Morning news: Khan, St. James discuss the Wings’ free agency moves (or the lack thereof)

MLive’s Ansar Khan addresses the Red Wings’ underwhelming start to the free agency period in a subscriber-only article this morning, noting that the Red Wings haven’t substantially improved the team as of this morning, which has the fan base in a state of discontent…

That also was the sentiment one year ago on this date. Then Yzerman traded for Alex DeBrincat a week later and the outlook changed. Then he signed Kane in late November and the Red Wings missed out on a playoff spot due to a tiebreaker.

So, it might be too early to draw conclusions. For now, they look to be slightly better defensively, with Talbot in net, young defenseman Simon Edvinsson in the top four from the start of the season and Gustafsson on the third pairing in place of Gostisbehere.

That’s important after the team finished 24th in the NHL in goals against per game (3.33).

But they have lost a significant chunk of offense from a team that ranked ninth in goals per game (3.35). Gostisbehere, Perron and Daniel Sprong, who remains unsigned, were three of their top eight scorers, combining for 45 goals and 146 points. Including Walman’s 12 goals, that’s 57 goals subtracted from last season’s roster.

They have not yet addressed this area. They have roughly $7 million in cap space (factoring in what it’ll likely cost to re-sign restricted free agent Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond) and need two more forwards.

Khan continues…

And the Free Press’s Helene St. James also discusses the Red Wings’ free agency moves, noting that Cam Talbot and Erik Gustafsson are really journeymen players. Here’s what she has to say about the team’s defensemen:

Continue reading Morning news: Khan, St. James discuss the Wings’ free agency moves (or the lack thereof)

Video link: Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde discusses the Wings’ ‘next step’ with WWNY

I can’t embed it, but Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde spoke with WWNY 7 News regarding his team’s progress made during the 2023-2024 season, and necessary progression as the team moves forward in the 2024-2025 season. It’s a brief clip, but…

He discusses taking the “next step” and the Wings’ goal of framing their offseason around making a more substantial playoff push.

A respectful disagreement regarding roster-building

The best analogy I can give as to what it’s like to build an NHL team–and perhaps over-build it–is that the roster in the summer can look like maybe the team should build a shiny convertible, but NHL GM’s and front offices are instead trying to make sure to put snow tires on a rugged SUV that’s got to withstand a long winter’s worth of wear and tear instead.

Long story long, rosters are often overbuilt, with “too much depth” at particular positions for the sake of accommodating injuries and inconsistencies in performances.

So I’m going to take a step and respectfully disagree with the Hockey News’s estimable Connor Eargood regarding his grading of the Red Wings’ moves in free agency, because there are times that you need more depth than you think you might on July 1st:

Jack Campbell, G
Contract: 1 year, $775,000
Grade: B-

This Campbell signing is most likely meant to bring him in as the second punch of a Grand Rapids tandem with Sebastian Cossa. While I like that Campbell can share the lessons of his up-and-down, journeyman career with Cossa as a mentor, Yzerman’s approach to goaltending lacks clear direction. The Red Wings didn’t really get better by bringing Campbell and Cam Talbot into the fold, and they’re probably going to have to trade one of Ville Husso or Alex Lyon or otherwise risk losing them on waivers. Instead of going out and getting a better goalie, the Red Wings just gave themselves more flawed pieces to work with.

Cam Talbot, G
Contract: $2.5 million x 2 years
Grade: B-

The same as Campbell, Talbot is part of the rudderless solution in net. Instead of going out with some aggression and getting a guy that can be an X-factor — even if it takes assets to get the four year or more guy that Yzerman wanted — the Red Wings got more of the same. Talbot was one of the lead dogs of this free agent goalie class, but he’s going to be 37 in a few days and he’s not the biggest upgrade from one of Husso or Lyon. This could be proven wrong. Talbot could be a big contributor like he was in L.A., when he played 54 games and saved 16.2 goals above expected according to Moneypuck. But, Talbot is not the star that Detroit could benefit from.

Continued (and it’s a good read); at this point, with Ville Husso’s future uncertain and Sebastian Cossa’s future development paramount, it might be better to have to worry about losing a goaltender on waivers come October than it is to have too few goaltenders for training camp.

I’m of the belief that the Red Wings are probably trying to move Husso and his contract, and if they can’t move him…They’ll sort things out as necessary at that particular point in time.

And I happen to like the signing of Talbot as an interim starter, but that’s just me.

Via KK: As the Trouba Turns, maybe we can put this to rest

This is turning into a soap opera. Via Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner/Abel to Yzerman comes a report that we don’t necessarily need to know…But it is the bottom line as to why Jacob Trouba doesn’t want to accept an in-place deal to send him to the Detroit Red Wings.

The New York Post’s Larry Brooks expounds upon the “family reasons” that Trouba is probably rejecting the trade, and at this point, it’s both good to know–and the kind of stuff that he doesn’t need to explain, as a professional athlete and family with a personal life:

When Trouba signed this current seven-year, $56M contract in July of 2019 after having been acquired as a pending restricted free agent from Winnipeg, his five-year no-movement clause was designed to expire in conjunction with his wife Kelly Tyson-Trouba’s completion of her three-year residency at a New York hospital.

But Dr. Tyson-Trouba’s residency was deferred for a year at the start so that the program which she is required to complete will end instead on July 1, 2025. The Troubas also welcomed their first child, a boy named Axel, in mid-January.

There is no guarantee that Jacob Trouba would accept a trade even to a club on his approved list if that means leaving his wife and nine-month-old (as of training camp) behind. It is not as if Dr. Tyson-Trouba can pick up, transfer her credits to another hospital, accompany her husband and still be licensed as a physician.

We are told that has become part of the league-wide conversation, with several teams that otherwise would have been in big-time on Trouba now likely to wait until next year when Dr. Tyson-Trouba’s residency ends with the defenseman having one final season on his contract.

Continued; the sticky wicket of this is obvious here, and it’s not just a matter of propriety: it’s not Kelly Trouba’s fault that she’s got a child and a career to think about…

And a decent minority of the fans who have followed this story line might very well blame Mrs. Trouba for not “sucking it up” and following her husband where the Rangers want to trade him, because that’s a sizeable minority of sports fans for you.

That’s not how life works. And now that we know the source of these “family issues,” let’s put the trade talk to rest and leave the Troubas alone to deal with the complications when personal lives and professional sports collide.

Press release: Red Wings sign forward Joe Snively for one year

Per the Detroit Red Wings:

RED WINGS SIGN FORWARD JOE SNIVELY TO ONE-YEAR, TWO-WAY CONTRACT

  … Forward Won Back-to-Back Calder Cup Championships with AHL’s Hershey Bears in 2023 and 2024 …

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today signed center Joe Snively to a one-year, two-way contract.

Snively, 28, skated in three games with the Washington Capitals during the 2023-24 season. The 5-foot-9, 176-pound forward spent the majority of the 2023-24 campaign with the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears and ranked among the team leaders with 14 goals (6th), 45 assists (1st), 59 points (1st), two power play goals (T7th), 21 power play points (T1st) and one overtime goal (T2nd) in 69 games. Snively also tallied 18 points (4-14-18) and 26 penalty minutes in 20 postseason contests with the Bears, helping the club win their second straight Calder Cup championship. He split the 2022-23 season between Washington and Hershey, logging four points (2-2-4) in 11 games with the Capitals, in addition to 27 points (9-18-27) and six penalty minutes in 32 games with the Bears. Snively also earned a Calder Cup title with Hershey in 2023, recording 15 points (2-13-15) in 20 playoff matchups. Originally signed by Washington as an undrafted free agent on March 18, 2019, Snively has totaled 11 points (6-5-11), a plus-five rating and two penalty minutes in 27 games with the Capitals since 2021-22. He has also racked up 172 points (58-114-172), a plus-57 rating and 72 penalty minutes in 220 AHL games with the Bears.

Continue reading Press release: Red Wings sign forward Joe Snively for one year

Wings get a ‘C’ from THN’s Proteau for free agency moves

The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau gives the Red Wings a middling grade for their middling first-day-of-free-agency performance:

The Red Wings have made some curious moves in recent years. We’re still not sure why GM Steve Yzerman gave Justin Holl a three-year, $10.2-million contract last summer.

There’s lots of room for questions regarding their moves Monday as well.

Bringing back star winger Patrick Kane on a one-year contract on Sunday is a win, but other than that, their moves came mostly on ‘D’ and in goal.

Goalie Cam Talbot is now 36, and blueliner Erik Gustafson is 32 – oh, and depth signing and good guy Jack Campbell is now fourth on the depth chart behind Talbot, Alex Lyon and Ville Husso. Veteran D-man Shayne Gostisbehere left the team for the Carolina Hurricanes.

All in all, it’s an underwhelming crop of new faces, considering the hype the Red Wings had heading into the off-season and the cap space they cleared. Detroit may once again be on the outside of the playoff picture next spring.

Grade: C

Continued; here’s hoping that the Wings and their fallible GM aren’t done.

Allen discusses the shape of the Wings’ blueline

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen examines the state of the Red Wings’ defensive corps with the subtractions of Jake Walman and Shayne Gostisbehere, and the additions of Erik Gustafsson and William Lagesson:

The Red Wings’ defense will be different in 2024-25. Jake Walman (traded to San Jose) and Gostisbehere (left through free agency) are gone. That’s 20 missing goals.

Barring a trade, the Red Wings will have nine defensemen at training camp: Gustafsson, Moritz Seider, Ben Chiarot, Olli Maatta,  Simon Edvinsson, Jeff Petry, Justin Holl, William Lagesson (signed Monday as UFA) and Albert Johansson.

Seider, Petry and Holl are the only right-shot defensemen in that group. It’s not unthinkable that [Holl] will play much more than he did last season.

Presumably, Johansson will compete against Lagesson and maybe others for the eighth and final spot defensive spot on the roster. Johansson is no longer waiver exempt, meaning  he has to go through waivers to be sent to the AHL. The Red Wings don’t believe he would get through waivers without being claimed. Lagesson is on a one-way contract for $775,000, but has spent time in the minors throughout his career. The Red Wings probably would be comfortable having a big salaried player in Grand Rapids.

Edvinsson will likely be in the second pairing with Petry.

With Gostisbehere gone, Seider again becomes the No. 1 power play point man. Gustafsson may get a shot as the No. 2 point man.  Edvinsson may also get an opportunity.

It doesn’t seem like the team will move Holl. He has two years remaining on a contract paying $3.4 million. They could certainly use that cap space. If you set aside $17 million to re-sign Lucas Raymond and Seider, they have about $3.5 mill to sign one more forward.

Continued; I still think that Holl’s going to exit the team, somehow.

Bultman expresses exasperation with the Red Wings’ swing-and-miss first day of free agency performance

The Athletic’s Max Bultman pans the Red Wings’ opening-day-of-free-agency performance, suggesting that the team stagnated at the very best:

Did the Red Wings get better defensively? Not meaningfully, at least beyond the crease. As of this writing, the Red Wings haven’t added any new forwards, so thus far it looks lateral at best up front. On the blue line, Gustafsson might be a marginal upgrade on Gostisbehere in his own end, but his numbers playing next to Braden Schneider on the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers are not exactly reflective of what can be expected in Detroit. William Lagesson (who signed for one year at $775,000) gives them some defense-first depth on the left side, but he isn’t expected to be a significant contributor. He played 40 NHL games last season and has played in 100 total NHL games since 2019.

Did Detroit get harder to play against? No, and while the Red Wings still have some time, at this point they might have gone backward. I don’t think the Red Wings would have been wise to give David Perron the two-year, $4 million AAV deal he got in Ottawa, but that doesn’t change the fact the Red Wings just lost their best down-low and wall-playing piece from last season (and one of the best in the NHL). Perron’s feet were a concern, as were some of his penalties, but there was no doubting that he kept possessions alive for the Red Wings deep in the offensive zone, or that he made life tough on opponents. Now he’s playing for a division rival, and Detroit hasn’t replaced him with anyone.

Did the Red Wings at least maintain their offensive attack from last season? Also no, subtracting Perron’s 47 points and losing their 56-point power-play quarterback Gostisbehere, whose three-year contract in Carolina has an AAV just $1.2 million above his apparent replacement, Gustafsson. Gustafsson may get an opportunity to quarterback Detroit’s first power play and run with it, making that swap look fine in time — but is that possibility worth such a small difference in the contract between him and Gostisbehere? Consider: The deal Gostisbehere just signed in Carolina is less money (with the same term) than the one to which the Red Wings signed Justin Holl last July 1. They proceeded to scratch Holl for more than half the season.

Continued (paywall); I just can’t quite wrap my head around dooming the Red Wings to another year without playoff hockey (to quote John Buccigross at the draft) after one disappointing day, but that’s just me.

Update: Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin agrees with Bultman, calling the Wings free agency losers as well:

Detroit Red Wings: Similar to the [Jeff] Skinner buyout logic: If you’re going to ship out one of your top four blueliners in Jake Walman, plus a second-round pick, for nothing, it better be because you have grand plans. As Day 1 of free agency wraps up, Wings GM Steve Yzerman has retained Patrick Kane, but Cam Talbot, Erik Gustafsson, Christian Fischer, William Lagesson and Jack Campbell stand as the biggest additions to a team that missed the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season last year. How much longer can Yzerman dine out on his legendary status before the fans command more? Detroit’s offseason is simply nowhere near good enough unless a major trade is coming.

Continued

Are the Red Wings nothing but free agency ‘losers’ at 6:20 PM?

It’s just the first day of the NHL’s free agency period, but some six hours in, The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman echoes the words of Detroit’s sports talk radio station hosts, suggesting that the Red Wings are “free agency losers”:

Detroit Red Wings: The offseason is far from over for the Red Wings, but it’s gotten off to an underwhelming start. 

The Jake Walman contract dump was an early misstep, but one that could be forgotten with the right corresponding moves that explain why management needed to open up cap space. Those moves just haven’t happened quite yet. 

Detroit missed out on free agents, like Roy, who could have elevated its blue line after subtracting Walman. Erik Gustafsson in place of Shayne Gostisbehere is a pretty lateral move. Extending Patrick Kane should give them a boost, especially after he has a full, healthy offseason to train. But management has yet to identify a David Perron replacement. Back in goal, the Cam Talbot signing crowds the crease unless the plan is to move out one of their existing contracts. 

The Red Wings showed so much promise last season, but management just has yet to punch up this roster to build on it. There is still a lot of time to make it happen, but maybe it’s time to start questioning the Yzerplan. 

Continued (paywall); I happen to believe that the “Yzerplan” is under continued evaluation and question as the Red Wings slowly and surely rebuild, and it’s bloody difficult to do anything other than hold Yzerman accountable for his actions without assuming that he’s infallible–or that he’s a terrible person for not making masterful moves 100% of the time.

Frankly, “It’s time to question the Yzerplan,” or suggesting that “The Yzerplan sucks/is failing” is a crutch in itself.

I’m not saying that the Wings “won” today by any stretch of the imagination–the Walman trade preceded a six-hour-and-twenty-minute swing and a miss at the top free agency targets–but shit happens. You deal with it, adjust your game plan, and learn. Even if you’re Steve Yzerman.

Detroit’s made a whole lot of lateral moves, re-signing Patrick Kane excepted. Now the team has to find other ways to improve itself. It’s gonna take more than six hours and twenty minutes to tell the tale.