The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million US.
The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenceman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.
Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenceman drafted in 2019.
He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.
Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.
Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest post-season drought in franchise history.
The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight post-seasons ended in 2016.
Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.
Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.
Okposo plays 1,051 games in NHL career
Kyle Okposo is going out as a Stanley Cup champion.
Okposo, who played 17 seasons in the NHL and finished that run as part of the Florida team that won a title last season, announced his retirement on Thursday.
The former Buffalo Sabres captain made the announcement on social media, bringing an end to an NHL career that started when the New York Islanders drafted him with the No. 7 overall pick in 2006.
“It brought me to some amazing places and provided such unique experiences,” Okposo wrote about his 30 years in the game. “I believe the game is in a great place right now, but the possibilities are vast. I’m looking forward to continuing to contribute to the game as it reaches new heights.”
Okposo had 242 goals and 614 points in 1,051 NHL regular-season games, all but six of those contests coming when he played for the Islanders or the Sabres.
He went to the playoffs four times — 2013, 2015 and 2016 with the Islanders, then finished last season with the Panthers after joining them for the stretch run — and won the Cup for the first time.
Ex-NHLer Jagr opens 37th pro season
Jaromir Jagr has opened his 37th professional season, with hometown team Kladno Knights in the Czech league.
In what is expected to be his last season, the 52-year-old winger set up a power-play goal, the only one Kladno scored in a 5-1 away loss to Pardubice on Wednesday night.
It was the first time Jagr had played a season’s opener since the Calgary Flames released the NHL’s second-highest points scorer in 2018. He returned six years ago to Kladno, the team where he made his debut as a teenager and which he owns.
He played at Pardubice despite not being fully fit due to a muscle injury that forced him to interrupt pre-season training for four weeks.
Jagr said he needed more games to be back to his best.
“That’s fine, [it was] the first game,” he told local media.
Gudas is Ducks’ 1st captain in 2 years
Radko Gudas has been named the first captain of the Anaheim Ducks since Ryan Getzlaf’s retirement two seasons ago.
Gudas joined Anaheim a year ago as a free agent. The 34-year-old Czech defenceman had six goals, 18 points and 128 penalty minutes last season while providing badly needed veteran leadership for the Ducks’ talented young core.
Gudas is the ninth captain in Ducks history. He is their first European captain since Teemu Selanne, who served as co-captain with Paul Kariya during the 1997-98 season.
Anaheim went with a series of alternate captains the past two seasons, most prominently veteran defenseman Cam Fowler, who has been with the Ducks for his entire NHL career since 2010.
“Radko emerged as a natural leader who encompasses all of the qualities of a captain and the respect of his teammates, our staff and his peers,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement. “With a young group of players establishing themselves in the NHL, we felt it was necessary to have a veteran lead our team.
Early in his career with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, Gudas had a reputation as a feisty defenceman who regularly delivered questionable hits leading to league scrutiny and condemnation from opponents. He has matured during his years in the NHL, making more recent stops in Washington and Florida before he joined the Ducks.