Agreed.
Jake Walman 1G 7A 8Pts, 28 years old, $3.4mm/yr through 2026
Shayne Gostisbehere 4G 3A 7Pts, 31 years, $3.2mm/yr through 2027
I know Walman and Gostisbehere are both flawed players. Ghost's defense and Walman's apparent "issues, whether character or otherwise. But they both bring something to the table. And under $3.5mm each, neither too long of term, is pretty cheap for contributing defensemen like that. You're not going to get top pairing d-men at that price.
Instead the Wings have Chiarot at $4.75mm/yr through 2026, Gustaffson at $2mm/yr through 2026, and Holl at $3.4mm/yr through 2026.
This is how Yzerman was quoted in July 2022 upon signing Chiarot.
https://www.nhl.com/news/ben-chiarot-signs-four-year-contract-with-detroit-red-wings-334796422
"With several expiring contracts we had roster spots open, available, needs to be addressed and we felt we addressed positionally some needs," general manager Steve Yzerman said Thursday. "We needed simply to add players to fill out a roster, but addressed some needs, an important need at center with Andrew Copp, a right-hand shot forward in David Perron and kind of a pleasant surprise in what we consider a scoring winger in Dominik Kubalik, adding some defensemen we think we will help us on our special teams, in particular our penalty killing, and defensively 5-on-5 as well. These are all areas we talked about in the spring, areas we needed to improve upon. With some of our contracts expiring and holes in our roster, we were in a position to bring in new faces and players we think address some of these needs."
So much mid. Money was burning a hole in his pocket. Is it that much different to Holland signing Nielsen, Vanek, and Helm in 2016 after Datsyuk walked? At least Yzerman was able to move on from Perron and Kubalik.