Red Wings Have Plenty of Cap Space After Yzerman’s Offseason Shopping

Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman bought a No. 2 center, a starting goalie and a puck moving defenseman and still has plenty of cap space left.

CapFriendly.com still shows the Red Wings with an NHL-leading $25.75 million in cap space remaining. However, the figure is misleading because they have four restricted free agents still to sign.

The Red Wings could have between $13 million and $13.75 million in cap space when everyone is signed. Cap space is valuable, given the vast majority of teams in the NHL are tight against the cap.

Here is a capsule look at Red Wings’ situation

As of today:  Nineteen players of the 23-person preliminary roster are signed.

Restricted free agents still to sign: Jakub Vrana, Adam Erne, Filip Hronek and Givani Smith.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Estimate salary cost for RFAs: About $11.4 million. That presumes none of the players receive a long-term deal. If the Red Wings tie up Vrana long-term it could increase the salary cap hit by up to $2 million.

Other additions:  Our preliminary roster includes Moritz Seider because it is likely he will play in Detroit this season. The roster isn’t including Joe Veleno or Lucas Raymond or Wyatt Newpower who are signed but still must make the team.

Red Wings future cap status: Frans Nielsen, Robby Fabbri, Vladislav Namestnikov, Sam Gagner, Danny DeKeyser,  Nick Leddy, Troy Stecher and Marc Staal have contracts that are expiring after this season. Their current contracts total $25.1 milion potentially coming off the books, although presently Fabbri seems like a priority to resign.