Though 2014 NHL free agency is still just hours old, the winners and losers among the league’s 30 teams have already emerged—the Detroit Red Wings find themselves amongst the latter group.
Despite intense interest and pursuit of top free-agent defenders in Christian Ehrhoff, Dan Boyle and Matt Niskanen, the Red Wings remain flush with cash but not blue-line talent.
Make no mistake about it—the Detroit Red Wings at present are a weaker team than they would have been with one of those three players on the back end. However, regarding how big the Red Wings lost today, history may look more favorably upon them than currently seems possible.
The two-year gap that reportedly existed between the three-year contract Detroit preferred and the five-year deal Ehrhoff was seeking apparently wasn’t an issue for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Ehrhoff signed a ridiculously reasonable one-year, $4 million deal to play for the Penguins—and that within the first hour of free agency.
Clearly, Detroit—nor any other team—w ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Matt Hutter