The Detroit Red Wings are running out of time, and the Simon Edvinsson contract situation is only making the optics worse.
With training camp about a month away, the franchise still doesn’t have a general manager in place, captain Dylan Larkin has requested a trade and remains on the roster, and Edvinsson - a restricted free agent - is still waiting for a new deal. That combination has turned a routine extension conversation into another public sign of disorder.
On the Full Press Hockey Podcast, insider Bob Duff said the situation has become so tangled that even Edvinsson’s agent doesn’t know who he should be dealing with. Agent Peter Werner echoed that point in comments to Swedish outlet Expressen, saying Edvinsson’s side is waiting for Detroit to hire a new GM before anything can really move forward.
The clock is not exactly forgiving. The Red Wings have roughly $19.6 million in cap space, with an estimated $8-10 million expected to go toward an Edvinsson extension, which would leave $9-11 million unallocated. The money is there, but the person to sign off on the deal apparently is not.
And the deadline is creeping closer. NHL players can be locked up for eight years until September 16th, and Detroit has less than four weeks to sort this out if that’s the route it wants to take.
Edvinsson, 21, was drafted sixth overall in 2021 and put together a strong season, finishing with a career-high nine goals while ranking second on the team in average ice time behind only Moritz Seider. Missing a chance to get him under contract because the front office has been slow to settle on leadership would be a bad look. It’s made worse by the fact that Shawn Horcoff is serving as interim GM, yet still doesn’t have the authority to make major decisions.
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