DETROIT — Only Moritz Seider has played more minutes for the Detroit Red Wings over the past four seasons than Ben Chiarot. There are many more to come.
The Red Wings signed Chiarot to a three-year contract extension with an average annual value of $3.85 million, the team announced Wednesday morning. The deal will keep the 34-year-old Chiarot in Detroit through the 2028-29 season.
A physical, 6-foot-3 left-handed defenseman, Chiarot has become a veteran leader for the Red Wings since signing in Detroit as a free agent in 2022. He has been a staple in the Red Wings’ top four in that time, averaging 20:39 of ice time per night, and logging 63 points in 288 games while serving as a core penalty killer and setting a physical tone defensively.
“There’s a million reasons (why I signed),” Chiarot said. “The team, first of all, and what goes on on the ice. The people here, the trainers, equipment staff, guys on the team, coaches, everybody. I really enjoy coming to the rink every day. Made it a really easy decision to come back here. We love Detroit. My family’s really happy here. From all angles, it was a no-brainer.”
Chiarot, who previously played in Winnipeg, Montreal and Florida, was set to become a free agent in 2026, which would have left the Red Wings with a hole to fill on their blue line this summer. At 34, though, the Red Wings will have to be mindful of how Chiarot’s game will age, and will still likely need to pursue an addition in the top four in the relatively near future.
The decision to extend him comes with the Red Wings currently in a playoff spot, looking to break a nine-year postseason drought.
What to make of the three-year term
Term is a risk for any player of Chiarot’s age; he will turn 35 in May. While he has been mobile, physical and durable to this point — he has missed just 12 games across three and a half seasons in Detroit — it remains to be seen how his game will hold up as he gets into his late 30s.
The strong likelihood is that Chiarot will eventually need to move down the lineup into more of a third-pair role over the course of this extension, and while the cap hit at $3.85 million isn’t prohibitive with the rising cap, it’s also not necessarily a low number for that role, either.
The biggest question, of course, is what Chiarot will look like in the final years of this extension. Despite playing a major role for Detroit, he has been a divisive player in his years with the Red Wings, with shaky underlying metrics. Moving down the lineup later in the contract could help those numbers, but Detroit will have to hope that’s enough to offset any age-related decline.
What this means for Detroit’s 2026 outlook on D
In the short-term, it means the Red Wings will have one less glaring need to fill this summer. The rising cap has meant fewer players are making it to free agency, instead choosing to extend with their current teams, and this continues that trend while locking in one more piece of Detroit’s blue line for next season.
The Red Wings will need to sign top-pair LHD Simon Edvinsson to an extension this summer as a restricted free agent, but they have Seider, their franchise defender, secured through 2031 on the right side, rising young LHD Albert Johansson signed through next season (after which he will be a RFA) and rookie RHD Axel-Sandin-Pellikka in the first year of his entry-level contract.
That leaves at least one more hole to fill on the right side in the nightly lineup for next season, though Johansson is capable of playing his off-hand and could flip to the right side if needed. If Johansson, who is 25, can become a legit top-four defender on the left side, it would give the Red Wings a clear succession plan. But if not, Detroit will likely need to pursue a top-four addition in the relatively near future, as Chiarot starts to age out of the role.
The signing also has implications on Detroit’s left-shot D prospects, as both William Wallinder and Shai Buium are nearing NHL readiness, but now appear to be blocked on the left side behind Edvinsson, Johansson and now Chiarot. With the trade deadline approaching, that’s an interesting development.
