The have been one of the ’s most active teams the last two offseasons, becoming a major player in both free agency and the trade market as they looked to spark some life in their rebuild.
A tight salary cap situation may mean they’re a little less bold this summer than they were the last two — which have thus far brought mixed results. But after coming up a tie-breaker short of the playoffs, and with their postseason drought now at eight years, there will be some pressure on general manager Steve Yzerman to help his team take the next step.
Who could fit? And how much space are the Red Wing working with to make those upgrades? Let’s dive in.
Right now, CapFriendly lists the Red Wings as having 13 players under contract for next season at a total cap hit of just over $57 million. Realistically, that number is more like 15 or 16, when factoring in Simon Edvinsson (a lineup lock) as well as Albert Johansson and Jonatan Berggren, both of whom will lose waiver-exempt status next season, and for whom general manager Yzerman has said the team will “have to make room.”
Berggren and Johansson are restricted free agents, so their cap hit for next season is unclear — in addition to the fact Berggren has the potential to be a trade candidate — but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll say for now that the Red Wings have about $58.8 million committed to 15 roster players next season. That leaves eight spots to fill, and about $28.9 million to do so.
trade candidate, but let’s just say for the time being that the Red Wings have committed roughly $58.8 million to 15 players on their roster for the upcoming season. That left around $28.9 million to fill the remaining eight seats.
After taking into consideration the extensions given to two young cornerstones who are both due for their second contracts this summer—Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond—that number drops considerably. The length of those contracts will have a significant impact on the Red Wings’ available space as well as the extent to which they can look for trades or free agency. For the two of them, a reasonable ballpark range of $13 million to $17 million is probably appropriate. That would leave Detroit’s cap room at approximately $11.9 million.
Leave a Reply