The Red Wings signed Brad May to a two-way, one-year contract worth $500,000. May was brought to Detroit on a professional tryout, playing two exhibition games. The 37-year-old veteran winger has played in 1,001 career regular-season NHL games.

Forward Justin Abdelkader was assigned to Grand Rapids, making room for May.

Vice president/general manager Ken Holland said that May will be in the lineup either tonight or Saturday night. The club is waiting on his work visa (May is Canadian) paperwork to clear.

"He’s been in the league about 15 plus years, it’s not any secret what he brings to a team," said Holland. "He obviously brings a dimension of physicality. He has no problem dropping the gloves. He’s a vocal leader on the bench."

"It was pretty interesting," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "We had May in exhibition for a couple of games and no one gets hacked or whacked. When we don’t have him, we get run. We don’t have a team that twists off helmets at stoppages. You get tired of seeing it all the time. It’s just nice when you get someone to look after that stuff."

The question mark on May, who had no contract offers from an NHL team in the summer, was his speed and conditioning.

"Our question was was he able to keep up," said Holland. "In the two exhibition games, we were comfortable that his foot speed was able to keep up. The other thing is his conditioning. We spoke with everyone in Grand Rapids (where May had a tryout) and they were satisfied with his conditioning."