Red Wings Sign Local Product, Depth Forward Sheldon Dries
The Red Wings signed AHL veteran forward and Macomb native Sheldon Dries to a league minimum contract
Sheldon Dries is coming home.
The Macomb, Mich., native signed a one-year, league minimum $775,000 contract with the Detroit Red Wings. He adds depth to the forward charts, mostly as an AHL player but also someone who can be effective in NHL call-ups. Dries, who is 30, previously played for Vancouver, spending all of last season in the AHL.
Dries likely fills the role that forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Austin Czarnik — now UFAs — filled last season. Dries has played 274 career AHL games with 204 points and 222 penalty minutes. In the NHL, he's played in 122 games with 26 points and 59 penalty minutes. Seventeen of those career points came in 2022-23, when he played nearly the whole season in the NHL for the first time in his career. But last year, he was back down in the AHL where he was nearly a point-per-game player.
The Red Wings aren't making a team-defining move here, but adding organizational depth like Dries is important. As shown last season, players like Czarnik and Aston-Reese can play big minutes if injuries happen. And for Dries, the three-year Western Michigan University captain, Belle Tire and Honeybaked alum gets to play for his hometown team.
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