Detroit Red Wings fans: don't worry, be happy with the restricted free agents

While most of the Red Wings roster has been pretty much set, some major holes still need to be filled. Thankfully those spots are reserved for players that the team still has the rights to. The problem is that those players have yet to be re-signed.

This has caused a lot of fans to become a bit worried and uncomfortable, especially with how long it has been since the end of the 2023-24 season, how close we are to the beginning of training camp, and the recent use of offer sheets in the league. Some fear the threat of losing the Detroit Red Wings remaining RFA's. Most of which are young fan favorites.

I can't blame those of you who are worried, however. After all, when you're part of a fanbase that's as passionate as Detroit Red Wings fans, it's easy to be worried when your young future stars don't have a contract. I don't believe there's anything to worry about.

Detroit Red Wings fans have no reason to worry about Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, or Jonatan Berggren

Look, I understand why there are those of you who are worried about the Detroit Red Wings RFAs Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, and Jonatan Berggren. All three of them are players who are either essential to the Red Wings future or solid young talent who can help the team in their specific way.

Berggren is the perfect example of a player who isn't essential to the Red Wings future but is an incredibly useful young talent. He showed in his rookie season that he was more than ready for the NHL and deserved to be there full-time.

Unfortunately, due to the logjam at every position on the team in the 2023-24 season, Berggren only got 12 games on the Detroit Red Wings amassing six points. It wasn't good enough for head coach Derek Lalonde and general manager Steve Yzerman, as many costly defensive errors saw him get benched for a few games before being sent back to Grand Rapids.

After months of trade speculation and a rumored contract that Berggren and his camp turned down mid-way through the season, word on the street is that Berggren should have a contract with the Detroit Red Wings done by training camp. Which, at the very least, means that neither he nor the team have burned that bridge just yet.

Seider and Raymond are different, however. While Berggren is likely to get less than Joe Veleno did in his latest extension and is at best a third line-scoring winger who can moonlight on the second line in the case of an injury, Raymond and Seider are the future of the Detroit Red Wings. Their number one defenseman and number one winger are due for massive raises and it's taking longer than many fans would prefer.

After Brock Faber signed his eight-year $68 million extension with the Minnesota Wild and Matty Beniers signed his seven-year $49.98 million contract with the Seattle Kraken, some fans are upset with Yzerman taking so long to get the Seider and Raymond contracts done. They're even claiming that he's letting Faber and Beniers set the market as comparables for both Seider and Raymond's agents when negotiating their new contracts.

Thankfully the team has no real threat of losing them.

If a team decides to offer sheet either Seider or Raymond, there isn't an "unpalatable" loss for the Detroit Red Wings. Either a team lowballs them an offer and they don't sign it, or they do sign it and the Detroit Red Wings will happily match it.

There is also the possibility they offer one of them something in the $10+ million price range. In the event of that that type of offer sheet, where Seider and Raymond sign and the team doesn't match them, they would receive multiple first round picks.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't name a single contending team that can offer one or multiple $10+ million contracts. This means the only teams with the cap space to take on such contracts are teams that will likely end up in the draft lottery once again. So at the very least, the Detroit Red Wings would get some top-tier prospects out of the deal. But in the end, the odds of the Red Wings losing either Seider or Raymond are virtually zero.

I don't see really any future where the Red Wings don't have both of them on the team long or short-term.