DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today signed left wing Eric Tangradi to a two-year contract extension.
Tangradi, 27, has skated in 60 games with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, producing a career-best 49 points (24-25-49) and a plus-21 rating. He ranks second on the Griffins in both goals and points and places among the AHL’s overall leaders in goals (T9th), plus-minus (T14th) and points (T18th). The seventh-year pro also ranks among Grand Rapids club leaders with 64 penalty minutes (4th), six power-play goals (2nd), 13 power-play points (2nd), five game-winning goals (1st) and 156 shots on goal (2nd). Tangradi has also appeared in one game for the Red Wings this season, logging one hit in 6:55 time on ice on Jan. 25 against the New York Islanders.
The Philadelphia native has appeared in 286 AHL games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Hamilton Bulldogs and Griffins since the 2009-10 season, totaling 201 points (98-103-201), a plus-31 rating and 334 penalty minutes. Tangradi has also skated for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Winnipeg Jets, Montreal Canadiens and Red Wings over 144 career NHL games, notching 15 points (5-10-15) and adding one assist in three career NHL postseason contests.
Originally drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Tangradi spent his major junior career with the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls, notching 168 points (67-101-168) in 176 regular-season games and adding 56 points (23-33-56) in 52 playoff games. He also represented the United States during the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa, Ontario, picking up three points (1-2-3) in six games.
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As always, additional details are withheld by the team, so they won’t tell us how much he’s going to make for these next two years. Fortunately, it’s never too long a wait to find out:
#RedWings signed D Eric Tangradi to two-year, two-way ext ($600K/$300K and $650K/$300K). Philly native has career-high 49 pts in 60 AHL GP.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 21, 2016
I’m honestly a little surprised they got Tangradi to agree to two years of a two-way deal considering how well he’s played for Grand Rapids this season and the chance he could have tried to get a one-way deal this summer, but with salary cap uncertainty looming, that’s a pretty not-bad payday even at the AHL level. His current deal pays him $575K at the NHL level but only $100K in the AHL.
Tangradi’s entire salary will be buryable while he’s in the AHL and he will have to pass through waivers at the beginning of next season before he could be assigned to the Griffins again.
