After a pair of Stanley Cup wins in Pittsburgh, and the impending cap crunch for the Penguins (which seems to happen every year), it was inevitable that Daley would find a new home. This new home is in Detroit:

Trevor Daley's terms in DET: 3 x $3.178.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 1, 2017

Daley turns 34 years old in October.

Even at his peak in Dallas, Daley was never really a big point-producer, with a career-high for a single season coming in 2014-15 with 38 points. That was the only season he cracked the 30-pont mark.

Detroit needs significant help on the blue line. They have $20 million tied up between Mike Green, Danny DeKeyser, Niklas Kronwall, and Jonathan Ericsson next year. It’s debatable if there’s more than one top-four defenceman in that mx. Daley should help the blue line a bit offensively, though how much he helps defensively is a big question mark.

Fantasy Impact: This mainly gives the Red Wings another option on the blue line for the power play. I would suspect that Mike Green continues to get the heaviest usage, but it was painful at times watching this team try to move the puck around with the man advantage last year when he wasn’t patrolling the blue line. Whether it was Kronwall, Ryan Sproul, or Brendan Smith, the Red Wings PP was an unmitigated disaster without Green, and Daley should help here.

Of course, this is a matter of whether or not they actually use Daley on the power play, and whether or not he’s paired with Kronwall. Both are lefty shots, so unless one of them plays the half-wall, it doesn’t seem likely they’re paired together. That leaves two options: Kronwall or Daley left off the power play altogether, or one of them skates with Green. Should Daley be Green’s partner, this could mean decent power-play production.

One thing this signing will not help is the team defence for Detroit. It’s been years since Daley has had a positive effect on shots against. In fact, over the last three years, Daley is near the bottom of the list for regular defencemen in shots against relative to his team. Much of that time was outside of the ‘heavy’ minutes, too. It’s not like Daley has a high bar to pass defensively anyway, but this signing is much more about his offence than his defence.

All told, Daley is still only an option in deeper fantasy formats. Expecting more than 30 points, 10 of them with the man advantage, is asking too much. He brings weak peripheral stats as well. In points-only leagues, however, he’s someone to keep in the back of the mind for a bench spot in 14-team or larger leagues. 

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

1. Daley

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order: 

1. Kronwall

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