The Detroit Red Wings have announced signing with the free agent defenceman Oliwer Kaski. Kaski signs a one-year entry-level contract in Detroit. Most recently, the Finnish defenceman has played with Team Finland at the IIHF World Championship, where Finland won the gold medal in a stunning fashion.
The #RedWings have signed Finnish ?? free agent defenceman Oliwer Kaski to a 1-year, entry-level contract fresh off helping #suomi to ? at #IIHFWorlds.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) 28. mája 2019
Oliwer Kaski Inks One-Year Deal With Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings sign Oliwer Kaski to a one-year entry-level contract. Kaski has never been drafted by any NHL team. In the 2015-2016 season, Kaski tried to break through in North America playing with Western Michigan University at NCAA. In 31 games, Kaski collected 12 points. During the following season, he decided to come back to the Finnish League.
In the past season, Kaski skated in 59 games with the Pelicans in Liiga, where he combined for 19 goals and 32 assists for 51 points. That’s certainly very solid for a defenceman in a quality league like that one in Finland. Finland demonstrated its league’s qualities with surprising gold medals at the World Championship. At the tournament, which ended on Sunday, Kaski played in all 10 games collecting two assists. Finland had just four skaters with previous NHL experience. They won the World Championship, defeating Canada in the Final.
What Does This Mean For The Future
The Detroit Red Wings will continue their rebuilding process. Adding a very talented player and steady skater in Oliwer Kaski will provide some help. The 23-year-old right-handed blueliner should get a few looks at the Red Wings defence in the next season. The Red Wings still mostly rely on their veteran guys on the back-end.
However, in the recently concluded campaign, Detroit gave the opportunity to some young defencemen like Dennis Cholowski or Filip Hronek. Hronek just shined with 11 points in 10 games at the IIHF Worlds with the Team Czech Republic. The Red Wings still need to solve the future of an unrestricted free agent in Niklas Kronwall. Otherwise, they are ready to give more chances to the skilled youngsters after General Manager Steve Yzerman took over.
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