Free Agent News

[WingNut722]

Here's the scoop so far:

-Red Wings sign Daniel Alfredsson for 1 year and $5.75MM.

-Negotiations still underway with Daniel Cleary and Damien Brunner. Brunner has stated he wants to stay in Detroit but I think he's curious about what other teams may offer him.

-Dan Cleary has reportedly been offered a larger contract with Dallas Stars, but no word yet on his decision.

Red wings had about $10.5MM to spend (before signing Alfredsson) and have yet to re-sign restricted free agents Nyquist, Andersson, and Smith.

Signing Brunner would just about clean out the Red Wings pocket for highlight players. If Brunner takes his time and decided to go elsewhere, the Wings would have missed the boat on other power forwards. Ribeiro's already gone, as is Nathan Horton. The Wings could still target Stephen Weiss, though, but they would be stretched thin and likely need to use their second buyout.

[WingNut722]

Unconfirmed reports that Stephen Weiss has also been picked up by Detroit. No word yet on details but if his most recent contract is anything to go buy, he's likely to bring in about $4.5MM per season. This will just about exhaust all of the Holland's pocket money for the season, unless the deal for Weiss is a multi-year contract where the bulk of the cap hit can be pushed back into the next several years.

This seems likely since Alfredsson is only under a one year contract.

Still no word from Cleary or Brunner. However, I tend to think both will go elsewhere. It seems that if both players were interested in staying, they would have signed already.

[WingNut722]

Update: 2:39 pm

Weiss deal confirmed. Five years at $24.5MM.

[jammer2]

@WingNut722 Really nice term and cap hit, Holland pulls it off again, guy is a money GM if I ever saw one. Really thought Grabo was the choice here, would have been a nice fit in Detroit....but they did very nice here.

[WingNut722]

@jammer2

It seems that Weiss may have been a key target all along. Grabo would have also been a good fit, but Weiss is a huge signing...5 years off the bat? This is a rarity with Ken Holland. There must really be something about Weiss for Holland to lock him up for that long on a first contract.

[jammer2]

@WingNut722 It is a rather long term for those that know how Holland conducts business. I think his hand was forced by other bids, it was an obvious hole in the line-up and if not Weiss, than they would have had to move forward with a player they thought less of.

[WingNut722]

Here's what the lines look like now:

Forwards:

Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Abdelkader

Franzen, Weiss, Alfredsson

Miller, Helm/Samuelsson, Eaves

Tootoo, Emmerton, Bertuzzi,

Defense:

Kronwall, Ericsson

Kindl, Smith

DeKeyser, Quincey

Goal:

Howard

Gustavsson

Wanna keep Brunner? Buy out Patrick Eaves. He pales in comparison, particularly given the two lines above him.

[jammer2]

@WingNut722 I think they are saving the other buy out for Franzen. He's basically on a one year try out, if he does not play and score with consistancy, the other buy out has Franzen written all over it. Because he is signed for so long, they have to keep that last buy out to make sure Franzen does not dog it.

[WingNut722]

I've considered that myself plenty of times. The other issue is with a team stacked lime the Red Wings are this season, Brunner could sign on just to be a part of a huge opportunity and not concern himself with a pay raise.

[WingNut722]

I've considered that myself plenty of times. The other issue is with a team stacked lime the Red Wings are this season, Brunner could sign on just to be a part of a huge opportunity and not concern himself with a pay raise.

[WingNut722]

Alfredsson and Weiss are locked up.

Filppula has been picked up by Tampa Bay for 5 years and $25MM, a big raise from what he was makings Detroit. And also, as Yave pointed out, replaced by Weiss for less money.

Still no word about Cleary and Brunner, either coming or going. With the signings for today though, it seems Ken Holland is ready for them to leave. Still, don't you think Brunner and/or Cleary would want to stay in Detroit for a real shot at a winner - sacrificing a pay raise for a cup raise?

[yave1964]

Cleary is a goner. He left his heart and the cartilage from his knee on the ice, I salute him but it was time.

Brunner? IDK, 10 goals in 19 games to start the year, followed by 3 in the final 29 games. With Weiss, Alfie Helm and the Griffin boys we really dont have room for him. I am not running him down but my God, I don't know if I ever saw a forward looking so lost on defense as he did at times last year. It was not that he did not hustle or try, he just seemed to never know where to be.

Now if we just sign Douglas Murray this will be he best offseason in memory.

[WingNut722]

Doug Murray would work but I think if we can get Brunner back and buy out/trade Eaves and Samuelsson, there will be room for him. Then The blue line is adequate. The Rd Wings become an offensive force like Chicago was last year

[SpikeDDS]

Can't buy out Sammy with the specials because he is injured, right? Letting to of Eaves to keep Our top scoring player in the playoffs? I think you do that if you can, yeah. If that's what it takes, yeah.