The Red Wings announced they’ve signed defenseman Ben Chiarot to a three-year extension worth $3.85MM per season. That’s a total value of $11.55MM for Chiarot, who was set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Chiarot could have tested the market as one of the top left-shot defensemen available in what looks to be a paper-thin class. It would have been his third trip through unrestricted free agency, previously landing a three-year, $10.5MM commitment from the Canadiens in 2019 and then his current four-year, $19MM contract with Detroit in 2022. He’s one of the last few Thrashers draft picks sticking around the league, selected in the fourth round by Atlanta in 2009 before eventually breaking into the league with the Jets after they relocated to Winnipeg.
While the Thrashers didn’t reap the rewards, it’s safe to say they’ve gotten great value out of a mid-round pick. He’s been a lineup staple for Winnipeg, Montreal, Florida, and Detroit since first emerging as a full-time option in the 2014-15 season, often serving as the complementary defensive-minded piece on a pairing with Dustin Byfuglien .
It wasn’t until signing in Montreal that he began to be viewed as a bona fide top-pair piece, though. He quickly averaged over 23 minutes per night for the Habs as his all-around usage expanded, and he ended up playing a significant role in their underdog run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. His surface numbers that season were uninspiring – just nine points and a -22 rating in 63 combined regular-season and playoff games – but the fact that he averaged over 25 minutes per game in the postseason and his physical brand of play ended up boosting his stock significantly around the league. He was valued highly enough to net Montreal a first-round pick when they flipped him to the Panthers as a rental at the following season’s trade deadline.
Since signing in Detroit, though, the shine has largely worn off. What were once passable, if not downright promising, under-the-hood numbers have faded. Chiarot has long struggled to produce good two-way results in what’s been a difficult possession environment in Detroit, controlling under 45% of shot attempts at even strength through the first three seasons of the deal. He quickly lost out on a top-pairing job alongside Moritz Seider to Jake Walman and, now, Simon Edvinsson , although he’s temporarily back up in top-pairing deployment with Edvinsson hurt.
Chiarot’s game has recovered to some degree this year. With a +1 rating and 11 points in 54 games, his on-ice results are the best they’ve been since signing with the Wings. That’s with him averaging 21:07 per game, third on the team behind Seider and Edvinsson, and he ranks second on the Wings in both blocks (113) and hits (109).
His possession numbers still leave much to be desired, though, and they can’t be explained by aggressive defensive zone deployment at even strength. In fact, Chiarot’s 51.9 dZS% is the second-most favorable number among Detroit defensemen behind rookie Axel Sandin Pellikka . Those two have formed Detroit’s second pairing for much of the year, controlling 45.9% of expected goals but still managing to outscore opponents 24-22, per MoneyPuck .
All that suggests Chiarot’s brief resurgence could be more mirage than longer-term promise. With that in mind, a three-year commitment seems aggressive to retain the 34-year-old. The dearth of potential UFA replacements, though, didn’t leave the Wings with many other options. Most of their defensemen in the pipeline with legitimate promise have already graduated to NHL roles, and the ones that haven’t wouldn’t be ready to succeed Chiarot in top-four duties next season. Save for a trade pickup, retaining him at a reasonable cap hit – even if the multi-year term will raise some eyebrows – was the easy move to make.
The Wings are still in a great spot, cap-wise, for next season. They have $38.8MM in space with 15 roster spots already accounted for, per PuckPedia . A good chunk of that money will need to be earmarked for Edvinsson, a pending RFA, but that’s still plenty of spending money.
Image courtesy of Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images.