REPORT: Wings likely to re-sign Green, sign Vanek and Bernier

With the dreadful day of July 1st coming the Red Wings way, it looks like Holland will be getting some old veterans to fill out his 2018-19 roster.

It looks likely that defenseman Mike Green will be returning to the Wings for the upcoming season, as well as another familiar face in Thomas Vanek. Jonathan Bernier will be filling the much-needed backup goaltender role as well.

Craig Custance of the Athletic reported what the contracts might look like for the three veterans.

Bernier is getting the longest term at three years, but that is a reasonable cap hit for what he has been proven capable of. He is a reliable netminder that has never shocked the hockey world with his numbers, nor has he plummeted so low to make fans question why he should be in the NHL. His worst season was a .908 sv%, and his best was at a .922 sv% – nothing incredible but he can be relied on to play 40 games if Blashill is looking to rest Howard more this season. You can read more about his last season here:

The return of Thomas Vanek will be an interesting one. In the 2017-18 season, he split time between the Vancouver Canucks and Columbus Blue Jackets, scoring 24 goals and 56 points in 80 games for those two clubs. Certainly impressive stats for a player that is going to turn 35-years-old this season. As Custance reported, he will be coming in on a very cheap and reasonable short-term contract. Not the best message to give your young players, but Vanek can still put up the numbers. One has to wonder if this means a much more attractive forward asset is on their way out to make room for Vanek and the young forwards.

Mike Green is coming back to lead the Wings’ right side of defense. He will be coming in on a 2-year deal at a somewhat reasonable cap hit, depends on your opinion of Green. With the insane amount of blueliners the Red Wings have, it’s hard to see exactly why Holland would re-sign Green in the first place. He does provide a nice right-hand shot, that the Wings lack, but he is just coming back from intense neck surgery that put him out for the last few months of the season – making him untradeable for a future asset at the deadline.

We will see in the next few days if these signings are followed by some trades to make room for the veterans coming in.

None of the three will absolutely kill the Wings’ cap or roster, but it just creates more of a logjam the Red Wings currently are having trouble with.