The Red Wings’ Edvinsson Decision Has a Hard Deadline
Detroit Red Wings interim general manager Shawn Horcoff still has two franchise decisions sitting on his desk, and only one of them comes with a deadline. Simon Edvinsson is a restricted free agent who has until Dec. 1 to sign an NHL contract, and if he does not, he cannot play at all this season. Dylan Larkin is signed for four more years after this one. Nothing on the calendar forces that call.
Horcoff already cleared the biggest item on the list, signing Alex DeBrincat to a seven-year extension worth $13 million a season on Oct. 14. Edvinsson has to be next, because the deadline decides it for him.
Simon Edvinsson’s Dec. 1 Deadline Decides the Order
Detroit needs to do everything it can to get Edvinsson signed before Dec. 1. If he will not sign here, Horcoff has to move his rights before that date instead, and the deadline travels with him: the clock applies whether Edvinsson signs with the Red Wings or with whoever trades for him.
Edvinsson’s preference has been public for weeks. On Oct. 3, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on Saturday Headlines that Edvinsson would prefer a trade, while Detroit was telling other teams it still preferred to sign him. The club’s public stance has not moved since. Horcoff has said the Red Wings want to sign the defenseman and have no interest in trading him, as Alexander Rosquez of The Hockey Writers laid out this week.
Signing Edvinsson First Clears the Path on a Dylan Larkin Trade
The order matters because it decides how much leverage Detroit keeps. Settle Edvinsson, and the blue line is set, which lets Horcoff shop Larkin for what the roster actually needs. Trade Edvinsson instead, and the Red Wings at least know what came back before they decide what to ask for in a Larkin deal.
The money is there either way. Detroit is carrying roughly $16.8 million in projected cap space, the second most in the league, so a long-term Edvinsson contract does not squeeze the Red Wings. An eight-year extension at, say, an $8.5 million average would still leave them in good shape.
He is worth paying. Last season Edvinsson played 72 games and put up nine goals, 16 assists and a plus-12 rating while logging more than 22 minutes a night.
Trading Dylan Larkin First Would Cost Detroit Leverage
If the Red Wings sign Edvinsson rather than trade him, the haul for Larkin could be through the roof, because Detroit would be selling from strength. Move Larkin first and come up short, and the team walks into any Edvinsson talks with less to work with. Larkin, signed through 2030-31 at an $8.7 million cap hit, has no clock on him in either scenario.
Friedman also reported on Oct. 22 that Detroit had started asking rival teams about young centers, though he could not say whether those conversations involved Larkin, Edvinsson or both. Horcoff cannot afford to get the sequence wrong. With about a month left on the Dec. 1 clock, nothing public suggests the gap between what Edvinsson wants and what the Red Wings say they want has closed.
Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.