Niederbach will play for Rögle in 2022-23 so he won’t get a contract until next summer at least

Unrealistic when you moved Erne.. not possible

So I get the deals they're the kind of deals we could see. The one thing is if they take Monahan they definitely play him higher in the line up to see if he has anything left. I'd rather not take heinen and sign someone who can fill a need.

Trading Stevie's son! 🤣 I read somewhere today that Trochek wants to stay in Carolina. I don't blame him. They're still a very good team. So maybe Monahan becomes an option. But it's the Marc Staal deal or no deal for me. I'm leery about giving any UFA long term. The AAV doesn't bother me.

Monahan is ahead of schedule after his hip surgery so that's good news.

Id take Monahan if the deal is right, meaning i wouldn't necessarily "buy" him. I don't blame Trochek at all. In my mind, teams that were good this year and just faltered in the playoffs will likely come back next year looking very similar. I'm just wondering who becomes available if Tampa wins this year.. Do they debate letting Cirelli go? Sergachev? Those teams against the cap should get interesting this offseason

Tampa doesn't really have any cap issues this summer. It's next summer where Brisebois will have to re-sign RFA's Cirelli, Sergachev and Cernak. But Palat will be gone this summer. Unless he takes a huge discount. But then they wouldn't have cap space to sign Nick Paul. They'll likely keep the cheaper Paul and let Palat walk. It's unfortunate. He's been a good soldier for them.

I’d be ok with giving Monahan a shot at 2C or 3C. I don’t disagree about Heinen but I’d rather not overpay for a mid-level UFA but if they can get a top guy then sure. This just seems like an Yzerman offseason for this stage of the rebuild.

Just a slight correction not that it matters a whole lot, but in case you are curious. He isn't actually ahead of schedule in terms of recovery from this surgery. He had the same surgery on his other hip last summer and relative to that timeline he is ahead. Last year he had the surgery in mid May whereas this year he had it in early April. Still good news tho as he was slightly limited at training camp last yr and was held out of preseason games because of it and hopefully that wont be the case this yr.

You have good points. Heck some teams are going have trouble signing their own RFAs due to cap issues, never mind their own UFAs or other teams UFAs. Wings could certainly sign a good UFA or two, or as you suggest just bide time and sign next summer. With so many cap strapped teams, UFAs will be looking for a "home", and I think Detroit will be a favourable place to be.