Red Wings Offseason 2025

[buddha]

13 minutes ago, slothfacekilla said:

I personally wanted Wallinder to step up in his bigger role in Grand Rapids last season, but he never really seemed to.  He's a tall, toolsy guy that we're still waiting on to put it all together.  He also seems kinda soft.  I thought what little I saw of Buium live last season, he seemed pretty solid as a second pairing guy for GR, but did seem to make some mistakes in his own zone/neutral zone.  Buium is probably the "closest" to the NHL of the three GR defense from last season in my mind, but Wallinder has a higher ceiling if everything clicks.

It's a shame Anton Johansson went back to play for his dad's team in Sweden because he seemed to do pretty well in his short Griffins stint last season.

johannson is the one getting the most buzz.  wallinder and buium already passed by him and likely asp.

tuomisto will likely be back in europe or in the ahl for a while.  i guess if you just need size...

[lordstanley]

1 hour ago, Shinzaki said:

RIP Alex Delvecchio...

Alex was a bit before my time. Didn’t realize he put up 71 pts in 73 games in 1973 at the age of 42. That was his last full season, he played 11 games in 1974

[gehringer_2]

2 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

Alex was a bit before my time. Didn’t realize he put up 71 pts in 73 games in 1973 at the age of 42. That was his last full season, he played 11 games in 1974

Alex was solid. Did everything for the Wings except wash the dishes over the years, and maybe even that.

[Jason_R]

I didn't realize he was the captain of the Wings for 12 years. His peers must have thought an awful lot of him for him to have been named captain of a team that included Gordie Howe.

RIP.

[lordstanley]

2 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

I didn't realize he was the captain of the Wings for 12 years. His peers must have thought an awful lot of him for him to have been named captain of a team that included Gordie Howe.

RIP.

He was my grandpa's favourite player. I remember him saying Delvecchio always seemed to conduct himself with class. My grandpa liked Howe too but thought he was a bit dirty.

[1984Echoes]

4 hours ago, Shinzaki said:

JBD was a 1st rd pick in 2018 and has played almost 150 games in the NHL.  Tuomisto was drafted only one year later and has played two years in the AHL without getting a look at the big club

aaah...

You are correct....

I looked at one of his years and "saw" AHL when it was actually an NHL season...

Reading too fast or something, something... excuses.

But I would say this. I'm still not that impressed with JBD and I actually don't mean that in a bad way. On the positive side... he looks like he has been a 3rd pairing RHD. Which looks like a buyout of Holl... to me. We'll see if that happens... If it does, I'll look at that as a good thing in taking off 10 years from our 3rd pair RHD. And I'll gladly take him as a 3rd pair D, or even a 4th on the bench guy if he loses out to anyone else. Even Mitchell or Albert. I know Albert's a lefty but they played him on his opposite side for a reason... his play really grew on the team. I could see Albert quite a lot dressed as a 7th D so he can swing up and down the pairings as needed, or even as a forward. Just guessing... but I think he gets cross-trained this year. 

I don't see higher upside than that for JBD though, which is where the "unimpressed" comment comes from...

Unless he pulls a "Walman" surprise and shows more upside than anyone expects. But KUDOS to Yzerman and whomever in his front office sussed out these two guys... cheap "give them a chance" guys who we could hope surprise on the upside. 

It does offer several options in trying to find that 2nd pair RHD to match up with Edvinsson.

JBD is in the mix... although I don't think he has a chance there... unless he pulls that "Walman" shocker.

Mitchell has less NHL time... but toss his hat in the mix anyways.

Do they keep Holl at least through training camp to see if he's still needed?

Or do they decide to move on and just fall back to Albert?

This is what I won't change on what I said though: The team has expectations on Tuomisto. Everyone else can downplay his chances... but they gave him a two-way. For a reason. Obviously, they see things differently than as stated here on this forum. "back in Europe"? Seriously buddha? You may even be right... but they're going to give him chances, they're going to push him/ coach him/ and...

We'll see what happens.

It looks like everyone's assessment is that he doesn't belong in the NHL.

So... we'll see...

[buddha]

yes 84, just because he was drafted by your favorite team doesnt mean he's going to work out.  🙂

he's likely an ahl player who comes up during an injury crisis for someone.  if he was anything more than that, he would have shown it already.  he's almost 25 now and this will be his 3rd season in grand rapids.  

i hope he proves me wrong.  he could make the team out of camp.  he's big enough to play in the nhl for sure.  but from everything i read, the prospects people talk about on defense are wallinder, buium, and asp.  with asp being the only one people talk about as a future top 4 guy.  the rest are bottom pair at best.

but i dont know, thats what other people say.  and honestly, that's what most second round picks end up being.  it would be a shame is NONE of yzerman's top of the round second rounders developed into something more than that.  especially considering who some of them were taken in front of.

i still have hopes for wallinder and buium, but not a ton of hope...

[slothfacekilla]

12 hours ago, buddha said:

just because he was drafted by your favorite team doesnt mean he's going to work out.  🙂

 

Wait....this can't be true

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I spent years criticizing Kenny for making bad, desperation, panic moves in the offseason. Signing guys just to continue a playoff streak, refusing to infuse the roster with younger talent, and refusing to rebuild. Holland wanted to stay relevant for the sake of staying relevant it felt like. Thus, he created a team with no clear plan for the future and a roster incapable of actually winning a Stanley Cup.

So if Yzerman doesn't go out this season and make any ridiculous moves out of panic or desperation, I cannot rightly criticize him in that regard. I can't criticize him if he doesn't actually sign guys to bad, cap crippling contracts just to try and make the playoffs next year. If he is going to infuse this roster with younger talent and give young guys like ASP, Cossa, Danielson, Mazur a shot on the main roster, I'm happy with that. So props to Yzerman for not going out and blowing the bank and ruining our cap flexibility by massively overpaying for average to above average players as Holland would do just to attempt to stay relevant.

Where I can continue to criticize Yzerman though is the poor pro-side scouting and personnel moves he has made over the years and the contracts he's now having to try and unload. People will be rightly happy if he buys out Holl, in addition to having shipped off Tarasenko. Those moves are nice and all, but wouldn't have had to been made if he didn't bring the guys in to the Wings in the first place. There are also all the other poor, pro-side transactions that he has made that haven't worked out or have underwhelmed at best. Chiarot, Compher, Copp, Gustafsson, Husso, Petry, Reimer.

He's also been on the friends and family plan when it comes to who he has employed in his player personnel department in the front office. In particular, when it comes to pro-side scouting with guys like Draper, Horcroff, and others. He hasn't been willing to admit mistakes there are reorganize his front office much from a pro scouting perspective it doesn't seem like. There is criticism to be had there too.

But all and all, while I feel disappointed we haven't yet landed a big fish and someone who can be a top contributor to elevate this roster, I can't be mad at what's been done so far. I am hoping there is another piece to the puzzle coming here from Yzerman in getting a solid, NHL-ready talent. 

[Shinzaki]

They can no longer buy out Holl. Deadline for that was June 30th

You might be able to get a Brent Burns...he's 40, but he still logged 20 minutes a night for a good Carolina team.  I imagine he'd like to go somewhere with a chance to win the cup...but...why not try?

[slothfacekilla]

34 minutes ago, Shinzaki said:

They can no longer buy out Holl. Deadline for that was June 30th

You might be able to get a Brent Burns...he's 40, but he still logged 20 minutes a night for a good Carolina team.  I imagine he'd like to go somewhere with a chance to win the cup...but...why not try?

For Holl, I think you might as well bury him in the minors to get him completely off the books after the upcoming season instead of stretching the cap hit to two seasons with a buyout.  The ~$2 million in savings on the cap this season for a buyout doesn't move the needle too much for me personally but I get why people just want him gone.

[Jason_R]

I do not buy the “poor pro side scouting” narrative. There was a roster with gaping holes but with no prospects to fill them for several years. Yzerman filled these holes with the players who were on the market at market rates (or slightly above) on medium-term FA contracts. These players have performed according to reasonable expectations, though fans may have wished these players turned into something they were not. 

Now that there is talent in the pipeline, he is not as interested in free agents and the ones he has signed have been for one year. 

[slothfacekilla]

Elmer signs for two years @ 1.125 per

[Mr.TaterSalad]

45 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

I do not buy the “poor pro side scouting” narrative. There was a roster with gaping holes but with no prospects to fill them for several years. Yzerman filled these holes with the players who were on the market at market rates (or slightly above) on medium-term FA contracts. These players have performed according to reasonable expectations, though fans may have wished these players turned into something they were not. 

Now that there is talent in the pipeline, he is not as interested in free agents and the ones he has signed have been for one year. 

Compher, Gustafsson, Holl, Husso, Petry, Reimer, and Tarasenko performed to reasonable expectations? I'd argue that they vastly underperformed and some of them barely even belong on an NHL roster. I'm amazed that the defending Stanley Cup Champs would even want Petry on their roster at this point in his career, but apparently they do.

[Shinzaki]

SY has 14 million in cap space and..numerically..a full roster.  That's a lot of flexibility 

 

[slothfacekilla]

 

I guess they think he can help the PK?  His underlying numbers say he was probably the best/among the best of the pk-ers in Winnipeg's 13th ranked PK.  Truth be told I thought he looked bad last playoffs so that's stuck in my head.  Seems he's thought of as a solid third-fourth line guy around the league but I dunno.

[Shinzaki]

Statistically...he's a cheaper JT Compher  🙂

[Jason_R]

1 hour ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Compher, Gustafsson, Holl, Husso, Petry, Reimer, and Tarasenko performed to reasonable expectations? I'd argue that they vastly underperformed and some of them barely even belong on an NHL roster. I'm amazed that the defending Stanley Cup Champs would even want Petry on their roster at this point in his career, but apparently they do.

The market is the market. If a guy is on the market, it is because his former team didn’t want to pay him. 

It is not realistic to assume that you can sign a guy from a Stanley Cup contender like Tarasenko or Compher, put him on a roster full of holes, and expect the same results. 

It would have been great to get Gostisbehere back but he got to go play for a contender. It’s not like they had dozens of fallback options to choose from other than Gustafsson. And goalies are like place kickers  if you don’t have a stud, you cycle them until they wear out their welcome. So Yzerman got one via trade and we find out he had been trying to get his guy for over a year. 

The market is the market. Guys are there because their teams think they can find someone to do as good or better for cheaper. It probably killed Yzerman to hand out five year contracts over the past few years but he knew his roster of homegrown players wouldn’t take shape until 2026-27 at the earliest. The one year deals he is handing out now support this. Fans don’t like to wait but it is the right thing to do. 

[buddha]

what we dont know is what guys the wings pursued who just didnt want to come here.  

the capitals were in a similar position to detroit in the standings two years ago, made a lot of moves that some people thought were crazy given their supposed mushy middle team, and then finished as a top seed.  the canadiens made the playoffs for god's sake.

a lot of players the caps signed were players the wings could have used.  we dont know if they were interested and told no.  

but its hard to argue that their pro scouting has been good for the past two years.  perron?  good.  waldman?  good.  copp?  overpaid but ok.  chairot?  overpaid but ok.

tarasenko?  gustafson?  holl?

come on.  dont tell me they were all the market would give.  they were terrible last year and probably cost them a playoff run.

i'm much more sypathetic to the argument that stevie inherited garbage and it take 10 years to do a real rebuild of an entire organization.  he started in 2019.

he hasnt saddled the organization with any really back breaking deals.  his best players are BARGAINS right now.  and the team is still set up to have resources when seider/raymond hit their primes.  that should start in 2 years.

dont make panic deals so tater is happy we won the offseason but saddles you with stamkos or marssesault or provorov for the next 6 years.

i wanted them to go big this offseason.  but the only real big name was marner and he wasnt coming here.  im ok skipping spending big money on 6 years of marchand's decline or ekblad's ped suspensions.

(now watch him ruin this by signing ehlers for huge money)

im ok with how this offseason has gone but i do want to see some youth in the lineup.  hopefully danielson or wallinder or buium or mazur or lombardi can force their way onto the team next year.

[lordstanley]

I had never heard of Appleton so I have nothing to add.

[Jason_R]

We might learn something about their pro scouting if they end up trading Larkin for a young NHL player or two and some high end prospects. 

[buddha]

38 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

We might learn something about their pro scouting if they end up trading Larkin for a young NHL player or two and some high end prospects. 

that was one big question for yzerman that still hasnt been answered: should he have dealt larkin to help the rebuild?

i still lean toward no considering his deal is now very affordable.

[lordstanley]

 

[Shinzaki]

I think any meaningful upgrade is going to have to come from a rebuilding team look for draft picks and or/a salary dump.

It would be awesome if Kyle Connor would tell the Jets he's not signing no matter what and he wants to come back to SE Michigan...beyond that..maybe Nashville would like to get out from under that Stamkos contract.  

[Jason_R]

19 hours ago, buddha said:

that was one big question for yzerman that still hasnt been answered: should he have dealt larkin to help the rebuild?

i still lean toward no considering his deal is now very affordable.

From the summary of the presser that lord Stanley posted:

“With guys in their prime how does it shape the plan. Yzerman jokes that Marchand at 37 signed a 6 year deal so he assumes he has around another 15 years on Dylan.”

Seems like they’ve made up.