Krupa: Wings played free-agent cards right

Detroit — The contrasts of the talent search in the NHL is what makes the hot stove so interesting to sit around.

And when it comes to the new Red Wings free agents, there is no small degree of duality.

Mike Green is a good offensive defenseman. But he struggles, at times, defensively.

Brad Richards can still play. But, at 35, he has played better.

A three-year term for the 29-year-old Green was well-negotiated. But, at $6 million per, he is expensive — in fact, as well-remunerated by the Wings as Niklas Kronwall.

Richards had a decent second half and produced in the playoffs. But his first half had the Blackhawks wondering about the $2 million they paid him.

In Green, the Red Wings got their right-handed shooting power play threat. But he toiled as a third-pair defenseman much of the season under Barry Trotz with the Capitals.

They may well have upgraded significantly from Stephen Weiss with Richards. But when Joel Quenneville tried to pair him with Patrick Kane at the start of last season, the Blackhawks coach eventually had to drop him to the third line.

So, you say you want to be a general manager in the NHL, eh?

Ken Holland, who does that sort of thing for the Red Wings, believes he did pretty well Wednesday as the club sought to put an end to a bit of a slump in free agency — not many hits in recent years and fooled badly on the pitch for strike three with Weiss.

(While there were other hands on that bat, the official scorer recorded it as Mike Babcock's strikeout.)

But, then again, it's all a bit of a gamble. Is it not?

Wings upgraded

Holland likely was around the office with coach Jeff Blashill and Mark Howe, the chief professional scout, fielding phone calls and watching the NHL tickers Wednesday. But, when all is said and done, it is always at least a wee bit like being at Mrs. Ilitch's casino and knowing a lot about blackjack.

Despite the selection of Weiss, Holland knows when to hold them and when to fold them.

Assuming good fortune, for once, with injuries, Green and Richards are significant upgrades. Healthy, they should provide a rookie NHL coach with more offensive punch and, perhaps more importantly, less time in the defensive zone than Babcock had to coach around for the past few seasons.

If he is healthy, Green finally should fill the hole once occupied by Brian Rafalski and, previously, Mathieu Schneider.

And with Danny DeKeyser to his left, mopping up almost any spills caused by Green's emphasis on offense and occasional defensive lapses, it may well be the cavalry has appeared on the ridge for a defensive unit that still is finding its way three seasons after the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom.

But as his then-coach, former Wings forward Adam Oates, said of Green's performance defensively, compared to his offense, at the end of the 2014 season: "He's an enigma."

Trotz, our old friend who made the Predators pesky even early in their history because of his predilection for defense, described the challenge for Green heading into last season, five months after Oates made his assertion.

"The areas he needs to work hard, around the cage, some of the boxing out, some of those areas around the net where he can get better," Trotz said. "His skill set when he skates and with his hands are phenomenal."

By the end of the season, Green was demoted.

But the Capitals were deep on defense, and Trotz is a stickler. Meanwhile, the Red Wings have needed someone with Green's offense since retirement followed Rafalski's four goals and 44 assists in 2010-11.

If anyone in the NHL can make the tape-to-tape outlet passes, hitting forwards at full speed out of the zone like Rafalski, it is Green.

The Red Wings spent entirely too much time in their own zone last season. And that is not lost on Holland or Blashill, who already are indicating quicker exits are an essential priority.

"We were looking for a defenseman who could create offense from the back end," Holland said. "I think we've done a real good job of defending.

"But the way we've had success, in the past, if you think about Lidstrom and Rafalski, Larry Murphy and Chris Chelios, is having defensemen join the rush and create offense."

And, as Blashill put it, "I think the best defensive zone coverage is breaking the puck out of your own end."

Babcock thought so, too. He just never got enough of it.

Injury-plagued player

And that is why the Red Wings were in hot pursuit of Green at this time last year, too.

But he gets hurt, a lot. Indeed, despite being runner-up for the Norris Trophy a couple times, the Capitals thought they faced a tough decision on whether to re-sign him in 2012 because of the injuries.

In essence, Holland said those things are too difficult to predict.

If he is healthy, Richards is a significant upgrade on the hapless Weiss in his intended role as second-line center.

Conceptually, he will allow Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk to play on the same line, and Darren Helm to re-stake his claim as the best third-line center in the game.

Richards also will help the Wings sustain their performance as one of the top power plays teams, like they were after the first month of last season.

Richard will get $1 million more from the Wings next season than he got from the Blackhawks last season. And if they make it to the conference finals, he gets $750,000 in bonuses.

Heck, if they make the conference finals, the faithful might pass the cap and pay the three-quarters of a million themselves.

gregg.krupa@detroitnews.com

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