Red Wings To Sign Thomas Vanek

Amid the frenzy of the National Hockey League free agent market, the Detroit Red Wings secured the services of one of their young defensemen.

A versatile forward, Nielsen will fill Detroit’s need for a top-six forward following Pavel Datysuk’s exit and likely take over second-line center duties. “He’s had a lot of responsibility, offensively and defensively, we feel he’s a 200-foot player”.

Nielsen, a third-round pick in the 2002 NHL Draft, was the New York Islanders’ longest-tenured player.

A veteran of 606 National Hockey League games, all with the New York Islanders, the 32-year-old Nielsen has 119 goals and 230 assists.

Thomas Vanek, RW, one year, $2.6 millionThis one is puzzling, to say the least.

Vanek was just recently bought out by the Minnesota Wild after spending the past few seasons with them.

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland certainly didn’t hold back on Friday.

Forward Darren Helm and defenseman Alexey Marchenko agreed to deals with Detroit to stay with the team just before they would have been available on the market.

Helm’s deal is worth $3.85 million annually.

Ott, 33, had 0 goals and 2 assists in 21 games last season for the St. Louis Blues. “We think we’re going to have some real good competition, good depth up front”. This year, I would expect the Wings to put him in a larger role.

The Detroit Red Wings were extremely busy on the first day of free agency Friday, focusing nearly entirely on upgrading at forward.

Holland went to work on next season, signing the consistent and underrated Frans Nielsen to a 6-year contract worth $31.5 million ($5.25 million average), essentially replacing Pavel Datsyuk, who returned to finish his career in Russian Federation.

Datsyuk’s agent, Dan Milstein, told The Associated Press on Friday afternoon that his client hadn’t yet agreed to a deal to play in Russian Federation next season.