sign Seider and Raymond, opting to earmark funds for them while playing the waiting game.
“We set aside a certain amount of money in the budget for them,” Yzerman said of his four RFAs on July 4. “And as free agency went along and we’re trying to get our own guys signed, we had to tweak things a little bit. But what hasn’t changed is what we think those four players are going to come in at. We will get contracts done with them, it’s just a question of when and then what term do we actually do on all of them.”
Nearly two months later, that question of “when” remains unanswered, and those reports of distance between both sides make it seem like “when” won’t be anytime soon.
Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff offered another take on the situation and The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta’s Tweet that the Red Wings and Raymond are “not close” on a new contract…
There are published reports suggesting that left-winger Raymond and the club are far apart in their negotiations for a new pact. On the other hand, Detroit Hockey Now is hearing from NHL sources familiar with contract talks that Seider and the team are getting close to an agreement on a new deal.
What to believe? There’s the rub when it comes to the Red Wings and rumors. There are so few leaks coming out of Little Caesars Arena at any time of the season that it makes you suspect GM Steve Yzerman is coating the place with industrial strength Flex Seal.
The fact of the matter is that nothing gets out about the business of the team since Yzerman took charge. He’s running the tightest ship in the league. Red Wings front office types who used to be welcoming of the media under Ken Holland’s tutelage now avoid saying much of anything on the record at all costs.
“That’s a question for Steve,” is a popular refrain from members of the club’s hockey operations staff.
The problem with that is Yzerman seldom chooses to interact with the media. And when he does, it’s always on his terms.
“We will get contracts done with them,” Yzerman said earlier this summer of his RFAs. “It’s just a question of when and what term we do on all of them.”
And EP Rinkside’s maestro of many jobs, one Sean Shapiro, reached out to AFP Analytics to determine the likely shape of Raymond and Seider’s probable contract agreements…
To get an unbiased opinion on this, I reached out to my pal Kyle Stich, who works with AFP Analytics a company that provides insights to agents and other clients on player values when it comes to contract negations.
AFP has NHL agents as clients, but neither Seider nor Raymond are on that list, so he was able to more freely talk about the market for both players.
The market for this point at Seider, according to Stich, is probably just over the deal that Brock Faber recently signed with the Minnesota Wild. Stich projected a seven or eight-year deal with an AAV of $8.6 million.
Personally I’ve heard that Seider would like an eight-year deal, so let’s assume that’s more likely at this point.
Raymond is the trickier one, because the player could be looking for a short-term deal to try and bet on himself and get paid more down the road.
On a long-term deal, Stich projects Raymond’s deal at eight years, in the $7.75 to $8 million range.
I appreciate that there are multitudes of opinions regarding Raymond and Seider’s lack of contractual agreements with the Red Wings, but I’m just…
I’m worried, but I’m not worried about the fact that they haven’t come to deals with Detroit. It’s been a pain in the ass to have to keep one eye on the computer screen all summer long because you just never know when “when” will be with Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings’ management group, but that’s what we’ve all signed up for.
Ken Holland used to give everybody his phone number and answer every call. Steve Yzerman gives his phone number to a select few, and I’m not certain whether any of those who are in the elite club of the, “I can call Steve” group are even willing to incur the annoyance of the Red Wings’ simply silent GM.
Detroit’s last management group was an open secret in terms of contracts being negotiated, while Duff’s right–the Yzerman regime is airtight and efficient as a nuclear submarine.
We will know when we know. Until then, It’s 12:43 on a Thursday morning, and I’ve got an 82-year-old aunt to put to bed, so discuss as you wish.
