Red Wings' free agency fails to impress NHL experts
· Yahoo Sports
The marks are in after two days of NHL free agency and the Detroit Red Wings have failed to impress NHL experts.
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Daily Faceoff and the Associated Press rank the Red Wings among the losers in free agency despite the additions of forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Keegan Kolesar and goalie Daniil Tarasov.
Daily Faceoff
"Viktor Arvidsson is a good signing in a vacuum coming off a resurgent season. But zoom out and we have a team riding 10 consecutive playoff misses, sitting on captain Dylan Larkin’s trade request waiting on the right deal.
"Do additions like Arvidsson and grinder Keegan Kolesar mean anything in the context of a team whose direction is unknown? If Steve Yzerman was not Steve Yzerman, he’d have been fired from the Red Wings GM chair twice by now. What a disaster his tenure has been."
Associated Press
"Detroit has not made the playoffs since 2016, now the NHL’s longest drought. And there is lingering uncertainty with captain Dylan Larking wanting out. The Red Wings’ muddled path forward was evident Wednesday with the signing of Viktor Arvidsson and trade pickup of Keegan Kolesar representing their most notable additions.
"GM Steve Yzerman has the leverage of time in waiting for the best offer for Larkin. And yet the situation has the potential of becoming a bigger distraction and handcuffing Yzerman from building the roster further."
The Athletic
"With the bulk of the top free agents now off the board and other movement around the league bringing competing rosters into view, perhaps the simplest way to evaluate the Red Wings right now begins with a question: As things stand today, how do the Red Wings stack up in the Atlantic Division?
"With Larkin and Kane in tow, that answer likely would have been somewhere in a jumble of teams — including Toronto, Boston, Ottawa — jostling for the fifth spot in the division, and a puncher’s chance at a wild card. Without either? They could very well be headed for last in the Atlantic."
Frankly Hockey
Frank Seravalli of Frankly Hockey reported on Thursday that Red Wings forward Patrick Kane could wind up in his hometown in Buffalo.
"I just want to be careful," Seravalli said. "I'm not projecting this or predicting this but there are whispers that going to Buffalo could be a distinct possibility for Kane and really, not a shock.
"If you're the Sabres and you're Jarmo Kekalainen and you're trying to piece this team together for the upcoming season after losing Alex Tuck, who are the right wingers that we could acquire this summer?
"Oh wait, here's a guy from Buffalo who is one of the game's all-time greats who put up 57 points in 67 games. It fits on so many levels and just watching the social media discourse, some Sabres fans are saying, 'Why now?
"I just think that's such a crazy thought process because Patrick Kane in the right role and the right expectations, he can help any team. I don't need to explain how much Patrick Kane is idolized by the younger generation."
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Red Wings' free agency fails to impress NHL experts