Darren Helm handed 5-year deal from Red Wings

Darren Helm is fast. This has been his greatest virtue in his nine NHL seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, and as the Pittsburgh Penguins reminded us in their Stanley Cup run, it’s also a precious commodity in today’s NHL.

Let’s keep that in mind as the news hits on July 1 that Helm has been re-signed to a five-year extension by the Red Wings. According to Aaron Ward, the deal has an annual average value of $3.85 million.

Helm played 77 games last season with 13 goals and 13 assists, skating 15:04 for new coach Jeff Blashill. He was one of their top guys as far as ice time on the penalty kill. Helm was also a positive possession player at 52 percent Corsi at 5-on-5, although playing the majority of his minutes with Pavel Datsyuk might be a factor there.

So the Red Wings sign a role player for five years. One that, perhaps, could be expansion draft bait.

They now have $14.2 million to sign Danny Dekeyser, Petr Mrazek and a replacement for Pavel Datsyuk that will probably be Frans Nielsen.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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