Red Wings Sign Defenseman Holl

The Detroit Red Wings’ first official move of the 2023 NHL free agency season was to sign defenseman Justin Holl to a three-year deal with a salary cap hit of $3.4 million.

UPDATE: The #RedWings today signed defenseman Justin Holl to a three-year contract with an AAV of $3,400,000. pic.twitter.com/2ECVEfT2LY

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2023

This feels like one of those “we need to get harder to play against” signings that often doesn’t pan out.  The eye test seems to show Holl as pylon.  As a third-pair defenseman that kills penalties on a short-term, cheap deal, that’s not the end of the world.  At three years and $3.4 million AAV…  That’s hard to swallow.  There are some underlying fancystats that seem to say he could be better than that but it’s a hell of a risk.