Edvinsson Will Show Up to Camp. The Question Is Whether Anyone Can Sign Him.

The awkward truth about Simon Edvinsson's situation is that the good news and the bad news arrived in the same week. He's expected to report to training camp as an unsigned restricted free agent — a sign that whatever informal progress has been made is sufficient to keep him in the building. And yet the market just moved against Detroit before anyone with actual signing authority has sat down across from him.

Zeev Buium's blockbuster extension, reported this week as a new benchmark for young defensemen of Edvinsson's profile, is the number Detroit can't ignore. These comparables don't stay theoretical for long; agents use them, and they use them immediately. Edvinsson posted 18 points in 43 games last season while averaging over 22 minutes of ice time per night — a workload that signals the organization already trusts him in meaningful situations, even if the counting stats don't yet scream top-pairing money. The Buium deal changes what "top-pairing money" means for a player of his age and trajectory, and that recalibration is happening in real time, with no GM in Detroit's front office to respond.

That's the part that doesn't get easier with patience. Edvinsson showing up to camp is good. Edvinsson showing up to camp while the organization remains without a general manager, while the eight-year extension window is closing, and while Buium's deal sits on every agent's desk as a fresh data point — that's a negotiation happening in the worst possible conditions for the team. Whoever eventually takes the GM job inherits a number that has already been set by the market, not by Detroit's own leverage.

I wrote last week that Buium's deal made Edvinsson more expensive and Detroit had no one to write the check. What's clarified since is that the timeline isn't abstract anymore. Training camp is days away. Jeff Greenberg withdrew from GM consideration on September 7, narrowing a field that was already thin. The eight-year extension deadline is approaching without a decision-maker in place. My read is that the longer this search runs, the more the incoming GM is forced into a reactive posture on every contract — paying market rate or above because the window to shape the market has already closed.

Moritz Seider logged more than 25 minutes per game last season and was recognized among the league's top 10 defensemen. Dylan Larkin's extension deadline is the one everyone is watching. But Edvinsson is the contract that will tell you the most about how the incoming GM operates under pressure — because this one can't be deferred, can't be studied at leisure, and just got more expensive while Detroit was still looking for someone to answer the phone.