One last deal to mention from the eve of the Free Agent Frenzy... the Red Wings have re-signed defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, giving the 27-year old Swede a 3-year deal, reportedly worth $9.75 million, which works out to be a $3.25 million cap hit per season. Ericsson was about to become an unrestricted free agent on Friday afternoon, but the Wings did well to lock him up in a post-Brian Rafalski era.
Ericsson has developed into a fairly steady blueliner for the Red Wings, not quite an offensive force to boast about (3 goals and 12 assists in 74 games), but he'll give Detroit upwards of 24 minutes of ice-time a game and he was a plus player in the regular season (+8), which suggests that he is fairly responsible over the whole of the season.
With Ericsson on the books, I now have the Red Wings going into the Free Agent Frenzy with 16 players (10 forwards, five defense and a goalie) signed on for $50.3 million, leaving them about $14 million in projected cap space for spending. Detroit can get away with only signing three forwards, two defense and a goalie, which gives them all kinds of flexibility.
No comments:
Post a Comment