Darren Helm is still a Detroit Red Wing, having agreed to a 5 year, $19.25M contract. The AAV for this contract will be $3.85M.
Darren Helm is a Detroit Red Wing still. Will sign a five-year deal with a salary-cap hit of 3.85 million a season.
— Chuck Pleiness (@wingsfrontman) July 1, 2016
There’s not a lot to say about this right now. It’s not the worst cap hit in the world, but like with Justin Abdelkader, the concern is giving 5 years to a 30 point guy who is 29 years old. There’s no Pavel Datsyuk to hitch Helm to, so where he plays next year and for the next 5 years is a mystery. If they play him where he’s supposed to be (bottom 6), then he’s overpaid, but he’s not good enough to be a top-6 forward with Datsyuk no longer around to carry him.
Maybe he’s finally going to live up to his role as the best third line center in the league, but given his age and production, I’m not holding my breath. To me, this is just another example of the Red Wings‘ management staff refusing to let go of players who no longer fit within the team’s long-term plans by giving them too many years on a new contract and too much money for what they’ve done, not what they will do. I could go on and on, but this is a disappointing signing when there are other FAs out there and young kids in the pipeline that should be given an opportunity to supplant the veterans on a mediocre (at best) team.
I guess there’s not much left to do but sit back, wait for them to sign Frans Nielsen, and call it a day. Happy Canada Day everyone!
