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Jared McIsaac headed overseas, and we started to look at the reality of next year’s budgets last time. Things are picking up steam as more players seem to be assigned almost daily across the NHL to a European team. Michael Rasmussen is no exception.
Mlive reports that Rasmussen is the 8th player the Red Wings have suiting up overseas. (Zadina, Hronek, Seider, Brome, McIsaac, Lindstrom and Larsson are the others). In some ways, Ras, is the most interesting for me. Until McIsaac, the other players that were set up are playing in or near their European home. Made total sense. With the AHL being uncertain, McIsaac needs ice minutes to get his groove back. He’s the only player expected to complete the season with his new team. The reason Rasmussen is so interesting is that he is a “make or break” this season (more or less) and in general, Yzerman has held on to North American skaters up to this point. Rasmussen’s injury history makes this both necessary as well as cautionary. **updated - same team as Marco Rossi. See above, Yzerman has spoken three times to Rossi. Generating chemistry with those two? It seems very possible...discuss
Zadina is out for a month with an upper body injury. Not tragic because he is expected to be healthy for the Wings camp (whenever that starts). An injury for Rasmussen feels like it would be a much more serious issue. The Austrian league isn’t a traditional destination, but Yzerman has scouted so much of the European circuit that he must be confident in the opportunity. It’s an important time for the 2017 first rounder. Detroit still wants him at center (3rd line projected) and he needs to get reps. Austria must be the destination that has the right opportunity for that.
The Fourth Period is reporting that Mantha and Yzerman are getting down to brass tacks. This is the first major re signing we’re hearing about since Fabbri, and it seems clear that Yzerman has the information he needs to try and move forward. My gut has said he will sign for around Larkin’s 6 million. There certainly seemed to be discussion of his eclipsing 7, but the new league realities are starting to set in. Mantha, at this point, has the best shot on the team. Wrist, short slap shot, even in tight the big man has got the goods. Injuries, again, have kept us from seeing what a full season could bring. I’ve thought that, if healthy, he could hit 40 goals. The look of the team is better when he’s on the ice.
Assuming that he will sign, I assume Bertuzzi will be the next in line. Probably for slightly less than Larkin. Bertuzzi shows up, day in and day out. He does everything he’s asked to do. This is a player that brings a lot of different looks to the table. At this point, Detroit has 11 “NHL” contracts with about 46 million against the cap. 9 players (per cap friendly) are listed as non roster, but could easily be in the mix. Veleno, Brome, Zadina, Rasmussen, Svechnikov, Smith, Seider, Cholowski, Hronek. Every one of those deals is sub 1 million at that point. in reality, the Wings have 20 that could start, and are still under the floor. We need a goalie. Erne, Timashov, Perlini and Ehn are all RFAs looking for new deals. Hirose and Turgeon are as well (listed as non roster). Assuming Mantha and Bertuzzi each get around 6, there is still a lot of cap room to play with. Here’s hoping we use it wisely.
Putting the team on the ice with the names listed could lead to another very uncomfortable year. I think that is almost inevitable. Rumors that Detroit wants to make an offer to Markstrom if he hits the market have started trickling. The Krug dialogue won’t go away until he re signs with Boston or goes somewhere else. Is there a player you’d be willing to spend significant money on in free agency? Let me know your thoughts.
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