Red Wings Sign Chase Stillman

The Red Wings have added some forward depth to their system.  The team announced today (Twitter link) that they’ve signed Chase Stillman to a one-year, two-way contract.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that it will pay $850K in the NHL and $90K in the minors.

The 21-year-old was a first-round pick by New Jersey back in 2021 but hasn’t had much success at the professional level as of yet.  Stillman played his junior hockey in the OHL but never reached the point-per-game mark in any of his three seasons.  Instead, his best efforts were 49 and 48-point seasons after being drafted.

In the pros, Stillman has played exclusively at the AHL level.  His best year was his rookie campaign in 2023-24 with Utica where he had 14 goals and 10 assists in 54 games, a respectable showing.  But things didn’t go well the following season where he wound up being traded to Pittsburgh near the trade deadline.  The change of scenery didn’t help as he managed just three points in 19 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton following the shot, bringing his total output to just a dozen points in 65 appearances.

That led to another trade for Stillman last summer as he was moved to Vancouver as part of the swap that sent goaltender Arturs Silovs to the Penguins.  While Silovs went on to show some promise with his new team, Stillman had an injury-riddled year that limited him to just 24 games, where he put up three goals and six assists.  That wasn’t enough to earn a qualifying offer from the Canucks, resulting in him being non-tendered on Monday.

Stillman will now join his fourth team in 16 months as a result of this signing.  Barring an unexpected breakout in training camp, he’ll be ticketed to play with AHL Grand Rapids next season, pending waiver clearance.  From there, he’ll hope to have a bounce-back performance that gives him a shot at his first NHL appearance at some point next season.