4 pending unrestricted free agents the Red Wings must bring back for 2024-25

David Perron more than deserves to call Detroit his home next season

I debated about including David Perron on this list, but right now, Yzerman needs players who have experience to know what it takes to win Stanley Cups in town. Patrick Kane is one of those players, but so is Perron, who was with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 when they won it all. 

Next season, the overall older Red Wings should be aging in reverse, but that shouldn’t mean refraining from keeping a pair of trusty, productive veterans in Kane and Perron. We know what Kane will bring, and while Perron won’t be as effective, he’s still a productive middle-six forward who has 38 points and 15 goals in 69 contests at the time of this writing. 

Perron would also understand that his days as a top-six forward are waning, and he could factor in on the lower lines at this point in his career. He remains a physical player who will give the Red Wings triple digits in hits, and he is still a threat to take pucks away from opponents. 

Perron can still record a plethora of power play minutes, and for the second year in a row, that total crept over the 200-minute milestone. He’s also done a good job helping Detroit’s pedestrian goalies at 5-on-5 with a 91.7 on-ice save percentage, offering a solid blend of defense to go with his productivity in the offensive zone.