Projecting Simon Edvinsson's Next Potential Contract With The Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings got an important bit of business done when they signed star winger Alex DeBrincat to a seven-year extension with an average annual value of $13 million per season.

On Wednesday, interim Red Wings GM Shawn Horcoff spoke about another player who is part of the core — current RFA defenseman Simon Edvinsson. Horcoff made it clear he wasn't interested in trading Edvinsson, despite Detroit's inability to get the 23-year-old signed to a contract extension to this point.

"Not something I'm entertaining," Horcoff told the Detroit Free Press in regard to trading Edvinsson. "We want to sign him."

That should be comforting for Red Wings fans to hear. There aren't many high-end young defensemen in the NHL, and trading Edvinsson would make long-suffering fans even more irate than they are already.

That means projecting where Edvinsson will be in the next six or seven seasons, and paying him according to that projection.

That's what the Anaheim Ducks recently did with defenseman Tristan Luneau – a 22-year-old who has only 20 games of NHL experience before he signed a six-year contract worth $7.2 million per season. If Luneau is worth that amount, then what is Edvinsson worth on a contract extension of his own?

There is also a bigger timeline that needs to be acknowledged, with Dec. 1 being the deadline for Edvinsson to be signed before he is officially ineligible to play the entire seaosn. If things even get close to that point it would be a catastrophe for all involved, but especially for Horcoff and Red Wings ownership.

We're not here to argue Edvinsson deserves $14 or $15 million per season, but with a significantly higher salary cap ceiling in the immediate years to come, the Red Wings have more than enough cap space to pay Edvinson at least $10-million per year, if not more. 

You can call that a huge risk on Horcoff's behalf, but he's certainly not the only NHL GM who is projecting a high contribution for a young up-and-coming player, and paying them accordingly.

The truth is, if the Red Wings simply do not want to go there with Edvinsson, there will be plenty of other teams willing to step up and take him off Detroit's hands.

So, Horcoff has approximately six weeks to either sign Edvinsson, trade him, or leave him in limbo. The Red Wings delivered their fans good news with DeBrincat’s extension, but the good vibes from that will quickly fade if they can't figure out how to keep Edvinsson wearing the winged wheel for the foreseeable future. 

The Red Wings have $17.2 million in cap space. Next summer, that number rises to $46.6 million. Clearly, Detroit has the financial wherewithal to bring Edvinsson aboard. And you can see why Wings fans would be testy at the moment. 

This showdown with Edvinsson is shaping up to be an unforced error by Horcoff. Unless the Red Wings take a more conciliatory approach with Edvinsson, they might wind up severing their relationship with a promising youngster. And that would be a mistake. 

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