Red Wings: Thomas Greiss signs two-year contract to aid goalie situation
By Tyler Kotila
The Detroit Red Wings have found a solution for their goaltending situation with the addition of Thomas Greiss on a two-year, $7.2 million contract.
As the Detroit Red Wings continue through the offseason, they are filling out their roster. One of the areas that needed to be addressed was goaltending, and Thomas Greiss is the solution. The goaltending market thinned out quickly over the past week and into free agency.
The organization signed Greiss to a two-year deal, $3.6 million average annual value (AAV). However, the contract is structured to be backloaded for the organization. In year one, Greiss will take home $2.8 million, and in year two, Greiss will receive $4.4 million.
Greiss will join a tandem alongside Jonathan Bernier, which should hopefully leave the Red Wings with some more consistency and stability in the crease. Last season the organization suffered through Jimmy Howard in net, but Bernier excelled and played like a Most Valuable Player (MVP).
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After eleven seasons in the NHL, Greiss will come to the Red Wings. He is coming into his age thirty-five season. He will be around through his age thirty-six season in the winged-wheel uniform.
Over his last five seasons, Greiss has played for the New York Islanders, but he now moves to Hockeytown.
In 2019-20, Greiss played in 31 games this past season, starting 28 of them, posting a 16-9-4 record.
Greiss would also post a 2.74 goals-against average (GAA), and a .913 save percentage (SV%) while serving as a backup and tandem partner with Semyon Varlamov.
He will now likely be thrown into a position where he and Bernier will battle it out for a “starting” role.
He may not have been one of the most desirable options for goaltenders on the market, but he will help with the organization’s goaltending woes. He should be able to outperform what Howard did last season.
Bernier and Greiss should make for a much better goaltending tandem in 2020-21 as Yzerman continues finding good ways to make this a productive offseason. The signing of Bobby Ryan could perhaps one of the best he has made during his time with the Red Wings front office.
This goaltending addition may not be the most exciting, but some of the more desirable names were already on the move or have signed with other teams. At the end of the day, Greiss fills a need and provides a solution to the goaltending situation the Red Wings needed to address.
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Now, Detroit Red Wings General Manager (GM) Steve Yzerman can start moving towards their 2020-21 season and getting the last minute needs filled.