One of the big blows to the Detroit Red Wings last season was the loss of Darren Helm. First, Helm suffered a knee injury against the San Jose Sharks that kept him out the final month or so of the regular season. Then, just minutes into his return, Helm had his wrist cut by a skate. The injury was bad enough that he just got out of a cast after having surgery a few weeks ago, and losing him after Game 1 of their series against the Nashville Predators in the playoffs was tough to come back from.
The good news for Helm and the Red Wings is that he is on track to be healthy by training camp. The other good news is that Helm is now set to be a Red Wing for at least the next four years. His contract was up after last season and he was going to become a restricted free agent on July 1, but Darren Dreger reports that a deal has been completed.
Without scouring the twitterverse to see if this is already out...Darren Helm agrees to 4 year, $8.5 deal in Detroit.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) June 19, 2012
Helm's cap hit from this deal is $2.125 million, which is not bad at all. The Red Wings made it no secret after he got hurt that Helm is an important part of the team, so getting a deal done with him was a priority this offseason.
Now that Helm is re-signed, the Red wings can turn their focus to re-signing Justin Abdelkader and Kyle Quincey, who are the team's other two restricted free agents.
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