Red Wings have finally sign a 12months contract with a super veteran forward
Some organizational depth is being ensured by an Original Six franchise.
On Monday, the Detroit Red Wings announced they signed forward Tim Gettinger to a one-year, two-way contract extension that will carry through the end of the 2024-25 season.
Gettinger’s contract is for the league minimum, a $775,000 cap hit.
Gettinger is currently on a one-year deal with the Red Wings. However, he has not played a game with Detroit this season, spending the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign thus far with their American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.
The North Olmsted, Ohio native has played 16 games in the NHL, all with the New York Rangers, the team that selected him in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. Gettinger’s first and only point came on Nov. 22, 2019 against the Ottawa Senators. His last bit of action in the NHL occurred in the 2021-22 season when he played a career-high eight games with the Rangers.
The 25-year-old has been a steady offensive presence with the Griffins, having scored 12 goals and 13 assists, sitting tied for seventh on the team in scoring with 25 points. In 288 AHL games, Gettinger has scored 74 goals and 84 assists, and was coming off a career-best 35-point 2022-23 season with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He played in his 300th pro game on March 1, 2024 against the Iowa Wild.
The Red Wings (33-25-6) have slipped out of a playoff spot. They are fifth in the Atlantic Division, 10 points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for third. Detroit is tied with the New York Islanders with 72 points, but the Isles have moved up into the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Griffins (27-17-6-4) are second in the AHL’s Central Division, 11 points behind the Milwaukee Admirals, the primary affiliate of the Nashville Predators.
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How the Red Wings hurt themselves at the NHL trade deadline
Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman likes making big moves at the NHL trade deadline, but he shocked us by making no notable moves.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman found himself in quite a predicament as the 2024 NHL trade deadline approached. He lost one of his best players in Dylan Larkin to an injury, and his team hasn’t had that same, high-octane edge without him.
So after pulling off a major trade in the offseason to bring Alex DeBrincat to town before winning what were major sweepstakes for Patrick Kane, there was little doubt Yzerman would have done something to initially replace Larkin, before the star center returned. But that didn’t happen, and you really have to question what Yzerman was thinking.
The only trade Yzerman made involved sending Klim Kostin to the San Jose Sharks for Radim Simek and a seventh-round pick in 2024. And to be honest, it was a forgettable trade, and one that should have disappointed Detroit fans.
Red Wings do-nothing approach at the NHL trade deadline was shocking
There were so many players Yzerman could have made a serious push for following Larkin’s injury, especially considering how poorly the team had been playing since he went down. So now, we will see if the Red Wings can get back on track without making a major trade and without Larkin for the foreseeable future.
Yzerman could have helped the organization with a major acquisition so they could keep up their high-octane pace in Larkin’s absence. When Larkin returns in such a scenario, few would have kept up with the Red Wings. But since their star center’s last game on March 2nd, Detroit has lost five in a row, and opponents have outscored them 25 to eight.
There is also the ‘what-if’ factor to consider: What if Larkin isn’t the same player when he returns to the lineup for the first few games? With teams like the New York Islanders getting hot and the Buffalo Sabres sticking around the outer perimeter, Yzerman’s lack of action at the deadline has hurt this team in the most pivotal time of the season.
