Red Wings sign Nick Jensen to two-year extension

As trades are going down all over the NHL, the Red Wings took a second to make sure that everything within the organization was set up for the long haul. 

They took a step towards solid play by signing defender Nick Jensen to a two-year deal worth $800k in his first year and $825k in his second year. Both numbers are great considering how Jensen has played thus far.

As the Red Wings defense continues to be a mess, Jensen has been a solidifying force for the team. He is tied for third on the team in defensemen scoring with only eight points. That ties him with Danny Dekeyser who has played double the amount of games Jensen has. Not to mention Dekeyser is being paid almost seven times more than Jensen.

The most encouraging sign for Wings’ fans should be the fact that he is able to hold his own in the shot differential department. At 50.8% CF at even strength, he has one of the better marks for defensemen on the team. He also has a Corsi For relative to his teammates at 1.7%. A great sign for a young-ish defender.

It looks like the Wings are ready to start a rebuild and they want to move younger on the backend. They have some deals that are going to hold them up for a little while but it shouldn’t deter them from making these types of moves. The hope and the assumption should be that these moves are more efficient in the long and short term than what has been happening the past couple of summers giving deals to aging veterans.

Trying to crack general manager Ken Holland’s mind when making personnel moves is tough. Many times it can lead to the prognosticator rolling the dice trying to figure out what the heck is going on. If Holland wants to stick around for the next iteration of the Wings, these moves are the way to go.