The Detroit Red Wings have signed defenseman Justin Holl to a three-year contract worth $3.4M per season, the team said. Per CapFriendly, his deal includes a 21-team no-trade list.
In what will likely go down as one of the more interesting signings from the free-agency frenzy Saturday, the deal for Holl is very reminiscent of one of Detroit’s signings last offseason in Ben Chiarot. Last offseason, the Red Wings spent over $20M when the market opened up, and only managed a +3 win differential over the course of a year.
At last year’s deadline, Detroit flipped defenseman Filip Hronek to the Vancouver Canucks for the New York Islanders' first-round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft. In doing so, it was expected that the team would transfer Hronek’s minute to one of their best prospects, Simon Edvinsson. Instead, it appears that Holl will replace Hronek in the lineup moving forward.
Even with the Holl signing, the Red Wings still only have six defensemen on their roster, indicating that Edvinsson could still find a place on the team, moving Gustav Lindstrom to their seventh defenseman spot in the lineup. However, Edvinsson is not the only defenseman ready for a callup to the NHL, as fellow countrymen William Wallinder appears ready for NHL action as well.
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