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Update - Detroit signed Tyler Motte to a 1 yr 800k deal
Yesterday’s opening gambit into free agency continued what has felt like a good deal of “reshaping” throughout the league. Big names seemed to have deals ready to go from the start and it felt like Nashville made a massive splash while Tampa Bay made a tough decision in looking for another run at the cup. For Detroit, things were oddly mixed.
The win - bringing Kane back felt like a bit of fresh air. What felt like an impossibility back in April became reality in the form of a 1 yr 4m deal (up to 2.5 in bonuses). There had been some hope in the comments section in regard to bringing Fischer back and the depth forward came in at just over 1mm.
Gone - Gostisbehere is in Carolina at 3.2m x 3 and Perron went to Ottawa for 4m x 2. There was some lament in the comments regarding Gostisbehere, but the deal for Perron wouldn’t have gone over well for some of the blog regulars. Sprong still remains out and about, and at this point there hasn’t been a lot of chatter about the right shot winger. To be honest, I’d hoped he would slot in for Perron on the power play and re sign with Detroit. We’ll see what happens.
Depth D and a lot of goalies:
Talbot seems to be “the veteran” that Detroit was looking for. After touching base with a source who usually has stabilizing insight, it seems that Campbell may likely be waiver bound to GR. There was some back and forth about Husso and that remains a wild card in terms of health, and even a potential trip to Grand Rapids depending on how things shake out. Lyon was a welcome surprise after Husso was shelved with injury, and in a personal opinion should be the presumed starter unless someone else steps up and takes the job.
The defense is the “lego bin” of the day and the team. To elaborate, in a house with 4 boys the “lego kits” we would get eventually found themselves disassembled and mixed. Pieces of castles mixed with space sets etc. The defense feels a bit like that. Seider is the #1 working on his new deal. Edvinsson looked good and Johansson is out of waiver options. Added to the mix were Gustaffson and Lageson at 2 x 2m and 1 x 775k. They join the group of Chiarot, (2 more yrs @ 4.75m) Holl (2 more yrs @ 3.4m) Maata and Petry (1 more year at 3m and 2,343,750 respectively).
Walman was jettisoned along with a 2nd attained from Nashville in a head scratcher. There hasn’t been much of any insight I can relay on this one. Not a freak out, just hard to make sense of it. The rumored “negotiations” regarding Trouba seem to have either gone stealth or gone away. The thought remains that some sort of negotiation could be in process that makes some sense of this. The status of Berggren has been bandied about. Seider, Raymond, Veleno and Berggren all need new deals. Two of them are expected to have a significant rise in pay. The alternative to the possibility of deals being made is, well, the lego bin.
Trying to pull the news concerning Detroit out of the July 1st frenzy was a bit like playing outfield in a T ball league. Very few things come your way. There is a summer ahead and business to be conducted. During all of this Detroit is conducting a prospect’s camp which will have some 3 on 3 play later in the week. The whirlwind of activity before, during, and after the draft seems to be unequaled in recent memory.
There is a desire to slap a grade or rating on everything right now and let the summer progress. To wit, at least in the comments, there wasn’t a great deal of enthusiasm about the draft and apart from Kane, less for the opening of free agent frenzy. If the end result of the summer is essentially what we see before us with the completed deals of Raymond and Seider, there is a bit of lackluster reception amongst the faithful in this blogosphere. My only “grade” would be “incomplete”. There are meetings happening for in house business and I still believe at least conversations with potential outside deals. There is not any guarantee that the summer’s end will see a scenario that significantly alters the current outlook. In the GM game of high stakes poker, it feels like there are still a few more buys in store before somebody wins or somebody folds.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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