In Red Wings Land

Red Wings sign Andreas Athanasiou to two-year, $6 million contract | MLive.com

Nothing earth-shattering in the articles that have been posted (as of early evening ET on Thursday), but Khan does have a little bit of info about the other two RFAs:

The Red Wings are negotiating contracts with restricted free agents Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha, neither of whom was arbitration eligible. Mantha is expected to sign a two-year bridge deal. Larkin might sign a long-term extension, likely no more than five years.

If at all possible, Ken Holland should try to sign Larkin to a long-term deal. IMO, there aren’t a ton of players league-wide you want to sign long term. Dylan Larkin has shown that he is one of them. Filip Zadina seems to have the potential for more high-end skill (not that Larkin is a slouch by any means), but it appears that Larkin will be the heart and soul of this next core. He should be the next captain, and Holland should try to lock him up long term.

I really like Mantha, but he is the type of player that you bridge. If he ends up continuing towards his ceiling, then you’ll pay more money on his next contract, but if he doesn’t, you don’t want to be locked into a long term deal. He’s shown spurts of being a dominant player, but he’s an easy bridge candidate for me. It makes more sense for him as well. He keeps improving, he can command a higher cap hit.

Around the NHL

Weber has knee surgery, out until December - Article - TSN

Sucks to sucks, suckers. Boy that Subban deal continues to look worse and worse.

Erik Karlsson NHL trade rumors: Senators, Lightning engaging teams for possible 3-way deal - CBSSports.com

So, the Dallas Stars were reportedly almost all the way to a trade with Ottawa for Erik Karlsson, but Pierre Dorion apparently wanted Dallas elite prospect Miro Heiskanen, which was a no-go for Jim Nill.

Thursday, rumors flew fast and furiously that Lightning GM Steve Yzerman had drifted into a potential trade with Ottawa to obtain the high-powered blueliner. (Why could there not be some way to work “Tokyo” into that sentence? JJ would have figured it out, but you’re stuck with me today). A blue line with Victor Hedman and Karlsson is patently unfair, but that could be Detroit’s future for the next.....7 years? Ugh.

If that happens, with the current playoff format, Detroit’s road to the playoffs in the future looks even tougher with Tavares joining the Maple Leafs and players like Bergeron and Marchand in Boston (along with some of their up-and-comers.)

Hopefully these are just rumors and we don’t have to deal with that future.