Red Wings Summer 2019 Report

Following the MRFHL draft in late July and throughout the dog days of August, the Red Wings front office have quietly been hard at work signing extensions for all of their RFA's, using their UFA re-signs and cap space creatively to add talent, and replenishing the organization's depth through UFA.

The first order of business after the draft was to re-sign RFA's. This was destined to be pretty straightforward since their two star RFA's, Panarin and Tarasenko, had already been traded pre-draft.

The most important deal was Sam Reinhart, who the Wings signed to an affordable 4 year extension at 5.6M that bridges Sam to his final RFA year. Boone Jenner was extended for 1 year and 3.6M to get him to his final RFA year. Recently acquired Ryan Pulock had already been signed for 2 years 3.5M, a great bridge deal. 2018-19 breakout star Erik Gustafsson was signed for 4 years 5.25M after a massive 17 goal 60 point season. Depth players Oscar Fantenberg and Cam Johnson were signed and traded pre-draft, and depth defender Martin Marincin was signed to a cheap 3 year deal.

Next up was trying to maximize the team's remaining UFA re-sign. After scouting around the league and exploring a number of options, the Red Wings set their sights on veteran two-way forward Carl Soderberg and acquired his rights in a pre-draft deal. The Wings and Soderberg agree to a loaded 1 year deal at 8.0M. With a ton of cap space for the upcoming season but McDavid, Kucherov, Doughty and Lehner all on expiring deals this seemed to make sense for both parties. The end result here: the Wings add a 2nd line talent to their team for 1 year at the cost of a 5th round pick and Cam Johnson.

In another creative twist the Wings and Oilers decided to test the rules of the league. In a seemingly nonsensical move, Patrick Kane was sent to the Wings for $1. Wait, what? But then Kane, on a 1 year 9.3M contract, was shipped back to the Oilers with 3.85M retained for a 2020 2nd round pick. In a roundabout way the Wings had used 3.85M of cap space to buy a 2nd round pick.

Unsurprisingly this recently acquired 2020 2nd was destined to be used as trade capital. Recently drafted Matthew Boldy was shipped out to Ottawa along with that 2020 2nd for Dylan Cozens and a 2020 4th. 

GM Evans: "I'm a big fan of Matthew Boldy and was happy to draft him, but I had Cozens ranked as a top 6 player in this draft. This kid has fantastic speed, skill, work ethic, and he's huge. I think he's got the potential to be a #1 or 1b Centre, and those are the hardest players to acquire. I'm beyond excited to haved added Kakko, Cozens, Kahun, and Bemstrom in the same draft and I can't wait to see what these talented players bring in 2019-20."

In UFA the Red Wings tried and failed to sign Zdeno Chara for the 3rd straight year, despite putting forth a very strong offer. The Red Wings strategy after missing out on Chara shifted to under the radar young players that could play in the NHL next year or in the near future. Only two players are expected to push for a roster spot with the Wings next year: Korbinian Holzer is expected to be the #7D and Eric Fehr is expected to play on the 4th line. In addition to Holzer and Fehr, the following 19 players were signed:

Name, Position, Age on July 1 2020, 2019-20 outlook, NHL ceiling
Patrick Newell, C/LW, 24, AHL rookie, depth scorer
Adam Johnson, C/LW, 26, AHL/NHL split, good 4C
Pavel Francouz, G, 30, rookie NHL backup, #1b goalie
Grant Hutton, D, 24, AHL rookie, bottom pair D
Joe Snively, LW, 24, AHL rookie, 3rd line scorer
Patrick Russel, RW, 27, AHL/NHL split, good 4th liner
Ryan Kuffner, LW, 24, AHL rookie, 3rd line scorer
Matt Roy, D, 25, AHL/NHL split, physical #5 TWD
Joni Tuulola, D, 24, AHL sophomore, physical #6 TWD+
Sheldon Rempal, W, 24, AHL/NHL split, 3rd line scorer
Juuso Riikola, D, 26, bottom pair NHL, good bottom pair TWD
Michael Bunting, W, 24, AHL/NHL split, physical 4th liner
Jacob Middleton, D, 24, AHL/NHL split, good bottom pair TWD
Hunter Miska, G, 24, 3rd year AHL, backup G
Bobby Nardella, D, 24, AHL rookie, #5 puck moving TWD+
Stefan Noesen, RW, 27, NHL bottom 6, 3rd line checker
Zach Redmond, D, 31, AHL all-star, #6 OFD with 2nd line PP
Landon Bow, G, 24, AHL starter, #1b goalie
Trevor Carrick, D, 25, NHL/AHL split, physical #5 OFD

Lots of bottom of the roster talent, but with so much quantity there's bound to be a few guys that outperform expectations and even more that underperform. Francouz, Riikola, and Noesen are good bets to play in the NHL all or most of the year. Rempal, Roy, Middleton, Carrick, and Bunting are good bets to see NHL call-ups, and the rest are longer term projects or riskier projections. After all these UFA signings the Red Wings' roster is currently full at 50 players.

After a busy summer the Red Wings' projected roster for pre-season is: 

Soderberg-McDavid-Kucherov
Hertl-Couturier-S Reinhart
Kreider-Jenner-Athanasiou
Coleman-Kesler-Fehr
Raffl

Pionk-Doughty
Pulock-Burns
E Gustafsson-Cernak
Holzer

Lehner
Hart

Top 10 Prospects:
1) Kakko, RW, 9.0B
2) Cozens, C/RW, 8.5C+
3) Bemstrom, RW, 8.0B+
4) G Fortier, C/LW, 7.5C+
5) M Samuelsson, D, 7.5C
6) Kolyachonok, D, 7.5C
7) D Gustafsson, C, 7.0B
8) Ersson, G, 8.5D
9) N Nordgren, W - 7.5D+
10) Thrun, D, 7.5D