Keegan Kolesar is heading into training camp as one of the most overlooked additions on the Detroit Red Wings' roster.
Detroit sent a 2027 seventh-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick to Vegas on the first day of free agency to land the physical winger.
Kolesar posted 17 points over 82 games last season with the Golden Knights, plus 1 point in 21 playoff games during their run to the Stanley Cup Final.
That's not a scoring line that jumps off the page. But scoring was never the point of bringing him to Detroit.
The Red Wings were recently tagged as the league's least aggressive team, a label that follows a group that's been too easy to play against for years.
"There was a missing piece, maybe an identity of just having that toughness and being hard to play against," Kolesar said during his introductory media session in July.
He described wanting to be the veteran who "brings guys into the fight" and shows the room who's willing to follow him into the tough areas of the ice.
Why Detroit's front office questions make this move stand out even more
Detroit heads into camp with plenty of noise surrounding both the bench and the front office, and general manager Steve Yzerman made this specific trade on opening day of free agency.
Head coach Todd McLellan inherits a lineup still built mostly around skill, with Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, and Alex DeBrincat carrying the offensive load.
Kolesar's 2,500,000 dollar cap hit is nothing against that group's price tags, which makes this look like a low-cost fix for a real problem.
He's not walking into Hockeytown as the next Bob Probert or Darren McCarty, and nobody in Detroit should expect that.
But a team that finished 41-31-10 and still got pushed around too easily doesn't need a legend. It needs someone willing to answer the bell nightly.
If Kolesar delivers even a fraction of that identity, this quiet depth signing ends up looking a lot smarter than it did back in July.
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Will Keegan Kolesar actually make the Red Wings tougher to play against?
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