Steve Yzerman wants to talk to his UFAs, but he needs to ink deals for Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider before he can begin that process.
After the complete rebuild, the Red Wings must consider the salary cap for the first time in a very long time. Even if that is a step forward, there are a lot of issues raised. The largest thus far? assembling a roster for the upcoming season that has the depth Detroit wants to see. General manager Steve Yzerman has a lot of contract negotiations ahead of him if he wants players to stay on the team for another season, considering that the team has six unrestricted free agents on it: defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, goaltender James Reimer, forwards David Perron, Patrick Kane, Christian Fischer, and Daniel Sprong.
“I would like to see all those players return to a specific level,” Yzerman declared on Friday. At their end-of-season meetings, he claimed to have spoken with the majority of the players by then. However, until Yzerman determines his restricted free agent contracts—that is, those of star forward Lucas Raymond and defenseman Moritz Seider—he can’t truly get into those UFA conversations. The terms of these agreements, whether long- or short-term, will dictate how he may bargain with the other free agents.
If I can’t figure it out sooner rather than later, “(I’ll) kind of get a rough idea of how much money we’re going to have,” Yzerman said. “Because I need to start thinking about the cap now that we’re almost a cap team.” Therefore, some choices might only be predicated on our current cap situation.
The Red Wings now have approximately $28 million in cap space for the upcoming campaign, assuming the league salary cap stays at the projected $87.7 million. That will probably go mostly to Raymond and Seider. A thorough contract prognosis for the two was written by analyst Prashanth Iyer, and his predictions are remarkably accurate. With Seider estimated to be worth $9.2 million AAV and Raymond at $7.9 million AAV, he projected that both players would sign eight-year contracts. Although the latter can likely use his disastrous season finale as extra negotiating chips, the Red Wings could theoretically be spending $17 million on those two players.
The remaining $11 million must be divided amongst the six UFAs and the two RFAs, Joe Veleno and Jonatan Berggren. There will be a person who becomes free agent (maybe even two or three).
But, perhaps Yzerman could move the cap crunch to the future if he signs Raymond and/or Seider to a bridge deal. At three or four years, a contract for either player would carry less cap hit. The downside is that Detroit could be shelling out even more money in the future, one that projects to be more competitive with top-end draft picks rounding into NHLers. The Red Wings will have to practice their cap gymnastics either now or later, but exactly when that happens will have a large impact on how Yzerman builds next season’s roster.
Yzerman shared his thoughts about signing players to eight-year deals fresh off their entry-level deals. Ultimately, he knows the cap headache he’s about to face.
“The term and the dollars have got to work for both parties,” Yzerman said. “You have to pay a player enough that he’s willing to lock up long (term and) give you eight years. But also it can be dangerous if you’re paying an extreme premium for potential because a lot of times it can be difficult.
If you don’t have a cap issue or any concerns then you don’t need to worry about them as much, but those deals make you have cap issues as well. So again, I’m certainly open to it but the term, the dollar amount has got to work for both parties. And that can be a challenge.”
