During the Red Wings' 5-4 win over the Blue Jackets in January of last season, the top two picks from the 2007 NHL Draft peppered the score sheet. Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist for Detroit. James van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist for Columbus. When the players lined up for the face-off after Kane scored, van Riemsdyk recalls, the No. 1 pick said to the No. 2 pick, "We still got it."
Now they're teammates in Detroit, after van Riemsdyk signed a one-year deal with the Red Wings on Tuesday.
"Just the love that he has for the game, it’s fun to be around and to be in his orbit," van Riemsdyk said, "because that’s something that gets taken for granted sometimes, how much passion guys have for it and how much guys enjoy the day to day of what it takes to play at this level. He has set the standard for that. Looking at all that he’s accomplished in his career and still hungry for more, it’s an infectious thing to be around."
They were 18 when they were drafted in consecutive picks by Chicago and Philly, who three years later would meet in the Stanley Cup Final -- in a series decided in overtime by Kane. Now they're 36 and hoping to help Detroit end a nine-year playoff drought.
Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman first tried to acquire van Riemsdyk at the 2023 trade deadline before his team collapsed in March, but the deal fell through at the last moment. He got it done this time around, inking van Riemdsyk to a $1 million contract worth an additional $750,000 in bonuses for playing in 50 games, reaching the playoffs, and winning a playoff series. It's structured similarly to the one-year, $3 million deal Kane signed with Detroit on Monday.
A 6'3 winger who's dangerous around the net, van Riemsdyk should add heaviness and scoring depth to the Red Wings' bottom six. Their deficiencies in said areas were clear last season when they regressed for the first time in Yzerman's tenure as GM and missed the playoffs by five points. They still have pressing needs for another top-six winger and top-four defenseman, but van Riemsdyk qualifies as a useful piece at a good price.
"I’m a little bit of a numbers/math person, and your odds are obviously very good around the net if you want to score goals and be productive," said van Riemsdyk. "It’s a part of the game that the more I’ve done it, the more natural it seems to become. And especially down the stretch and into the playoffs, it seems like that’s where you need to go to have success and score goals, so that’s ultimately why it’s, for me, such an attractive place to be on the ice."
While well-removed from his prime as a 30-goal scorer, van Riemsdyk did score 16 goals in 71 games last season with the Blue Jackets, who exceeded expectations while jumping the Red Wings in the standings. If he can provide similar production in Detroit, he'll represent a much better investment for the Wings than Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored 11 goals in 82 games last season and was just shipped to the Wild along with this $4.75 million cap hit.
Tarasenko struggled to find a fit in Detroit, playing mostly on the third line as more of a top-line player for most of his career. The Red Wings likely see van Riemsdyk as a more flexible forward, which is something he sees in himself.
"I think my greatest strength is probably my hockey IQ and hockey sense," he said. "That can fall into a lot of different categories, but just knowing how to play the game, knowing how to manage a game, being able to fit in with different styles of players in different roles, just trying to be ultra aware of these sorts of things. Everyone has their calling card as a player -- it’s what they do best and what got them to this point -- and as you get older, having some more clubs in your bag to be able to play a different role or value different parts of the game becomes more and more important.
"Being able to have that adaptable sort of mindset, so no matter what situation it is -- specialty teams, first line, fourth line, more offensive role, more defensive role -- you know the different parts and the details that go into that."
In addition to Kane, van Riemsdyk has a number of built-in relationships in Detroit. He's played with fellow Americans Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat in the World Championships and spends his summers on the same Minnesota lake as Justin Holl. He was actually skating with Holl, he said, "right around the time that I was making my choice" to sign with the Wings -- "so he was the first guy there to find out."
"That also was a thing that was appealing, having a comfortability with a lot of guys," van Riemsdyk said.
Mostly, as he prepares for year 17 of his career, van Riemsdyk is eager to join a team that he believes is on the rise, and one that's eyed him for a while.
"Even back to a few years ago, it seemed like a team that was interested in bringing me aboard. And going through the free agency process, when they started showing some interest, it just seemed like a good fit, especially I think with the trajectory of where the team is trying to go. They're trying to make a push, trying to make the playoffs next year, so that was exciting for me."