Inside the Article:
Several Detroit Red Wings players are eligible to become can become free agents once the calendar turns to July in less than three weeks’ time. And based on a rumor that came out earlier today, the team will not be bringing several of them back for next year.
Red Wings rumored to lose both Pius Suter and Alex Chiasson
Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now has indicated that based on information that he’s receiving from an unnamed NHL source, forwards Pius Suter and Alex Chiasson will be playing for new teams next season with the goal of getting multi-year deals:
“According to an NHL source, the Red Wings were making contract offers to two of their impending UFAs. However, both Pius Suter and Alex Chiasson were opting to pass on the offers presented to them by the Detroit brass.”
Suter just wrapped up the second of the two-year deal he was presented by GM Steve Yzerman in 2021. While he didn’t come close to matching his point total of last season, he played a key role for Detroit on their penalty-killing unit as well as in the faceoff dot.
Meanwhile, Chiasson proved himself to be a valuable commodity on the power play unit, scoring five of his six goals with the man advantage despite only coming to the Red Wings in the second half of the season.
Several other pending UFA’s could be departing Detroit as well
As if that weren’t all, Duff also writes that his source indicated that the Red Wings have not made offers to their other pending unrestricted free agent players, which include forward Adam Erne, defensemen Jordan Oesterle, Robert Hagg, and Mark Pysyk, and goaltenders Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg.
Wrapping It Up: Get ready for changes on the Red Wings roster
With rumors that Yzerman may be setting the stage to make some big moves this summer, it’s a given that the 2023-24 Red Wings (that will hopefully make a return to the playoffs) will be quite different than last year. With the alleged impending departure of the aforementioned names, there will be several holes on the roster to fill.
We will be keeping our fingers crossed that Yzerman is able to come through with a few deals that will propel the Red Wings back into contention for the Stanley Cup the way that we were used to for so long!
