In Red Wings Land
FISCHLER REPORT: AN INTERVIEW WITH DETROIT RED WINGS EXECUTIVE VP JIM DEVELLANO – THN
About The Current Rebuild: ”It’s been long and tough but we are making slow, gradual progress and getting better. We now have terrific young players such as Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Moritz Seidel, the young defenseman who won the Calder Trophy.
I very nearly cut this one out because it doesn’t really say anything interesting and the Seider misspelling is one of TWO that were in this (along with my favorite pet peeve: “Federov”).
This is embarrassing for a “celebrated” writer.
With this being reported as done now, Zacha’s signing leaves Jake Walman as the lone arbitration-pending RFA. https://t.co/MEbJoGaRoV
— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) August 8, 2022
Walman’s hearing is set for Thursday and both sides have until that hearing starts to sign a contract and cancel the process, but I’m not sure it’s necessary. Walman isn’t going to be awarded enough for the Wings to have walk-away rights and there’s a good chance whatever he is awarded is below the threshold where I’m going to care.
I think a deal gets signed before then, but if not there’s a decent chance Yzerman shows up to the hearing, shrugs and walks out.
Around the League
Bergeron, Krejci each signs one-year contract with Bruins – NHL
Bergeron signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract with the Bruins on Monday to return for his 19th season in the NHL. The 37-year-old center can earn an additional $2.5 million in performance-based incentives. He was an unrestricted free agent and was undecided on his future after Boston was eliminated in seven games by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference First Round.
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Krejci signed a one-year, $1 million contract. The 36-year-old can earn an additional $2 million in performance bonuses. Krejci played last season in his native Czech Republic after playing for the Bruins for 15 seasons (2006-21).
Both of these deals are below market value for the players and they’re both very cleverly written in a way to maximize cap space for a team that’s looking to remain competitive within a reasonable window.
I personally want it to blow up in Boston’s face, but if this were the Wings in a similar situation I’d be pretty happy with the deals they signed here (and panicked about what Pastrnak is going to get next season).
Coyotes Sign Crouse to Five-Year Contract – NHL
[blah blah normal presser copy stuff]
Apparently the deal is $4.3M AAV and Crouse was asking for just $4M in his arbitration case. If that seems silly, I don’t think it is. Crouse was one year from UFA and giving him that $4M for one year very likely ends up costing them a lot more in the long run. It feels like they’re very much trying to build an us-vs-the-world kind of mentality for the fanbase and I think Crouse fits into that well. We don’t have to talk about their contention window; that’s not coming up anytime soon.
