The Detroit Red Wings are falling behind the curve of the NHL.
In a sea of uncertainty, rising cap to the stratosphere and lack of options to inject talent into an organization, other teams have decided to lock up any and all core pieces to long-term contracts. Even if the numbers are initially shocking, it ensures an established foundation.
Dylan Larkin, Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond were all ground to extremes in their contract extensions. One could even argue that the team dropped the ball with Alex DeBrincat’s contract when he was only extended for four years.
Pennies pinched on the dollar. Years shaved off to nickel and dime their best players. Meanwhile an owner hides away like he knows he's done something wrong, but doesn't have the backbone to answer for his wrongdoings.
Simon Edvinsson is the newest victim
Now, their number two defenseman, Simon Edvinsson, came to training camp, a unicorn in a world filled with selfish actions and bottom lines. He paid his own insurance. Signed a professional tryout just to attend training camp where he couldn’t even partake in scrimmages.
He missed preseason games that would have been invaluable to get him up to speed with NHL action.
As Detroit fans wait in agony over this contract stalemate (one that shouldn’t even be happening)—when voices like Max Bultman, a beacon of reason and understanding writes of concerns with choices the organization has made—we know things are going downhill faster than any data president and CEO Christopher Ilitch could ever hope to calculate.
The Fourth Period mentions Edvinsson’s camp, “is believed to be seeking a long-term contract worth at least $9 million to $10 million per season, depending on term.”
Although this dollar amount would make Edvinsson the highest paid player on the Red Wings, it aligns with the market—the lower end of the market. Coupled with it being a long term contract, it would secure the top-two defensemen in Hockeytown for the next four plus seasons (and ideally the beginning or smack dab in their contention window as a team) with less than $20 million between the two. Unfathomable in today’s market for high-end players.
Realistically, it would be the biggest no-brainer the team could make.
Bridging Edvinsson is just asking for trouble. As Prashanth Iyer illustrates the risks of a possible bridge deal in great detail. In short, it just doesn’t make sense from anybody’s standpoint. His talent is likely to either remain on par or exceed this $9-10 million price tag.
It’s at such a stalemate the young man has returned to Sweden to stay in shape with his former Swedish Hockey League (SHL) team. A guy willing to pay his own way just to be part of a team that, allegedly, not even Zach Werenski wanted to be a part of, not being the priority is astounding.
According to Pierre LeBrun, both camps are grinding away. It’s hard to fathom a grind is needed when the ask is at the low-end of the current signing spectrum.
Is the ask higher than Moritz Seider’s salary? Yes. In a world where salary cap is rising faster than the cheapskates in Detroit can keep up, their hockey club (i.e. the players) and fans suffer most.
Seider has already spoken his peace about the high salaries being signed and if he has any regrets about signing for such few dollars. His answer and demeanor says it all:
Life is, in fact, easier for Seider when Edvinsson is in the lineup. A few extra dollars to Edvinsson, even if Edvinsson plays a lesser role than Seider, is beside the point.
Together, Seider and Edvinsson played 1086:49 minutes together in the 2025-26 season, per Natural Stat Trick. Only Edmonton Oilers defensemen Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard (1215:42) and Seattle Kraken defensemen Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn (1217:54) played more minutes together.
Of these three defensive pairings, Seider and Edvinsson had expected goals for percentage (xGF%) of 55% (second of the three) and a Corsi for percentage (CF%) of 52.90% (also second among these three pairings).
In terms of Detroit-specific defensive pairings last season, Ben Chiarot and Seider played 234:17 together (not anywhere close to season before, thankfully for everyone involved). Together, their xGF% drops to a 51.18% and their CF% is a bit higher with 53.42%. In 2024-25, the numbers were abysmal: 48.48% xGF% and 46.71%.
On paper, pairings like Seider and Chiarot may seem great. In reality, though, ideal partners don’t mesh together—regardless of the reasoning.
It is difficult enough to find a top-pair defenseman. It’s even more challenging to find a top right-handed defender. Seider checks all of those boxes. The fact that the Red Wings have a clear number two defenseman, who has a proven successful track record with their top defensive pair, is incredible.
Whether a coach wants to pair them together and create a metaphorical (and often physical) wall, they can. If instead, the coach would like to stagger the duo, Detroit could have either one on the ice for almost the entire game as both play well in the mid-20 minutes of ice time regularly.
Their success (even if it’s a small sample size) echoes back to another European duo, only this time around they aren’t part of the forward group. They may not have pucks on strings like The Magic Man himself or be as reliable as their last real captain, but they are as promising as any young duo in hockey.
If Christopher Ilitch or the Detroit Red Wings can’t see it, or continue driving their star players away, things will only continue to snowball downhill. If they can get Edvinsson in the near-future, for a seven year deal, though, Seider and Edvinsson will help grow an elite blue line that could rival any NHL team.
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