Red Wings Announce Signing of Goalie Tarasov

The Detroit Red Wings announced a one-year contract for goaltender Daniil Tarasov on Wednesday.

DANIIL THE THRILL!

The #RedWings have signed Daniil Tarasov to a one-year contract with an AAV of $2,000,000. pic.twitter.com/OYRYfNrC2q

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 1, 2026

The deal carries a $2 million salary cap hit.

Tarasov spent last season backing up Sergei Bobrovski with the Florida Panthers. In 33 games he accumulated a .895 save percentage and a 3.05 goals-against average. Seventeen of his 31 starts qualified as “quality starts” per Rob Vollman’s methodology.

Presumably he’ll back up John Gibson in the Detroit crease, replacing Cam Talbot. Last year Talbot put up a .883 save percentage and a 3.19 goals-against average.

The move has downstream impacts for the Detroit organization. With Gibson and Tarasov in Detroit, this pushes Michal Postava back down to Grand Rapids, where he’ll likely platoon with rookie Trey Augustine. Alternately, Augustine could be sent to the Toledo Walleye with restricted free agent Carter Gylander sharing the Griffins’ crease with Postava, though the ECHL isn’t particularly known for developing goalies.

As far as jersey number frivolities go, Tarasov has worn #40 for his entire career thus far but is unlikely to get that in Detroit. In the age of goalies picking non-traditional numbers, it’s hard to guess where he’ll end up. I’m going to say if he sticks traditional, he takes Talbot’s #39 and if he goes off the wall, he takes #80.