Full scale Red Wings offseason round-up

The Red Wings’ off-season has been relatively quiet, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t made an impact on the team’s lineup.

This has been one of the less eventful off-seasons for the Red Wings, but GM Ken Holland has kept himself fairly busy. When the Red Wings were tossed out of the second round of the playoffs by the San Jose Sharks, Holland didn’t give many specifics about what he planned to do. All he would say was that we would do most of the work come August, after locking up our top-guns before the July 1 frenzy.The Red Wings lost a few players from last season’s roster: defenseman Andreas Lilja (still on the market), defenseman Brett Lebda (signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs), and forward Jason Williams (also still on the market). You can include forward Kirk Maltby in this as well – he has yet to be signed anywhere. Maltby is reluctant to leave, having spent fourteen of his seventeen NHL seasons in Detroit, but for a veteran of over 1,000 NHL games, playing in the minors (which is what the Red Wings would probably have to do to him) isn’t exactly the most appealing option. His fate is still up in the air.

But in losing some players, others were gained. Jiri Hudler is back from the KHL; in his one season overseas, he had 19 goals and 54 points in 54 games. In his last season with the Red Wings, he had 23 goals and 54 points in 82 games. Valtteri Filppula’s brother Ilari signed with a two-way contract and will most likely end up playing the season in Grand Rapids; this past season, Filppula won the Jari Kurri trophy as the best player in the SM-lliga playoffs – he had fourteen points in fifteen games. To give a bit more info on this trophy, it’s been awarded to players like Saku Koivu, Olli Jokinen, Miikka Kiprusoff, Kari Lehtonen, and Niklas Backstrom (twice).

With the loss of Lilja, the Red Wings signed Ruslan Salei to a one-year deal; he played under Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock back when Babcock was the coach of Anaheim. Mike Modano signed a one-year deal as well, adding that final ingredient Holland was looking for: a solid, reliable veteran player.

The Red Wings also re-signed a lot of key players. Nicklas Lidstrom decided to come back for at least one more season as the Red Wings top defenseman and captain. Look out for his sniping slapshot on the power play when he intentionally shoots it wide so Tomas Holmstrom can snag the rebound and flip it into the net. Speaking of Homer, he re-signed with a two-year, $3.75 million contract, so he’s still the reigning king of the edge of the crease.

Todd Bertuzzi is back for another season. Ask any Wings fan what their opinion is on Bertuzzi and responses will be varied. If his play is solid like it was in the middle of last season, there should be no reason to throw him under the bus. Patrick Eaves and Drew Miller both signed one-year contracts. Look for either of them to be on the fourth line.

With fifteen forwards signed with one-way contracts, the Red Wings have some decisions to make once training camp arrives in mid-September. They have a few players who have been on their minor league team for a few years now and may be ready to take the plunge into NHL-level hockey, but there isn’t much room to spare. The moves Holland made in the off-season may not have been substantial like when he signed Marian Hossa two years ago, but only time will tell at this point.

Let hockey season commence!