The Wings are in a somewhat unfamiliar position going into free agency this off-season which is they have money to spend.
They also have some needs on defense, at backup goaltender and another goal scorer.
Defense takes precedent over the other two positions since the team saw the retirement of Brian Rafalski and only have 4 NHL ready defenseman signed on for next year (Kronwall, Lidstrom, Stuart and Kindl). The team is expected to give Brendan Smith a shot however that doesn’t mean the Wings won’t be looking to make a signing for a defensemen during free agency.
Are the Wings going to be looking to break the bank with their available money this off-season though?
If you ask John Niyo of the Detroit News, his answer would be no. Given the relatively shallow pool of unrestricted free agent defensemen this off-season he believes the Wings would be better served making modest moves this off-season on a defenseman and it’s something he fully expects them to do.
Problem is, with all that money to spend — a rarity for the Red Wings in the post-lockout era — the menu isn’t all that appetizing. And I think that’s why Red Wings fans may need to exercise a little patience as Holland & Co. stay in pursuit of another Stanley Cup.
Because the way I see it, Holland had two choices: He could go out and overpay for good-but-hardly-great talent now — think Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva on skates — or he could wait to spend it on furniture that’ll look a lot nicer for a lot longer.
Think Nashville’s Ryan Suter, who’ll be unrestricted next summer. Or Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry the summer after that. And don’t write off arbitration-bound players like New Jersey’s Zach Parise and Nashville’s Shea Weber who could hit the market in 2012 or ’13.
With all that said, who could the Wings target on defense? Canton, Michigan native James Wisniewski could be out there if he isn’t signed by Columbus after having his rights traded to them by Montreal. Christian Ehrhoff may also be available to them after having his rights traded twice by Vancouver then the New York Islanders. His rights are now owned by Buffalo who will try to get him signed before free agency starts in the NHL on Friday at noon ET. The trouble with Ehrhoff is he could be pretty expensive after turning down a 10 year contract worth big money with the Islanders. Granted in was with the Islanders but you can still expect a big money contract for Ehrhoff if you’re looking to sign him. Niyo believes that the Wings may go with Jonathan Ericsson and then sign 35 year old veteran Ed Jovanovski given that he could be the cheaper of the bunch and will enable them to sign him short term free up money next year to go after the bigger name free agents.
Patience seems to be the key right now in terms of free agency for the Wings and fans need to once again put their trust in Ken Holland. He doesn’t have a track record of letting the fans down and I fully expect him to make the right moves this off-season.
Source: Detroit News
