Today is free agency day in the NHL. At noon, the Wings will be able to sign contracts with free agents. As a reminder, they can sign their own pending free agents before then and we’re likely to hear what’s coming down the pipeline before noon even gets here, but that’s the official time for things to get registered.
Here’s a quick reminder of where the Wings stand:
Forwards under contract (6/14)
Dylan Larkin
Frans Nielsen
Robby Fabbri
Vladislav Namestnikov
Michael Rasmussen
Filip Zadina
Additional Pipeline forwards
Jonatan Berggren
Joe Veleno
Lucas Raymond
Givani Smith
Taro Hirose
RFA Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi
Adam Erne
Jakub Vrána
UFA Forwards
Bobby Ryan
Sam Gagner
Valtteri Filppula
Luke Glendening
Darren Helm
Evgeny Svechnikov (Unqualified RFA)
Mathias Bromé (Unqualified RFA – Europe bound)
Quick Take:
Veleno, Berggren, and Raymond will all be given a valid shot of making the team. Smith probably pencils in. Hirose is likely just depth. Even with all five of those, that leaves Detroit at exactly 14 forwards and zero depth for injuries. They’ll be bringing some folks back from that UFA list or will look elsewhere. If they go elsewhere, I’d say finding a solid center would be a priority.
Defensemen Under Contract (6/7)
Nick Leddy
Danny DeKeyser
Marc Staal
Troy Stecher
Gustav Lindström
Moritz Seider
Additional Pipeline Defense
Wyatt Newpower
Seth Barton
Jared McIsaac
Donovan Sebrango
Eemil Viro
RFA Defense
Filip Hronek
UFA Defense
Alex Biega
Christian Djoos (unqualified RFA – Europe bound)
Dylan McIlrath
Joe Hicketts
Quick Take
The additional pipeline isn’t realistic. McIsaac is likely the closest there, but the Wings are easily two LD away from having a complement even with getting Hronek signed.
Goalies Under Contract (2/2)
Alex Nedeljkovic
Thomas Greiss
Additional Pipeline Goalies
Filip Larsson
Kaden Fulcher
Luigi
UFA Goalies
Calvin Pickard
Kevin Boyle
Quick Take
I suppose it’s possible they re-sign Pickard as emergency third, but at some point you’ve got to give Larsson or Fulcher a chance.
Overall, according to Capfriendly, the Wings have 14 players “on the roster” not counting guys like Seider, Veleno, or Raymond and they have $36.7M in cap space.
We’ll have individual posts for the big news and will keep this one pinned for discussion as the day goes on.