The Detroit Red Wings are still looking for help up front, and Eeli Tolvanen has surfaced as one of the names on their radar.
According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period on the recent DFO Rundown, Detroit remains in the market for another top-six winger, a need that has only grown after Patrick Kane left for the Chicago Blackhawks. Pagnotta said the Red Wings have expressed interest in Tolvanen, though he did not say whether that happened before or after the team announced Steve Yzerman would be moving on as General Manager.
Tolvanen is still sitting in unrestricted free agency more than three weeks after the market opened, and he stands out as one of the better wingers still available. He is also one of the younger options left, which gives Detroit some added flexibility.
A major payday does not seem likely for him at this stage, and that would fit the Red Wings just fine, since they still have nearly $20MM in cap space. That figure does not account for Simon Edvinsson’s next contract, or the possibility of responding to an offer sheet.
From a roster standpoint, the fit is easy to see. Tolvanen could slide into Detroit’s top six and give the team more room to ease Emmitt Finnie’s workload than it had last season. He is not being framed as a cure-all, but he would make the Red Wings better, even if only by a modest margin.
Tolvanen’s career path has been a little uneven. The Nashville Predators took him 30th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, but he found his best stretch with the Seattle Kraken. His time in Nashville went south enough that the Predators eventually put him on waivers, and Seattle stepped in to claim him.
He settled into a steady middle-six role over three full seasons with the Kraken. Since the start of the 2023-24 campaign, Tolvanen has produced 51 goals and 112 points in 240 games, with a -30 rating and an average of 15:20 of ice time per game. He also brought more physicality to Seattle, something Detroit could use more of in its lineup.
At the same time, Tolvanen does not really dominate any one part of the game. He is more of a supporting piece than a driver, and he has only topped 40 points once.
Even so, the Red Wings need help wherever they can find it if they want to avoid a full collapse. And even with Tolvanen in the mix, the bigger picture in Detroit still looks bleak, just as it has since Yzerman first took over.
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