The Detroit Red Wings have signed Joe Veleno to a two-year contract. The average annual value of this contract is $2.275 million. This signing allows the Red Wings a 48-hour buyout window that allows the team to terminate contracts that are worth more than an average annual value of $4 million. This has led some to speculate as to who the Red Wings could use this buyout window to create more space on the teams’ roster.
The Red Wings currently have four goalies on their current roster. The team signed both Jack Campbell and Cam Talbot during the 2024 free agency period. These two goalies are both over the age of 30 and will provide a veteran presence between the pipes for the Red Wings as they try to make it back to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Campbell was the starting goalie for the Edmonton Oilers for only five games during the 2023-24 season, in which the Oilers made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Ville Husso is one goalie who has had an up-and-down time with the Red Wings. Acquired from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a third-round draft pick (the 73rd overall) in the 2022 NHL entry draft. At only 27 years old at the time, Husso could not find the net for the Blues in 2022. Husso signed a three-year contract with the Red Wings with an average annual value of $4.75 million after being acquired by the team.
Alex Lyon is yet another goalie that has one year left on his current contract. The difference between Lyon’s situation with the Red Wings and Husso’s is that Lyon was healthy during the 2023-24 season. Playing in 44 games for the Red Wings, Lyon had a record of 21-18-5. The Baudette, Minnesota had a goals-against-average of 3.05 during the 2023-24 season with a save percentage of .904. The cap hit that Lyon’s contract will carry for the 2024-25 season will be $900,000.
If Detroit had decided to buy out Husso’s contract, the salary cap hit would go down to 2/3 of its AAV, but the term would double. This is because Husso is 29-years-old. Using Husso as an example, his $4.75 million cap hit would become roughly $3.17 million, paid for two seasons instead of the one year left on his contract. The Red Wings could use this $1.58 million in savings this season at the cost of $3.17 million next season. Husso will make just under twice as much as Talbot for the 2024-25 season.
Husso has said that he hopes to return to the Red Wings from his lower-body injury. “It was a really tough year injury-wise, and I guess at the end, it was even mentally [tough] too,” Husso said. “It’s hard not to play. And we were trying everything to come back, maybe a little earlier than we were supposed to, but unfortunately, it didn’t work. But I’ll be healthy for next year, and I don’t think we need any surgeries or anything.”
Husso only played in 19 games for the Red Wings during the 2023-24 season after going down with a lower-body injury against the Anaheim Ducks in December. Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said during a press conference prior to free agency that he said fixing the goalie situation would be a priority. These moves were made while Sebastian Cossa and Trey Augustine progressed their way through the Red Wings’ system.
There are two restricted free agents that the Red Wings still need to sign. The team has over $17.5 million in salary cap space to sign defenseman Moritz Seider and left-winger Lucas Raymond. These two players will be the cornerstones of the franchise moving forward. Raymond nearly single-handedly dragged the Red Wings to the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the team was eliminated on the final day of the 2023-24 season when the Washington Capitals defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 2-1.
