| Detroit Free Press
Steve Yzerman on signing Bobby Ryan, Jon Merrill to Detroit Red Wings
Steve Yzerman on signing Bobby Ryan & Jon Merrill. Oct. 9, 2020.
Vladislav Namestnikov grew up rooting for the Detroit Red Wings, and now will be able to realize a childhood dream and play for them.
The Wings announced Sunday they signed Namestnikov, 27, for two years, $4 million, adding yet another forward who projects to help them in the scoring department.
Namestnikov played for Wings GM Steve Yzerman in Tampa Bay, and reached 20 goals in 2017-18. He split 2019-20 between the Ottawa Senators and Colorado Avalanche, recording 17 goals and 14 assists in 63 games. A former first-round pick (27th, 2011), Namestnikov has 83 goals and 106 assists in 425 career NHL games.
Namestnikov is the nephew of former Wings forward Slava Kozlov, his mother’s brother. Namestnikov’s family lives in the metro Detroit area.
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He’s the fifth player Yzerman has signed since free agency began Friday, joining forward Bobby Ryan (one year, $1 million), defensemen Jon Merrill (one year, $925,000) and Troy Stecher (two years, $3.4 million) and goaltender Thomas Greiss (two years, $7.2 million).
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings will be published October 13 by Triumph Books. To order, go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble.