Red Wings Stars Days in Detroit Look to be Numbered
The Detroit Red Wings are currently slated to have 11 unrestricted free agents at the end of the upcoming season. A few notable names on that list are Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Olli Määttä. They won't let Larkin get away if they can help it, and likely want to keep the younger defenseman Määttä. But could Bertuzzi be shipped out?
Bertuzzi is coming off a year that saw him score 30 goals for the first time in his career. His 4.75 million cap hit for this season is the exact same as recently acquired winger David Perron. Bertuzzi was statistically slightly better than Perron last season and is 7 years his junior. He will likely ask for a long term extension and a significant pay raise, somewhere in the 6-6.5 million ballpark.
As is the case with every team in the NHL there is only so much money to go around. The future extensions of Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond are also a factor here. Bertuzzi's vaccination status will exclude him from exposure to Canadian based teams but he still has tremendous upside and would command a significant trade haul at the deadline. GM Steve Yzerman will have decisions to make before the trade deadline, but I expect Bertuzzi to be heading somewhere else.
| POLL | ||
If you were a GM, would you be concerned with Bertuzzi's inability to travel to Canada? | ||
| Yes, but I'll take him anyway | 65 | 37.8 % |
| No, don't care | 62 | 36 % |
| No, don't want him at all | 45 | 26.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
