Congratulations to the Boston Bruins on their Stanley Cup victory last night. We’re officially in the off-season and The Production Line is looking forward to a roster shuffle, not to mention the upcoming NHL Draft and some coaching changes. Super quick bullet points to catch up:
- Assistant Coach Paul MacLean has been named the head coach of the Ottawa Senators, meaning that the Red Wings will have to replace both assistant coaches to head coach Mike Babcock. Lots of names have been tossed around, including Windsor native and former Blue Jackets assistant Bob Boughner, Canadian Junior Coach Dave Cameron, and former Dallas Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock — my favorites are former Minnesota Wild head coach Todd Richards and former Plymouth Whalers and Florida Panthers head coach Pete DeBoer.
- Joey MacDonald will not sign a two-way deal, and will head to Russia if he doesn’t get an NHL-only deal.
- In the same article, we learn that it’s unlikely Chris Osgood and Kris Draper will return as players.
- A bit of rumor-mongering, but apparently Jaromir Jagr’s agent has contacted the Red Wings to see if they’d be interested in his client’s services.
As of right now, the Red Wings have $41,892,044 committed to twelve forwards (including Mursak and Emmerton), three defenseman, and one goaltender. They’ll have somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million to spend on the following:
- A backup goaltender.
- Nicklas Lidstrom, should he choose to return.
- Three other defensemen: Jonathan Ericsson is an unrestricted free agent who could return, and Brendan Smith will be given every opportunity to make the club.
- Two more forwards, likely to be Patrick Eaves and Drew Miller.
I don’t get it. If the wings aren’t going to bring back Osgood why would they not offer MacDonald a contract to be backup?
To hear Ken Holland tell it, the Wings will be interested in some of the guys that will make it to the market on July 1st (presumably Ty Conklin, Johan Hedberg, Mike Smith, etc). As a result, they wouldn’t want to lock in Joey MacDonald to a one-way contract.
Though, I agree with you. Joey Mac did a hell of a job in Detroit and would be a reliable backup. But perhaps the team would prefer to take advantage of the deep free agent crop of netminders.
Also depends on what kind of money Joey wants, if he can get a better regarded ‘tender for the same or less, why wouldn’t he?
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