While the major free agency news of the day seemed to center on some guy named LeBron on Friday, the Detroit Red Wings were wheeling and dealing themselves.
After whiffing massively on the open market since the July 1st kickoff, the Red Wings continued their trend of resigning unpopular and unproductive players. That’s right Hockeytown, Dan Cleary is BACK!
Coming off an incredible season that saw the 35-year old, 36-in-December, winger produce an astonishing four goals and eight points in only 52 games. Through a full 82 game season Cleary would have been on pace to add one more goal and one more assist.
Let’s not go crazy and get ahead of ourselves, we all know that an 82 game season isn’t in the cards for the one-legged veteran. After all, he did have his knee drained several times last year with countless rolls of duct tape and Gorilla glue holding the gritty left-handers leg in place.
But wait, Red Wing faithful, there’s more. Since he has clearly been hobbled by a myriad of ailments it seems only fair that GM Ken Holland give him a contract laden with incentives. After all, we don’t want to just give money away. That’s why Holland included a performance-based boost that says that if Cleary meets certain criteria, he will receive an additional $1 million dollars.
That’s right. Incentive clause. $1 million cash. $2.5 million total for a player that has done virtually nothing for three years.
Ken Holland has been quoted as saying that the Cleary deal was made out of obligation for his willingness to return to Detroit last year and pass on a deal with Philadelphia that left much more money on the table.
So if I understand this correctly, Holland “hooked up” Cleary, a player that chose to contribute four goals last season in Detroit, rather than Philadelphia. Ken Holland somehow felt obliged to bring this player back. Thanks Ken. Thanks Dan.
Cleary is now the 14th forward out of 14 roster spots. He’ll need to earn a roster spot, particularly if the Wings get a strong training camp from Anthony Mantha, Teemu Pulkkinen and Tomas Jurco. It also means that Detroit will not be looking to bring back Daniel Alfredsson.
The Cleary signing is the latest in a summer of discontent in Detroit. With Hockeytown no longer the “it” place for free agents to sign, it appears as though signing their own re-treads, Cleary and Kyle Quincey are made out of sheer desperation. The fan base in Detroit knows this, and they are not pleased.
The primary goal headed in to free agency was to acquire a right-handed defenseman. The position gives Detroit a natural shot on the power play and has eluded Holland on the market like a bearded unicorn over the past few seasons. While it is commendable that the Wings didn’t lavishly overspend on the players available, the concern is now that he will over trade to fill that need.
Rumors of Mike Green and Jeff Petry are nice in theory, but at what cost can Detroit acquire them? The Red Wings have long been the model franchise of growing and developing their own talent, and the ripened fruit of Grand Rapids now fills the roster in Motown.
With defensive reinforcements on the horizon in the form of Alexei Marchenko, Ryan Sproul and Xavier Ouellet. Detroit will need to again test the patience of their hungry fan base to let these youngsters grow in to their skates.
It’s hard to consider that Detroit is anything but perennial contender in their conference. They have the playoff streak of 23 consecutive years, but a first round exit has been a hard pill to swallow for the Red Wing faithful.
“In Holland we trust” has been the slogan for Detroit fans in the six years since the Red Wings last lifted the Stanley Cup. Perhaps a victim of his own success, Ken Holland could find himself on the hot seat in the Motor City if his ill-conceived moves fail to work out.