UPDATE:
Detroit #RedWings have signed newly acquired F Adam Erne to a 1 year/1-way contract with an AAV of $1.05M ($950k Base + $100k SB).
Erne will once again be an RFA with Arb rights when his new deal expires next summer.https://t.co/GsUrbCKk3s https://t.co/JPXYfG1DdE
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) August 15, 2019
Detroit sent a fourth round pick in the 2020 entry draft to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for forward Adam Erne.
The 6’1” left wing played 65 games from the Lightning last season, finishing with 7 goals and 13 assists.
In our sister site Raw Charge’s Top 25 Under 25 Series last year, Erne was #8.
Here are a few excerpts:
Erne’s ceiling has pretty much always pegged him as a third liner in the NHL, a power forward who will use his body to create space on the ice. When he’s healthy and looking comfortable, he can absolutely serve in that capacity. In his breakdown of why Erne got the end of season grade that he did, Alan explained that Erne did exactly what was expected of him right up until the injury that took him out for the remainder of the season and the playoffs
….
Erne scored like a low end first liner in both goals and primary points in the AHL last season. The rest of his metrics including shots are hovering in the realm of a second liner. Those are fine numbers for an AHL player but they don’t provide a particularly strong signal for future NHL success. Typically, players who are going to score in the NHL will score at a much higher rate in the AHL.
But scoring isn’t the strength of Erne’s game and the Lightning won’t be looking for much of that from him in Tampa. Instead, they’ll want him to be a reliable option in the bottom six. He’s played 49 NHL games so far and showed that he is capable of that.
At a glance, it looks like he could be a 3rd line power forward. Considering the chances of the average 4th round draft pick developing into a 3rd line NHL forward, it seems like a reasonable chance to take.
The obvious question will be how this affects the chances for some of Detroit’s younger forwards to start the season in the NHL.
It should also be noted that he does not currently have a contract. His last contract was an 800k, 1-way deal that expired with him as an RFA.
And of course, it’s obvious who his linemate needs to be:
He’s gotta play with Tyler Berrtuzzi at some point.
If you guys don’t give us Bert & Erne, I’ll never forgive you. https://t.co/YFyFlgKq8G
— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) August 14, 2019
Edit: Additional analysis!
After some initial discussion with @iyer_prashanth, we are committing to hoping one of the diggers asks Yzerman to confirm he knows he’s not GMing Tampa anymore, because the Bolts trading a 4th for a guy like Erne makes way more sense than Detroit doing it, based on timelines.
— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) August 14, 2019
The reasoning here is that Erne very much seems like the kind of third/fourth line depth player who would fit naturally onto a contender but is slightly out of place on a team like Detroit that very much needs that position to be more fluid with development. While the concept of “if you can’t beat out Adam Erne/Jacob De La Rose for a roster spot, maybe you should grow a bit more in Grand Rapids” remains defensible, it’s also a stretch to add another potential obstacle for kids like Michael Rasmussen. – J.J.
