The Red Wings have added a little more muscle to their blue line while they wait on a deal with restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson. Detroit claimed defenseman Andreas Englund off waivers from the Flames, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported.
Englund, 30, had signed a one-year, $900K one-way deal with Calgary this summer with the goal of landing a job on the back end. That didn’t happen. He was beaten out in camp, landed on waivers, and now gets another shot to win a spot with a new team.
Detroit is getting a player with plenty of NHL mileage, even if his recent path has bounced him around between leagues. Englund spent the previous year and a half in Nashville, where he was claimed on waivers in February 2025 and finished the season with the Predators.
He later cleared waivers last season and spent most of the year with AHL Milwaukee, putting up three goals and 10 assists with 65 penalty minutes in 52 games. He also appeared in three games for Nashville, finishing with four hits in a little under nine minutes of ice time per night.
Across eight seasons and five organizations, Englund has dressed in 200 career NHL games. He has two goals, 18 assists, 181 blocks, 488 hits and 190 penalty minutes in 12:33 per game.
He doesn’t look like a lock for regular duty in Detroit when the roster is fully healthy, but he gives the Red Wings another option if they want more bite and toughness on a given night. Englund is slated to head back to unrestricted free agency next summer.
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