DETROIT – There is a contract that needs to be signed before training camp opens. There is no one to sign it on Detroit’s side.
Simon Edvinsson, 24, is an unsigned restricted free agent defenseman. The Detroit Red Wings want to keep him. His agent, Peter Werner of CAA, told Swedish newspaper Expressen the position as of this week: “We’re not speculating, we’re just patiently waiting for the new general manager.” Nicklas Lidstrom, the Red Wings’ vice president of hockey operations, offered the same measured read when asked about the file. “We want to keep Simon,” Lidstrom said, “but it’s a bit quiet right now. As you know, we’re looking for a new general manager.”
The quiet has a deadline.
Under the NHL’s revised collective bargaining agreement, September 15 is the final day teams can agree to a contract of eight years or more before a new seven-year maximum takes effect. Training camp opens September 16. The math is not comfortable. Detroit has 13 days to hire a general manager, get that person oriented enough to close a contract worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 to $70 million, and get both parties to sign before a rule change permanently narrows the term available to one of the most important defenseman decisions in the organization’s recent history.
Steve Yzerman stepped down as Red Wings general manager on July 15. He spent seven years rebuilding a franchise that had gone 10 consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance, and he ultimately transitioned to a senior advisory role to governor and CEO Chris Ilitch after Dylan Larkin’s trade request became public and the direction of the rebuild became a legitimate organizational question. Detroit hired TurnkeyZRG, an outside search firm, to manage the replacement process. People inside the league have described it as a serious undertaking, with emphasis placed on analytical competence and what was characterized as full autonomy for whoever takes the role. Seven weeks into the search, no successor has been identified publicly.
Edvinsson was selected sixth overall in 2021. He played 72 games last season, posting nine goals and 25 points from the blue line, production that illustrated both his upside and the gap between where he is and where the Red Wings need him to be. He is not yet the No. 1 defenseman the rebuild requires. He may become that. Detroit’s read is that he will, which is why the organization wants to own those developmental years with a long-term contract rather than allow him to prove it on a shorter bridge deal and re-enter the market at full value.
His camp’s calculus is not uncomplicated. The defenseman market moved significantly this summer. Bowen Byram signed with the Chicago Blackhawks at six years and $12.5 million per season, a number that exceeded most preseason projections for his tier, according to Yahoo Sports. Pavel Mintyukov and Simon Nemec signed shorter-term deals in the $7.25-to-$7.4 million range. Edvinsson’s salary expectation is generally projected between $8 million and $8.5 million per year, and that portion of the discussion is reportedly not where the conversation has stalled. Term is.
The September 15 deadline makes term everything. Eight years of contract means Edvinsson stays in Detroit through 2034, through what should be his physical prime years as a defender. Detroit wants that commitment. Edvinsson has signaled, through his agent, that he wants to stay. What has not happened is a formal negotiation, because the franchise that holds his rights does not yet have a permanent decision-maker authorized to conduct one.
The structural bind is that neither side wants the situation to drift past the deadline. This is not a situation like Columbus center Adam Fantilli’s contract holdout, where a GM is at the table but the parties disagree on length. Detroit and Edvinsson cannot disagree on terms because no one on Detroit’s side has been authorized to put terms on the table. The organization wants the deal. The player wants to be in the organization. And a clock neither party engineered is running down on both of them.
Lidstrom, whose number 5 hangs from the rafters at Little Caesars Arena, is managing the file in the interim. His public comments suggest patience rather than alarm. Whether Lidstrom holds the authority to negotiate a deal of this magnitude, without a permanent GM installed, has not been addressed by the organization.
Detroit entered this offseason with roughly $19.6 million in cap space. An Edvinsson extension at $8 to $8.5 million per year is manageable. The Red Wings are not cap-constrained. They are authority-constrained, and the calendar is the factor that turns that distinction into an actual problem.
Thirteen days until the CBA window closes. One day after that, the players report.
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