Steve Yzerman completed one of his final offseason tasks Friday afternoon by signing forward Joe Veleno to a two-year contract — Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the details:
According to PuckPedia, year one of the deal has a $1.775M salary and a $500k signing bonus, while year two will be a cap hit of $2.275M. Veleno will be one year away from UFA when the deal expires.
Veleno, a former first-round pick out of the QMJHL, scored 28 points (12-16–28) in 80 games with the Red Wings last season. The 24-year-old has carved out a bottom-six role for himself through 232 NHL games. This deal gives Veleno a nice little raise while also giving him the opportunity to grow and potentially earn a bigger payday in a couple of years.
The Red Wings have three more RFAs to sign before the season starts, and two of them are big ones — both Mortiz Seider and Lucas Raymond are still without their extensions. According to PuckPedia, the Wings have a projected cap space of $17.6 million to get those deals done, along with Jonatan Berggren.
