After their trashing in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Detroit Red Wings will be more motivated than ever to step up their preparations for the new NHL season. The team have already been hard at work behind the scenes, and have recently renewed the contract of two of their most prized assets. Both Danny DeKeyser and Petr Mrazek have agreed to stay with the Detroit based team, having previously been the subject of vast transfer speculation from the media.
Prior to his eventual new deal, DeKeyser had an arbitration hearing scheduled should such an agreement failed to have been reached. However, the 26-year-old has put pen to paper on a new six-year contract, thought to be worth in the region of $30 million. In his fourth season with the Red Wings last time around, DeKeyser managed eight goals, twelve assists, and was plus -2, with the year before proving to be his most successful with thirty-one points and plus -11. BettingSports have all the latest NHL news ahead of the new season, with Detroit currently outsiders for the Stanley Cup in the NHL betting odds.
Another player who avoided an arbitration hearing was goaltender Mrazek, with the Czech agreeing a two-year contract over the past two weeks. Mrazek led the Red Wings goalies in games played, with 27 wins from 54 games, as he shared the responsibility with Jimmy Howard. Mrazek joined fellow goaltender Jared Coreau, who also signed a new two-year contract on July 6th. The promise shown by the youngster over recent years goes some way to helping the odds for the Red Wings to reach the latter stages of the Eastern Conference playoffs become significantly shorter with BettingSports.
Having originally been drafted in the 2010 NHL draft, Riley Sheahan is set for a big year for the Red Wings. After scoring a career high of fourteen goals last season having come on late in the year, if he can sustain such form over the entirety of the campaign, then he will more than justify his new two-year bridge contract worth over $2million.
