Red Wings May Regret Missing Chance to Add Eeli Tolvanen

The Red Wings are running out of options to add to an uninspiring roster before the season starts.

Apr 6, 2026; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Seattle Kraken right wing Eeli Tolvanen (20) puck juggles before a game against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Having a relatively quiet 2026 offseason, the Detroit Red Wings lost more scoring depth than they got back after letting Patrick Kane and James van Riemsdyk go, and that could be increasingly problematic heading into a 2026-27 season that is beginning to feel like an inflection point for the storied franchise.

With training camp and opening night just weeks away at this point, the Red Wings have yet to tap their replacement for Steve Yzerman, who stepped down from his post as general manager back in July.

As a result, we still have no resolution to the Dylan Larkin saga, and Simon Edvinsson, the Red Wings' clear No. 2 behind Moritz Seider, remains without a contract.

The Red Wings did do well to sign veteran Viktor Arvidsson in free agency, but he's a 33-year-old, 5-foot-10 winger coming off the second-most productive season of his career with his 25 goals and 54 points in 69 games.

Arvidsson, by himself, also doesn't replace the 31 goals left behind by Kane and van Riemsdyk, and while the Red Wings had options to address their depth scoring, one of the best remaining players just got taken off the board.

Red Wings Should Have Signed Eeli Tolvanen

On Tuesday, the New York Rangers signed free agent winger Eeli Tolvanen to a very cheap and reasonable one-year, $1.5 million contract, plucking the second-most prolific forward available from the free agent market.

Tolvanen, 27, has spent the last four seasons with the Seattle Kraken, scoring a career-high 41 points in 2023-24 and a career-high 23 goals in 2024-25.

Last year was more of a ho-hum year for the former first-round pick, but even on a bad Kraken team, Tolvanen produced 12 goals, 24 assists, and 36 points. His 8.5 shooting percentage last year was well below his career average of 12%, and Tolvanen, despite his unimposing 5-foot-10 stature, has thrown no fewer than 187 hits in each of the last three seasons.

The Finn is an obvious candidate for some positive scoring regression in the goal-scoring department, and his dogged, ankle-biter playstyle makes him a great fit for any Stanley Cup contender or playoff hopeful's third line.

Unfortunately for the Red Wings, Tolvanen won't be providing those services in Motor City, and the truth is that Detroit should have snapped up Tolvanen long before the Rangers did.

Heading into the new season, the Red Wings figure to trot out a third line of Marco Kasper, J.T. Compher, and Mason Appleton. Of the three, Compher is the only one who cracked 20 points last season with his 11 goals and 28 points. That trio also combined for just 26 goals, which Tolvanen has nearly proven capable of producing just by himself in the past.

Instead, the Red Wings will be relying on continued development from players like Kasper, Emmitt Finnie, and Nate Danielson, while simultaneously hoping that older players like Arvidsson and Andrew Copp don't begin to regress.