With the moves that general manager Steve Yzerman has made this offseason, the Detroit Red Wings should be in a prime position to be in the playoff hunt for the 2023-24 season. But looking forward to next offseason already, Yzerman’s next big moves should come in the form of extensions for two of the team’s top young players, Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond.
What Could Extensions for Seider and Raymond Look Like?
Starting with the 2022 Calder Trophy winner in Moritz Seider, who should be a lock on the back end for years to come for the Red Wings.
Since being drafted sixth overall by Yzerman in the 2019 Draft, Seider has become one of the league’s best young defensemen. In two full seasons in the NHL, he has not missed a single game, playing in all 164 games. He has also been able to total 12 goals and 80 assists for 92 total points so far. He is a player that Yzerman should be looking to lock up long-term to solidify the team’s number-one defenseman spot.
A comparable contract that has recently been given out is the extension that the Dallas Stars signed defenseman Miro Heiskanen to in 2021, which was an eight-year, $67.5 million contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $8.45 million. At the time of the extension, Heiskanen was the same age that Seider currently is (22 years old) and was also coming off his second full NHL season. Along with that, he also had comparable numbers although a little lower than Seider, with 68 total points in his first two seasons.
This contract could prove to be in line with what Seider could and should be looking at AAV-wise, but term-wise might be shorter as Yzerman has been known to be reluctant to give out contracts any longer than four to five years. Realistically, a deal in the range of five to six years worth an AAV in the ballpark of $8.5 million should be what Seider and the Red Wings work out for an extension, putting him in the top 15 range of highest-paid defensemen in the NHL.
Raymond on the other hand may be a tricky situation contract-wise. After being drafted in the 2020 Draft fourth overall by the Red Wings, he has played in 156 games in two seasons totaling 40 goals, 62 assists and 102 points. Compared to other players in his draft class, Raymond has been able to perform well, sitting two points behind fourth-overall pick Tim Stutzle and surpassing the number-one pick Alexis Lafreniere, who has had 91 points in his career so far.
Contract-wise, both Stutzle and Lafreniere have signed extensions with the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers respectively but are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Stutzle signed an eight-year, $66.8 million extension with the Senators while Lafreniere signed a two-year, $4.65 million extension this offseason with the Rangers. Raymond figures to most likely slide in between both of these players in term and AAV. The Red Wings would like to see Raymond take the next step to become a top-tier player and return to his rookie season form where he was able to score 23 goals. He did take a step backward in the 2022-23 season, only tallying 17 goals and 28 assists. This could lead Yzerman to sign him to a bridge deal for two or three years in the range of $4-5 million AAV.
Related: Red Wings 2023-24 Player Preview: Lucas Raymond
If Raymond is able to take that next step in the next couple of seasons, which is very possible still being 21 years old, he could set himself up for a longer-term extension at some point, whether it be in the midst of a bridge contract or after it.
With the cap for the league projected to jump from $83.5 million to $87.7 million in the 2024-25 season, the Red Wings sit at just north of $30 million in projected cap space. It would be very wise to invest in their top young players currently on the team in Seider and Raymond.
