The Detroit Red Wings have added defenseman Ronnie Attard on a one-year, two-way contract.
The team did not disclose the financial terms, but PuckPedia reported the deal includes a league-minimum $850K NHL salary and a $300K AHL salary. Attard is represented by Rich Evans of The Team.
Attard, 27, reached unrestricted free agency earlier this month for the second time in his career. He was also a UFA last summer after the Edmonton Oilers non-tendered him.
A 6-foot-3, 208-pound blueliner, Attard was selected by the Flyers in the third round of the 2019 draft. He built his reputation in the USHL and NCAA before moving quickly to the NHL, making his Philadelphia debut late in the 2021-22 season.
That early NHL exposure never turned into a steady role. The Flyers used him in 15 NHL games right after he signed his entry-level deal, but over the next three full seasons in Philadelphia, he appeared in just 14 more NHL contests.
Most of Attard’s success has come in the AHL, where he has been productive everywhere except the NHL. He posted 12 goals and 32 points as a rookie, then followed that with 10 goals and 27 points in 48 games in 2023-24.
For a time, Philadelphia believed he might grow into a full-time NHL defenseman, and that optimism showed up in the two-year extension he signed in July 2023. The deal carried a one-way structure and a $925K salary in its second year.
But once that second year arrived, it became clear his NHL path would not continue in Philadelphia. The Flyers traded him to the Oilers in early November 2024 for career AHLer Ben Gleason, whose one-way contract was about $150K cheaper than Attard’s.
Attard did not get an NHL opportunity in Edmonton, either. He spent his entire time with the organization in the AHL and finished with 17 points in 59 games, which was his lowest AHL point total to that stage of his career.
After the Oilers non-tendered him, Attard signed with the Colorado Avalanche and stayed in the AHL in 2025-26, putting up 17 points in 44 games.
Now he lands in Detroit, where the path to NHL ice looks crowded. The Red Wings have a packed blue line, with multiple defensemen and several rising prospects competing for spots on the depth chart.
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