Red Wings: Hirose, Criscuolo Re-Sign; 7 RFAs Qualified

The Detroit Red Wings made a couple moves today, re-signing forwards Kyle Criscuolo and Taro Hirose to one-year deals. Both are expected depth moves, with Criscuolo being fourth on Grand Rapids in points with 19 (11-8) last season and Hirose seeing some time in Detroit in the way of six games.

Hirose seemed like a good fit on the lethargic power play early on in the season, but he had just two assists in his six games and didn’t come back to Detroit after the a 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay on February 3.

7 Red Wings Tendered a Qualifying Offer

With free agency looming, Cap Friendly tweeted out the 7 players tendered a qualifying offer by the Red Wings:

Lindstrom re-signed yesterday, which also saw Evgeny Svechnikov not offered a QO and granted free agency. Yzerman is likely talking to agents as this is being written. Jakub Vrana, Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek and Adam Erne are all due raises while rumors of teams calling about Bertuzzi continue. What comes of it is most likely Bertuzzi signing a deal and putting to rest for the time being.

Red Wings Interest in Pius Suter?

Suter was granted free agency by Chicago prior to them making a blockbuster move to acquire Vegas netminder Marc-Andre Fleury. Suter scored a hat trick last year against Detroit–which also happened to be his first three career goals.

A snapshot at the positives of potentially getting Suter:

Though he’s a left hand shot, and Yzerman specifically spoke of seeking players shooting right, this might be too good to pass up. It wouldn’t be a terribly costly contract and could definitely help with not only secondary scoring, but potentially be a great fit with either Dylan Larkin or Robby Fabbri. Better yet, Suter could center his own line, giving Detroit another option down the middle.

It stands to reason that Suter will have a number of teams interested in his services and Yzerman would have to sell his vision to woo him over Cup contenders. But the age range fits the scope of the rebuild, and with the moves to acquire Alex Nedeljkovic along with the trade for Nick Leddy, Suter could be another positive change for forward motion in the rebuild.

Red Wings Signings will Continue to Trickle In

With a good number of players still needing to be signed, it will be interesting to see how Yzerman reacts in free agency. He indicated he will be adding and it stands to reason that while the team will continue to take shape, it will be similar to last year’s signings that are moderate gains, which don’t jeopardize one last shot at winning the draft lottery.