Jeremy Laura: Detroit Red Wings sign Austin Watson After successful PTO

Given the current list of folks eligible to be part of the Wings...... I think this works. I'd rather see Watson, honestly, because Holl is just.....just. He wasn't what we hoped, was sunk money, and now we can at least recoup some of those dollars.

Kasper was the guy during camp. He made his case, and I'd think, given carrying 3 G, he's on the roster. The only thing holding him up is an injury (NOT wishing injury on anyone, but it's inevitable). 'Course there are options available, if we could find a dance partner who'd take Berggren or some such.

I do think that's our opening night roster right there.

Saying it now, Kasper has a starting position by the end of February. By this time next year, there will be major changes in the composition of training camp on the ON roster....Kasper, Mazur, etc.... are all logical choices to make it, if not being called up before then.

Regarding Watson/Kasper

"Opening day" rosters are due today at 5 p.m. In order to have the roster spot and cap space to sign Watson, the Wings needed to assign Kasper to the minors. But of course, the Red Wings don't actually play until Thursday, so they could continue to adjust their roster in the meantime.

Whether Watson will still be on the active roster on Thursday, or Kasper makes it back up by then, is anyone's guess. My guess is Watson stays as the 13th forward and Kasper is the first callup when someone gets hurt. But I also would not be completely shocked to see Watson waived and sent down before Thursday.

Unpopular opinion: I do not like this signing. I'm not opposed to truculence but the rest of your game has to be good enough to warrant a regular shift even when violence isn't the currently required solution. I don't think Watson clears that bar.

Random contextual note: The fact that it's a two-way deal makes Watson easier to trade (and more likely to be claimed if waived) since it would save real dollars for the acquiring team if he clears and gets assigned to the minors. But friendly pre-emptive reminder that "two-way" deals do not mean that the player is waiver-exempt and does not have any cap implications; it just means that they get paid less in the AHL. I've already seen online comments praising the two-way-ness as somehow being something that fans should appreciate or care about, but it has no impact on Detroit's cap or roster flexibility. The only person who benefits from it is Chris Ilitch.

The fact that they send down a young guy who was arguably their best player in the pre-season, so they can keep a guy to sit on the bench to "scare" people into not going after their skill players, is an indictment as to how this team has been built.

Rasmussen - 6'6"
Fisher - 6'2"
Chiarot - 6'3"
Edvinsson - 6'6"
Petry - 6'3"
Sieder - 6'3"
Matta - 6'2"

Watson scares nobody in the league and being on the bench isn't going to stop players from going after skill players. Detroit has enough big guys to defend their skill players, but sadly, none of them do. Every one of those guys above should be able to fight. Every one of those guys should be willing to take 5-minute breaks to defend their scorers, but none of them do. Every one of them should be able to crush guys in rough games, but rarely do any of them do it. Detroit has gotten much bigger as a team, but the fact they plan to keep a guy like Watson means they didn't add any toughness as a team.

A couple of very good takes here^^^^^^
Like I said before, the Wings would do better in trading for Reaves than signing Watson. Reaves would be a cap dump, so one might actually gain a pick for taking him. He is smarter and more feared than Watson.

I think Watson brings as much to the team in total as does Motte, possibly more so; good signing. IMO the team's greatest immediate need remains an upgrade to RD on the second pairing. Given that Yzerman previously attempted to address this need via the failed trade for J Trouba, I believe it remains a priority. Filling this need before Thursday is a real possibility. Get it done Steve!

I’d love Revo on the team, but that isn’t happening now. Someone will get injured, and you know jasper will be the first call up.

I for one am so glad to have AW on the team and hopefully that will spare a better player from having to fight. Last thing we need is Seider breaking his hand.

I’d love Revo on the team, but that isn’t happening now. Someone will get injured, and you know jasper will be the first call up.

I for one am so glad to have AW on the team and hopefully that will spare a better player from having to fight. Last thing we need is Seider breaking his hand.
- NC_Scott

Do like Eddy did and keep the gloves on and hold him at arms' length and let him be penalized!

Dont know what everyones prediction is but for me the roster isnt good enough to be a playoff team.

You have 3 goalies which means you dont have one.
Chiarot on the top pair

I think Watson brings as much to the team in total as does Motte, possibly more so; good signing. IMO the team's greatest immediate need remains an upgrade to RD on the second pairing. Given that Yzerman previously attempted to address this need via the failed trade for J Trouba, I believe it remains a priority. Filling this need before Thursday is a real possibility. Get it done Steve!
- todd3066

I'm no big fan of Motte but he's above average defensively at even strength and a very good penalty killer. He also draws more penalties than he takes. Does it make up for the fact that he's less than useless offensively? On balance, probably not. But you can imagine a limited role for him where he'd be effective.

Watson is just as bad offensively, worse defensively, constantly puts his team shorthanded, and can't play special teams. He exists to hit and fight people. He played 33 games last season and got kicked out of three of them, despite playing barely more than 7 minutes per night.

Again, not opposed to adding toughness and truculence to the roster but Watson ain't it. He sucks.

Dont know what everyones prediction is but for me the roster isnt good enough to be a playoff team.

You have 3 goalies which means you dont have one.
Chiarot on the top pair
- wingz4life

I think they'll miss as well.

Last season the defense was bad, and the offense was bad at generating chances but really good at finishing them.

To me the offseason changes made the team a bit better defensively (especially up front), but they subtracted a lot of firepower from D corps (Ghost, Walman) and the bottom six (Sprong, Fabbri) to get there. That, plus shooting percentage returning more toward average, makes me concerned that this team might really struggle to score goals, especially if a key player or two get hurt. We really need Raymond to take another step forward, Larkin to stay healthy, DeBrincat to have a better season, Tarasenko and Kane to defy time, and somebody (Berggren? Copp? Kasper?) to provide some better-than-expected scoring punch from the bottom six.

We probably also need Seider to take another step forward and Edvinsson to be the real deal to solidy the D.

It's a lot to ask. Still, they've got a chance. Fingers crossed.

Update, per PHR:
1:14 p.m.: Detroit placed Watson on waivers Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Since he’s been signed and waived on the same day, he can be designated non-roster and not count against the cap for the Red Wings’ opening-night submission.

Update, per PHR:
1:14 p.m.: Detroit placed Watson on waivers Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Since he’s been signed and waived on the same day, he can be designated non-roster and not count against the cap for the Red Wings’ opening-night submission.
- Jeremy Laura

Hopefully someone picks him up.


Holl made it thru, now get another RD. Maata and a '26 2nd and a '25 5th for Fowler at $4M salary. Cam can play the RS on the 2nd pairing and Petry can go to the 3rd.

Update, per PHR:
1:14 p.m.: Detroit placed Watson on waivers Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Since he’s been signed and waived on the same day, he can be designated non-roster and not count against the cap for the Red Wings’ opening-night submission.
- Jeremy Laura

I believe the are underwater by a few hundred grand on the cap, so they are going to have to make some sort of move.

I think they'll miss as well.

Last season the defense was bad, and the offense was bad at generating chances but really good at finishing them.

To me the offseason changes made the team a bit better defensively (especially up front), but they subtracted a lot of firepower from D corps (Ghost, Walman) and the bottom six (Sprong, Fabbri) to get there. That, plus shooting percentage returning more toward average, makes me concerned that this team might really struggle to score goals, especially if a key player or two get hurt. We really need Raymond to take another step forward, Larkin to stay healthy, DeBrincat to have a better season, Tarasenko and Kane to defy time, and somebody (Berggren? Copp? Kasper?) to provide some better-than-expected scoring punch from the bottom six.

We probably also need Seider to take another step forward and Edvinsson to be the real deal to solidy the D.

It's a lot to ask. Still, they've got a chance. Fingers crossed.
- Sven22

yeah AND still not better then florida, toronto, boston, tampa, etc.
maybe one day but this rebuild is taking a long time.

Update, per PHR:
1:14 p.m.: Detroit placed Watson on waivers Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Since he’s been signed and waived on the same day, he can be designated non-roster and not count against the cap for the Red Wings’ opening-night submission.
- Jeremy Laura

While it's true that he can be designated non-roster for the opening night submission, I'm not really sure what purpose that would serve. There is no benefit to keeping him off and submitting a 22-man opening roster instead of 23, since either way they're under the cap and roster limit, have no LTIR shenanigans they can pull, and don't play until Thursday anyway. If the plan is to bring Kasper back up they can just as easily submit Watson at 5 p.m. today and swap them tomorrow.

The only possible roster move I can even think of that would make designating Watson non-roster necessary would be if they wanted to keep Holl on the active roster and designate Watson to GR tomorrow. Which, I mean, who knows.

I think most likely Watson is being waived here simply to give them the option to demote him at any point over the next 30 days, and they figure (probably correctly) that today is when he's least likely to be claimed.

I believe the are underwater by a few hundred grand on the cap, so they are going to have to make some sort of move.
- bluelineenforcer

They were going to waive Campbell, but I think with him on assistance leave, they have space. Puckpedia showing around 500k with Watson on the books still.

https://puckpedia.com/team/detroit-red-wings

I believe the are underwater by a few hundred grand on the cap, so they are going to have to make some sort of move.
- bluelineenforcer

Nah. They're about $600k under the cap with Watson on the 23-man roster, and about $200k under the cap if Watson is non-roster and Holl stays up.

There are 22 players who are locked in by virtue of the fact that they are not waiver-exempt and haven't already been waived or reassigned:

Forwards (12): Larkin, Raymond, DeBrincat, Copp, Compher, Tarsanko, Kane, Rasmussen, Veleno, Fischer, Berggren, Motte

Defenseman (7): Seider, Chiarot, Maatta, Petry, Gustafsson, Edvinsson, Johansson.

Goalies (3): Husso, Talbot, Lyon

Those 22 guys (plus buyouts to Abdelkader and Yamamoto) add up to roughly $84.4 million, or about $3.6 million under the cap.

Watson rostered + Holl buried adds a little over $3 million (~$600k under total)

Watson non-roster + Holl active roster adds $3.4 million (~$200k under)

Watson non-roster + Holl buried + Kasper called up adds roughly $3.15 million (~$500k under).

If the Wings were trying to, say, maximize use of LTIR it would make sense to try to get as close to the cap as possible on opening day, but that's not possible here.

Hopefully someone picks him up.


Holl made it thru, now get another RD. Maata and a '26 2nd and a '25 5th for Fowler at $4M salary. Cam can play the RS on the 2nd pairing and Petry can go to the 3rd.
- HenryHockey

Has Fowler ever demonstrated he can play his off side? If so, I'm all in!

Wings released the 23-man roster. Watson in, Holl down.

Still could be moves before Thursday.

Has Fowler ever demonstrated he can play his off side? If so, I'm all in!
- todd3066

Yes

Kasper not playing on open day roster in top six role at least for a couple of weeks is mind blowing considering he was the top
Forward in every game he played. I know Kasper is not Yzerman but if management had been as stupid then as this group ,Yzerman would have started his career in the minors. He alone should know that this guy deserves to show what he can do and it’s not like we are loaded upfront especially at centre. On a positive note all 3 goalies looked good.

For you Kasper fans:
Trade Veleno and Berggren for Cam Fowler at half salary ($3.25M)
Bring up Kasper and Watson, send Holl to GR
Play Fowler in the 2RD spot with Eddy, put Petry in 3rd pairing w/Maata