From The Silky Mitten State: On the importance of the timing of extensions for Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond to the rest of the Red Wings' offseason plans
From The Silky Mitten State: On the importance of the timing of extensions for Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond to the rest of the Red Wings' offseason plans
At his pre-draft press conference last Friday, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman made a confession:
-"Ultimately, I can't force anything. They'll get done in due time...I prefer to have them done, but to be quite honest, I don't anticipate that happening at this stage. And we'll just work around it and make decisions along the way fully aware...that we will try to get them under contract or plan to get them under contract."
The quote referred to Yzerman's two most important pieces of offseason business: extensions for restricted free agents/budding stars/crown jewels of "The Yzerplan" Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond.
It was a quotation that provoked some concerned around Red Wing fans. After all, it isn't hard to make the case that getting those deals done is a prerequisite for the rest of Detroit's offseason business because they will make plain the exact amount of salary cap room Yzerman has at his disposal to improve upon his roster, not just re-affirm its existing talent.
On the latest episode of The Silky Mitten State, my co-host Connnor Earegood and I discussed this dynamic, before Yzerman had even offered his assessment of the situation. Connor laid out the case for getting Seider and Raymond's deals done ASAP—pointing to the clarity it would provide for the team's other business and to the message of aspiration it would send to other players seeking new homes this offseason.
I took a slightly different tact though, arguing instead that the news cycle around last summer's trade for Alex DeBrincat ought to be a reminder that Yzerman works in mysterious ways and according to his own schedule. It was rumored that DeBrincat to Detroit was as good as done heading into the draft in Nashville, then the two days of the draft came and went without a trade call. The July 1 free agent rush then came and went, and still there was no deal. Was the trade off? Nope, instead, Yzerman got the deal done on the ninth of July, to terms of his liking.
Is it better to get the deals done sooner rather than later? Of course, but just because Seider and Raymond's new contracts aren't signed doesn't mean Yzerman is completely in the dark as to their eventual values. Instead, I suspect the range of possible average annual values for each player is rather narrow, and that will be sufficient for Yzerman to go about the rest of his work.
For a sample of our discussion, check out the video above. For the full episode, go to either Spotify or Apple Podcasts:
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