Red Wings sign offensive threat to $850,000 contract

TL;DR

The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed forward John Leonard to an $850,000 contract for the 2026-27 season. This move comes as the team prepares for the offseason after missing the playoffs for the tenth consecutive year.

Key points

Detroit Red Wings missed playoffs for 10th consecutive season
John Leonard re-signed on $850,000 contract
Contract is for the 2026-27 NHL season

Detroit Red WingsJohn Leonard

Red Wings sign offensive threat to $850,000 contract originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Detroit Red Wings missed the playoffs for a 10th consecutive season. This time, it was a pretty brutal collapse out of strong positioning.

Regardless, it means their season is now over. And they're getting a jump start on the offseason.

They've already announced a key re-signing: John Leonard.

He's coming back to town on an $850,000 contract for the 2026-27 campaign, according to Daily Faceoff.

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Leonard was a star in 2025-26 at the AHL level for the high-flying Grand Rapids Griffins, who are the top seed in the AHL's Western Conference as the playoffs get underway.

At the time of his new contract signing, Leonard has played 46 AHL games this season -- and he has 32 goals and 21 assists for 53 points.

Leonard is a proven AHL scorer, having put up 61 points last season for the Charlotte Checkers (Florida Panthers affiliate).

The 27-year old also got 11 games with Detroit this season, recording two goals and two assists.

Leonard has also played in the NHL for Arizona, Nashville and San Jose.

He's at that point where it's not clear he'll ever translate AHL production up to the NHL level, but organizations also need guys who get the job done in the AHL, and at the very least, Leonard has proven to be that.