The Detroit Red Wings are one of several NHL teams interested in bringing Maxime Comtois back to the NHL.
Comtois was selected in the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Anaheim Ducks. The Canadian ended up making the roster in 2018 and was a solid bottom-six forward. However, after playing parts of five NHL seasons, he failed to crack a roster this season, and he signed in Russia.
In the KHL, Comtois found something as he recorded 21 goals and 29 assists for 50 points in 62 games, along with 99 penalty minutes. After one year in the KHL, NHL insider Daria Tuboltseva of RG.com reports that the Red Wings have offered Comtois an NHL contract.
“Forward Maxime Comtois might sign a contract with the Detroit Red Wings. According to RG sources, the Canadian player has several NHL offers, including one from the Red Wings,” Tuboltseva wrote. “A decision about his future is expected in the coming months. He also received an offer from Dynamo Moscow of the KHL, where he played last season.”
Comtois also has received interest from the Boston Bruins. But the Red Wings are a team that has already offered him an NHL contract.
Comtois has skated in 211 NHL games recording 38 goals and 49 assists for 87 points.
Comtois Found Passion for Hockey Again in KHL
With Comtois not getting any NHL offers he went to Russia and re-found his love for hockey.
Comtois believes he struggled in the NHL as he was vieweing it as a job and wasn’t having fun playing. However, after his time in Russia, Comtois says he is back loving hockey as he looks for his second chance in the NHL.
“I felt like I got a second wind,” Comtois said in a recent interview. “I’ve always said I want to return to the NHL, and this season I did everything possible to make that happen. Hockey had become just a job for me in North America, but here, it became my passion again.”
Comtois can be a sold third-line player in the NHL who can add some offense and some grit to the bottom of the lineup.
Red Wings GM Has Confidence in Group
Detroit failed to make the playoffs for the ninth straight season, but Red Wings general manger Steve Yzerman likes his current group.
The Red Wings have most of their players all locked up, so Yzerman feels confident this group can make the playoffs next year.
“We’re trying to draft good, young men who are talented, young players that eventually become a very good team,” Yzerman said at his year-end press conference. “I think we’re on the right path to that. I look around our locker room, led by Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat, I say those two probably because they are two of our leading scorers who can be here for a long time. Then all the way down through Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Marco Kasper, Albert Johansson and all these young players.
“We’re building a nucleus of a good team with the idea that this team is going to win,” Yzerman added. “I don’t measure success by making the playoffs one year and bowing out the next year. I consider it being continued success. That you’re in and expected to be in the playoffs, you’re trying to win and aiming for Stanley Cups. That’s what we’re trying to do here.”
Detroit enters the offseason with just over $21 million in cap space.
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