Daniel-Alfredsson-Sens

The signing of Daniel Alfredsson is just one of the reasons the Red Wings are more optimistic heading into 2013-14.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT -- The first day of free agency Friday was a good day for the Detroit Red Wings.

General manager Ken Holland called it a great day.

It was like the old days, when the Red Wings made headlines every off-season by acquiring big-name players.

The Red Wings landed their main target – skilled second-line center Stephen Weiss – plucking him out of the Florida sunshine for five years at $24.5 million.

That came shortly after they reeled in right wing Daniel Alfredsson for one year at $5.5 million in a stunning move, convincing the future Hall of Famer who spent his entire 17-year career in Ottawa that he would have a better chance to win his first Stanley Cup in Detroit.

The Red Wings lost a couple of skilled forwards: Valtteri Filppula sought greener pastures in Tampa Bay (five years, $25 million) and Damien Brunner turned down their offers to seek a more lucrative deal elsewhere.

Holland isn't done making moves – he's still talking to forward Daniel Cleary. If Cleary leaves, Brenden Morrow is a potential replacement.

Whatever transpires, this summer already is guaranteed to be much better for the Red Wings than last year.

“It’s certainly an extremely exciting day in Detroit for our team,'' Holland said. “As we headed into this offseason and into the free agency period we had some needs. We wanted more scoring. Daniel’s been one of the great scorers in the National Hockey League, and Stephen Weiss, one of the finest playmakers in Florida.

“Both players provide leadership and character. I think it’s going to allow (coach) Mike Babcock more balance as we put our lines together coming into training camp.''

The Red Wings have a much brighter outlook heading into 2013-14 as they move to the Eastern Conference, joining a division with Boston, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Florida and Tampa Bay.

This is a deeper, more confident club, one that battled to make the playoffs on the final day of the season and then came within a goal of eliminating the Chicago Blackhawks, who went on to win the Stanley Cup, in the second round of the playoffs.

Young players gained valuable experience, several of them playing key roles in the Grand Rapids Griffins' AHL championship run.

Stephen Weiss was the Red Wings' priority in filling their second-line center spot.

Now, the Red Wings have upgraded their skill level with Alfredsson and Weiss, who make players around them better.

Also consider that they will have talented defenseman Danny DeKeyser for a full season and young forwards Gustav Nyquist and Joakim Andersson will be with the club from the start.

In addition, Holland said he's been told third-line center Darren Helm is feeling good heading into development camp next week, when he'll test his ailing back, which limited him to just one game all season. A healthy Helm would be akin to adding a key free agent.

“When you think about adding Steve and Alfie and Darren Helm to our team, from last year’s team, would be a tremendous, tremendous upgrade,'' Holland said.

The Red Wings have 22 players signed for $65 million, just over the $64.3 million salary cap (a team can exceed the cap by 10 percent in the off-season). They will have 25 players, two over the roster limit, once they sign restricted free agents Brendan Smith, Nyquist and Andersson.

They need to shed salary and clear roster spots, but there is no rush. Rosters must be finalized a day or two before the season.

“We obviously got a couple of extra players; we think we’re a work-in-progress,'' Holland said. “I’d still like to look at making a move or two, but it might take a month or two to finally shape our roster.''

Last summer was a huge disappointment for the Red Wings. The premier free agents – defenseman Ryan Suter and left wing Zach Parise -- spurned lucrative offers to sign even bigger deals with the Minnesota Wild.

With the exception of Brunner, most of the players the Red Wings acquired (Mikael Samuelsson, Jordin Tootoo, Jonas Gustavsson and Carlo Colaiacovo) had limited or no impact, several spending a good chunk of the season on injured reserve.

Twelve months later, they have a lot of the right pieces.

“I feel good about our nucleus,'' Holland said. “I feel good that Pavel Datsyuk re-upped ( three years) and we have Pav around for four more years. We believe that we have a tremendous goaltender in Jimmy Howard (signed for six years). With the addition of Alfie and Stephen, we think we’re going to be a lot deeper up front.''

The annual forecasts of demise for the franchise will take a hiatus this year. The 22-season playoff streak should not be in jeopardy. Their acquisitions, coupled with growth from young players, should make the Red Wings a formidable club once again.