One of the first things Simon Edvinsson did on July 15 was to reach out to his agent to find out what was going on with the Detroit Red Wings.
That was the day the team ousted Steve Yzerman as general manager, and announced a search for a new leader of the hockey operations department.
Edvinsson, without a contract, called his representative.
"I asked and he said we lay low for a little bit, that hopefully someone comes in soon," Edvinsson said. "It took a while but now it's finally someone here and we've been having a good conversation."
The "someone" is Shawn Horcoff, who the team named interim GM two days before the start of training camp.
Edvinsson, 23, had just come off his second day of on-ice practice on Friday, Sept. 18. He asked his representatives
to arrange for personal insurance so he could be at camp, even as he hasn't, as a precaution, taken part in scrimmages.
"I don't see the reason for me to sit at home to be honest," he said. "I think I would be stressed if I was back in Sweden now and I saw everybody else practicing. We are going into a new season where it's important that everybody is linked together. I don't know the expression but everybody needs to be on the same page and that was my reasoning to come over here."
Even though he hasn't scrimmaged, having Edvinsson be part of practices and ready to do more the second his contract is settled, is a huge plus for the Wings.
"I give that young man a lot of credit," coach Todd McLellan said. "He could be at home in Sweden, waiting and biding his time. He came over and he wanted to be with his teammates. He's not signed right now. That's not his fault. We haven't had a lot of ability in the organization to get all that stuff done. So give him credit. He's come over. And now it's time for our organization to work fast with him, and fair."
What's fair now looks considerably pricier than had the Wings signed the restricted free agent early in the summer, ideally in the same range as the $8.55 million annual average on Moritz Seider's contract.
Earlier this month, the Vancouver Canucks extended defenseman Zeev Buium for eight years at a $9.38 million annual value – he has played 76 career NHL games to Edvinsson's 175 (60 points).
“Simon is a fantastic player and a bright spot in our organization," Horcoff said Wednesday, "so we’re going to get to work on that contract as soon as we can and hopefully have something done here shortly.”
The smooth-skating, puck-moving 6-foot-6 defenseman, drafted at No. 8 in 2023, plays an enormously important role, a veritable workhorse who faces top opposing forwards among other duties.
"We see the size of his skating ability," McLellan said. "He's got a real good shot. He jumps in at the right time. His hockey IQ has improved a lot. He reads plays better. He kills plays faster. He's a little quicker in and around the net. And I would say if he had those, the disaster moments that we all have, whether it's coaches or players, they're fewer and far between. So he's come a long way, really, when you think about it."
Edvinsson, listed at 225 pounds on the camp roster, described himself as being, "probably in the best shape I've been in my life. I'm a little bit heavier and I feel like I got more control now over the movements and I feel like that can make me a better threat on the offensive blue line and I feel like that can make me a better threat to come out of the home zone as well so it's just small things but I think in general it feels pretty good."
Moritz Seider contract a steal for Wings?
It was a banner offseason for contracts for defensemen, headlined by Cale Makar's historic eight-year contract extension with the Colorado Avalanche worth $163.2 million, making him the highest-paid player in NHL history.
"I think it's great," Seider said. "I think everybody should get paid to their best abilities, and it just shows that we're hopefully getting a little bit closer to the other sports. I mean, still there's some crazy change when you compare us to basketball or football, but I think we're just taking it day by day. We have unbelievable talent in our league, and I think they get paid rightfully so."
Seider almost certainly would have reached an annual average in double-digit millions had he signed a bridge (shorter term) deal in 2024 rather than the seven-year deal he agreed to, but Seider downplayed any regret.
"Not at all," he said. "I think I'm in a position where I don't have to worry about anything. I just can play hockey, do what I love most, and still be secured probably for a lifetime if you don't do anything stupid. So I think I'm in a great spot."
[ Red Wings need to stop wasting time and make Mo Seider their new captain ]
Exploring Detroit
Newcomer Keegan Kolesar, acquired during the summer in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights, told a funny story about exploring Detroit with his fiancée and running into the phenomenon on that is downtown on a Detroit Lions game day.
"She's huge into markets, so we went to the Eastern Market," he said. "We went on Sunday. Yeah, wrong day to go – tailgate. So she messed up. She got Saturday and Sunday confused, so we're going to try it again this Saturday. That was too many people. We walked around for a bit. Pretty cool. It's not my first tailgate in the NFL, but it's definitely hers."
Marco Kasper in the middle
Lines are always subject to change, but two days into camp, Kasper has played middle man between Emmitt Finnie and newcomer Viktor Arvidsson, a free-agent addition.
"He's great, just a great guy," Kasper said of Arvidsson. "You can see he's been around for a long time. He knows what he's talking about. Me and Emmitt are just trying to listen to him and try to do the things we do well. A lot of speed, winning pucks and stuff like that. Just try to find some chemistry, I think."
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Time for Red Wings to 'to work fast and fair' to sign Simon Edvinsson
