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Red Wings Report Card: What Does Future Hold For Chiarot?
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- Red Wings Report Card: What Does Future Hold For Chiarot?
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The post Red Wings Report Card: What Does Future Hold For Chiarot? appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now .
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectIMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
(Editor's Note: This is another installment of a player-by-player analysis of the Detroit Red Wings ' roster for the 2025-26 season. The emphasis is on how each player performed and their future in the organization. Today, we discuss veteran Detroit defenseman Ben Chiarot .)
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Age: Turned 35 on May 9.
Contract Status: Entering the first year of a three-year deal with an AAV of $3.85 million.
Last season's contributions: Fifth in goals (five) and points (15) among Detroit defensemen.
Grade: C
Past
Signed as a UFA in 2022, Chiarot played through his four-year deal. Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman evidently liked what he saw. He re-upped with Chiarot , giving him a three-year pact with an AAV of 3.85 million. That means Chiarot will be in Detroit until he turns 38.
Chiarot is a lightning rod among the Detroit fanbase. There's been a love-hate relationship with the veteran rearguard that generally tends to skew more toward hate. He's a defenseman who doesn't do anything spectacularly. The analytics crowd doesn't like how his fancy stats add up.
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In fairness to Chiarot, he's been miscast as a top-pairing defenseman through much of his Red Wings career. Moving him to the second pairing midway through last season slotted him into a role more suited to his skill set.
Present
Chiarot was among the Red Wings' leaders in the categories that tend to hurt. He was second on the team and first among defensemen with 170 hits. His 160 blocked shots were also second on the team overall, and second among Detroit defenders.
Chiarot's 5.96 hits per 60 minutes was the best among Red Wings rearguards. His 5.61 blocked shots per 60 minutes led the entire Detroit team.
Chiarot isn't going to light it up offensively, but his output is consistent. In four Detroit seasons, he's never scored fewer than four goals, while never tallying more than five goals.
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Analytics are where the alarm bells go off with Chiarot. His SAT% of 46.8 was tied for 18th on the team. His on-ice shooting percentage plus save percentage of 98.5 was good for 14th on the club.
Future
When he was managing the Detroit Tigers, Sparky Anderson used to gauge the quality of his team by how many at-bats he was required to give to Dave Bergman. The more Bergman played, the worse off the Tigers were. That didn't mean that Bergman wasn't a useful player in a specific role. It only specified that he wasn't meant to be an everyday player.
In a sense, you could argue that Chiarot is the Red Wings' version of Bergman. The higher up he's playing in the lineup, the less likely it is that Detroit is going to be a strong squad.
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You'll know that the Red Wings are ready to win consistently when Chiarot is skating regularly in the club's third defense pairing. Until then, all bets are off.
The post Red Wings Report Card: What Does Future Hold For Chiarot? appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now .
