Murder Eyes: Worth an extra quarter mill

The Red Wings are allegedly close to signing shootout specialist (LOL) Todd Bertuzzi to a two-year contract extension worth $2.2M per season. The deal was first reported by The Detroit Free Press and Helene St. James.

Bertuzzi is currently 7th on the Red Wings in scoring (and dead last among the Top 6 forwards). He’s on pace for 16 goals and 23 assists — which would be his lowest point total since the season he was first acquired by the Red Wings (2006-07) when he only suited up for 15 games.

It’s important to note that, because of Bertuzzi’s age, any multi-year deal would be a 35+ contract under the current collective bargaining agreement. While these rules may change with the upcoming CBA negotiations, any cap hit in years two and beyond of a multi-year deal that began after the player’s 35th birthday will count against the team’s cap no matter what happens with the player: if he’s demoted, injured and can’t play, or retires suddenly, Todd Bertuzzi’s cap hit will count against Detroit’s salary cap.

The Wings and Bertuzzi’s agent, Pat Morris, have been working on an extension for the past month or so — and both sides were clear that they wanted to remain working together and allow Bertuzzi to continue his playing career in Detroit. First acquired by the Red Wings at the trade deadline in 2007 (for Shawn Matthias and some conditional picks). He played the rest of the season and the playoffs for the Wings and bolted for Anaheim, where he signed a two-year deal. They only wanted one year of the Tuzz and bought out his contract over the following summer. He signed a one-year deal to play in Calgary before returning to the Red Wings in 2009-10. The second of subsequent one-year contracts was set to expire on July 1st of this upcoming summer.

With Niklas Kronwall and Todd Bertuzzi already signed to extension, cross two pending free agents off of the list. The remaining upcoming free agents are Mike Commodore, Tomas Holmstrom, Jiri Hudler, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brad Stuart (all UFAs); Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Kyle Quincey (all RFAs); Fabian Brunnstrom, Ty Conklin, Chris Conner, Garnet Exelby, Doug Janik, Jamie Johnson, Chris Minard (UFAs who are currently playing in Grand Rapids); Travis Ehrhardt, Tom McCollum, and Logan Pyett (RFAs playing in Grand Rapids).

Photo Credit: Dave Reginek, NHLI via Getty Images

In an odd, three-team trade this afternoon, the Detroit Red Wings re-acquired Kyle Quincey from the Tampa Bay Lightning — who had, moments earlier, acquired him from the Colorado Avalanche.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie has confirmed that the trade is final and that the Red Wings are now the proud owners of Kyle Quincey’s contract, which will be expiring on July 1st. His cap hit is $3.125M. He will be an improvement on the current third blueline pair, which consists of Jonathan Ericsson and Jakub Kindl. Mike Commodore will likely remain on the roster in an 8th defenseman capacity.

On July 1st, Quincey will be a restricted free agent.

Going the other way is Detroit’s first round draft pick in this upcoming draft and part-time Griffin/part-time Walleye defenseman Sebastien Piche. Piche, has not been able to elevate himself in Grand Rapids’ system after being signed as an undrafted free agent in 2009.

Quincey was originally drafted by the Red Wings in the fourth round of the 2003 Draft. He played in 13 games for the Red Wings before being waived (to keep Chris Chelios on the roster) in 2008. The Los Angeles Kings claimed him and he spent the rest of the year in Hollywood. He was traded to Colorado, where he’s been playing since 2009-10.

The 6-2, 207 lbs gritty defenseman has 5 goals, 18 assists, and 60 penalty minutes in 54 games played this season.

TO DETROIT: Kyle Quincey D
TO TAMPA BAY: Sebastien Piche D, Detroit’s 1st Round Pick in 2012
TO COLORADO: Steve Downie F