They just keep piling on.

The Red Wings added to their massive pool of forwards, giving Steve Ott a one year, $800,000 contract.

Ott is coming off a season where he played just 21 games for the St. Louis Blues, registering two assists. He was also only in the lineup for just 9 playoff games, with only 1 assist. The 13 season veteran peaked in 2008-09 with 46 points, and hasn’t cracked higher than 40 otherwise.

He had a 51.8 5v5 CF% last season, although he was a -3.47% relative to a good St. Louis team, and that was in very easy minutes. He has a 47.93% 5v5 CF% since 2007-08, so he’s not the greatest on the defensive side of the game either.

This is a deal that makes almost no sense for the Wings. Assuming that Ott is in the NHL and playing on a regular basis, that leaves no room for any of Mantha, Pulkkinen, or Jurco. While you can send Mantha to the minors, there is a log jam in the press box, with five players eligible for waivers outside of the 20 players on the roster every night, including Sproul, Ouellet, and Jensen included in the bunch. And again, the Red Wings seemed to be focused on making the playoffs, not the future.