Pre-Free Agency Thoughts, 2025 Edition

Back in April, I said that I didn’t see a way forward for the Red Wings. I just couldn’t find a way for pieces to fit together to make some meaningful improvement.

Some things have changed since then.

Detroit went out and got their goalie, trading Petr Mrazek and picks for John Gibson. They moved on from Vladimir Tarasenko, trading him to the Minnesota Wild to clear up cap space. They brought back pending unrestricted free agents William Lagesson and Patrick Kane and pending restricted free agents Albert Johansson and Jonatan Berggren.

They haven’t signed – or even said a whole lot about – Jeff Petry or Tyler Motte or Craig Smith.

In April I thought the crease was set with Cam Talbot and Mrazek. I was wrong, but on the eve of free agency, the goaltending situation does seem to be settled. Yzerman has spoken about bringing Alex Lyon back again as a third goalie but I can’t see Lyon going for that at this point.

On defense, the team could still use help but all of its roster spots are accounted for.

At forward, letting Tarasenko go gives some breathing room but not an upgrade.

As I see it, the Wings currently sit with a lineup something like this:

??? – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond
Alex DeBrincat – Marco Kasper – Patrick Kane
J.T. Compher – Andrew Copp – Elmer Soderblom (RFA)
Carter Mazur – Michael Rasmussen – Jonatan Berggren

Ben Chiarot – Moritz Seider
Simon Edvinsson – Albert Johansson
Erik Gustafsson – Justin Holl
William Lagesson

John Gibson
Cam Talbot

Maybe my lines and pairings aren’t exact but it still shows a big hole up front. And that defense doesn’t seem good enough.

Let’s start with the top six forwards, since that’s where the hole is.

It’s possible – probable, even – that the Red Wings do nothing in free agency to address that. Maybe Kasper moves up to the first line wing and Copp takes his spot on the second line. Not ideal but do-able.

Or maybe Detroit signs Brock Boeser or Nikolaj Ehlers. That’s an expensive way to shake things up but the team has the cap space to do it.

I like Ehlers. I’ve got concerns about Boeser. I don’t want to pay either what they’ll probably get but if the Red Wings are going to be in on free agents, that’s going to be necessary.

More likely, perhaps, Detroit signs Mikael Granlund as a cheaper and/or shorter-term option. I’m not a big fan of Granlund so I hope we don’t see this, and given the market I’m not sure how much cheaper he’d actually be.

There’s no way around a bidding war for players that would slot in to the top six. The market is too thin with too many teams looking to make a change.

I’m okay with the bottom six (where I’m assuming Elmer Soderblom re-signs as a restricted free agent), unless it’s the scenario that sees Copp on the second line. In that less-than-ideal case the team could use a Tyler Motte type. Maybe even Motte himself, brought back for a second year. Even in this market, veteran fourth-liners can be had for relatively cheap.

On defense, as far as free agents go, it seems like Vladislav Gavrikov or bust. I don’t see a single UFA defenseman beyond Gavrikov that I’m particularly interested in. Maybe Dmitry Orlov? Aaron Ekblad stayed in Florida. Ivan Provorov stayed in Columbus. But there are different ways “bust” can go.

The New York Rangers are supposedly heavily interested in Gavrikov. And if the Rangers sign him, they need to move someone out. Someone like restricted free agent defenseman K’Andre Miller.

I like Miller a lot. He’s frustratingly inconsistent, though. And he’s due a big raise. My gut feeling is he’d be an upgrade on the Detroit blueline but I’m worried about the idea of paying to acquire him via trade and then paying to sign him.

But you have to do something, right?

There’s also the Grand Rapids Griffins to consider.

They’re losing Austin Watson, Tim Gettinger, and Joe Snively up front and Brogan Rafferty on the blue line, in addition to having already lost Eemil Viro, who bolted for Europe, and having a few more pending free agents who were on AHL deals.

Detroit will probably also want a veteran goalie at the AHL level so that Grand Rapids doesn’t have to rely on Sebastian Cossa and Michal Postava.

As such, we’ll probably see the Wings sign some guys who will be bound for the Griffins. Lagesson was the seventh defenseman on my roster above but he could easily be in GR instead, especially if Detroit brings in Gavrikov or Miller or someone else, bumping Justin Holl to the press box.

In April I couldn’t see what the Wings needed to do. Now I feel like I can see it but I don’t see how.