The Detroit Red Wings have announced that they’ve re-signed forward Joe Veleno to a one-year contract for the 2023-24 season with a cap hit of $825,000. The 23-year-old just completed his third season with the Wings and tallied nine goals and 11 assists in 81 games.
Veleno served Detroit’s fourth line well as he posted 152 hits on the season and was a disruptive force against opposing offences. While he did post 20 points on the campaign, he endured some long stretches where the offence dried up, including a 20-game drought where he was held pointless.
Veleno did not qualify for arbitration, which significantly hindered his negotiating power. He will once again be a restricted free agent next summer and could be looking to cash in if he can find more offence in the upcoming season. He will be due a qualifying offer of $866,000 next summer for Detroit to retain his rights.
The Montreal, Quebec native has a good combination of size and speed. He does good work on the forecheck, but it does feel like he has a lot more to give as he enters his prime. Although he hasn’t typically been penalized a lot in the NHL, he did face a major suspension this past spring when he was suspended at the 2023 IIHF World Championship for stomping on the leg of Winnipeg Jets forward Nino Niederreiter during a preliminary round game between Switzerland and Canada.
Veleno was coming off his entry-level contract with Detroit after dressing in 152 games over the past three years. To this point in his career, he has collected 18 goals and 18 assists while posting 13:03 of ice time per game.
Breakout or move out year maybe. Think if I remember he was thinking 2C/3C and get the feeling he will not be happy settling for 4th line grinder. He was considered special for a reason so not saying it can’t happen he is a middle 6 center, but his time to show more at the NHL level for the Wings is up I think.
He either takes a big step up and they end up with a good middle 6 center option or he only looks slightly better and may not want to be stuck behind Kasper/Danielson/Lombardi or Compher/Copp/Ras or whatever the better options are in the plan and play the 4th line. If it turns out he does not carve out a role this year that works for both him and the team, my thought is he is moved to someone like MTL for the home town change of scenery angle and they get whatever picks they can. Well see.