Should the Detroit Red Wings tender an offer to Zach Werenski?

The Detroit Red Wings are enjoying the Masters this weekend while more than half the NHL competes in the NHL playoffs.  As the team starts their offseason work out regiment I can’t help but wonder, should the Wings tender Werenski this summer?

The Columbus Blue Jackets are expected to lose star forward Artemi Panarin, and Vezina Trophy netminder Sergei Bobrovsky and possibly newly acquired rental center Matt Duchene to free agency this summer.  It seems there is a chance the team re-signs Duchene before he hit the open market especially if they feel they will lose the others.  The Detroit Red Wings should at least entertain the idea of offering pending restricted free agent Zach Werenski a contract.

It’s been a no-no throughout the NHL in years past to offer RFA’s of teams’ a deal.  It’s an unwritten rule so that when your club has players in the same situation, you don’t have to be concerned with others plucking or running up the market on these young players.

It seems this could be the year things start to change.  There are plenty of star players set to become restricted free agents throughout the league this summer, and it could entice teams to veer away from the unwritten rule and start to write a new book.

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The truth is if the Columbus Blue Jackets lose even two of those three players previously mentioned they would have plenty of funds available to match any offer Werenski would receive.  I would assume the Jackets have made Werenski the main priority and are expecting to sign him to a long-term deal.

I would not be surprised to see the 21-year-old Grosse Pointe native sign an 8-year extension to stay with Columbus.  I don’t see Columbus allowing that star defenseman out of their grasp, but if there were one team that needs a player like that and could possibly convince him to join the party, it’s his good friend Dylan Larkin and the Detroit Red Wings.  Werenski played in all 82 regular season games this season and score 11 goals while adding 33 assists to total 44 points.

For the Detroit Red Wings, it is a risky thing to do with both Andreas Athanasiou, Taro Hirose, Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha all set to be RFA’s next summer.  A couple of other possible RFA’s the Detroit Red Wings could target is Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets and Cody Ceci from Ottawa.  The sens are a dysfunctional organization and re-signing Ceci is the most obvious thing to do, but it’s Ottawa we are talking about.  Trouba could be acquired via trade this summer with the Jets tight against the cap and the two parties having a history of not getting along.

The issue with tendering an offer to a restricted free agent is forfeiting draft picks.  Another reason the Detroit Red Wings will refrain from offering deals to RFA’s is that it simply wouldn’t make sense for the rebuilding team to give up multiple picks for one player unless he is as talented as Werenski.  Although it likely won’t happen, the hometown star defenceman is a franchise changing defender the Wings are desperate to acquire.