Category: Uncategorized

HSJ on moveable roster pieces (and a short discussion thereof)

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an interesting idea while discussing the Red Wings’ free agency plans on Sunday night, noting that the Red Wings can possibly move Olli Maatta (or Justin Holl? The Wings get a second buyout window if they file for arbitration against any one of their restricted free agents–Jonatan Berggren, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider or Joe Veleno) to alleviate their logjam on defense:

[Red Wings GM] Yzerman also has to sort out his defense. Does he manage to bring back Shayne Gostisbehere? He made a world of difference on the power play, and added offense from the back end. If that happens, who goes? Olli Määttä is highly tradable – 29 years old, one year left at $3 million – but he was also the defenseman who partnered best with Gostisbehere.

Yzerman said over the weekend at the draft in Las Vegas that he “can’t bring everyone back.” So the priority is Kane, then Gostisbehere, and then see how much money is left. The Wings have roughly $32 million in salary cap space, but half of that is earmarked for contracts for restricted free agents Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond.

…

If the Kane situation can get settled, it at least gives the Wings a little breathing room going into free agency. They still need some depth players up front, and a third-string goaltender.

The Red Wings only have thirteen players signed, per PuckPedia–6 forwards, 5 defensemen, and 2 goalies–so there’s going to be some movement in the second half of the roster. The Wings will need bottom-six forwards, another defenseman and a “bridge goalie” (to help Sebastian Cossa, Carter Gylander and the Griffins-contracted ECHL’er Jan Bednar) at the very least, with the aforementioned Berggren, Raymond, Seider and Veleno accounting for a potential 3 more forward and 1 more defensive spots.

I’m assuming that Daniel Sprong, Christian Fischer, James Reimer, Zach Aston-Reese, Taro Hirose and Wyatt Newpower will walk, the Wings didn’t qualify Jared McIsaac, and Radim Simek signed with Liberec in the Czech Extraliga, so the team will need depth pieces.

Which “down the roster”/depth players would you like to see the Red Wings approach?

Tweet of note: Red Wings qualify Berggren, Veleno, Raymond, Seider; McIsaac not qualified

Per the Red Wings, no surprises here:

Now Berggren, Veleno, Raymond and Seider can reject their “QO’s,” and the only ways to prevent offer sheets on any restricted free agents is for either the player or the team to elect salary arbitration.

As the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood notes, it’s too bad that McIsaac is going out the door:

McIsaac’s case was a little interesting because despite being a skilled, mobile defenseman when the Red Wings picked him, he struggled with injuries throughout his time under contract and could never quite establish a rhythm. McIsaac signed a one-year prove-it deal with Detroit last offseason, but he ended up going on loan to Switzerland and then to the AHL’s Providence Bruins because of a logjam on the Grand Rapids blue line. While a lack of a qualifying offer doesn’t mean he can’t return to the Detroit system, McIsaac is most likely going to sign with a different team, NHL or other.

LeBrun, Brooks, Friedman: Wings will sign Kane to 1-year contract

This is a surprise!

And as he’s 35, per MLive’s Ansar Khan…

No confirmation from the team yet or any word on the value of the deal, but it is likely to include performance incentives.

Kane, 35, was an ideal fit with the team, tallying 20 goals and 47 points in 50 games after signing in late November for the remainder of the season for a prorated $2.75 million. He stepped up in key moments and scored three overtime goals.

Update: The Associated Press confirms, as does the New York Post’s Larry Brooks…

And Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friemdan:

Kaplan: Kane will re-sign with Detroit on Monday

Per ESPN’s Emily Kaplan:

Patrick Kane is signing a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings when NHL free agency begins Monday, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

Kane, 35, returns to Detroit after finishing the regular season with 20 goals and 47 points in 50 games after joining the team in November following hip resurfacing surgery. Kane had been hampered by his hip over the previous few seasons but finally looked like his old dominant self again — which made him an attractive free agent this summer. The Red Wings just missed out on the playoffs, extending their postseason drought to eight seasons. However, sources said Kane believes the Red Wings are a talented team moving in the right direction and that he hopes to lead them back to the playoffs this season.

Sources did not reveal the terms of Kane’s new contract but it is believed to be more than the $2.75 million he played for last season.

Also:

The Red Wings also have been in contact with David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere about potential returns, and are working on extensions for young cornerstones Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider.

Tweets of note: Kaplan discusses Trouba and Kane situations

FYI from ESPN’s Emily Kaplan:

ESPN’s Doerrie issues draft grades

ESPN’s draft expert, Rachel Doerrie, has issued a Sunday-afternoon slate of 2024 NHL Draft grades for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and here’s what she has to say about the Red Wings’ draft haul:

Detroit Red Wings
Grade: B

The Red Wings need a high-end scorer, which many believed would be Jake Guentzel in free agency. It now seems like it may be Steven Stamkos.

In terms of picks, they left value on the board with Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, but got good value in the Ondrej Becher selection, and I liked the Max Plante selection. There is no doubt Brandsegg-Nygard will be a middle-six NHL player and an effective one at that. There’s nothing to write home about, but nothing to be too disappointed in, either. A perfectly fine draft.

Continued (paywall); I’ll take the “B” at this point.

Regarding the probable end of the ‘Sprong Song’

The Hockey News’s Connor Eargood posted a superb article which summarizes the Red Wings free agency outlook, and he dug into the bottom of the depth chart to discuss the borderline Red Wings/Grand Rapids Griffins’ players.

He also discusses the 1i-goal-scoring elephant in the room in Daniel Sprong, who probably won’t be back due to his status as an even-strength defensive liability:

Daniel Sprong, RW/LW
Last contract: $2 million AAV for one year
Season stats: 76 games played, 18 goals, 25 assists, 55.8% on-ice expected goals, 19.8% share of possible ice time

If you take him for what he is — a bottom six sniper who struggles to defend — Sprong is a valuable role player. He was a great source of offensive depth for the Red Wings, especially on the power play where he scored 12 of his points. But with Sprong, there’s always the big what-if of the player he could be if he rounded out his game. At 27 years old, Sprong has the odds of doing that stacked against him.

That’s probably why Sprong is most likely to be a free agent. His scoring gives him bargaining power for a pay raise, but his prioritization of scoring is antithetical to the defensive responsibility that Detroit wants to emphasize in the future. And this future seemed all but decided when Lalonde scratched Sprong late in the season with playoff hopes on the line. If trust in Sprong is lacking, it’s safe to say he’ll be moving on to another team.

Continued (at length); I just don’t think that the Red Wings can pay Sprong what his goal-scoring total merits on the open market.

That’s okay. It’s going to stink to lose his production, but Sprong was an utterly terrifying player to deal with in terms of his defensive lapses and role on the team as a 3rd/4th line player. Maybe another team gives “Sprong Song” a real chance to be in their top six, and he shines. We can hope that it happens, and that it isn’t within the Red Wings’ division

Tweet of note: Daily Faceoff’s Seravalli says Wings have ‘made progress’ with Kane

Per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli:

From Seravalli’s article:

Continue reading Tweet of note: Daily Faceoff’s Seravalli says Wings have ‘made progress’ with Kane

A little about the Wings’ middle-of-the-lineup UFA’s

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted an article regarding the Red Wings’ free agency options this afternoon, and as Kulfan notes, it’s the Red Wings’ middle-of-the-lineup guys who are getting squeezed out by Detroit’s cap crunch:

The focus is re-signing forwards Patrick Kane and David Perron, along with defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, all while keeping salary cap space available for restricted free-agent defenseman Moritz Seider and forward Lucas Raymond, who are getting significant salary increases coming out of their entry-level contracts.

Forwards Christian Fischer and Daniel Sprong, and goaltender James Reimer, are also potential unrestricted free agents, but the Wings have varying levels of interest on retaining them.

General manager Steve Yzerman said Saturday at the NHL Entry Draft it’s unlikely everyone will return.

“We’d love to bring everybody back, (but) that’s going to be really difficult to do,” Yzerman said. “We’re just not going to have enough money to bring everybody back. That’s just not the way it’s going to work.”

The Wings have about $32 million to work with under the salary cap — but approximately half of that is likely targeted to sign Seider and Raymond at some point this summer.

Continued; it’s guys like Fischer and Sprong who really can’t be re-signed, and I don’t know how I feel about that, honestly. To some extent, I want to see the Red Wings get as young and fast as possible, but Yzerman said yesterday that he’s not going to open up a top-nine spot for any prospect–that they would have to “take a job” from a veteran instead–and if that’s the case, I don’t know whether there are better grinders to fill out the Wings’ four lines than the affable Fischer and scoring Sprong.