{"id":51023,"date":"2019-07-06T15:46:40","date_gmt":"2019-07-06T19:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=51023"},"modified":"2019-07-06T15:46:40","modified_gmt":"2019-07-06T19:46:40","slug":"red-wings-free-agency-quiet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/07\/06\/red-wings-free-agency-quiet\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Red Wings Free Agency Quiet So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a week into the Detroit Red Wings<\/a> free agency period and new general manager Steve Yzerman<\/a> has been patient. The team made three pickups in the off-season, but there hasn\u2019t been a big signing. Yzerman hasn\u2019t made a deal just to land a big name and he\u2019s going to be patient.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wings reached deals with Valtteri Filppula<\/a>, Patrik Nemeth<\/a><\/strong> and Calvin Pickard<\/a><\/strong> on July 1. All three contracts were for two years.<\/p>\n

Detroit is in the tough Atlantic Division and must deal with the Boston Bruins<\/a>, Toronto Maple\u00a0 Leafs\u00a0<\/a><\/span>and Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>. However, the Florida Panthers<\/a> made some big upgrades and the Buffalo Sabres <\/a><\/span>made a couple of key signings<\/a>. The Montreal Canadiens<\/a> are willing to throw out an offer sheet<\/a> to make their team better.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It looks Yzerman is going to trust the younger players for now, but there were some signings. Here\u2019s a look at them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Detroit Red Wings Free Agency<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

Valtteri Filppula<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s a homecoming for the forward who played in Detroit from 2005-13 and was a Stanley Cup winner in 2008. The Vantaa, Finland native has been with the Lightning<\/span>,<\/span> Philadelphia Flyers <\/span><\/a>and the New York Islanders<\/a> since then. Filppula<\/span> is 35 will likely fill the role of veteran leader.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He comes cheap at $3 million for each of the next two seasons and scored 17 goals last season with the Isles. The Red Wings had trouble scoring with the bottom-six of the lineup and he could give them a few goals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Filppula<\/span> can help along forwards like Andreas Athanasiou<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, Taro Hirose<\/a> <\/strong>and others along in their development. The Finn can play with any forward in the lineup and be a productive winger.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Patrik Nemeth<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

One of the Red Wings\u2019 problems was <\/span>defence<\/span> and the bruising blueliner can help with that. The Swede is a stay-at-home defender that likes to throw his weight around. He\u2019s a battler that nearly lost his arm in the 2014-15 season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Detroit\u2019s backend is filled with older players and younger prospects needing time to develop. Nemeth isn\u2019t flashy and <\/span>blocks a ton of shots as he had 185<\/span><\/a> in 2017-18. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s only 27 and he has played for the Dallas Stars<\/a> and the Colorado Avalanche<\/a>. The Stockholm native can also drop the gloves and stick up for teammates. He won\u2019t fill the stat sheet, but he adds defensive depth.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Calvin Pickard<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The 27-year-old has bounced around from the Avalanche, Flyers, Maple <\/span>Leafs<\/span> and Arizona Coyotes<\/a>. He went 4-6-2 in 17 appearances and had a save percentage of .875.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He will have a chance to compete with Jonathan Bernier<\/a> <\/strong>for the backup job. Bernier struggled last season and that put a lot of onus on Jimmy Howard<\/a> <\/strong>to eat lots of minutes. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pickard may end up in AHL Grand Rapids and share time with Fillip Larsson in net for the Griffins. The Moncton, New Brunswick native has plenty of AHL experience and comes cheap at $700,000. Detroit qualified <\/span>Patrik<\/span> Rybar<\/span>, but <\/span>he signed with <\/span>Karpat<\/span><\/a> of SM-<\/span>Liiga<\/span> in Finland.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who\u2019s Out<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Martin Frk<\/strong><\/a> signed with the Los Angeles Kings<\/a> and Luke Witkowski<\/a><\/strong> went to the Lightning. Zachary Gallant<\/strong> inked a one-year deal with the San Jose Sharks<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All three players were depth-signings, although there was some desire to keep Witkowski. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What it Means for the Future<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Yzerman could still make a signing as Detroit has almost $5.3 million left in cap space. They could add a cheap veteran or two to compete for a roster spot, but it looks like the Red Wings are going to let their young players play.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Detroit didn\u2019t make a big splash because it\u2019s going to wait and see what the young players. However, these three signings are solid depth moves.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main photo:<\/p>\n

\"\"OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 07: New York Islanders Center Valtteri Filppula (51) keeps eyes on the play during first period National Hockey League action between the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators on March 7, 2019, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a week into the Detroit Red Wings free agency period and new general manager Steve Yzerman has been patient. The team made three pickups in the off-season, but there hasn\u2019t been a big signing. Yzerman hasn\u2019t made a deal just to land a big name and he\u2019s going to be patient.\u00a0 The Wings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":43929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[678,1199,95,662,1934,399,1314],"class_list":["post-51023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-redwings","category-featured","tag-andreas-athanasiou","tag-calvin-pickard","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-nhl-free-agency","tag-patrik-nemeth","tag-steve-yzerman","tag-valtteri-filppula"],"modified_by":"Oscar Elieff","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}