Rumblings around the Red Wings pursuing an extension with pending UFA winger David Perron have picked up over the past few days, according to reports from ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (link to “32 Thoughts” podcast, 15:13 mark ).
Age is starting to catch up with the 35-year-old, who’s on the verge of completing the two-year, $9.5MM deal he signed with Detroit in free agency in 2022. He’s dropped to a third-line role after adding Patrick Kane to the Red Wings’ top six and has 28 points in 52 games, his lowest points-per-game pace in eight years. That said, he’s still contributing value for his $4.75MM cap hit, and he likely won’t command a raise on a short-term pact to potentially finish out his career in Hockeytown.
Averaging 15:13 per game, Perron isn’t even the highest-volume point producer on a strong Red Wings depth offense that has the team primed to make the postseason for the first time since 2016. Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong are outproducing Perron on a per-game basis with a higher percentage of even-strength production.