Red Wings sign reserve center to two-year contract

The Detroit Red Wings have signed centerman Joe Veleno to a two-year contract, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). The deal will carry an annual average value of $2.275M and settles negotiations with a multi-year deal before Veleno was set for salary arbitration.

Veleno earns a hefty raise after vindicating the one-year, $825K contract he signed last summer. He posted 12 goals, 16 assists and 28 points this year — career-highs in all three categories — while looking much more the part of a robust third-line center. It was a strong step forward after Veleno’s stout 2022-23 campaign, where the former first-round pick planted his feet in Detroit’s lineup, posting 20 points in 81 games. It was a strong step forward from a solidifying 2022-23 campaign, which saw Veleno post 20 points in 81 games in his first true chance to carve out a role in the lineup.

Veleno is finally settling into a hardy NHL role after a few years of up-and-down play to start his career. He’s had to develop out of the high-energy scoring role he carried through four years in the QMJHL, learning to lean more into the physical advantage of his 6-foot-1, 201-pound frame. That’s made him much more effective at filling the responsibilities of a depth centerman with Veleno ranking fourth among Red Wings forwards and hits (108) and third among centermen in faceoff percentage (49.0 percent). The short-term extension will give him a chance to earn an even bigger raise before his prime with Veleno set to expire in his final year of RFA eligibility.