The Detroit Red Wings signed free agent Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth an average annual value of $4.75 million. Tarasenko told the assembled media in Detroit that Patrick Kane was one of the reasons that he chose to join the Red Wings. This comes a year after Kane said that the main reason that he signed with the Red Wings was that Alex DeBrincat was a close friend of the team. DeBrincat played on the Red Wings’ first line during the 2023-24 season with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond.
Tarasenko scored 23 goals and added 32 assists in 76 games played for both the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers during the 2023-24 season. Adding a player of Tarasenko’s scoring talent is something that the Red Wings have not been able to do through the NHL draft. Drafted with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård is arguably the most talented winger in the Red Wings’ prospect system.
Brandsegg-Nygård recently signed his entry-level contract with the Red Wings. The standard three-year entry-level contract has an average annual value of $975,000. Brandsegg-Nygård is slated to play for Skellefteå AIK of the SHL for the 2024-25 season. This will be a step up from playing for Mora IK in Sweden’s second-highest professional league during the 2023-24 season, where Brandsegg-Nygård scored eight goals and added ten assists in 41 games played.
Tarasenko seems to be eager to fit in with his new Red Wings teammates. “Biggest thing is having a close group of guys and that’s what I heard about Detroit – that the guys are very close and it’s a good group. I’ll just try to help as much as I can,” Tarasenko said. “I liked the way the team played last year,” Tarasenko said Monday. “We decided with the family this is the best decision for us moving forward, and we are really excited about it.”
So, where does Tarasenko fit into the Red Wings’ 2024-25 lineup? DeBrincat is the most talented left-winger on the Red Wings’ current roster. At 26 years old and having already played one season for the Red Wings, DeBrincat is likely to slot in as the top-line left-winger. DeBrincat is six years younger than Tarasenko, who scored five goals during the Panthers’ Stanley Cup run last season. As the Red Wings are just coming out of their rebuild, Tarasenko is unlikely to be on the team’s roster when they are competing for Stanley Cups again.
Now that Yzerman has remade the Red Wings roster, he is no longer solely responsible for getting players to come to Detroit. The play of the Red Wings during the 2023-24 season is attractive enough to improve the roster. DeBrincat leading to Kane’s signing and Kane being a former teammate of Tarasenko is evidence of this. Kane echoed this sentiment when asked about teaming up with Tarasenko again.
“Obviously, you get excited about that, and then [Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman] called me as well, just asking about him as a player,” Kane said. “I think he’s going to be so good for the group. Obviously, he’s a proven winner, but just the way he plays, how hard he plays, I think a lot of players in general, not just young guys but the whole team, will see how hard he works and how much effort he gives every shift and that’s why he has a couple of Stanley Cups to his name too.”
It will take time for the Red Wings to work Tarasenko into their lineup. Players need time to learn how to play together, no matter how talented they are. DeBrincat went through stretches during his first season as a Red Wing when he did not score. Tarasenko’s familiarity with Kane after playing with him in New York will ease this transition into the Red Wings lineup.
