With July 1st upcoming this weekend there will be no shortage of news in the NHL once again with a few big names available as UFA’s looking to sign with a new team. It appears that the Red Wings will not be involved in any headline moves as they are pretty tight up against the cap and still have multiple RFA players to re-sign that will likely be receiving raises. Going into a year where the Red Wings should be at best a borderline playoff team, I believe that it is actually beneficial that they will be unable to give away another big money contract. This team is still multiple impact players away from becoming a contender and does not currently have the cap space to make a splash big enough to vault them into the top 5 teams in the Eastern Conference.

Although Detroit may not be able to bring in any of the biggest names available, it does not mean that there will be no action at all. There are still a couple opening day roster spots available and I suspect that we likely won’t be seeing any younger players step into those roles until injuries occur during the season which was a similar route to how Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou became regulars in the Detroit line-up in this past season. You can say what you want about giving young players a chance from day one but we have seen for many years now that injuries in the NHL are extremely common so even if we don’t see an Evgeny Svechnikov or Tyler Bertuzzi in the line-up on opening day, there will be a high chance that they are up within the first month of the season.

Let’s dive into some options for the Red Wings to sign as Left-Wingers:

UFA options for LW are fairly thin this year but Dwight King is somebody I can totally see the Red Wings management group going after especially after how great of an “intangible leader” Steve Ott was made out to be almost daily in the Detroit media. King is a younger and bigger version of Ott and somebody who could actually put some fear into opposing players with his 6’4, 230lb body flying around the ice looking for big hits. The 27 year old had quality seasons in 2013/14 and 2014/15 where he actually put up back to back campaigns over 25 points (30 and 26 respectively) which is fairly decent production coming from your 4th line.

Signing Dwight King would not be a terrible idea if you can get him at a term with around 2 years and less than 2M per season. It does block a roster spot for a younger player but as I mentioned earlier I don’t believe that any rookies will be breaking camp on the team to begin with so I would rather see a player like this as a temporary 1-2 year addition then to see a player that we don’t need long-term locked up in a multi-season contract which will continue to clog up the forward roster positions available. This signing could prove to be even more valuable if the Wings can somehow work a deal later on similar to what Pittsburgh paid during the draft this year to acquire Ryan Reaves for a 1st round draft pick who is a similar player to King with less offensive ability.

With Daniel Winnik the best case scenario you can hope for would be getting the same production that the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to get from him back in 2014/15 in which he provided 7G and 18A in 58 games before being flipped for a fourth-round pick in 2015 and a second-round pick in 2016 along with minor league scrapper Zach Sill. Unfortunately, this season Winnik is now 32 years old and while he can still provide quality defensive minutes and Short-Handed TOI, he will likely be looking for a longer term deal to play out the remainder of his career instead of being dealt every trade deadline. Winnik is a valuable commodity for a contending team and will not likely be seeking a high cap-hit so I expect the market for him to be pretty high if he can find a 3-4 year deal somewhere for a reasonable price.

Patrick Marleau is likely the top LW of all UFA’s available but unfortunately will be very unlikely to sign a contract for the Red Wings. The veteran winger has enjoyed a great career in San Jose and I believe that it remains his main goal to stay there but he is sure to be receiving some calls from teams around the league looking to increase their scoring depth from a veteran who still knows how to put the puck in the net with evidence from his 27 Goals this season. If Marleau would ever sign in Detroit he would be a great addition as a 37 year old providing leadership and knowledge for some younger players on a short term deal. At this point it just does not make much sense for either side to strike a deal as Marleau will likely bring a pretty high cap hit and with the fact that he is still chasing that first Stanley Cup and was productive last season, I am fully expecting him to go somewhere that has a legitimate chance to make a run at the cup. The Edmonton Oilers seem like a great place for someone like Marleau to go where he can play with younger skilled players and still contribute in his own right back closer to his home town in Western Canada.

It has been a pretty steep decline for the 4-time 30 goal scorer who last season notched only 8 Goals in 48 games and received his lowest average TOI since 2005/06. Just as recently as the 2015/16 season Sharp was able to produce 20G and 35A so he is not far removed from an effective season but it makes you wonder how much faith other teams will have in him. A Patrick Sharp signing in Detroit will depend largely on what the market is for him right now. If there a several teams interested, which I believe there will be, he is likely to find another multi-season deal on a team hoping he can find his old scoring touch. There is a chance however, that nobody is looking to commit any term to the 35 year old who is coming off his worst season in over 10 years which would open a window of opportunity for the Red Wings to give Sharp a 1 year prove it contract in a very similar fashion to what they did with Thomas Vanek last season.

There has already been a rumour that the Chicago Blackhawks have shown interest in Sharp which would pretty much put an end to any hope that Detroit can sign him but if there is any chance at all of getting him on a 1 year deal I would be willing to overpay as long as they have enough space to make all the required RFA player re-signings. This would give the Wings the opportunity that if he can be successful in the first half of the season to trade him to a contender at the deadline and eat as much of the salary as possible. I believe it is a long shot that no other teams will have interest in Sharp but if nobody is willing to pay him on a multi-year deal, he may want to sign a 1 year contract to prove he still has that scoring ability and next season he can look for that final contract of his career.

Drew Stafford is just about the only UFA option at LW who is still in the prime of his career at the age of 31. He has had several successful seasons earlier in his career for the Buffalo Sabres but has started to slow down in the past 2 years with 8G and 13A in 58 games in the 2016/17 season. Stafford would likely slot in on the 3rd line for the Red Wings where he could be an effective finisher with speedsters Darren Helm and Andreas Athanasiou doing the puck carrying through the neutral zone. Obviously it is not in the Red Wings best interest to give away a long term deal to someone right now with several of them already in the books but if Stafford could be signed on a deal for 3 years or less I don’t think it would be the worst thing that could happen.

Ken Holland has said several times that he still views this team as one that can make the playoffs and possibly push deep if they get hot so he is not going to be afraid to bring in some additional players although if there is any signings to be done we should hope it begins on the blue line. Signing someone like Stafford would back up Holland’s statements about how he believes in the current roster to be competitive this season. If he could sign a shorter term deal for 1 or 2 years it would only benefit the Red Wings more as it would only be a temporary cap hit and likely someone who can be traded for assets at a future trade deadline.