The Red Wings announced Sunday that they tendered qualifying offers to defenseman Moritz Seider and forwards Lucas Raymond, Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno. Detroit did not tender an offer for defenseman Jared McIsaac.
The Detroit Red Wings had until 5 p.m. ET on Sunday to tender qualifying offers to their five restricted free agents. Their decisions weren't all that surprising.
Detroit gave qualifying offers to defenseman Moritz Seider as well as forwards Lucas Raymond, Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno. The Red Wings did not give an offer to defenseman Jared McIsaac, a 2018 second round pick. He will become an unrestricted free agent July 1.
A qualifying offer is a minimum, one-year contract offered to a player. If they accept the offer, it becomes their contract. If a player rejects it, their rights are retained by the offering team. It's the NHL's solution to make sure young players don't walk away from teams for free, extending control over its draft picks for longer.
Sending qualifying offers is a normal part of negotiating with RFAs, preventing them from walking away on the open market July 1 where other teams could sign them for free. Teams still can try to sign qualified players through offer sheets, but any acquisitions require draft pick compensation that scales with the contract's value. If any of them are offer sheeted, Detroit would then have seven days to match the amount.
That shouldn't be too big a concern. As much as a particularly vindictive opposing GM could really put Steve Yzerman in a squeeze, it's a rarer process for big-time stars like Seider and Raymond. All four qualified RFAs are players that the Red Wings seem interested in keeping around — if not for their outright play then for their value as players. A qualifying offer is a good sign that Detroit wants to bring all four back.
Seider, Raymond and Berggren are poised to sign their first extensions after the expiration of their entry-level contracts. Veleno was an RFA coming off his entry-level deal last year, signing a late prove-it deal in August just before training camp. This time around, all four are likely to get pay raises to some degree, especially Seider and Raymond who could break into the $6 to $8 million range depending on the term attached to their contracts.
Now, the Red Wings just have to negotiate those contracts, which comes with lots of complications. Seider and Raymond's combined cap hit will have an inordinate impact on Detroit' ability to keep or sign UFAs, including the likes of Patrick Kane, Shayne Gostisbehere and David Perron. And while their contracts will be significantly cheaper, Berggren and Veleno both have arbitration rights they can exercise if they don't like Detroit's offers.
For the one RFA that didn't earn a qualifying offer, McIsaac's case was a little interesting because despite being a skilled, mobile defenseman when the Red Wings picked him, he struggled with injuries throughout his time under contract and could never quite establish a rhythm. McIsaac signed a one-year prove-it deal with Detroit last offseason, but he ended up going on loan to Switzerland and then to the AHL's Providence Bruins because of a logjam on the Grand Rapids blue line. While a lack of a qualifying offer doesn't mean he can't return to the Detroit system, McIsaac is most likely going to sign with a different team, NHL or other.
The Red Wings' qualifying offers weren't anything groundbreaking, but they were an important box to check. Now, Detroit can continue its offseason business, most notably the opening of the unrestricted free agent market July 1.
