From The Silky Mitten State: What's next for Joe Veleno when his current one-year deal expires and he becomes an RFA next summer?
From The Silky Mitten State: What's next for Joe Veleno when his current one-year deal expires and he becomes an RFA next summer?
Joe Veleno entered the 2023-24 season on the epitome of a "prove-it" contract.
Veleno—whom the Red Wings selected with the 30th pick in the 2018 Draft—signed a one-year, $850,000 contract last summer as a restricted free agent, and he will once again be an RFA this summer when it expires.
This season, Veleno has "proven it" in a variety ways. Not unlike Michael Rasmussen, Veleno has demonstrated that he can be effective in a variety of roles up and down the Detroit line up. Throughout the season, he's been a consistently effective piece of the Red Wings' penalty kill. He's spent time as a center and on the wing. He's played on the first line and the fourth line. When both Dylan Larkin and J.T. Compher were both out injured, Veleno played some of his best hockey of the season, when Detroit needed it most. In 56 games, he's already hit career highs in goals (10) and assists (13).
Put all that together, and it's hard to imagine a scenario where the Red Wings decide to walk away from Veleno this summer, and because of his relatively modest counting stats (59 points in 208 career games) and RFA status, it shouldn't be much of a challenge to keep him in the Winged Wheel for the foreseeable future.
On the most recent episode of The Silky Mitten State, my co-host Connor Earegood and I discussed Veleno's role, future, and prospective contract. For an excerpt of that conversation, check out the video below:
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