Here are quick hits from Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman’s news conference Thursday.
The availability at Little Caesars Arena came the day after Yzerman signed forward Vladimir Tarasenko for two years and $9.5 million, to make up for some of the offense lost in the free-agent departures of Shayne Gostisbehere, David Perron and Daniel Sprong. Yzerman also traded forward Robby Fabbri and a conditional fourth-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks Thursday afternoon in exchange for minor-league goalie Gage Alexander.
Yzerman’s other big signing came the day before free agency, when he locked up forward Patrick Kane for one year at $4 million.
IN THE CREASE:Detroit Red Wings goalie prospect Trey Augustine goes from ‘Gramps’ to the world stage
On Tarasenko signing
Tarasenko is a former 40-goal scorer, four-time All-Star Game participant and two-time Stanley Cup winner who projects to strengthen the top six.
“”He’s a left-shot winger, bigger body, a little bit different type of player than our wingers like Lucas Raymond, Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat — a bigger body,” Yzerman said. “He’ll fill out that top six, top-nine group. Scorer, straight-ahead guy, goes to the net. We feel it’s a really good addition.”
On the plethora of goaltenders
Along with Alexander, the Wings also have goalies Ville Husso, Alex Lyon, and free-agent newcomers Cam Talbot and Jack Campbell under contract for next season. Talbot, especially, was signed in view of Husso missing the last two-thirds of the season with a lower-body injury.
“We’ll see how Ville’s health is in training camp,” Yzerman said. “We expect him to be 100% ready to go. And then we’ll do what we did last year — we’ll play it by ear and figure it out as we go along.”
Free agent frenzy
Once free agency opened at noon Monday, the top free agents, such as Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, were snapped up right away — in both cases by the Nashville Predators. The Wings didn’t really make a splash signing until Tarasenko, but Yzerman admitted the Wings did have interest in one.
“We had some interest in one that we thought might be a fit,” Yzerman said. “These things happen very quickly and we decided very quickly that it’s going to be really some major surgery here to try and get it done. And we didn’t want to waste everybody’s time getting there. So one player we thought might have been a really good fit, but it was going to be a challenge to get it done, and the concern on July 1 is, everybody is gone.”
Yzerman wouldn’t name names, of course, but given his history as GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, odds are it was Stamkos.
Contact Helene St. James athstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@helenestjames. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon,Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
Read more on theDetroit Red Wings and sign up for ourRed Wings newsletter.
