Sam Gagner will be sticking around in Detroit for a little longer. The Red Wings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve re-signed the veteran to a one-year deal; Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (via Twitter) that the deal will pay $850K.
The 31-year-old was acquired back in February from Edmonton as part of the Andreas Athanasiou trade that also saw Detroit pick up a pair of second-round picks; Gagner’s inclusion was predominantly for salary matching purposes. He was given a good chunk of ice time after being acquired as he averaged more than 15 minutes per game over six contests before the pandemic ended the season prematurely.
While Gagner didn’t live up to the $3.15MM AAV that he had on his previous contract which resulted in him spending time in the minors the past two years, he can still put up some points in the NHL. Over those same two years where he was in the AHL at times, he combined for 12 goals and 14 assists in 74 games while notching 31 points in 74 contests in 2017-18.
Accordingly, the deal carries a bit of upside for Detroit. It won’t take much production to justify that price tag and if other young players push Gagner out of a roster spot at some point, it’s a deal that can be buried in the minors without any cap penalty for the Red Wings.
Didnt Gagner score like 6 goals in a game once?
He scored 8 points in a game, 4 goals, 4 assists in 2012. First 8 point game since Lemieux in ‘89.
I watched that game….back when the oilers were…uh…never mind.