Busy in Motown

The Detroit Red Wings have made some splashes in the signing department this week. First, it was confirmed on Tuesday that Mike Modano has signed with the Red Wings, with a formal announcement coming very soon and they also announced that they have re-signed restricted free agent forward Darren Helm to a new 2-year deal as well. Both players round out the top 12 forwards for the Red Wings at the moment and keep the team under the cap ceiling, for now.

Modano signed a 1-year deal with the Red Wings, reportedly worth $1.25 million, but likely has some performance bonuses for the 2011 season that will kick the number up a little bit. With the Stars in 2010, Modano had 14 goals and 16 assists in 59 games. He had a bit of a rough year with a rib injury and an appendectomy sidelining him for portions of the season, but it sounds like he'll be ready to go in September.

This will be Modano's first NHL season away from the Stars franchise, to whom he was drafted by in 1988 and moved to Dallas from Minnesota with in 1993.  Modano was also a big part of the 1999 Stanley Cup winning team in Dallas.

In Detroit, he should have a good opportunity to produce, but at age 40, his talents and ice-time may be a little bit limited behind the regular superstars of the team.  Modano will likely have to take on a smaller role with the club, but that should suit him just fine and be good for about 40 points.  I would imagine he would see some power play time on the 2nd unit, which will likely be the root of most of his points.

Helm, a 2005 draft pick of the Red Wings, had finished his entry-level deal in 2010 and signed a 2-year pact with a cap hit of $912,500 per season.  In 2010, he played in 75 games for the club, scoring 11 goals and 13 assists in more of a checking role.  Helm brings a lot of speed to the table and some very reasonable skill, that which has landed him in the top-240 among forwards in points, giving him an outside shot of being taken in the pool draft this year.  I don't expect his role to change very much in 2011, but his numbers could improve a little with experience and possibly a touch more ice-time.  I could see him reach 30 points in 2011.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Pavel Datsyuk	Nicklas Lidstrom	Jimmy Howard
Henrik Zetterberg	Brian Rafalski	Chris Osgood
Tomas Holmstrom	Niklas Kronwall
Todd Bertuzzi	Brad Stuart
Valtteri Filppula	Jonathan Ericsson
Dan Cleary	Derek Meech
Mike Modano
Darren Helm
Patrick Eaves
Kris Draper
Johan Franzen
Drew Miller
Jiri Hudler

As of right now, the team table above could go into the 2011 season and play. The team has 21 players on the table, plus a small bonus penalty from the 2010 season, and their annual cap number is currently sitting at $56.8 million, well below the cap ceiling. The Red Wings have only one restricted free agent left to sign in Justin Abdelkader and they should have plenty of room for him to fit underneath, but another forward isn't really what they need, rather a defenseman should be on their shopping list before the start of the season. The Red Wings do have some young talent for their blueline, which may be used, but I think we all know how much the Red Wings like veteran skill instead of youthful enthusiasm.

I don't know if I am going to buy into the Red Wings just yet, as their core kind of dropped off a little in 2010, which could be attributed to all that hockey they've played in, including two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals.  Adding Modano doesn't make the team any younger, as their signed team of 21 players is the oldest group in the NHL, with an average age of 31.4 years, well ahead of the 2nd place New Jersey Devils, who have an average age of 30.2 and the 3rd place Anaheim Ducks, at 30.0 years.  The age factor should be considered a liability, but only in terms of their chances of success.  They still have a pretty good team and have as good of a chance as most teams in the league, but age is going to be a hurdle for them to jump over.