Scenario: With pressure and impatience growing from ownership, the mandate for Yzerman is to end the rebuild this year and make the playoffs in 2023-24. For the purposes of this exercise expect unrealistic player handling and inflated contract amounts. The exercise will also not conduct any trades anticipating players being available as a result of rumor (e.g. DeBrincat)
Move 1: The Red Wings are done with Zadina. They don't have any more time to figure his game out. Best move him to a team where he has friends, runs a system that matches his style of play, and is always willing to pay for washed up top-10 skaters. The Carolina Hurricanes.
Move 2: Ben Chiarot did not work in the Wings' system. Sunk cost fallacy is just that, a fallacy. With the whole league witness to his miserable defensive skills, the only move left is to just flat buy him out. The cost may seem high up front but expected salary cap increases in the near future should alleviate that concern.
Move 3: Robby Fabbri is a solid player when healthy but what was supposed to be a breakout season was instead spent on the IR yet again. Its too tough to build around players who can't play half the time. Better to buy him out and spend that cap hit elsewhere.
With $38M in cap space, and 11 picks in the upcoming draft, the Red Wings use this draft to acquire as many young, high-production forwards and RHD as possible.
Signing 1 - Damon Severson. With NJD looking to re-sign Bratt and Meier, plus the arrival of Nemec and Hughes, they don't have the cash to bring back Severson. While projections have him around $6M, a bidding war between Detroit and Buffalo ultimately sees the Red Wings shelling out a 7x7.5 for the 28-year old RHD.
Signing 2- Connor Clifton. The Red Wings would like a bit of offensive punch on the 3rd defensive pair, and Clifton brings that. Coming from a strong yet cap-strapped Boston squad, Clifton slots in well with Maatta on the 3rd pair.
Signing 3 - Max Domi. Fresh off a rebound season and displaying considerable skill with the Stars in their deep playoff run, the Red Wings look to Domi over trade options as a stopgap 2nd-line center. Yzerman hopes this one works out as Vietnam flashbacks of Weiss, Filppula, Nielsen, Richards, and others play back in their heads.
Signing 4 - Alex Killorn. The Red Wings look for a dependable two-way power forward who can settle down the Red Wings' 2nd line. With Tampa out of space and Yzerman having familiarity, he turns to Killorn with a nice paycheck to convince him.
Signing 5 - Michael Bunting. The Red Wings are without a top-six LW as a result of trading Bertuzzi. With limited options and Yzerman choosing not to pursue Bertuzzi, he spends for Bunting, the top LW on the market. Bunting's grit and scoring touch helps solidify the Red Wings 1st line as he did in Toronto.
Signing 6 - Garnet Hathaway. The Wings look to roll a young and gritty 4th line comprised of Mazur and Kasper. With Hathaway they bring in affordable grit and maturity who, like Clifton, is fresh off a strong Boston squad.
Signing 7 - Adin Hill. Off an amazing Conference Final and Stanley Cup Final performance that saw Vegas fall in 6 to the Florida Panthers, Hill has several teams courting his services come Free Agent Frenzy. However Yzerman, with ample cap space to spare, offers the most money for the young, towering netminder who looks to share tandem duties with Husso.
The Red Wings also bring back Veleno and Chiasson to round out the 23-man roster, and also bring back Troy Stecher as a #7 D-man to cover for injuries on the right side.
With Toronto and Boston in shambles after disappointing playoff runs, Tampa broke as hell and defensively poisoned by the incompetence of Blashill, and Ottawa/Montreal still trying to figure out what defense and goaltending are, the Red Wings come together under the leadership of Larkin and Lalonde to deliver the team to the playoffs.
Hardly cap compliant when bonuses to be paid and RFAs will be getting new contracts in 24/25
You've spent like a drunk sailor at his first port in three weeks with those UFA signings....in $$$ and term.
Why to you think the Leafs are "in shambles". Gee, the poor GM's contract was renewed.....hardly shambles.
I doubt DET moves on from Zadina this year. He's not keeping anyone off the roster, and a 5th rounder isn't worth it. You'd rather keep him than move him for that.
I can't see Severson getting $7.5m to play #4dman minutes (which is where he's succeeded in NJD). He might get $6m because he's a RHD, but his success has only gone up since his minutes were reduced (almost 4 full minutes less per game this year than previous years and 2nd pairing PP minutes). If he wasn't a RHD, he wouldn't be getting as much attention. DET would be better off trading for Durzi, more cost control and better success (younger too).
No way Killorn gets 4 years from anyone, not with all that mileage. The money is right, but it'll be 2 years at best. Domi's success has been in the middle 6, which means he won't get $6m/year. Probably more like 4.5mx4. Not sure how he makes this team better though.
All in all, a lot of bad signings, a screwed up cap in 2024-2025, and still no playoffs.
Detroit won't move Zadina for such a low return. He's not a cancerous player. He's not complaining about ice time. He's just under-performing. Some of that is due to injuries. Some of that is due to just plain bad luck. His work ethic is apparently very high. His contract is quite good for the next 2 seasons so Detroit will just see how he plays out those last 2 years unless some team offers something more...1 for 1 for another project player or 1 for 1 for another player who has a higher cap hit but performs better in the now and the other team needs to shed salary would be my guess if they move on from him
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