Wednesday was the first day that NHL teams were allowed to contact other teams' unrestricted free agents, and the Detroit Red Wings started burning up the phone lines early trying to determine which players, if any, have an interest in coming to Detroit.
The Wings reached out to several players, but it appears their main targets are centers Stephen Weiss, Mike Riberio, and Matt Cullen; defensemen Andrew Ference and Marek Zidlicky – with forward Jarome Iginla still part of the conversation.
Weiss is the Wings’ primary objective; however, it’s believed that he’s seeking a five-year, $25 million dollar deal. The Wings are hesitant to sign any UFA to a long-term deal.
But they found out Wednesday that every coveted UFA wants at least five years, including Riberio. There's concern about whether Riberio can still play with pace, if he still has enough left to go up and down the ice and play with an agitating grit.
So if Detroit bites the bullet and commits to a player for five years, it will be Weiss over Riberio. Weiss isn’t physical, but he does play with pace.
If the Wings aren't successful in luring Weiss or Riberio, they would turn to Matt Cullen, an NHL journeyman who plays with pace, has great ice awareness and could adequately fill the void as a second-line center for the next few years.
My guess is, the Wings will relinquish to Weiss and sign him to a five-year deal for around $4.5 million a season.
Unless Val Filppula’s dive into the waters of free agency is a little more frigid than he anticipates. The Wings are still holding out hope that Filppula will come back to them if he discovers he’s just not that desirable on the open market.
That could be wishful thinking, but Detroit still hasn’t closed the door completely on Filppula.
The Wings continue their dialogue with their other twos UFAs, Daniel Cleary and Damien Brunner, but everything still remains the same. Length of contract is holding up the Cleary deal, and Brunner’s rate is still being determined as he listens to other offers.
If Cleary, Brunner and Filppula stay in Detroit, expect them to be signed sometime Thursday or before noon on Friday -- noontime Friday is when a player officially becomes a UFA.
Even though Detroit appears set on defense, it makes sense that they would want to add a veteran defenseman as insurance in case of injury. Maybe they’re even thinking that if they can sign Ference or Zidlicky, they could trade somebody from their defensive corps to fill a need up front; that’s just speculation on my part.
Whatever will happen should occur within the next few days. There’s a feeling that teams are going to be aggressive once the free-agency period begins and there will be an avalanche of early activity.
