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Mike Green atop Wings' free agent wish list |
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The Detroit Red Wings admit to having put together a very short list when it comes to the NHL’s unrestricted free agent frenzy, which gets underway Wednesday.
At the top of that list is Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green.
“When you look at the free-agent market the defensemen that might upgrade us is a small amount,” Detroit general manager Ken Holland said. “On defense I’d love to get a top four defenseman.
“There’s not many top-four defensemen around and probably a number of teams in the bidding. I wish we had a right shot defenseman or two.”
Owner of the NHL record for the longest consecutive goal-scoring streak by a defenseman (eight games in 2008-09), Green’s numbers have dropped off in recent years as he’s dealt with injuries, but last season’s 45 points were his best output since his 76-point campaign of 2009-10.
Still, while his right-hand shot would fit well with what Detroit needs on the back end, Green played in Washington’s third pairing last season and is clearly a defensive liability, though he’d boost anyone’s power play.
He’ll be talking today, but Holland won’t break the bank to bring in a free-agent defenseman.
“I think our defense did a good job last year,” Holland said. “We think the kids (Alexey Marchenko, Xavier Ouellet, Nick Jensen) are ready.
“One of those spots is going to one of those kids.”
The Wings have about $56 million spoken for already for the 2015-16 season. That leaves approximately $15 million to spend, but some of that will be utilized to re-sign restricted free agents Landon Ferraro, Tomas Jurco, Teemu Pulkkinen and Gustav Nyquist.
Weiss Buyout
The Wings swallowed hard and admitted their mistake Tuesday, opting to buy out the remainder of center Stephen Weiss’ contract.
“We debated retaining him, given the (Pavel) Datsyuk (ankle) injury,” Holland said. “Over the last couple of days, we talked about it (as a staff).”
Though there wasn’t going to be cap issues this season, with the likes of forwards Justin Abdelkader, Riley Sheahan and Darren Helm, defenseman Danny DeKeyser and goalie Petr Mrazek all due for new contracts after the 2015-16 season, keeping Weiss on the books just didn’t make sense.
“At the end of the day, because of 2016 and the people we’ve got coming up - people we want to keep, a year from now this was going to be inevitable,” Holland said.
Signed two seasons ago to a five-year, $24.5-million deal as an unrestricted free agent, it just never clicked for Weiss in Detroit, much of it due to injury, but even last season, after a fast start once he returned from his ailments, Weiss quickly faded into the oblivion that is life as a healthy scratch.
He played just 78 games as a Wing, producing 11-18-29 totals.
Even minus Weiss, the Wings still have 14 forwards on the roster.
“We’re going with kids,” Holland said. “They’ve paid their dues in the American League and they keep getting better.
“We’re going to give younger players an opportunity to play.”
The terms of the buyout will cost the Wings two-thirds of the remaining money on Weiss’ deal (three years at $16 million) but that will be spread out over six seasons - $1.066 million in 2015-16 and 2016-17, $2.56 million in 2017-18 and $1.67 million each in 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Those amounts will also be the annual salary cap hit for the contract.
Smith Signs
One of the Detroit’s restricted free agents garnered a new contract Tuesday when defenseman Brendan Smith agreed to terms on a two-year, $5.5-million pact.
Smith, who spent some time in Mike Babcock’s doghouse, might find new coach Jeff Blashill to be a breath of fresh air.
“I think Jeff Blashill’s got an open mind in camp,” Holland said. “We know what Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, Danny DeKeyser and Kyle Quincey can do.
“Brendan Smith was an offensive player in college, had points in the American League as a rookie. (Jakub) Kindl’s been in and out of the lineup, but did well when he was in there.
“With a different coach, there’s new opportunity. Let’s see what some of these guys can do.”
Saarijrvi Picked
The Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds claimed Red Wings prospect Vili Saarijarvi with the ninth pick of Tuesday’s Canadian Hockey League import draft, but the likelihood of Saarijarvi playing North American junior hockey this season would appear remote.
Saarijarvi, selected 73rd overall by the Wings in Saturday’s NHL entry draft, explained at the draft that he’d already signed a contract for next season with Karpat Oulu of the Finnish League.
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