The Detroit Red Wings are about to begin a pivotal summer for their franchise. General manager Steve Yzerman needs to complete deals with his pair of young core players, Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond. He also needs to find a way to continue improving Detroit's roster and advancing what has become a very lengthy rebuild.
An article recently published by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic focused on Jake Guentzel's potential future with Carolina and Mitch Marner's with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It also discussed whether or not the Florida Panthers will be able to fit pending free agent Sam Reinhart under the cap and the future of former Detroit Red Wings and current Oilers GM Ken Holland with Edmonton. Holland's contract is set to expire on June 30th, a day after the NHL draft and just before the opening of free agency on July 1st.
At the very end of the article, LeBrun briefly spoke about how a pair of popular player agents are expected to meet with Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman this week. Allan Walsh represents David Perron, who many Red Wings fans became familiar with following Perron's December suspension after sticking up for Dylan Larkin after he was knocked unconscious from a combination headshot from Mathieu Joseph and Parker Kelly. Perron viciously came to Larkin's aid by cross-checking defenseman Artem Zub, who wasn't directly involved in the Larkin play but found himself the closest to the Red Wings captain when Perron noticed something was wrong.
Following the league's suspension of Perron, Walsh was quick to publicly defend his client on social media, noting that Perron had played over 1,000 games and wasn't a reoccurring offender. Perron's suspension was upheld, but Walsh and Perron appealed the decision, hoping to recoup some money from the matter this summer.
Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman is expected to meet with a pair of popular agents this week.
During his season-ending exit interview, Perron, who quickly became the vocal leader of the organization, voiced his desire to continue playing for the Detroit Red Wings.
"I think the team wants me back; I want to be back, so let's see what happens in the next little while," he said. At the same time, I understand it's a business. A couple years ago I thought for sure I would stay in St. Louis and it didn't work out so I opened my eyes to something different, I really enjoyed my time here."
Meanwhile, Yzerman is also expected to meet with NHL super agent Pat Brisson this week. Brisson represents star winger Patrick Kane, and his CAA Hockey group also represents budding star Lucas Raymond.
Yzerman undoubtedly wants to get things settled with his pair of high-priced restricted free agents so he knows how much money he has to work with before filling in all of the remaining pieces. It's not impossible, but I am not sure there will be room for both Perron and Kane next season, which makes the remainder of this week exciting, that is, if any news from these meetings happens to leak. But remember, it's Yzerman we are talking about, and no one holds their cards closer to the vest. Yzerman is the human version of the Flex Seal infomercial, man.