Author: George Malik

Per the Red Wings:

UPDATE: The #RedWings today re-signed forward Matt Luff to a one-year, two-way contract. pic.twitter.com/3fY0UPQtDw— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2023

Updated Red Wings depth chart after signing Matt Luff, Gustav Lindstrom and Klim Kostin this morning. #LGRWhttps://t.co/qoaZGyOfi6— CapFriendly Depth Charts (@CF_DepthCharts) July 1, 2023

The #LGRW re-signed 26 y/o UFA F Matt Luff to 1 year deal

NHL 775K
Minors 400K
Guaranteed 450K

Was a UFA after not being qualified by Detroit

4P in 19 NHL GP, 25P in 28 AHL GP

Rep’d by Allan Walsh @OctagonHockey https://t.co/YfwA0HcjTG— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 1, 2023

Matt Luff #LGRW
$775k 1 year / 2 way extension

23-24: $775k / $400k ($450k guaranteed)

Represented by Allan Walsh @walsha https://t.co/LGOQxaa4eU— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) July 1, 2023

The Detroit Red Wings have released their roster for their 2023 Summer Development Camp. I’ll be there starting tomorrow morning:

And #DRWDC starts today!

📰 » https://t.co/aKcmnG6IBO pic.twitter.com/NChwmkQPTQ— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2023

Here’s the Wings’ press release:

Per the Red Wings:

UPDATE: The #RedWings today re-signed defenseman Gustav Lindstrom to a one-year contract with an AAV of $950,000. pic.twitter.com/JavSwJXV3A— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2023

Signed to Standard Contract
Gustav Lindström (RD) | DET#LGRWhttps://t.co/qsfCxCu4nf— CapFriendly Transactions (@CF_Transactions) July 1, 2023

Fun wrinkle in the Lindstrom deal thanks to @CapFriendly

the Qualifying Offer Detroit didn’t give him would have had to have been $997,500. By not qualifying him, they got him for less.— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) July 1, 2023

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

UPDATE: The #RedWings today signed forward Klim Kostin to a two-year contract with an AAV of $2,000,000. pic.twitter.com/EAb7zhV56D

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2023

CapFriendly reports that it’s flat, $2 million per season:

Signed to Standard Contract
Klim Kostin (LW, RW) | DET#LGRWhttps://t.co/oS2vf6YPUJ— CapFriendly Transactions (@CF_Transactions) July 1, 2023

Klim Kostin, acquired by DET, is a physical shoot-first winger with some finishing touch. Takes and draws lots of penalties. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/bd83H9p70H— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) June 29, 2023

Klim Kostin (2x2m, DET) has some of the skills that put your name on the scoresheet. pic.twitter.com/1HeZSKu7Zh— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) July 1, 2023

Welcome to Detroit, Klim! 👊 pic.twitter.com/3Wp0brzxIX— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2023

Of Red Wings-related note this Canada Day morning:

1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the Red Wings’ free agency needs ahead of the start of the unrestricted free agent period today at 12 PM EDT:

“We have a list this year, yeah,” [GM Steve Yzerman] said Thursday after wrapping up the second day of the NHL draft. Free agency begins Saturday at noon, and among priorities for the Wings are a scorer and a goaltender. “I’d like to add some offense,” Yzerman said, “but there’s no guarantee I can do anything. We’ll fill some spots; who exactly; I’m not sure, or for how long or how much. That’s the nature of free agency.”

Last year the Wings used the free agent market to add forwards Andrew Copp, David Perron and Dominik Kubalik and defensemen Ben Chiarot and Olli Määttä.

Ville Husso was acquired via a trade, and Yzerman could go that route again if he doesn’t get what the Wings need on the market. Priority No. 1 is someone to serve with Husso, which Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg both struggled to do. (Both are pending unrestricted free agents.)

…

Then there is the issue of scoring. Yzerman unloaded his top two goal scorers at the trade deadline in Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrana. Bertuzzi is headed for the market after the Boston Bruins were unable to re-sign a player for whom they gave up a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 draft (top-10 protected) and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft. Yzerman made the trade because there was no common ground in exploratory contract talks with the Bertuzzi’s agent.

St. James continues (no paywall);

2. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes that yesterday was a very important day for the Red Wings, who acquired four-time Stanley Cup champion Kris Draper from the Winnipeg Jets for “future considerations”:

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman offered a “32 Thoughts” “quickie blog” ahead of the start of unrestricted free agency at 12 PM EDT today, and Friedman issues three Red Wings-related UFA rumors:

• If not Toronto, Ryan O’Reilly’s been linked to Detroit, Montreal, Nashville and Vancouver. There’s probably more. However, some sources warned not to discount his desire for St. Louis until he actually signs somewhere else.

• Detroit and Nashville have also been linked to JT Compher. Again, there probably are more. People need centres.

• Detroit buying out Kailer Yamamoto with almost a bajillion dollars in cap room means Steve Yzerman is up to something. All eyes are on Alex Killorn, with Alex DeBrincat trade talks stalled. 

Continued; we’ll see what happens in 12 hours.

The Detroit Red Wings posted an 8-minute, behind-the-scenes video spotlighting their top prospects from the 2023 NHL Draft as they experienced the drafting process:

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Red Wings submitted qualifying offers for the following players:

Detroit is Lethemon, McIsaac, Newpower and Veleno

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 30, 2023

So John Lethemon, Wyatt Newpower and Joe Veleno were qualified;

Klim Kostin, Gustav Lindstrom, Seth Barton, Pontus Andreasson, Matt Luff and Jasper Weatherby were not qualified.

Not qualifying Kostin doesn’t mean they can’t still sign him, of course. And maybe that’s imminent. But interesting list

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) June 30, 2023

Let's give it a beat here on Kostin. Could very well be something coming there. Yzerman certainly sounded excited about him yesterday.

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) June 30, 2023

Three Red Wings scribes have penned articles which discuss Detroit’s looming attempts to bolster its roster via unrestricted free agency:

1. MLive’s Ansar Khan examines the free agent marketplace, prefacing his list of potential UFA signings with the following:

“I’d like to add some offense, but there’s no guarantees I can do anything,” Yzerman told media Thursday at the draft. “So, we’ll fill some spots. Who exactly, I’m not sure, or for how long or how much. That’s the nature of free agency. You know our roster, the guys we’ve traded (Tyler Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana, Filip Hronek). We’ll try to do that in some form or another. Keep our fingers crossed that we can score some more goals.”

The competition will be high for the top free agents.

“You got this long list, you got all these names, you’re lucky to get one or two,” Yzerman said. “We were able to get four or five guys last year. We’ll try to get the best ones we can, taking into account the term and cost of the contract.

“I think people are looking at the free-agent market and it’s kind of thin this year. If they want to improve their team, they’re looking at the trade market. There’s probably more needs than there are players at this point.”

2. Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen also discusses the Red Wings’ free agency outlook…

The Athletic posted an article which discusses the “biggest need” for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams going into the unrestricted free agency period, and here’s what Max Bultman has to say about the Red Wings’ need(s):

Detroit Red Wings

Top-six scoring: After trading away Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrana, the Red Wings are going to have to go to free agency (or trade) to replace them and boost a bottom-10 offense. And while the trade route has the better options (headlined by Alex DeBrincat and Travis Konecny, among others), free agency is possible if Detroit is willing to pay up for a proven (albeit aging) winger such as Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Killorn or others. The question they’ll have to answer revolves around those players’ respective ages and how much term to give, though, and their answer could ultimately swing some outcomes on July 1. — Max Bultman

Continued