The NHL’s free agency window opens July 1, 2026, and the Detroit Red Wings are walking into a market that looks thin from top to bottom. Alex Tuch and Darren Raddysh are already off the board on long-term deals, while other names such as Bobby McMann have stayed put with their current clubs.
That leaves Detroit with a limited menu. The class may be light, but there are still a few players who could help the Red Wings add depth and patch holes left by this year’s UFAs.
Eeli Tolvanen is the kind of target that won’t dominate headlines but could quietly make sense. The Seattle Kraken forward would give Detroit more even-strength scoring and a steadier presence in the bottom six, two areas the Red Wings badly need help in.
Tolvanen has scored 77 of his 92 career goals at 5v5, and he has generally lived in that 35-40 point range over most of his career. For a team looking to juice its third line, that profile carries real value.
He’s also not expected to cost much, with projections putting him at a two-year deal worth $3.4 million per season.
Anthony Mantha is the bigger swing, and the more complicated one. If Patrick Kane doesn’t come back to Detroit, the Red Wings will need another top-six forward, and Mantha’s name jumps right off the page.
He posted a career-high 33 goals and 64 points with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, which is the kind of production that gets attention fast. But the concerns are familiar: consistency and effort have followed him for years, and those were part of the reason Steve Yzerman dealt him to the Washington Capitals in the first place.
There’s always a chance he’s matured, but AFP Analytics projects him at four years and $6.3 million per season, which makes the gamble a lot steeper.
Then there’s Patrik Laine, who sits at the far end of the risk-reward spectrum. He was limited by injury for most of last season and finished with just one point in five games for the Montreal Canadiens, but the idea of Laine is still hard to ignore.
He’s nowhere near the 70-point peak he reached with the Winnipeg Jets in 2017-18, yet he still owns seven 20-goal seasons and can handle heavy power-play work. If Detroit needs more scoring with or without Kane, Laine can help there.
The appeal is the price. Most projections have him landing at around $850,000 on a one-year deal. That kind of contract gives the Red Wings flexibility: if Laine rebounds, they can flip him for a modest return; if he delivers, Detroit gets a shot at reviving his career; and if it doesn’t work, the cap hit is easy to move on from, including the option to waive him.
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