Detroit Red Wings Have Busy Free Agency Opening Day

The Detroit Red Wings were busy on day one of free agency. The team that many thought may not do too much in the first few days signed two big named free agents. The Red Wings signed Mike Green and Brad Richards. Green for three years and Richards for one year.

What do these two players bring to the Red Wings?

Green is probably the best signing of the two players, he is younger and fills a highly important need for the Red Wings. Green is a 6′ 1″ defenseman who has spent his entire career with the Washington Capitals. While there he registered 360 points (113-247) and was a very productive defensemen for the team.

With the Red Wings in need of some defensive help that is NHL ready, Green is a perfect fit for them. He was actually a player I didn’t think would leave his team because he spent so much time in Washington. The other nice thing is that the team signed him for three years, which allows us to have him as a still good player and allow defensemen that we drafted to spend time getting developed.

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Then there is Richards, who comes to us from the Chicago Blackhawks. I think that this isn’t a bad signing, I like Richards mostly, he helps your team, but not in the biggest way possible. I also believe that this signing is a result of the team losing center Pavel Datsyuk for the probable start of the 2015-16 season.

The one-year deal makes a lot of sense, Richards is a bit older, 35 in fact, so signing him to a longer deal, like the three-year contract Green was signed to makes little sense. However, the team will need someone to help fill in at center depth if Datsyuk is not ready to go at the start of the season, and even if he is ready to go, having Richards still helps them out.

Other news and notes 

Team resigns Brendan Smith

The team has resigned Brendan Smith to a two-year deal. The 26-year-old will have a salary cap hit of $2.75 million over the next two years. He was a helpful part of the defense core this past season and will hopefully continue to help.

The Red Wings also resigned center Andy Miele and goaltender Tim McCollum