In a relatively thin free agent class, after John Tavares of course, there are a few intriguing defensemen. John Carlson lead the class before signing an 8-year $64 million deal with the Stanley Cup winning Capitals.

Heading into July 1st, here are the remaining top-5 defensemen;

Are any of them a fit for the Red Wings? Let’s dive in and find out.

Over his 3 years with the Wings, he produced 104 points (29-75-104). Just for some context, Danny DeKeyser has 99 points in his 6-year career with Detroit, Jonathan Ericsson has 37 points over the same three years as Green, and the other defensemen aren’t notable yet.

I don’t have a doubt that Green can step in and play on our top pair again, but what’s the point? Mike Green will receive numerous 3-year offers and it’s rumoured Ken Holland already gave him one. There is probably a team or two willing to go to 4 years – the Kings and Sharks come to mind.

Detroit is obviously in a state of transition and logging up the blueline is more detrimental than productive. To date, Detroit has bought-out Xavier Oullet and they’re currently losing Green to free agency. That’s already 2 open roster spots for Filip Hronek, Dennis Cholowski, Joe Hicketts, and Libor Sulak to compete for.

Mike Green will get $4.5 – $5.5 million somewhere. I wish we were able to trade him during the season, but Green’s ship has sailed from Detroit. It’s time to move on and let him go.

Calvin De Haan is quite interesting. A ‘Trevor Daley’ contract ($9.5 million over 3 years) would be quite appropriate for De Haan’s services. Calvin De Haan is a bottom 3 defenseman. On a good team, he’s on their 3rd pair with the capability to play up on the 2nd pair.

De Haan is best known for his shot-blocking, which is often near the league lead – but don’t be too quick to call him the next Kris Russel or Andrew MacDonald.

He contributed 12 points in 33 games for the Islanders during an injury-riddled 2017-18 campaign.

Free agency is always frightening. If De Haan signs for approximately $10 million over 3 years, that team is likely ecstatic. That being said, a lot of teams would be ecstatic for that deal which raises his value. Free agency is like an auction; who is the highest bidder? Once teams start offering De Haan anything North of $4.5 million, I hope the Red Wings drop out.

John Moore isn’t on everyone’s top-5 list of free agent defensemen. I have him on mine because I think he is under-valued across the league. The Devils had an awful Corsi this season; Moore had a 48.28% CF% which was good for a 3.25% Rel CF%.

If you don’t know what these numbers mean:

Corsi-For (CF) represents the amount of unblocked shots-for the player was on the ice for. Corsi-Against (CA) represents the amount of unblocked shots-against the player was on the ice for. Relative Corsi-For (Rel CF%) compares the player to the rest of his team in a plus or minus value.

So, Moore was 3.25% better at getting shots on the opponent’s net than the average of his team. When we’re talking about thousands of shots over the course of a season, 3.25% is a lot.

Coming off a deal that paid him $5 million over 3 years ($1,666,667 average annual value), Matt Cane predicts he’ll come in with a cap hit of $3,450,618 for 2 years. If you don’t know who Matt Cane is, he’s quite accurate at predicting contract values for upcoming free agents.

Moore has jumped around between the Blue Jackets, Rangers, Coyotes, and Devils. However, I’d take the 27-year old on my team if I needed a solid 3rd-pairing defenseman on a Stanley Cup run.

Detroit, on the other hand, should not be in on any 27-year old 3rd-pairing defenseman this summer.

If losing in the playoffs has become a norm for your favourite team, I can imagine you’re an exhausted fan. As that fan, if your team acquired Michal Kempny ahead of another post-season, you probably thought about another early exit.

Four rounds of playoffs and one Stanley Cup later, you’re raving about Kempny. Arguably, he was one of the best deadline acquisitions of any team. On February 19th, the Capitals acquired Kempny from the Blackhawks for a 3rd round pick.

He isn’t the flashiest player and Kempny isn’t going to quarterback a power play or dominate the even strength game. But he was one of the most reliable defenders on a team that had good defence to begin with. Barry Trotz loved him.

Due for quite the raise from $700,000 and probably some term, Kempny will be a solid addition to any team that is in the playoff mix.

But I digress, there isn’t a reason the Wings should be in on another 27-year old two-way defender.

Jack Johnson’s name has been in the rumour mill for a few weeks now; he’s been linked to the Canadiens the most.

Johnson has been through so much. He has lost all of his money due to poor investing by his parents. I honestly wish the best for him and I’d love to see him get paid $6 million.

Subjectivity aside, there’s no way any team should pay him $6 million…especially for numerous years. Johnson is 31 years old and at best a 4th defenseman on a good team. He is going to get numerous years and at least $5 million each season. Leave that contract for Marc Bergevin.

Like I’ve stated already, Detroit needs to continue the status quo right now and allow our prospects to play in the NHL while we are still transitioning back into a competitive nature.

My personal preference, in a perfect world, would be to have seven two-way defensemen over any other combination of defenders.

I am concerned Holland will reach out to some free agent defensemen. We don’t need any more average players in the log jam.

5 years with a $5,639,168 cap hit.

1 year with a $1,674,697 cap hit.

2 years with a $3,450,618 cap hit.

2 years with a $1,240,539 cap hit.

1 year with a $2,594,407 cap hit.

Lastly, I use Corsica Hockey and NHL Numbers while researching players. I strongly recommend both websites.

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