The Detroit Red Wings signed winger Jakub Rychlovský to a two-year contract on Monday, and the Grand Rapids Griffins signed goaltender Jan Bednar to an extension.
The Detroit Red Wings signed winger Jakub Rychlovský to a two-year contract on Monday, and the Grand Rapids Griffins signed goaltender Jan Bednar to an extension.
The Red Wings were focused on signing checks Monday — the contractual ones and the national ones.
Czech winger Jakub Rychlovský signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Detroit Red Wings, while Czech goaltender Jan Bednar signed an extension with AHL Grand Rapids just two days after the Red Wings let his exclusive draft rights expire.
Jakub Rychlovský
Jakub Rychlovský has never played in a league outside the Czech Extraliga. Now, he's poised to change that depending on where the Red Wings play him next season.
After a breakout season, 22-year-old Czech winger Jakub Rychlovský earned his first NHL contract. He's 5-foot-10, 181 pounds and shoots left-handed. He played most recently with Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Extraliga.
In his fifth season playing with Bílí Tygři Liberec — his second full season with the organization's senior team — Rychlovský finished with 46 points in 51 games played. Before that, he had tallied 34 points in 138 games. Whatever clicked this season, it earned him a contract.
Rychlovský bolsters the Red Wings' winger depth in the prospect pool, which is expected to graduate a couple players this upcoming season. Left-handed wing Jonatan Berggren will probably stick at the NHL level given his waiver eligibility if the Red Wings keep him in Grand Rapids. Right-handed wing Carter Mazur could also vie for a roster spot in training camp after a torrid Calder Cup playoff run in which he showed his scoring capabilities and his snarly play.
Rychlovský could get the chance to play in Grand Rapids or even Detroit with a good training camp. He could also stick in the Extraliga, playing big minutes in a European league like so many other Red Wings prospects. Regardless of where he plays, he's a low-risk free agent signee that adds depth.
Jan Bednar
21-year-old Bednar played last season with the ECHL's Toledo Walleye under an AHL contract. His performance earned him another year with the Red Wings' farm clubs. Earlier in his career, Bednar also played in the Extraliga with HC Energie Karlovy Vary before joining the QMJHL's Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
As part of a tandem with pending UFA John Lethemon in 2023-24, Bednar finished the regular season with a 22-7-2 record, a .901 save percentage and a 2.66 goals against average. In the playoffs, he was 4-1-0 with a .917 save percentage and 2.37 goals against average. Detroit picked him in the fourth round, 107th overall, of the 2020 draft.
This contract is a good way for Bednar to develop without taking up an NHL roster spot. The Red Wings have four goaltenders under contract next season in Ville Husso, Alex Lyon, Sebastian Cossa and Carter Gylander. If the Red Wings wanted to explore NHL-level goaltending depth through trades or free agency, and if they sign prospect Trey Augustine to a contract any time soon, Bednar would complicate the roster space for such a move. Putting him on an AHL deal doesn't create the same problem.
Bednar didn't play an AHL game on his last contract, and it seems as though he's more likely to stick at the ECHL level he played at last season. He's still behind Cossa and Gylander on the depth chart, and those two are probably going to be the goalies for the Griffins next season. But, Bednar could find himself into some AHL games depending on injuries and whether Cossa earns any NHL starts next season.
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