2025 Detroit Red Wings Offseason Preview

Previewing a huge summer for Steve Yzerman

To most all observers, the 2025 offseason feels enormous for the Detroit Red Wings. The team now has the second-longest playoff drought in the NHL after narrow misses each of the last two years and fan discontent is growing. Increased scrutiny on the decisions of General Manager Steve Yzerman over the past several years has worn some of the shine off the homecoming of a franchise icon. Despite some promising young players, the Red Wings have been beset by too many poor contracts and too many mistakes.

CONTENT NOTE: if you’re looking for summer listening, I recorded a Red Wings 2024-25 season in review podcast with my brother, Aidan, which you can find on YouTube at the below link:

A second episode, discussing many of the names found in this article, will be released in the coming days.

Where the roster stands

Before we talk about the targets and needs, we need to look at the current roster picture to figure out the parameters of Detroit’s salary situation. The below image is the current Red Wings depth chart (restricted free agents highlighted in red):

The Red Wings currently have eight NHL Fs, five NHL Ds, and two NHL Gs signed for 2025-26, with Albert Johansson and Jonatan Berggren as restricted free agents. That roster has roughly $23.9 M in cap space to play with and I do not anticipate contracts for Johansson and Berggren (should the Red Wings extend both) would cost much, probably around a $1 M cap hit for each.

The Red Wings also have avenues to create more cap space. Buying out Vladimir Tarasenko’s remaining year would open up $3.17 M in cap space, while buying out Justin Holl’s remaining year would up $2.27 M in cap space. The Red Wings can also open up $1,150,000 M by waiving Holl or Gustafsson (or both!) and stashing the contract in Grand Rapids. I don’t know how Yzerman plans to navigate it but I would strongly consider pursuing multiple of these options, but especially Tarasenko’s. I would feel comfortable about the odds of finding a better player for the $3.17 M his buyout puts in your pocket and likewise for finding a better defenseman than Holl. If any of these contracts can be offloaded via trade, even better.

Buying out Taraseko and Holl would mean admitting defeat and acknowledging a mistake, which is never easy. However, the benefits outweigh the humiliation, as it would also give Yzerman close to $29.5 M to play with (over $30 M if you waived Gustafsson too). That would be sufficient money to re-shape the roster and inject the needed talent into the Red Wings and I strongly recommend doing so.

Looking at the pending unrestricted free agents, I do not think Alex Lyon will return. The Red Wings have two goalies under contract, may be hunting for improvements, and will want to give Sebastian Cossa opportunities to contribute if the situation arises. I would like to see the Red Wings move on from Jeff Petry, hoping that they aim higher to shore up their defense. Craig Smith scored two points in 19 games as a Red Wing after the trade to Chicago. Next. Tyler Motte is a good dude who I will always root for and could see a world where he makes sense as a 13th forward making league minimum but outside of that, there isn’t a great fit.

Thus, the only pending UFA I would re-sign with a path to consistent play in the lineup is Patrick Kane. It also appears likely to happen as both Yzerman and Kane signaled interest in continuing the partnership in their post-season comments. Kane and Alex DeBrincat (and their sons!) are buddies and Kane clearly loves playing for Original Six franchises on as big of a stage as you can get in American hockey. If Kane wants to return making a cap hit similar to his current deal ($4 M), I would have interest, preferably on a one-year pact. Kane isn’t a great 5v5 player but he helped make the Red Wings’ PP elite and if you don’t extend him, that’s 59 points you have to replace. For $4-6 M, I would bring Showtime back to Hockeytown.

[David Guralnick/Detroit News]

The Needs

What areas of the team does Steve Yzerman need to address? I will break them down in categories below:

1st Line Left Wing: If Kane is extended, I feel good about running out the DeBrincat-Kasper-Kane second line which was awesome down the stretch. So, Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond are still on your top line and you need to find a winger for them. I have been a bit annoyed by some of the coverage about this need, because I don’t think the Red Wings need a “first line forward”, but rather someone who can play on the first line. Larkin and Raymond are good enough hockey players that they don’t need a star left winger to have a good line. They just need someone who is good enough to make the line work and who is a complement to their playing style.

If we’re not talking about acquiring someone in the All-Star tier who are worth getting just because of the talent alone, I would be targeting a certain style of player. Someone who can retrieve pucks and dig them out, doing some of the dirty work for those two. Someone willing to drive the net and get their nose dirty. Marco Kasper did that part very well when playing on the line last year before he moved to center and I would look for a player in that mold. Someone with enough skill to keep up with Larkin/Raymond, but adding the forechecking/retrieving ability to complement them.

A new bottom six that does something: There’s been a lot of talk about how the Red Wings need to become harder to play against, everyone’s favorite GM-speak cliché. Maybe that’s true, but what I want is more good players. Looking at the bottom two lines that the Red Wings iced last year, the biggest problem for me is they didn’t *do* anything. There was no identity. It was a mix of players who aren’t physical, aren’t fast, don’t drive play, and don’t score. A third and fourth line have to do some of those things and the Red Wings didn’t have many guys who did any of them.

The bottom six needs more scoring punch. As I wrote about in my season wrap-up, the Red Wings had one of the most top-heavy offenses in the NHL, relying on their top two lines for the vast majority of their goals, despite the fact that their cap structure leaves them with plenty of money to build a good 3rd/4th line. They don’t need to have bad bottom lines because their stars make so much. This is a fixable problem but it does need to be viewed as a problem.

If Yzerman wants to make the Red Wings more physical, okay, fine. But you need to bring in tough guys who hit and score. I don’t really care what the mold the players you acquire for this role are, so long as it’s guys who score goals and tilt the ice in Detroit’s direction. Whether they get there by being skilled, by being physically imposing, or by being fast, I don’t care. Just no more generic NPC forwards.

Defensive help of all kinds: The Red Wings have two good young defensemen who can shoulder hefty loads in Edvinsson and Seider. Everything after that is up in the air. Many people are focusing on signing a left-shot partner to play with Seider and bump Ben Chiarot down, but I’m just as focused on signing a right-shot partner to play with Edvinsson to bump Johansson down. I like Johansson and think he has potential but I would (controversially) argue that Johansson was more miscast as a 2nd pair D on his off-side than Chiarot was playing top pair with Seider. Both players, in an ideal world, would be slid down the depth chart.

The goal should be to find at least one quality defenseman who can play substantial minutes with either Seider or Edvinsson, even though finding that player will be difficult given the list of free agents. I also think signing at least one third pairing defenseman could be useful too. Necessary if Detroit is moving on from Holl or Gustafsson (or both). Remodeling the 3rd pair alongside finding a 1st/2nd pair hoss is the shoot-the-moon goal, but will be difficult. You can go different ways with this and some will hinge on if they think any new defensive prospects are ready (I haven’t heard anything to indicate anyone definitively is), but at least one pro D has to be acquired in my view.

The Targets - Top Six Forward (Free Agency)

There are two star caliber players available in free agency at forward and it appears quite likely that both will hit the UFA market, which is unusual in the NHL. They are:

• Mitch Marner: The best player to hit free agency in at least five years, Marner is likely walking out of Toronto. Red Wings fans don’t care much about Marner’s playoff failures because being furious about how a star plays in the playoffs is an upgrade over the present and adding Marner would go a long way towards putting the Wings in the playoffs. He’s a 100 point superstar who is as brilliant a passer as he is a terrific defensive player. A true two-way winger who plays all situations, you could use Marner all over the lineup and he would instantly be Detroit’s best player. The Wings would have to break the bank for him, likely a $13-14 M cap hit over seven years but that sort of elite talent is so rare to find in free agency it would probably be worth it.

• Nikolaj Ehlers: Winnipeg’s management never valued the Danish winger’s talents as they should and thus he’s likely hitting the market. I think he’ll cost $8-9 M annually over 6-7 years but would be a big time add to Detroit’s lineup, a consistent 25 goal, 60-70 point winger with higher upside if you play him more minutes than he got in Winnipeg. Ehlers consistently drives play and puts the biscuit in the basket, exactly what the Wings are in search of.

As you can see, I think the Red Wings should go after both. I am saying that as someone who also covers the Toronto Maple Leafs and is generally exhausted by Marner’s BS. I have concerns about bringing the Marner Mafia to a young team like Detroit but he’s so good of a talent you just can’t pass it up if he’s interested. And likewise Ehlers would be a home-run signing I’d go all-in to pursue. These are the two players with All-Star caliber offensive skill (something lacking in the pipeline) and Yzerman has no choice but to take a run at them. So will 20 other teams, but maybe Detroit’s desperation wins out. To be clear, I think their odds at Ehlers are much better than the odds at Marner (which I think are very low).

Beyond those two, let’s look at more realistic candidates to play that first line LW spot. Brad Marchand was a name I liked early on and think he’s a stylistic fit with Larkin and Raymond, but his excellent playoff run likely has spiked his cost to a point (apparently, ~$8 M) I am not comfortable with. Ryan Donato had an awesome season for the Blackhawks, scoring 30 goals for the first time. He created a lot of his offense around the net, playing the slot and net-front on the PP and going there at 5v5 for rebounds and deflections. Thus, I like the fit with Larkin and Raymond and would be interested, especially since it shouldn’t break the bank.

I know a lot of Red Wings fans want Sam Bennett, but he is the player who is most obviously going to be overpaid this summer for intangibles and physicality despite never having scored more than 51 points in a season. Moreover, the idea of paying Bennett to play LW is crazy to me, when so much of the reason he will be insanely expensive is because he plays center, the most valuable forward position in the sport. Bennett is a center and the Red Wings have a lot of them on the roster already, knock it off with this left wing business. I also don’t think he’s leaving Florida.

The Targets - Bottom Six Forward

There aren’t a high volume of good top six forwards available in free agency (shocking!) but as always there are a lot of options to build a much better bottom six. Pius Suter should never have left Detroit and after scoring 25 goals this year, he should finally cash in on his long-undervalued talent. The projected contract of 4x$5 M may seem steep but he’s exactly the sort of third line play-driver that I would be looking for if I’m the Red Wings. Suter can score in a 3rd line role and his team almost always out-chances the other team when he’s on the ice, and he’s a really good PKer. Bring Suter home if Vancouver is dumb enough to let him get away.

Speaking of bringing guys home, I would take a flier on Anthony Mantha. After signing in Calgary last summer, Mantha tore his ACL and missed most of the season. His value is incredibly low and he will likely sign for close to league minimum. Why not take a flier on a player who can score 20 goals if it goes right and who is a consistent play-driver?

Connor Brown has resuscitated his career after bad knee injuries to re-establish himself as a quality 3rd line winger for the Oilers. He’ll probably command too much for Edmonton to keep him and I would have a lot of time for a speedy elite penalty killer who can chip in 10-15 goals. Trent Frederic is in a down year, also in the Oilers’ bottom six with Downtown Connor Brown, but is only 27. Frederic’s a big guy, decently physical, can play center, and scored 17 and 18 goals the prior two years. I would not be opposed.

In the category of adding depth scoring punch, Evgenii Dadonov will probably price himself out of Dallas after posting ~20-20-40 per 82 games since coming to the Stars at the deadline a few years back. He’s 36, so this would be a short term deal but Dadonov would add legitimate skill and PP2 ability to a 3rd line for a modest price. James van Riemsdyk is the same age as Dadonov but keeps chugging along with 16 goals and 36 points in 71 games for Columbus this year. One of the great net-front artisans of his day, JVR can still post up in front on PP2, but scored 15 of his goals at even strength this season. He’d be cheap too. Rounding out the Oldies camp is Reilly Smith, now 34 but still a solid player who can give you 10-15 goals and 35-40 points, while being awesome on the PK.

[Getty Images]

The Trade Route - Middle of the Lineup Forwards

The Red Wings have not been the most active in the trade market in recent years but if they are serious about actually trying to improve the roster, they should strongly consider exploring this avenue. Though the salary cap crunches of the flat cap era are mostly gone, some contending teams will be looking to jettison useful players and other teams may be trading players in need of a change of scenery. The Red Wings, with a robust farm system, nine picks in the upcoming 2025 NHL Draft, and all of their future picks in tow, have plenty of assets to be a partner in this avenue of roster building.

Some players I like that may be moved due to salary considerations are the following:

• Mason Marchment: Maybe the most likely to be moved due to Dallas’ extreme salary situation, Marchment is the sort of heavy, “difficult to play against” forward that Red Wings’ management is supposedly looking for. He only has one year remaining at a $4.5 M cap hit and as a complementary piece, shouldn’t cost a ton to acquire since the Stars probably have to trade him. Marchment is a big and physical guy, but he also has skill and scoring touch as a multi-time 20+ goal scorer. I like the fit as a left wing to play with Raymond/Larkin and obviously Detroit knows Dallas GM Jim Nill well. I really like this possibility.

• Ross Colton: He hasn’t proven to be the most effective playoff performer for the Avalanche and Colorado may want to free up $4 M in cap space by unloading Colton to make more meaningful moves. That’s fine for the Red Wings and 2x$4 M remaining on the contract is perfectly reasonable for a consistent 15-20 goal scorer who adds a bit of speed and jam to the middle of your lineup. Yzerman originally drafted Colton back in Tampa, so there is familiarity.

• Nick Robertson: I don’t know if the Maple Leafs will trade Robertson this summer but there has been an impasse between player and team over his role for some time now and the team doesn’t trust Robertson to play playoff games. I know Red Wings fans won’t want a small, skilled winger but again if we’re looking for depth scoring, Robertson has that ability with a great shot and has scored at a 19 goals per 82 games pace the last two seasons. His RFA deal will be cheap and I can’t imagine the acquisition cost would be that high.

• Trevor Moore: I have no idea why Moore would be made available in a trade but I have seen his name come up in discussions of possible trades. I suppose if the LA Kings are trying to open up space for a big fish, Trevor Moore’s $4.2 M salary and lack of trade protection is a casualty. If that were to happen somehow, the Red Wings should be all over it, since Moore is a useful middle six scorer who can get you 15-20 goals per year while doing good work on the PK.

These are just a few of the names who could be on the move this summer and there are always guys who come out of nowhere. I would strongly recommend that Yzerman pursue the trade route because there are useful players who can transform the Red Wings’ bottom six that can be found at reasonable prices.

Defensemen

It’s really hard to find good defensemen in free agency and there’s only a few players who play 20+ minutes per night. A name that a lot of Red Wings fans like is Vladislav Gavrikov who seems increasingly likely to hit free agency. I think the Red Wings should pursue Gavrikov and have a compelling case with Gavrikov’s former coach behind the bench in Detroit. Gavrikov is one of the NHL’s best defensive defensemen and could fit very nicely next to Mortiz Seider to finally create an ideal matchup pair to face top competition. It will definitely cost you, upwards of $7 M on the cap hit and 6-7 years for an age 29 player, but in theory your long-term top four is set with Gavrikov in tow next to Edvinsson, Seider, and Axel Sandin-Pelikka.

Can’t land Gavrikov? I also like Aaron Ekblad of Florida. I was very nervous about Ekblad previously but he has had an excellent playoffs which has quieted some of my concerns. He’s a top pairing defenseman on one of the best teams in the league, fits the mold of an Yzerman defenseman, and is from Windsor. There is a fit there, though his history of injury and possible aging curve is a bit concerning. If you believe he finishes his career on LTIR, I think you can go for it. Ekblad being a RHD complicates things a bit with ASP and Seider both on that side long-term but ASP’s (theoretical) rise likely coincides with Ekblad’s decline so I don’t have a huge issue with it.

Ivan Provorov as a left shot makes more sense but I don’t know if Provorov is actually good. I know he is a top four D of some kind who plays too many/too difficult of minutes, but that’s all I really know. You have to really believe in him (more than I do) if you’re handing out 7x$7 M or something.

I would thus prefer shorter term commitments. I don’t know why Columbus, with all their cap space, would let Dante Fabbro go, but if they did that’s a great fit as a RHD partner for Simon Edvinsson who shouldn’t be terribly expensive. I kinda like the idea of Dmitry Orlov as a partner for Seider even though Orlov is older and looked washed in the palyoffs (as can be the case… playoff hockey is different). The contract shouldn’t break the bank and would be at most three years, which I like.

If ASP is going to need a year in Grand Rapids, I would be okay signing a power play-focused right shot D to play 2nd/3rd pair and replace Erik Gustafsson (who you waive in this scenario). John Klingberg could be a good ASP mentor as a fellow Swede who suddenly looked much better with the Oilers in the playoffs. I assume Brent Burns will want to keep chasing a ring at age 40 but he also fits the mold of someone who could fill a PP role on a one year deal and play 2nd pair RD next to Edvinsson.

In the category of third pair guys if Holl or Gustafsson are being drummed out, Nate Schmidt has been really effective in a depth role for Florida as well and could have some PP2 upside similar to the mold of Klingberg and Burns that I mentioned. Beyond that, there’s not a ton else that I really like in this UFA class on defense. As always, if you want good defensemen, you have to draft or trade for them.

[Sam Navarro/Imagn Images]

The Big Swing: Offer Sheet/RFA candidates

In the aftermath of St. Louis’ fleecing of Edmonton to land two young studs through offer sheets last offseason, many people believe there will be more such offer sheets this summer. I do think at least one gets signed, but the ability to squeeze teams is reduced with the cap going up. Still, some of the summer’s pending RFAs are in situations where they and the team do not see eye to eye, similar to the Nick Robertson situation explained earlier. I didn’t include Robertson in this section because he is a marginal player looking for greater opportunities.

This section is devoted to players more established and with much higher upside, for whom the cost to acquire will be higher, but so could the payoff. The players mentioned here require a bit of a leap of faith to pursue them but could handsomely reward the team that rolls the dice. Several of the players listed here could be foundational pieces for the Red Wings if acquired, which is why the price is higher:

• Bowen Byram, D: The Sabres are at a stalemate with Byram, who wants greater opportunities than the Sabres have offered and the Sabres are hesitant to hand out another big deal to a left shot D with Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin already signed long-term. The upshot for Byram is he’s a talented young defenseman with offensive upside who won a Stanley Cup as a key cog three years ago. For the Red Wings, he could complement Mo Seider’s defensive game and form a dangerous two-way top pair while locking in the team’s long-term top four. The downside is Buffalo probably wants win now players whereas I’d be inclined to trade futures. Also, Byram has a sketchy concussion history in his past and hasn’t been able to replicate his 2022 playoffs. It would be a risk but there is definitely upside.

• K’Andre Miller, D: Miller is interesting for the same reason as Byram, a LHD who provides you the opportunity to lock in a long-term top four. I also like Miller as a fit with Seider, more defensively minded and a strong PKer but with offensive tools too. His huge size and strong skating ability fits Yzerman’s mold as well. The Rangers have been pretty wishy-washy on Miller’s future and ultimately have to make a decision on whether to sign Miller long term or deal him. I would have quite a bit of interest in trading for him if NYR goes that route.

• Marco Rossi, C: Rossi just scored 24-36-60 as a 23-year-old C with strong macro impacts analytically. Despite his production, it seems like the Minnesota Wild also hate him. Rossi produces at the NHL level, but trade talks for Rossi have swirled around him for years. After the team cut his ice time down to a 4th line role in the playoffs, it seems like he will be dealt. The big knock on Rossi is he’s short (5’9). That’s basically it. Never mind that 2-1-3 in six playoff games is a fine stat-line for a player logging 11 minutes per night on a 4th line with two stiffs on his wings¹, Rossi is short so therefore he must go. Okay then. I’m not sure what the Wild would be looking for in return, probably either a first round pick or a top prospect but I would seriously consider it because Rossi is skilled, a center, and finished +13 in 5v5 goals while on ice this season.

• JJ Peterka, RW: The biggest “one who got away” of the Yzerplan for me is Peterka, who was available when the Wings picked to begin the 2nd round in 2020. The Red Wings passed and Buffalo snagged Peterka, who scored 27 goals and 68 points as a 23-year-old this season. The Sabres seem to be in total flux this summer, with everyone besides Dahlin/Power on the table to be moved and Peterka’s RFA status makes him very interesting. I would explore trade possibilities, but would also ponder an offer sheet. If Detroit offers 7x$8 M to Peterka, does Buffalo match? I think they would, but he also doesn’t sound happy in Buffalo and may not want to return. Would they trade him in division?

• Jason Robertson, LW: By far the best player in this category, Robertson’s name has started to pop up due to Dallas’ cap crunch, as they survey the market in case they wanted to make a big deal. Robertson would be a big deal alright, a 2x 40-goal scorer, with four career 79+ point seasons and a 100 point season in his past. He’s also only turning 26 this summer. You’re talking multiple firsts or a first + Nate Danielson and more to get Robertson, who lived for some of his childhood in Northville, Michigan. I would be squeamish about paying a price that high, but Robertson would be a humongous pickup, one in the Marner/Ehlers tier but 2-3 years younger. You have to think about it IF Robertson is available.

As a whole, I’m more interested in negotiating trades than signing offer sheets because you are surrendering next year’s picks and you don’t know where your picks will land next season. If you’re the Panthers, you can safely assume they won’t be lottery picks. But when you’re the Red Wings, you can’t make that assumption. Also, 2026 is also seen as a much deeper draft, so I would be far more inclined to surrender this year’s 13th overall pick in a trade than I would to surrender next year’s first in an offer sheet.

Goalie?

My first draft of this piece didn’t have anything on goalies but the Jeff Marek report linked earlier in the piece about the Red Wings in the goalie market made me include these two paragraphs. I don’t see any players in free agency that would be an upgrade on Cam Talbot and Petr Mrazek, which was (after all) why they traded for Mrazek, as Yzerman himself said. But I’m not going to claim Talbot and Mrazek is a good tandem, so upgrades via trade are possible if you really want to jump into the playoffs.

John Gibson is the only good target for me, a one-time star who has had a tumultuous career but is now simply “good”, a clear upgrade over the existing situation. Anaheim has been delusional about Gibson’s trade value for years but if they have sobered up and he Gibson could be had for a 2nd round pick/B-prospect or less, I would think about it. Thatcher Demko is a name I have seen if Vancouver doesn’t want to extend him but Demko’s serious injury issues would make me stay far away from that idea.

Conclusion

Any way you frame it, this is a huge offseason for the Red Wings. Ending the playoff drought has to be seen as a goal that must be fulfilled in 2025-26 and it is doable. The playoff spot held by Montreal this season is gettable, while there is the chance that an aging Tampa team, or a Maple Leafs team sans Mitch Marner, could stumble. Not to mention that Ottawa didn’t finish that far ahead of the Red Wings this season, or that Washington’s roster is more reflective of a wild card team than a true contender.

But the Red Wings need help to get there. They need a deeper lineup of forwards, more players who can score and more usable lines. They need a better penalty kill and they need at least a couple more dependable defensemen. Having a serious, accomplished coach from opening night puck-drop, with the chance to run a full training camp to work on systems (especially on the PK), will help. So will a possible injection of more youth, something I didn’t focus on too much in this piece because it’s hard to know how many players will break into the lineup throughout the season but I assume at least a few will (Mazur, Danielson, ASP, Cossa, maybe a Buium type?).

That said, Yzerman can’t believe that employing McLellan and promoting a couple rookies is enough to get this team into the playoffs. There’s a scenario where it could be, but it would be GM malpractice to bank on it and do nothing else to improve the roster. So many useful players are up for grabs in free agency and on a seemingly busy trade market. If you don’t get them, your rivals vying for the playoffs will.

I also struggle to think the familiar Yzerman formula, signing a faded veteran or two and making a couple of low risk, low rewarded ancillary signings, is enough. The Red Wings’ management will need to be a little more ambitious and a little more creative to inject what this team needs. As I laid out in this piece, there are plenty of ways to do it. Now we find out if Yzerman is skilled enough to navigate this landscape.

1. Justin Brazeau and Yakov Trenin