Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman met with the media today (video link ) to discuss his team heading into the draft and upcoming free agency period. The biggest item on their to-do list this summer is getting new deals in place for pending restricted free agents Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond . While Yzerman was hoping to have deals in place early for those two, it doesn’t appear that will be the case. If Detroit wants to sign both players long-term, that could take up more than half of their $29.3MM of cap space (per CapFriendly ) which would play a big role in their offseason spending. With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a fair bit of that money go unspent on July 1st, leaving themselves options to lock up their two key pieces.
More from Detroit:
- Yzerman confirmed that center Dylan Larkin had minor surgery for an upper-body injury sustained late in the season that kept him out of playing at the Worlds. At the moment, he hasn’t been cleared to skate although he has been training. Larkin, who averaged over a point per game this season for the first time, is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for training camp in the fall.
- The Red Wings have a deep back end on paper in terms of having plenty of veterans plus some prospects on the cusp of being NHL-ready. While Yzerman indicated that he’d like to try to re-sign pending UFA Shayne Gostisbehere , he also acknowledged that he’s not sure about bringing back the same group of blueliners next season. With Simon Edvinsson appearing to be ready for a full-time role and Albert Johansson now waiver-eligible, it seems like one way or the other, they will have to subtract from their current group in the coming weeks.
- Yzerman noted that goaltender Ville Husso is fully healthy now while fellow netminder Alex Lyon will be ready for training camp after leaving the Worlds early last month. He stated that the team will look into the goalie market but that he isn’t looking to bring in an older netminder who won’t be around in a few years, nor does he want to carry three goalies on the NHL roster full-time next season. Speculatively, that suggests they’ll likely be primarily looking for a playing partner for prospect Sebastian Cossa who should see the bulk of the playing time with AHL Grand Rapids once again in 2024-25.