The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed an important young defender, inking Xavier Ouellet to a two-year, $2.5MM contract. That gives the Red Wings nine defensemen under NHL contracts.
Ouelett, 23, was perhaps the brightest spot on defense for the Red Wings last season, getting into 66 games and recording 12 points. The second-round pick has some sneaky offensive upside, and will be relied upon even more next season in a bigger role. With the team bringing in Trevor Daley and Luke Witkowski, and still having Mike Green and Danny DeKeyser under contract, Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson’s roles are slowly being diminished. Ouellet’s emergence will speed that process up even further, as he should get a regular shift all season this year.
It’s interesting to note that though the Red Wings aren’t expected to compete, they’ve added more defensemen than they need for next season. Perhaps that could mean a move of Green or someone else is on their way out this summer, or that they plan on hoarding assets until the trade deadline once again. By dealing players like Brendan Smith and Tomas Jurco last summer the team was able to collect some extra draft picks, a process they’re likely to repeat this year.
Vegas should’ve taken him