Ken Holland and the Detroit Red Wings returned to the forefront of the league's free agency frenzy on Friday by addressing their needs for additional scoring help by acquiring
RW Daniel Alfredsson and
C Stephen Weiss. In addition to the expected promotion of Calder Cup Most Valuable Player
Tomas Tatar to Detroit this fall on a full-time basis, it appears that trio will offset the losses of
Valtteri Filppula (signed by Tampa Bay), along with unsigned UFA's,
Damien Brunner and
Daniel Cleary.
Needless to say, the surprise signing of the 40 year-old Alfredsson opened up Friday afternoon's festivities. With many pundits expecting him to remain with Ottawa and conclude his lengthy career with the Senators, Alfredsson made what he called a "selfish decision" to leave Ottawa and join a team he feels matches his style of play and affords him an improved opportunity to win the Stanley Cup.
Given the tense comments provided by
Bryan Murray today in his press conference, involving the timeline of his discussions with Alfredsson's "people" prior to today's stunning departure, certainly will add significant "juice" to this new divisional rivalry between the Red Wings and Senators.
By joining the Red Wings with a cap hit of $3.5 million for this season (with potential bonuses of up to $2 million which would count against the 2014-15 salary cap), Alfredsson does provide a mix of scoring and veteran leadership to this club. That being said, the Red Wings interest in making this move likely elevated once they got the sense re-signing UFA
Damien Brunner was not going to be as simple as they would have liked.
After turning down multi-year offers from the Red Wings, Detroit moved elsewhere to find a veteran, short-term replacement, with a burning desire to win a Stanley Cup prior to calling it a career. As disappointing as it might be to lose out on the services of a younger player like Brunner (27 years old), "Alfie" should be reinvigorated joining the likes of Zetterberg, Franzen and Datsyuk. The use of a short-term replacement also leaves the door open for the growth of younger players into expanded roles in the future within the club's top six forward group.
Although the signing of Alfredsson may have been the most unexpected signing early in the day, the Red Wings remain focused on their primary free agent target in
Stephen Weiss. Just prior to it being announced that former Red Wing
Valtteri Filppula would be "moving his talents" to Tampa Bay to play for Steve Yzerman and the Lightning, the Red Wings were able to beat out the St. Louis Blues for the services of Weiss to effectively replace Filppula.
The acquisition of the 30 year-old Weiss to become Detroit's 2nd line center provides Mike Babcock with a plethora of options up front, namely being able to more frequently have
Pavel Datsyuk and
Henrik Zetterberg play on the same line. All too often, the drop-off in offense was too significant when Filppula played the role of the team's second line center. In Weiss, Detroit obtains a player they believe is better offensively then Filppula, while also being able to play a strong "200-foot game".
The contract was within reason (considering the usual overpayments found annually on this day) at a cap hit of $4.9 million over five seasons. In all likelihood, Weiss will find himself playing alongside more skill than he was accustomed to playing beside in Florida, although he was still able to garner an average of 57 points over his past four full seasons in South Florida.
So all in all, most Red Wing observers were rather content with the management group's work on this day. However, their work is far from over. When examining Detroit's cap situation, they sit approximately $2.3 million under the cap with 22 players signed and three important RFA's still needing to be signed in forwards
Gustav Nyquist,
Joakim Andersson and rearguard
Brendan Smith. The expectation is that all three of those players will be signed by Detroit, meaning Holland & Co. will need to shed some bodies in order to get down under the $64.3 million salary cap by the beginning of training camp.
As surprising as it may seem, there is still the possibility that UFA
Daniel Cleary could return as well, despite the seemingly crowded situation up front with the forwards. It's been reported Detroit has surprisingly offered the 35-year old Cleary a three-year contract with an annual cap hit of $2.5 million. Apparently
Jim Nill and the Dallas Stars are offering more money and Cleary is mulling over the offers. Without question, the players up front that Holland will be looking to move may include:
Mikael Samuelsson,
Jordin Tootoo,
Cory Emmerton and possibly
Patrick Eaves.
Where does
Todd Bertuzzi and his $2.075 million cap hit fit into the equation with the arrival of more forwards, in addition to the incoming young talent such as Tatar? Are Samuelsson or Bertuzzi somehow placed on Long Term Injury Reserve? It should be noted, the Red Wings cannot take advantage of their financial strength and "bury" contracts such as Samuelsson in the minors in order to become cap compliant.
Can some of these forwards be moved to other teams for prospects/draft picks? If not, will they get claimed if placed on waivers? You would have to think many of them would get claimed, although with the declining cap this season, it may be more difficult than usual for some teams. No matter how many forwards remain once camp opens in September, competition for spots in the bottom six group of forwards will likely be fierce all season long.
Nevertheless, it's apparent Holland isn't done and another move might take place via the trade market. In all likelihood, that market should heat up in about a week's time once most of the free agents have decided where they will play their hockey this upcoming season. With the addition of Alfredsson to the fold, it begs to ask the question as to whether the rumors of Swedish rearguard
Alex Edler heading to Detroit via trade remains a possibility.
Another option is moving defenseman
Kyle Quincey and his $3.75 million contract to provide the Red Wings with greater cap flexibility.
No matter what the circumstance, it is fair to say the Red Wings have gotten off to a strong start in re-shaping this team and providing it with a stronger look as a contender for the Stanley Cup. Despite the apparent youth movement within the team, the addition of Alfredsson elevates the urgency of this group to win now. The next two months may exhibit even more moves to highlight this thinking.
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