The Detroit Red Wings and restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson have hit the next phase in their negotiations. In fact, contract talks have ended. They have reached a breaking point, as Edvinsson has told the Red Wings he prefers a trade to signing an extension with the club, according to Elliotte Friedman during Saturday Headlines on Sportsnet’s Saturday Night Hockey.
“I want to make it very clear before I start on this one, the team and the agents are not talking (to the media). But there is word today around the league that unsigned Detroit defenseman Simon Edvinsson prefers a trade from the Red Wings,” Friedman said. “He went to camp with no contract. On the eve of the season, he went back to Sweden, where he’s skating now. Now I understand the Red Wings have made it clear to other teams that their priority is still to sign him. That is their number one goal. But apparently, his frustration with the situation has led him to say he would prefer a trade.”
It is no surprise that Edvinsson has gotten to this point. Reports last week stated that if Simon Edvinsson got frustrated with contract negotiations, he would want out of Detroit either via trade or by signing an offer sheet to get the money he feels he deserves.
Well, it’s gotten to that point given all the good faith on his end trying to resolve this. Remember, early in the process, his agent wasn’t sure who to speak to once Steve Yzerman was removed as the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings. But even before that, things were on a rocky path.
From the start, the Red Wings have been slow to play Simon Edvinsson. Detroit wanted him at a cap structure under Moritz Seider‘s $8.55 million AAV. Word is the Red Wings want a bridge deal while the player looks for a long-term deal. Even before Zeev Buium signed his extension with the Vancouver Canucks, the Red Wings offered Edvinsson an insulting number.
In fact, they offered him less than half of Zeev Buium‘s $9.38 million AAV. So if half is $4.69 million, then it was less than that, maybe around $4 million to $4.5 million on the bridge deal. According to reports, this upset the player. Still, he was at camp looking to make things work. It didn’t work out, and the player is back in Sweden training, and now it’s reached a breaking point.
It was never a good sign when an agent says a contract negotiation will take as long as it needs to take. The situation with Simon Edvinsson was already bad; it worsened throughout the offseason and reached a critical stage once training camp ended. Could the door to an offer sheet be back on the table? Right now, all options are on the table, including a trade.
Even with Edvinsson in camp, his agent and Interim general manager Shawn Horcoff had been in ongoing discussions, but nothing came of it. It’s a philosophical stalemate between what the team wants and what the player wants.
The Red Wings are looking for a mid-tier bridge deal (three- to four-year range), while the player either wants a long-term deal (seven-year max) or a two-year deal, no in between. Again, Simon Edvinsson won’t take anything less than $9 million. The belief is he could receive somewhere between $9 million and $11 million a season depending on the term.
There is a lot of blame to go around, but the market is just changing for young players getting paid in a rising cap world. Tristan Luneau and Pavel Mintyukov now have the same $7.2 million AAV, Simon Nemec has a $7.25 million AAV, and Brandt Clarke has a $7.4 million AAV. Not to mention Luke Hughes and Jackson LaCombe, with a $9 million AAV.
Things in Detroit have turned ugly real quick. All of this could have been avoided if Detroit handled their business beforehand and just paid Simon Edvinsson, who wanted to be a Red Wing. Now the chaos and dysfunction will cost the Detroit Red Wings a foundational defenseman, Simon Edvinsson.
