Red Wings 2025 Free Agency Thoughts: Day Two

The Detroit Red Wings made two moves on the second day of free agency, signing restricted free agent forward Elmer Soderblom to a two-year contract and adding free agent forward Mason Appleton from the Winnipeg Jets on a two-year deal.

BIG ELM 🇸🇪

The #RedWings have signed Elmer Soderblom to a two-year contract with an AAV of $1,125,000. pic.twitter.com/BAMoXb4Jj8

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 2, 2025

UPDATE: The #RedWings have signed forward Mason Appleton to a two-year contract with an AAV of $2,900,000. pic.twitter.com/yQO7G4t24d

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 2, 2025

I never expected Soderblom’s deal to come in at a lower AAV than Jonatan Berggren’s did. It’s a two-year deal compared to one for Berggren so it’s not quite apples to apples but it seems like there’s more of a fit for Soderblom in the Detroit lineup than there is for Berggren.

Speaking of the unexpected, after James van Riemsdyk signed in Detroit yesterday, I was surprised to see another bottom-six signing for Detroit at all.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been. Detroit GM Steve Yzerman did say he wanted the team to get harder to play against, and a signing like Appleton seems to do that. I liked the idea of Carter Mazur having a spot in the Detroit lineup, though, and signing another forward seemingly removes that roster spot.

It’d be easier to handle if that additional forward were in the top six. Not being able to resolve that glaring lack of skill is frustrating. “Getting harder to play against” feels like a crutch sometimes. Like, “We know we can’t score so we’re going to try to grind it out more.” Eventually someone’s gotta score some freaking goals, though.

Additionally, I miss the days of a top nine and a checking line, so “top six” and “bottom six” already feels like a concession.

None of that is a knock against Appleton specifically, to be clear.

After two days of signings, I think Detroit’s lineup looks something like this:

Marco Kasper – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond
Alex DeBrincat – Andrew Copp – Patrick Kane
James van Riemsdyk – J.T. Compher – Elmer Soderblom
Mason Appleton – Michael Rasmussen – Jonatan Berggren
Austin Watson

Ben Chiarot – Moritz Seider
Simon Edvinsson – Albert Johansson
Erik Gustafsson – Jacob Bernard-Docker
Justin Holl

John Gibson
Cam Talbot

There’s been some buzz about how much cap space the Red Wings have and how loaded they are on the bottom six and how obviously that means there’s a trade coming.

How many times has Yzerman made a move that seemed like the prelude to another move only for no follow-up to happen? I’m not going to count on it this time. Yes, it would be nice if the shallow market means some team wants to trade for J.T. Compher. Or even Michael Rasmussen, who I’m contractually obligated to like on the Red Wings. No, I don’t expect it to happen.

Another part of the frustration is hearing writers and other fans talk about how Yzerman obviously did everything he could but you can’t force players to sign in Detroit so everyone should be okay with that.

This comes on the heels of years of writers telling Detroit fans that it was mathematically most-likely that they’d drop in the draft order due to the lottery (while other teams don’t seem to be at the whims of mathematics). It’s a “you don’t get to complain” attitude that just doesn’t sit well with me. Complain if you want. You get to decide how you spend your emotional investment.

On a more frivolous note, I’ll end with jersey numbers, as per usual.

Mason Appleton has worn #22 for most of his career. I assume he’ll get it if he wants it in Detroit. It’s currently assigned to Shai Buium so he’ll be looking for a new number.

Buium usually wears #8. I’m going to say he gets the #2 that formerly belonged to Olli Maatta.