The Detroit Red Wings signed defenseman Ben Chiarot on Wednesday.
UPDATE: The #RedWings today signed defenseman Ben Chiarot to a 4-year contract. pic.twitter.com/kHFQ097mfv
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 13, 2022
The deal is reportedly for four years at a cap hit of $4.75 million.
That term is hard to swallow. The cap hit… If it had been two years, sure. The Wings won’t be near the cap for the next couple years, let Chris Ilitch spend money. But at four years, that gets into extension time for a lot of players. As I said with the Andrew Copp deal, that gets problematic.
The difficult thing is that Chiarot is an upgrade to Detroit’s defense. Certainly not a particularly exciting upgrade, but the Wings were bad last year. He should make them much harder to play against.
Maybe next fall I can look at this deal and appreciate that more. In the summer, though, it’s a lot harder to see that.
