An early look at who the Detroit Red Wings should target in Free Agency
Let’s face it; overall the Detroit Red Wings have experienced a tough season. Going into the year, we expected a rebuilding type of season, so this is nothing that should surprise us. In this article, we take a look at a few options to better the club come July 1st.
It has been an up and down season for the Detroit Red Wings. I expected a rollercoaster type of season, and I didn’t expect this to be a playoff team or anything close to it. I would argue at times throughout the season the Wings exceeded my expectations.
The Wings played very during stretches of the year, particularly in the first half of the season. For the first two months, they owned a top ten power-play and top ten penalty kill. Goaltender Jimmy Howard was posting nearly career numbers, not including wins of course but above average goals against average and save percentage.
Up until about two weeks before the NHL trade deadline, Jimmy Howard was second in the league with a 0.933 save percentage at even strength. It seemed his trade stock was as high as it’s ever been in his career, but Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland seemed to miss the buck and failed to move him before his stock plummeted. It’s been much more “down” than “up” for Jonathan Bernier who was signed to a three-year deal last summer to share the net with Howard.
The Detroit Red Wings are fairly deep up front. They have a nice mix of young up and coming forwards blended with a handful of aging veterans who struggle to find any offense with bad, nearly untradable contracts. Not only are the salaries too high, but most of them will also have to be protected in the upcoming expansion draft due to their no movement or no trade clauses.
The Detroit Red Wings’ back-end is suspect at best. Its a mix of old veterans with little tread left on their tires and yet to be seasoned youngsters who are still learning how to change a tire. Filip Hronek has been exceptional of late. He’s been the teams’ top defender over the last six games.
Dennis Cholowski had a solid rookie campaign for the Wings especially being a surprise player to make the roster. He was sent down to work on the defensive side of his game after 52 games with the Wings. His possession stats are below average, but not horrible considering he’s playing on a below averaged Red Wings team. He was active on the power play, but it was evident he’s a work in progress in his own zone. Expect him to be on the opening night roster to start next season.
The question marks start with Niklas Kronwall and end with Jonathan Ericsson. Will Kronwall return for another season? The Wings have said if he wants to play he will be re-signed. If he retires, it will open a spot on the back-end for a more talented, younger player. What will the Wings do with Ericsson? Would they dare buy out the final year of his contract? Would they try and bury part of it in the minors by placing him on waivers? Or the more likely scenario, they will allow him to play out the final year of his deal.
The team also will have a trade market for a few players including Luke Glendening, Trevor Daley & Mike Green. Taking some of this into consideration and having around 19 million to spend, we explore a few free agents the Detroit Red Wings should target in free agency this summer.
Note: We don’t expect the team to sign all of these players, just a few they need to consider.
The Detroit Red Wings should consider targeting Jake Gardiner who’s been a long-time Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman. He’s a mobile defender who would step in and become the number one defender in Detroit immediately.
The Leafs fans are a tough crowd to please and over the years have let Jake Gardiner hear their displeasure. He had a terrible showing against the Boston Bruins in game seven of the NHL playoffs that some fans are unable to get past. His multiple turnovers led to the team with a significant lead to keep raking the puck out of the back of their own net.
He fell out of favor as recent as this season with the fanbase. They have a quick trigger to boo, the same game Gardiner was heavily booed for making an error that cost the Leafs a lead. The same game John Tavares was a minus -3, yet he wouldn’t dare be criticized. I think Tavares is tremendous; I’m just pointing out the different type of treatment.
Gardiner is averaging 21:12 TOI per game. He’s the Leafs number two defenseman behind Morgan Reilly. Even after the addition of Jake Muzzin, Gardiner continues to see more average ice-time. He isn’t nearly as offensive minded as he could be, but he’s an above average skater and an exquisite puck mover.
On the season he’s accomplished 2 goals, 27 assists in 60 games. His CF% is respectable at 52.3%. He’s also a plus 17 on the season. Last season Gardiner recorded 52 points and played just over 22:00 minutes a night. He would be a valuable asset in Detroit as he’s still only 28 years old and help sure up the Wings back-end as the team transitions to become a younger group. I would expect Gardiner’s asking price to be somewhere around 6.5-7 million per season on a 7-year term.
The Detroit Red Wings tried to trade for Tyler Myers back when he was in Buffalo, but they were unable to make a deal for the big right-handed defender. I could see the Wings having a lot of interest in Myers when he hits the open market come July.1st.
As we mentioned Myers is a right-handed shot, and it seems that is a premium in today’s league. Teams can’t seem to find enough right-handers. The Wings have Mike Green and Filip Hronek who both fit that bill along with newcomer Madison Bowey.
Tyler Myers will never be as gifted offensively as Mike Green or the potential that Hronek has shown, but he’s a much more complete defender than both of them at this point in his career. Similar to Gardiner he’s only 28-years-old which honestly surprises me, I feel like he’s been around forever, but part of that is because he broke into the league with the Sabres at the age of 19.
Myers is a monster on the ice as he stands 6’8 and is north of 230 pounds. As you could guess, he provides a physical presence that holds his opponents accountable. He’s better offensively than most give him credit for and plays with an edge. He is a big physical, shot blocking defender who can skate; he doesn’t just lumber his way around the ice as some big guys do. Wings fans would quickly take a liking to Myers. He’s a much more gifted skater than Jonathan Ericsson or Derian Hatcher, just a couple of big lugs I could think of.
With the underachieving veteran defenders like Ericsson and Trevor Daley, Myers is an immediate upgrade. Myers would be a top pairing defender in Detroit. Paired with Danny DeKeyser they could be very effective, and although they are the same age I think Myers would be able to help DeKeyser shape his game into becoming a much more well rounded complete defenseman.
This season with the Winnipeg Jets he’s notched 8 goals to go with his 16 assists. He’s averaging 20:07 TOI per game this season and is a plus 10. His CF% is lower than I’d like to see it as it’s below 50%, sitting at 49.3%. He’s a better player than that shows. I would think Myers will be looking to cash in on a long-term deal at this point in his career. Expect a 5 or even the max 7-year deal worth around 6 million per season. If you are afraid of the cap hit, remember Kronwall makes 4.75 and Ericsson makes 4.25, just saying.
A couple of players I was hoping the Detroit Red Wings would target last summer to share the net with Jimmy Howard were Carter Hutton who signed in Buffalo along with Robin Lehner who agreed to a deal with the Islanders.
The Wings decided to sign Jonathan Bernier to a three-year-deal with a 3 AAV. Hutton is in his mid 30’s and wanted a more extended contract than the Wings would have tried to give him. Although I wanted Hutton, it sort of makes sense with his age and the Wings being amid a rebuild.
The hope was Bernier would push Howard for the starting job but hasn’t performed even close to the franchise’s expectations. I can’t see Bernier being here when the rebuild is completed, and the Wings are once again contenders.
Jimmy Howard was having a surprising season up until the trade deadline, that’s about when the wheels fell off. I would urge the franchise to proceed with caution in regards to rushing to hand out a new contract for Jimmy Howard. He’s 35-years-old, and it appears he may be on a downward slope and seems like he could struggle to regain his footing.
The Detroit Red Wings should entertain the idea of bringing in a new starting goaltender for next season. I know Ken Holland and company have this extreme loyalty to individual players and Howard is undoubtedly one of those, but at some point, you need to cut the cord.
Robin Lehner is 27-years-old and plays with a fiery streak. He can be a bit hot-headed, but that style has worked for others. The first few that come to mind are Roy, Hasek, and Hextall. Granted Lehner is nowhere near as talented as any of those players but has that nasty streak in him.
I wanted the Wings to bring in Lehner last year over Bernier. The Wings thought better of it and made the wrong decision. Lehner signed a 1-year-deal worth 1.5 million with the New York Islanders. It was a “bet on myself” type of deal, and he will get paid.
Don’t overlook the system though; he definitely benefits by playing behind a Barry Trotz style of play. Trotz brought the Islanders from dead last defensively last season to best in the NHL. That is simply remarkable. Shoring up the defense helps give Lehner and Greiss in New York better-looking numbers. But better numbers equal a better salary.
On the season Lehner is 20-11-5 with a terrific 2.19 GAA|0.927% save percentage. Expect Lehner to command around 5 million per season for a minimum of four years.
The Detroit Red Wings should entertain the idea of bringing back Gustav Nyquist under the correct circumstances. If Nyquist doesn’t happen to receive the attention most of us think he will get, the Wings should consider bringing him back if it doesn’t break the bank.
Nyquist filled the Zetterberg role very well this season. He was much more of a facilitator rather than a sniper and elevated his creativity with the puck as he continued to look to set up Dylan Larkin or Andreas Athanasiou depending on the line he was on.
Nyquist spent nearly the same amount of time on the second line as he did on the first line. While Mantha was healthy, Nyquist found himself playing with Frans Nielsen and either Thomas Vanek or Andreas Athanasiou.
He was a player general manager Ken Holland mentioned publically that he would love to sign to an extension but apparently, they were unable to come to terms before the trade deadline. I expect Holland to dip his toe into the waters and touch base with Nyquist on July 1st.
The Detroit Red Wings have a plethora of forwards, but it’s a dense mix of young up and comers playing with older vets with little to no value. The overpaid bottom-six forwards need to be addressed so players like Nyquist can help the likes of Zadina, Veleno, Svechnikov and whoever the first round pick is this summer.
Since being traded to the Sharks, Nyquist has played 7 games and has recorded 3 goals and 1 assist. Overall he’s having the best point production season of his career. He may not be scoring at the rate he once did but like I’ve said over and over he’s accepted the Zetterberg, set up role and excelled with it.
In 69 games between Detroit and San Jose, he’s recorded 19 goals, 34 assists totaling 53 points. He’s a plus 1, averaging 17:54 TOI per game. His CF% is outstanding considering where he played the majority of this season. It’s steady at 53.6%. The 29-year-old will likely be looking to land a long-term deal worth around 5 million per season.
I wanted to add Sergei Bobrovsky, but after I thought about it, he’s 31-years-old and will surely be seeking a 7-year-deal worth 10 or so million per season. That’s a lot of money for a netminder whose production will be on the way down by the time the Detroit Red Wings have completed their rebuild.
When you think of other goaltenders around the league, Freddie Anderson in Toronto makes 5 million per season. John Gibson makes 6.4 per season. Tuukka Rask makes 7 million per season. Braden Holtby makes 6.1 per season. Yet, Bobrovsky claims he wants Carey Price money, and I don’t think the Detroit Red Wings will be prepared to spend 10.5 million on a 31-year-old goaltender.
That being said, I feel Erik Karlsson will be chasing the money. I am taking Drew Doughty into consideration who makes 11 million per season. I would expect Karlsson to look to match that deal. He will need a telemarketing team in place to field the phone calls on July 1st, but the Detroit Red Wings should at least consider making the call.
More from Octopus Thrower
- Detroit Red Wings forward Carter Mazur injured in Prospect Tournament
- Detroit Red Wings: What does Klim Kostin’s role look like in 2023-24?
- Detroit Red Wings: 3 players who will make biggest impact in first year
- The Detroit Red Wings need Andrew Copp to start fast in 2023-24
- Detroit Red Wings had a busy off-season; but was it enough?
You never know unless you try, maybe if Kenny Holland promises one of his favorite no-trade clauses along with free Little Caesars pizza for life he may gather the attention of Karlsson. But seriously the Wings will have some cap space if they wanted to pay a max player, they are in dire need of a difference maker on the back-end.
The Wings have this brand new arena, state of the art facilities and a city trending in the right direction. It’s a fan base that will go to bat for you, embrace you and we flat out love our Detroit Red Wings. The team friendly deal that Dylan Larkin signed last summer allows the Wings flexibility to sign a max player.
A lot of the future will depend on where the Wings select after the draft lottery is completed. If the Wings land Hughes they will need to save money to sign him along with Athanasiou, Mantha, and Bertuzzi. Yes, Hughes would be cheap for the first three seasons, and then into his RFA period, but they will have to monitor their spending knowing what the cost could be.
The team still has the money to sign a max deal but then would have to fill out the rest of the roster with cheaper, younger players until the Abdekaders’ of the world are off the books. I don’t have to tell you how good Karlsson is; he is a Norris Trophy winner.
In 52 games this season with the Sharks he’s accomplished 3 goals, 42 assists totaling 45 points. He’s a plus 3 as he averages 24:32 TOI a night. His CF% is fantastic sitting at 59.3%, which is about as good as it gets, he’s an elite talent.
Next. How Are the Detroit Red Wings Top Five NHL Draft Picks Performing?. dark
This summer will be fun, some of these players mentioned unfortunately won’t even look in Detroit’s direction but if the Wings happened to land just one of these guys it would drastically be an upgrade the current group the Wings are rolling out onto the ice on a nightly basis.