The Detroit Red Wings don’t sound interested in making Simon Edvinsson part of any trade chatter.
On Wednesday, interim general manager Shawn Horcoff made his position on the restricted free agent clear, and the message coming out of Detroit was blunt. According to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, Horcoff has "zero interest" in moving the 23-year-old defenseman and doesn’t want to spend much time entertaining that possibility.
That lines up with what other insiders have already been saying: Detroit’s preference has been to keep the Swedish blueliner in the fold. For a team trying to stabilize its roster, that’s a pretty straightforward call. Edvinsson was the sixth overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, and the Red Wings appear intent on making him part of their next push rather than using him as a trade chip.
The timing matters, too. Detroit has already crossed one major contract off the list after winger Alex DeBrincat signed a seven-year extension with a $13 million cap hit. With that deal settled, Edvinsson moves closer to the front of the line as the organization’s next big priority, and the focus can shift toward getting him back into game action.
And the Red Wings need help wherever they can find it.
Through six games, Detroit has dropped five. The team is allowing 3.17 goals per game, leaving it near the bottom of the league defensively, and the offense hasn’t picked up the slack either. At 2.33 goals per game, the Red Wings are sitting in the bottom five of the NHL.
Edvinsson’s value is obvious in that context. He brings a mix of defensive reliability and some offense from the blue line, the kind of profile that can give a struggling team a lift. He was a 30-point defenseman, and even that kind of contribution would be a welcome boost for a Red Wings club trying to steady itself early in the season.
In Other News...
Henrik Zetterbergs Jersey Retirement Turned Into An Awkward Scene
Henrik Zetterbergs No. 20 was finally lifted to the rafters by Timra on Friday before a game against Bjrklven, a ceremony meant to celebrate one of the most accomplished players to come through the Swedish club. For Detroit fans who watched Zetterberg become a Red Wings cornerstone, it should have been a straightforward tribute, but the night already carried a small blemish when Timra acknowledged an error on the banner noting the 2004-05 season.
The bigger problem came from the visiting end of the rink, where some Bjrklven supporters turned the event into an awkward scene. Their behavior drew enough attention that Bjrklven later apologized, and a sponsor withdrew support from the clubs supporters group after the incident, turning what should have been a celebration of Zetterbergs career into an embarrassment for everyone involved. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Suddenly Have Two Core Roster Questions Fans Cant Ignore
The Red Wings entered the week with one of the more delicate roster situations in the league, and it has nothing to do with a game-night injury report. General manager Shawn Horcoff met with Simon Edvinsson and his agent last week to talk through contract and trade possibilities, a sign the organization is trying to navigate a situation that has lingered longer than anyone around the team would like. For a club trying to keep its core moving in the same direction, the timing makes the whole thing even more delicate.
Edvinssons camp is believed to be open to a change of scenery if the talks do not move forward, and interest around the league has reportedly grown around the young defenseman. At the same time, trade chatter involving Dylan Larkin has picked up as well, giving Detroit two separate fronts to manage while the roster picture remains unsettled. Nothing is finalized on either front, but this is the kind of stretch that can reshape a teams plans in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Rally Made This Shootout Loss Even Harder To Swallow
The kind of comeback that usually earns a road team a satisfying point still left the Red Wings with a bitter finish in Seattle, where they erased a 3-0 deficit and pushed the game past regulation before falling 4-3 in a shootout. Viktor Arvidsson, Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat supplied the goals that got Detroit back into it, turning what looked like a runaway into a tense opener for a four-game road trip.
Detroit had all the ingredients to make the night feel salvaged once the rally was complete, but the final swing came in the shootout, where Seattle found the one conversion that mattered. After clawing all the way back, the Red Wings were left to sort through the frustration of a comeback that was impressive enough to travel with, yet still not enough to change the result. [Read more 🡒]