With the expansion draft and entry draft now passed, fans turn their eyes to the final big-ticket off-season event – July 1st, the start of the unrestricted free agency period. The Red Wings are likely fighting for a low playoff seed at best. With that in mind, which unrestricted free agents make the most sense?



Here, we’ll turn to performance data and salary projections to answer the most important questions facing the Red Wings during the free agency period:



Are there players available who might boost the team’s chances of sticking around in the playoff picture?



Are there players available who might make for attractive trade deadline rentals should the Red Wings fall out of playoff contention?



Better still, with a little less than $8 million in cap space to fill the team’s remaining roster spots, are there players who represent a combination of productivity and cost-efficiency?



For those answers, we’ll turn to...