Simon Edvinsson Has Told the Detroit Red Wings He Wants Out

The Detroit Red Wings and restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson have hit a major crossroads in contract negotiations. In fact, contract talks have ended, as Edvinsson has told the Red Wings he prefers a trade to signing an extension with the club, according to Elliotte Friedman during Saturday Headlines on Sportsnet’s Saturday Night Hockey,

“I want to make it very clear before I start on this one, the team and the agents are not talking (to the media). But there is word today around the league that unsigned Detroit defenseman Simon Edvinsson prefers a trade from the Red Wings,” Friedman said. “He went to camp with no contract. On the eve of the season, he went back to Sweden, where he’s skating now. Now I understand the Red Wings have made it clear to other teams that their priority is still to sign him. That is their number one goal. But apparently, his frustration with the situation has led him to say he would prefer a trade.” 

As Full Press Hockey reported last week, would anyone blame Simon Edvinsson if he got so frustrated that he wanted out of Detroit and asked for a trade or just signed an offer sheet to get away from the chaos? It could get to that point.

Well, it has gotten to that point given all the good faith on his end trying to resolve this. He went to training camp despite his agent’s better advice. The same agent who said he didn’t know who to speak with about negotiating a deal earlier in the summer. It was clear Edvinsson wanted to be with the Detroit Red Wings, as they presented him with offer sheets, and he chose not to sign. So it was clear he intended to sign in Detroit.

But despite the ongoing discussions between his agent and Interim general manager Shawn Horcoff, no contract extension came through, so he went back to Sweden to train with Frölunda. Nobody blames him either. He needs to stay in playing shape, and going back to Sweden makes perfect sense.

But it also shows that nothing is close between the Red Wings and Edvinsson. If something was close, he might have stayed in Detroit and worked on some other paperwork he needs to play.

“It takes as long as it needs to take,” his agent Peter Wener said. “Simon needs a place to prepare for the season, and Frölunda has been helpful and kind enough to let him join in and train for the time being.”

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It is never a good sign when an agent says a contract negotiation will take as long as it needs to take. The situation with Simon Edvinsson was already bad; it worsened throughout the offseason and reached a critical stage once training camp ended. Could the door to an offer sheet be back on the table?

“We considered several options and concluded that Gothenburg is the best choice for Simon,” Wener added. “Like I said, we don’t comment on ongoing negotiations. He’s doing everything he can to prepare to be the best hockey player possible once he starts playing games again.”

From the start of the process, the Red Wings have been slow to play Simon Edvinsson. The team wants a bridge deal while the player looks for a long-term deal. Even before Zeev Buium signed his extension with the Vancouver Canucks, the Red Wings lowballed Edvinsson.

In fact, they offered him less than half of Zeev Buium’s $9.38 million AAV. So if half is $4.69 million, then it was less than that, maybe around $4 million to $4.5 million on the bridge deal. According to reports, this upset the player. Still, he was at camp looking to make things work. It hasn’t worked out, and now it’s reached a breaking point.

The Red Wings are looking for a mid-tier bridge deal (three- to four-year range), while the player either wants a long-term deal (seven-year max) or a two-year deal, no in between.

From the start, it’s been clear the Red Wings want Edvinsson’s AAV below Moritz Seider‘s $8.55 million. However, the market is changing, and the player is looking for his value somewhere between $9 million and $11 million a season depending on the term.

There will be a lot of blame to go around, but these negotiating tactics by those who followed in Steve Yzerman‘s footsteps forced the Anaheim Ducks to pay Tristan Luneau earlier than Pat Verbeek wanted to, giving him the same $7.2 million as Pavel Mintyukov despite playing just 14 games in the NHL.

That happened because Ducks GM Pat Verbeek got caught when the Philadelphia Flyers offer-sheeted Leo Carlsson, and Anaheim had no choice but to match. It is a lesson in handling your business before some other team does.

The chaos that ensued and Detroit’s poor negotiation will cost the Red Wings a promising young defenseman, Simon Edvinsson.

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