The Detroit Red Wings have a bundle of money to spend when free agency opens Tuesday at noon, but the cupboard is almost bare.
Monday’s signing frenzy saw Toronto send Mitch Marner to Vegas in a sign-and-trade while Florida re-upped with Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand, and Columbus re-signed Ivan Provorov.
So, what’s left for general manager Steve Yzerman, who has $17 million in camp space after taking care of some business Monday, re-signing Patrick Kane, Jonatan Berggren and Albert Johansson and shipping Vladimir Tarasenko to Minnesota.
The Red Wings need a top-six forward, preferably a goal-scoring winger, and a top-four defenseman. The top remaining free agents include forwards Nicolaj Ehlers (Winnipeg), Brock Boeser (Vancouver) and Mikael Granlund (Dallas), and defensemen Vladislav Gavrikov, Dmitry Orlov (Carolina) and Ryan Lindgren (Colorado).
“Anybody can look at the list of potential free agents and see there aren’t that many,” Yzerman said Saturday after the draft. “And players that you would think will have an impact, they’re very few this year for whatever reason.”
If the Red Wings make a significant offseason addition, it’s likely to be through a trade.
Dallas left wing Jason Robertson has been in the rumor mill for weeks. If the Stars are open to trading the soon-to-be 26-year-old coming off back-to-back 80-point seasons after collecting 109 points in 2022-23, he’d likely be the Red Wings’ top priority.
Yzerman, however, noted the high cost of acquiring an impact player.
“When I talk to teams, you know the players they want, and I’m like, that doesn’t make me any better,” Yzerman said. “Am I willing to trade a core player? Maybe. It doesn’t necessarily make sense to create a hole at a position to fill in another one. Everybody wants our young players. I like our young players and I’d like to keep them add to that group.
“At some point something will come along. Maybe this summer somebody spends a lot of money in free agency and now they’ve got to move somebody and maybe there’s a fit. Now they’re looking for a draft pick or a prospect for that player.”
It’s definitely a sellers’ market.
“There’s just not that many players,” Yzerman said. “Everybody has cap space, everybody’s looking to add to their team. Every team I talk to is looking for this player, looking for that player. Nobody’s really selling off. Will somebody, have players expendable (after July 1)? Possibly.”
Yzerman stressed the need to improve from within with younger players taking another step.
“The worst thing I can do is make a move out of desperation or panic and, and move our young players out,” he said.