With the NHL season still a few excruciating weeks away, it's time for the building up and breaking down of prospects, bickering among ownership and self-proclaimed "undervalued" players, and for teams around the league to take care of as much in-house business as possible.
The Detroit Red Wings were one of the teams to do just that this week by signing up-and-coming defenseman Danny DeKeyser to a two-year deal on the eve of training camp.
BREAKING: The #RedWings and Danny DeKeyser have agreed to terms on a two-year deal.
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 16, 2014
According to Ansar Khan of mlive.com, the Red Wings are banking on DeKeyser's continued development into a cornerstone of their defense for many seasons to come. DeKeyser's style as a puck-moving defenseman in the mold of P.K. Subban of the Montreal Canadians and Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings was sorely needed on an aging Red Wings team. He brings a mobility and fluidity that had been lacking in recent seasons.
24-year-old DeKeyser's rookie season consisted of four goals and 19 assists, which amounted to the second-most points among defensemen on the team, and a plus-10 rating while appearing in 65 games. He was second on the team only to long-standing veteran Niklas Kronwall in average ice time, and saw regular minutes on both the penalty kill and power play.
The team and player had reportedly been negotiating for quite some time before the agreement was reached.
DeKeyser made his NHL debut late in 2013 after signing with the Red Wings as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan.
He had been a restricted free agent, but will now belong to the team for two more years at a reported average cap hit of $2.187 million.
Not bad for an undrafted free agent from Macomb, Michigan.
The Red Wings, meanwhile, are at about $65.9 million of the $69 million cap. They will have to be very judicious with any and all moves they make from here on out.
