Following a July to forget for most Red Wing fans with the club striking out in acquiring the services of a
Ryan Suter or
Zach Parise, the wait continues as the calendar turns to the month of August on whether the Red Wings will be able to secure the services of a top-four defenseman or a top-six forward to upgrade a roster that has struggled to find significant post-season success the past three seasons.
All was not lost during the latter half of July however. The Wings did re-sign restricted free agent rearguard
Kyle Quincey to a two-year contract averaging $3.55 million per season. His return essentially allows for the Red Wings to move forward with an experienced top-four group if they are unable to acquire another free agent blueliner or a defenseman via trade.
Kronwall-White
Ericsson-Quincey
Smith-Kindl
Realistically though, the club is likely to acquire at least one more rearguard to reinforce the backline top-pairing. Although there are several free agent defenseman still available that could help (Carlo Colaiacovo, Matt Gilroy, Pavel Kubina, Scott Hannan), the Red Wings appear to have their sights set on
Jay Bouwmeester of the Calgary Flames, if this "alleged pitch" by the Red Wings,
reported by the Calgary Herald is true. Bouwmeester would make sense as he could log top-pairing minutes and the Red Wings do have sufficient cap space to absorb the remaining $6.68 million per season for two more years remaining on J-Bo's contract.
As the wait continues on the blueline, the crop of unrestricted free agent forwards available became thinner last week when
Alexander Semin signed a one-year, $7 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. As a result, the
Shane Doan sweepstakes continue to linger with word filtering out Doan's agent suggested teams prepare a ridiculous 4-year, $30 million contract in order to secure the services of the 35-year old winger.
It goes without saying that the Red Wings have significant interest in a player of Doan's calibre and style, despite his birthdate. That being said, Detroit will not give him a contract where he earns more money than either
Pavel Datsyuk or
Henrik Zetterberg. So unless he has a belief the Red Wings are a "Shane Doan" away from winning a Stanley Cup, he is more likely to stay on the West Coast (Vancouver or Los Angeles) or head to Manhattan with the Rangers, if he decides to leave the Coyotes organization.
As a result, the Red Wings might begin to explore other trade options up front (i.e.
Ales Hemsky in Edmonton), similar to what it appears they might be doing to address the blueline. The problem lies with the fact Detroit already has 16 forwards under contract, not including the slim possibility of a
Tomas Holmstrom swan song. Only
Gustav Nyquist or
Damien Brunner are eligible to be sent to Grand Rapids without having to clear waivers. However, based on what we have seen of Nyquist and the way Mike Babcock has raved about Brunner, it seems unlikely both players will be in Grand Rapids, unless a top-six forward is brought into the fold.
The month of July did end on an interesting note for the Red Wings with the
signing of their top 2012 draft pick, winger
Martin Frk to a 3-year entry-level contract.
The Wings
anticipate Frk playing for the Halifax Mooseheads this upcoming season before turning pro with the Grand Rapids Griffins during the 2013-2014 season. However, between the likes of Frk,
Tomas Tatar,
Tomas Jurco and
Teemu Pulkkinen, perhaps the Red Wings will find their top-six forward in-house sooner than the Wings brass expects.
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